Well, on the Mormon thing, fundamentalist Mormons have been in the news a lot in the last few years in the U.S. because of the pedophilia/sexual abuse/forced marriage/polygamy scandals related to Warren Jeffs, et al. So a lot of people are probably more sensitized to issues of sex and power coming from a Mormon author than they would be if she were, say, Lutheran. (And a lot -- maybe the majority -- of non-Mormon Christians in the U.S. don't consider Mormons to be Christians at all, given the different scriptures, etc.)
As to the main question, most of the concern I've seen has to do with two things: 1.) the sex and power relationships in Twilight strike many people as obviously troubling, and 2.) a lot of Twilight fans are more Edward-fans than fans of the series as a world. I'd say it's more comparable to the reactions of adolescent girls to Elvis, or to boy-bands, than to the more heterogeneous passions of Harry Potter fans. There's a lot of "Edward Cullen has spoiled me for real men! I'll never love anyone but Edward!" going around; a friend of mine who's a high-school teacher and teen bookseller hasn't ever seen anything like it. I think the sexual passions of young girls tend to freak people out for several reasons, including a generalized disapproval of young female sexuality and a more specific disapproval when said sexuality when directed at a character many readers consider to be borderline abusive or otherwise troubling.
Admittedly, most of the anti-Twilight essays I've read have been fairly moderate.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-09-24 07:23 pm (UTC)As to the main question, most of the concern I've seen has to do with two things: 1.) the sex and power relationships in Twilight strike many people as obviously troubling, and 2.) a lot of Twilight fans are more Edward-fans than fans of the series as a world. I'd say it's more comparable to the reactions of adolescent girls to Elvis, or to boy-bands, than to the more heterogeneous passions of Harry Potter fans. There's a lot of "Edward Cullen has spoiled me for real men! I'll never love anyone but Edward!" going around; a friend of mine who's a high-school teacher and teen bookseller hasn't ever seen anything like it. I think the sexual passions of young girls tend to freak people out for several reasons, including a generalized disapproval of young female sexuality and a more specific disapproval when said sexuality when directed at a character many readers consider to be borderline abusive or otherwise troubling.
Admittedly, most of the anti-Twilight essays I've read have been fairly moderate.
I'm really interested in your take.