Cambridge Deems Twilight Worthy of Analysis

[Tom Goldman]

Cambridge Deems Twilight Worthy of Analysis

Just when you think school can't get any worse, they add Twilight [http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Saga-Stephenie-Meyer/dp/0316038377/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280157050&sr=1-1] to the curriculum.

Videogames, books, television, and movies all appeal to kids in a way that school simply does not. The University of Cambridge has acknowledged this, and is going to be adding new forms of media into the material at a University center which covers the study of children's literature.

The center's current material includes fairytales, ABC books, and classics like Harry Potter [http://www.amazon.com/Treasure-Island-Qualitas-Classics-Stevenson/dp/1897093616/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280157183&sr=1-1].

Center director Professor Maria Nikolajeva says of the new material: "It's easy to say that these things are just kids' fashions or that they're trash, but I don't believe that's good enough. If what we regard as trash is popular with young people, we need to know why and whether, as researchers and teachers, we can offer them something that addresses the same needs but also deals with these themes in a critical and ethical way."

New teachers usually do not understand the impact that a Twilight or a DragonBall Z: Burst Limit [http://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-VII-Playstation/dp/B00000JRSB/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1280157128&sr=1-1] had a profound effect on me.

Source: VG247 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8500657.stm]



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[HardRockSamurai]

I predict that THIS is how the internet will react:

[HEADING=2]"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!"[/HEADING]

 

[Korten12]

are you kidding me...

 

[MR T3D]

at least almost all the others have appeal to both sexes, this.... this...

THIS IS MADNESS!

 

[LewsTherin]

You know, as much as I revile that decision, they make a good point. We can finally figure out why people like this rubbish.

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

Now, calm down everyone. They never said that the book was good; they only said that it should be studied as a cultural phenomenon. I can't say I disagree with that.

 

[dthvirus]

It's already on the list of material for my Rhetoric in Pop Culture course. I am not looking forward to it.

 

[Elesar]

I'm entirely against this. I understand it's a pop culture thing and I understand it's a phenomenom but it's not worthy of study, because there is NOTHING underneath it. You want to study a pop culture thing? Study the 2004 Battlestar Galactica. Study District 9 or Moon. Study Final Fantasy VII or Silent Hill 2. Fuck, you want vampires? Study Let the Right One In. Those are all things that have deeper meanings and, more importantly are well made. Shit is shit. Don't care how popular it is, nothing can unshit the shit. I don't care why people like this shit, STUDYING it will make them feel more justified in liking it.
Next thing you know we'll be studying Jonas Brothers alongside the Beatles in music.

 

[GodsAndFishes]

Well if they're adding it to the curriculum, then it shall never be liked by children again surely?

 

[WorldCritic]

SON OF A *****! Damn it! WHY? It doesn't have an impact on children it has an impact on moronic teenage girls and middle-aged women. Why the fuck would they do something so horrible?

 

[quantum mechanic]

I can understand the point of view, and I know those books are extremely popular among teenage girls (being one of the few who hasn't read them), but...seriously? This makes me even happier than before to be leaving high school.

Edit: Also, why can't they put award-winning sci-fi books on the curriculum. "Lord of the Rings" has done a lot to shape modern fantasy. Iain M. Banks' novel "Consider Phlebas" contains allusions to T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" and numerous other literary works, as well as being a great (if a little dark) read.

 

[Sir Kemper]

at least almost all the others have appeal to both sexes, this.... this...

THIS IS MADNESS!

THIS. IS. TWILIGHT!

*Boot*

Sorry, i couden't help myself...

 

[DrDeath3191]

Studying the impact of media on kids is an interesting field of study. I just wish they'd pick a better book than Twilight. Replace that with Artemis Fowl, or the Bartimaeus Trilogy, and we'll be golden.

 

[Good morning blues]

Anybody who claims this is a bad idea knows nothing at all about culture studies. Twilight says a hell of a lot more about contemporary western cultures than anything Douglas Coupland's written in the past decade, even if it doesn't mean to.

 

[The Bandit]

As long as they're studying it as a form of cultural curiosity, and not stating that it has literary merit, I can't complain. You can say Twilight isn't good, but you can't say it isn't popular.

 

[Zildjin81]

It's a study of "children's literature" that they would read it for. When we study the medieval times we also study the torture devices they used. That doesn't mean we like them or think they're great and inspirational.

 

[Irridium]

So long as no one is forced to read the books.

Such a fate would be worse than death.

You know, as much as I revile that decision, they make a good point. We can finally figure out why people like this rubbish.

You mean it isn't mind control?

 

[Radelaide]

Please tell me they're doing it ironically?

I'm all for pop culture, but don't give students a book that with make them want to die. If anything give them "Nightlight - A Parody" by The Harvard Lampoon!

"...And third, I unconditionally, irrevocably, impenetrably, hetrogencously, gynecologically and disreputably with he had kissed me."

I've read the first chapter or so, and man it makes me laugh harder than the book it was based on. And it's like... 6 times shorter.

 

[StonkThis]

I don't care about the thread. I just love that in the little box, analysis is cut down to anal... Cambridge Deems Twilight Worthy of Anal... Epic.

I'll add that I hate Twilight.

 

[CloakedOne]

for a professor, that's pretty fucking retarded.