Alright. Here it is. The inevitable post. I am finally going to talk about one of the most infamous heroins of all time.
I think everyone has done this. We've heard almost everything bad about her. She's pretentious, she's whiny, she's boy dependent, she can't take care of herself, and she's all around a very bland character. Nothing new.
But I'm going to go a little deeper into why I think a lot of people hate Bella so much, particularly regular readers. It's not just because she's a poorly constructed character, but also because we can see what she was intended to be. She had a blue print all lined out but then the work crew came in high as a kite with all the wrong building materials.
If that makes any sense.
So let's start from the beginning. I'm going to break this up into two sections:
1. The Self Insert Principal
I often like to analyze main characters through their author because often said character has a lot in common with the person who wrote them. We are told to write what we know, so why not create a character with a similar thought process and belief system as you? Bella Swan was without a doubt based off of Stephanie Myer, even down to the appearance (Brown hair, brown eyes and pale skin).
But there's a real danger with doing this kind of thing. And here's why.
See, I'm quite involved in writing fanfiction. It's a fun hobby for a writer. It can help you improve your basic craft, but it also gives you a pass on world building and character development because you're working with characters that already exist. Even so it can still help you fine tune and practice. But if you've ever looked on fanfiction.net, you see a rather infamous trend. Self inserts.
Self inserts are original characters inserted into a world like Harry Potter or Twilight to live the story with the main characters, and thus live out the author's dreams. They are character's based off of the author, with emphasis on based off of because a self insert is not so much a correct portrayal of the author but a reimagined perfect version of who the author wishes they were. So if the author is a nervous, shy, nonathletic girl with acne, they suddenly become witty, kickass and of course: the most beautiful thing any of the guys have ever seen.
And you know what? That's fine for fanfiction. Because really the basic goal isn't to create a realistic character. It's for fun and it's usually written to fulfill some sort of fantasy. Let the writer dream a little. Now if it's poorly written that's another story but, you know.
Bella Swan suffered from the self insert principal. Because she was the ideal imagining of Stephanie Myer. Everyone loved her though there was nothing about her that actually made her friendly, inviting or warm, boys thought she was attracted and many of them vied for attention, and she ends up as the love interest for not one, but TWO, supernatural hotties.
That makes her more of a cardboard character and it strongly figures in to point number two of why she is so hated.
2. An Insult to the group she was meant to draw in
Bella Swan certainly wasn't your typical teen girl. She hates shopping, she's anti social, she's clumsy and bad at sports, she's sarcastic, she likes high literature, and she has two supernatural boyfriends.
And you know what? Minus the supernatural boyfriend part, those characteristics completely reflect me in high school. I wasn't ever interested in shopping or things other girls liked, I had trouble engaging in social situations because I was paranoid and didn't like small talk, I was and still am terrible at sports and any athletic activity, my wit is dry, and hey: I like Great Gatsby, Hamlet and Fahrenheit 451. The people I'm friends with are largely the same way. You'd think that with all of these similarities, Bella Swan would really draw us in and make us sympathize with her.
But there's a huge problem.
See, a large portion of the book is Bella Swan whining about how terrible her life is... but she has nothing to whine about. Everyone loves her. She doesn't face being a social outcast like many of us with her personality traits do. Instead she's completely embraced by the community and boys.
You know what most people like Bella Swan have to deal with? I'll give you a list: Social ridicule, weird stares when you voice your opinion, the sound of muffled laughter when you are enthusiastic about a literary analysis, dried fruit thrown at you, being picked last for any sport, never getting a date to any homecoming or prom dance, being ostracized by boys, struggling with your identity and wondering if you are in fact doing something wrong.
Did Bella face any of those things? No. And yet she still complained. When people like Bella in the real world complain, it's often justified because they are going through a very difficult time, emotionally and mentally. They struggle with who they are as a person and wonder if they should abandon who they actually are in order to get more friends and be accepted. Bella's complaining was never justified. She was the tortured teenager without the TORTURE.
And instead of it being a dream come true for us nerds, it insulted us. It insulted us that someone like us could have so little problems and yet still be so sullen and dismissive of it. It insulted us that she could be so ungrateful. And it insulted us that this was how we were being portrayed to the public.
There were other little things about her personality too that seemed phoned in. Like that "loving great literature thing" I mentioned. Two of Bella Swan's favorite books are Romeo and Juliet and Wuthering Heights. Why were those her favorite? Because Stephanie Myer wants to use SYMBOLISM of course.
Plus Bella's love for Romeo and Juliet always bothered me because she seems like she's just saying she loves it. She says she used to have a crush on Romeo. No one had a crush on Romeo. He was a shallow jerk. He wasn't meant to be a heart throb. Just because I acknowledge that Romeo and Juliet is a great peace of prose (Because it really is) doesn't mean I don't think the plot and characters are kind of stale. Romeo and Juliet succeeds because of it's master writing. And if Bella was ACTUALLY a literary buff she would probably recognize that too. Plus her use of comparison to the work is completely messed up. Shakespeare is undoubtedly rolling and crying in his grave.
Twilight would have infinitely better if Bella wasn't a perfect re-imagining of Stephanie Myer in the life that she wanted. What if Bella actually struggled with her identity as a person and was ostracized because of her sullen attitude and dry wit but then connected with Edward because he was also ostracized? Then maybe the story could partially be about Bella slowly learned to let down the walls she had been building up do to years of social failure and bullying. Eventually a romance would develop between her and Edward and because she's so desperate not to lose the one person she's learned to trust, him being a vampire isn't so creepy to her. If it followed that plot I may have gotten into Twilight, despite the sparkling vampires.
But it wasn't like that. Funnily enough, Bella Swan's story is more liked by the extroverted shallow girls that often made fun of us introverted sarcastic girls in high school, and the ones Bella is actually supposed to connect? Let's just say we have placed her proudly on our dart boards.
So that's my psychological analysis of what make's Bella a hateable character. The other things other people have mentioned certainly play into it but the reasons I blogged about are my personal qualms with her character. Hope you enjoyed.
-Authoress Anonymous
PS: Tomorrow I think I'm diving into my first book review... it's going to be Divergent. We'll see how that goes.
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