litlover12

Aug. 26, 2008

Two commenters wrote to tell me that the Twilight series is fiction, and I have to tell you, I'm relieved. The thought of all those vampires and werewolves running around the woods was starting to worry me.

I kid, of course. However, I thought these comments were worth a follow-up post, because they represent what I think is a pretty large school of thought among Stephenie Meyer's fans. While working on my review of the series, I was keeping track of fan reaction to the newly released Breaking Dawn (book four) on the Internet, and "It's just fiction!" -- and many variations thereof -- was a claim I saw over and over again, in response to those who disliked the book. You can see a few examples here.

You may feel it's just the English major in me overreacting again, but I get slightly alarmed when people use "It's fiction" as shorthand for "It doesn't matter if it's horrifically bad." What many of these fans don't seem to realize is that there's a long and honorable tradition of reviewing, yes, fiction. (Pick up a copy of the New York Review of Books or the Washington Post's Book World next weekend and see if you can find any reviews that read simply, "It's fiction, so give it a break already!")

And there's a reason for that: because fiction does matter. It reflects who we are as a society, and who we want to be. It inspires, informs, moves, and sometimes even transforms us. While it's not meant to be used simply as a vehicle to send a message, themes and messages are always going to be inherent in it, whether Stephenie Meyer understands that or not. (Even Mark Twain couldn't really get away without any.) And those messages -- and the quality of the book in general -- are not always going to be good, even if the writer has good intentions.

So how do we deal with that fact?

It's not as if every work needs to be, or can be, understood in the same way. We all have our guilty pleasure books and movies; we've all enjoyed our fair share of fluff. I certainly have. And I'm not arguing that everything we read, hear, or watch has to be all sweetness and light. Just yesterday, as I was in the car thinking over what I wanted to say in this post, it suddenly struck me what I was listening to: a Broadway compilation CD including songs like "Cabaret" (celebrating hedonism), "Roxie" (infidelity, greed, murder), and "A Little Priest" (cannibalism).

So yes, I get that not all fictional messages are meant to be taken seriously. What's needed is some context, emotional distance, and discernment. The trouble is that Meyer provides exceedingly little of the first two in her work, and many of her fans seem to be arguing against bringing any discernment to the table.

As a culture, in fact, we seem to be experiencing an increasing inability to think seriously about fiction, what it entails, and what it means. And that's unfortunate. Whether it's a teacher who understands that many of her students love to read fiction and write about it, but doesn't know how to use that in the classroom; or a fan who can't respond to a bad review of a novel without making unfair and unrelated accusations against the reviewer; or a bevy of teen romance novel fans who tell you that you have no right to judge a novel at all; or any of a number of other scenarios, the way we treat fiction nowadays seems to indicate a lack of willingness to think things through, apply standards, or follow any of a number of other practices essential to critical thinking.

That in itself should be enough to show us that the way we think of fiction has serious implications about the way we think in general. A passionate, visceral reaction to a work may not be a bad thing in itself -- it may even be exactly what an author hopes for -- but backed up by an inability to argue logically on behalf of the work, or even by an insistence that one's liking for a work makes it a sacred and untouchable text, it's a legitimate cause for concern.

Ideas matter. Emotions matter. Dreams and goals and values and ethics matter. And if all these things matter, then fiction -- which deals with all these things, and more besides -- most definitely matters.

--Gina Dalfonzo