Current mood:

nauseated

WHAT?
I'm just going to open this up with the image we'll be discussing. Story will come in later, but I have to get this out of the way first.

Okay, explanation time: this is one of the Twilight shirts they're carrying at Hot Topic. I wondered in there to search for an integral part of my Halloween costume, walked by the Twilight merch because you don't really have much of a choice in most of their stores, and saw that shirt.

And my jaw dropped. I stared in shock that not only did the shirt exist, but that it was being carried by a major retailer.

For those of you blissfully unfamiliar with the books, here's where that line comes into play.

"Isabella." He pronounced my full name carefully, then playfully ruffled my hair with his free hand. A shock ran through my body at his casual touch. "Bella, I couldn't live with myself if I ever hurt you. You don't know how it's tortured me." He looked down, ashamed again. "The thought of you, still, white, cold… to never see you blush scarlet again, to never see that flash of intuition in your eyes when you see through my pretenses… it would be unendurable." He lifted his glorious, agonized eyes to mine. "You are the most important thing to me now. The most important thing to me ever."

My head was spinning at the rapid change in direction our conversation had taken. From the cheerful topic of my impending demise, we were suddenly declaring ourselves. He waited, and even though I looked down to study our hands between us, I knew his golden eyes were on me. "You already know how I feel, of course," I finally said. "I'm here… which, roughly translated, means I would rather die than stay away from you." I frowned. "I'm an idiot."


"You are an idiot," he agreed with a laugh. Our eyes met, and I laughed, too. We laughed together at the idiocy and sheer impossibility of such a moment.

"And so the lion fell in love with the lamb…" he murmured. I looked away, hiding my eyes as I thrilled to the word.

"What a stupid lamb," I sighed.

"What a sick, masochistic lion." He stared into the shadowy forest for a long moment, and I wondered where his thoughts had taken him.

-Twilight

So...even in context it's a little creepy.

But the shirt isn't in the context of the book. Despite what people may thing, not everyone has read Meyer's series of abstinence metaphors. And so if they see someone in a "Stupid Lamb" shirt, they're not going to think "Oh, hey, that's the scene where Edward keeps telling Bella she's dumb! How romantic!" They're going to think you're, well, a stupid lamb.

Which brings me to this question: Do Twilight fans really think that's something to be celebrated or emulated? How many actual fans would wear that shirt? I was actually disturbed when I ran a Google search for "'Stupid Lamb' shirt" and came across multiple Cafe Press stores selling similar designs. Are there really that many young women who want that across their chest?

I just...I can't imagine a girl wanting to identify herself as a "Stupid Lamb." I mean, I'm not even trying to say that all tee shirts should have some pro-feminist ideal in mind. But there's a huge gap between pro-feminist and "Stupid Lamb."

To be fair: I haven't actually seen anyone wearing this t-shirt yet. It could fail miserably and not sell at all. But at the same time, there was a belief among the manufacturers and marketing people that enough fans of the series would want that advertise that particular idea that they mass produced the shirts and are selling them for $22.00 US.

Granted, I'm obviously not a fan of the Twilight series. But from my memory of the first book, there several hundred better phrases you could have teenage girl splash across their chest. Things that don't read like potential advertisements for sexual predators, I mean.