AGATB in Other Countries <> GDT vs. Twilight

I'd say I'm most like Pippa... Before/After corruption. Like, I could see that happening to me if I were in her situation. Who's life would I want to live post-TSFT? Probably either Felicity or Ann. I think Ann's is probably best, excluding the torment she received at school.

Yea, post-TSFT, I'd rather be Ann, most likely. MAYBE Gemma, I just don't know what else might happen to her later on in life.

blue_panda_41295 wrote:

Can I pick Simon? What about Lucy?

Nope lol, the point I'm trying to make is like, okay, you know how when you were little and whatever show/movie etc you were watching/reading, you would pick a main character and be like hmm I wanna be her (or at least I did lol). Like take their lives as a whole.

My pick? Gemma. Even though she had to deal with her father as an addict and loosing a mother she got the most normal life in the end plus her family wasn't too hard on her about her descison as I'm sure Felicity's and Pippa's were (well they were mad when she said she didn't want to marry Mr. Bumble, but now she's dead and they could care less). Ann, well, she doesn't have a family in the first place.

Do you think Libba Bray was trying to de-glamorize the Victorian Era?

I think she might've been not de-glamorizing it, but maybe revealing it for what it really was? What goes on in London's most prestigious clubs? Beyond the brushing of expensive dresses from Paris against the floor; behind the beautiful music that keeps the rythm during the waltz.

Of course, Libba probably doesn't know what REALLY went on... And I doubt any of them had magical powers... But could any of this be a metaphor of some sort?

Post-TSFT, I'd choose Ann, but any other time, I'd pick Felicity. But I'm most like a combination of Fee and Pip; I like being the leader, hate being powerless, I obey my elders, even though I'm not very happy about it sometimes, and I'm the silliest of my friends. Also like Fee, I like winning.

I think she (Libba Bray) didn't really like a lot of the ideas of the Victorian Era. Mainly that girls have no say in their own lives and men dominate. I think she was trying to point out how stupid that was by making such strong girl characters.

This book was very strong in feminism. Libba created all the strong girls that took charge of their own lives to show that girls are just as good a guys, if not better. It really made people think about how women were treated back then, and how're they're treated now. She obviously didn't like the anti-feminism because of the way she made all the good, obedient girls nasty and mean.

Feminism is definately a theme in the books, and I like that. Ever since Iwas a little kid I've admired Susan B. Anthony and have had some very strong opinions about the way women are viewed in society. I also like what the books say about choices. You can't expect others to make decisions for you, and you can't ignore difficult situations just because you don't know hopw to handle them.

I also noticed that the GDT has more thought in it than Twilight did. All Bella thought about was Edward, Edward, Edward. If Edward could have read her mind, he would have died from boredom and dumped her. But Gemma's mind was always thinking of different things: her debut, the magic, the tribes, her friends...She didn't think of Kartik all the time. She actually had substance in her thoughts. Bella was kind of an airhead.

Bella IS an airhead. Yes... Even when she was voluntarily going to her death, all Bella thought about was EDWARD. "And I spend the 20 minutes' drive with Edward" (I'm paraphrasing) But she's awfully selfless for as selfish as she is. She's always THINKING about someone else, but doesn't ever act on it, she acts selfishly but thinks selflessly. Her words and actions don't match up with her thoughts very well, I've always thought. It's like Meyer is trying REALLY hard to make Bella a heroine, but still has these predetermined actions and "choices" that Bella makes.

Ok, so I've been following this whole discussion adn I'll say something.
I'm a total Twilight freak, anything Twilight I know, but I also agree with most of you, Bella is an airhead and kinda selfish and with no depth or personality. Bella is selfish because she wants Edward for herself adn whenever Edward wasn't with her, she wants Jacob and she really can't have them both. She's actually hurting them by spending so much time with each of them. And then with Rennesme, she was the same. She sacrifices herself somehow but always ends up with what she wants.
For me, my fav characters have to be Embry, Seth, Rosalie and Leah. I prefer the characters that are in the background and who you have to think about whenever something really important happens.
And in a AGTB, my fav characters are Gemma and Kartik. At the beginning, I liked Simon, but then when he basically got her drunk in RA to have sex with her, that made me hate him so much.
And I'm totally Team Edward because it's edward and Robert Pattinson plays him and I actually wanted them to end up together so she could stop hurting Jacob by being his friend but at the same time loving him for more than a friend and then leaving him.
And jacob is an awesome character but he's too predictable, in my opinion.

And one more thing is that Twilight portrays women as fragile, stupid girls who can't live without a man by their side. That men are what make our lives more interesting. At the beginning, Bella without a Edward or a Jacob is very boring and such a uptight person with no life and then when they both come out, she becomes this desirable person and so interesting and almost promiscuous(?) because she's always thinking about doing it with Ed and then imagining having kids with Jake.
She's one of the reasons why men think so low of us, women. Unlike AGTB, where Gemma and Felicity and Pippa are very against the norm and they are strong, independent and feared women. And they don't do things like they are supposed to be done. They have powers, and they do whatever they please.

laprincesasm wrote:

And one more thing is that Twilight portrays women as fragile, stupid girls who can't live without a man by their side. That men are what make our lives more interesting. At the beginning, Bella without a Edward or a Jacob is very boring and such a uptight person with no life and then when they both come out, she becomes this desirable person and so interesting and almost promiscuous.

EXACTLY! I've even seen flair on Facebook that says, "Twilight taught me you can be strong, independant, AND uncoordinated" I sit there thinking, "WHAT?!? STRONG? INDEPENDANT? Have they READ the books?" Maybe she'd be considered strong if in the second book, she'd tried to hide her pain so she wouldn't hurt Charlie or her mom, if she'd suffered in silence, AS, in fact, she pointed out in Twilight when Edward asked her about Forks. What really annoys me too is the High School Musical thing (I have no other way to phrase it) that even though she's horribly mean to ALL of her friends besides the vampires and werewolves, they still like her for the most part. She even calls the people who don't like her anymore (Jessica, Lauren, etc.) "Good vs. Evil" them being evil. If a friend of mine went crazy and completely shunned me like that, when they got back to normal, I don't know if I'd take them back; especially since she was never very nice to them in the first place.

wow, i certainly hadn't thought about the suffer in silence person thing, you are so right!!! she is practically a hypocryte or she somehow wants to attract attention to herself. At the beginning, she was the center of attention while she was dating edward but when he's gone, she goes back to being ordinary bella. But i really don't know about the whole "High School Musical thing" except that she shuned the people that she didn't like or how were hypocrites to her like basically everybody, who just liked her because she was "the shiny new toy" except angela and ben.

Yeah, Bella doesn't make much sense to me. I mean, she gets made at Jessica and Lauren for shunning her after she went psycho because Edward left. If Bella were a real person, I doubt she'd have any friends at all! But I always did like Angela. She seemed like the nicest of Bella's (human) friends and the most understanding of Bella's Edward frenzy.

Exactly, Angela was the only understanding one, unlike Jessica and Lauren and I don't know who else. Jessica of all people should understand because she got dumped by Mike and she basically worshipped him

Yeah, Jessica confuses me. One minute, she's Bella's friend, and the next, she's on the "evil" side.
I think Angela was the most understanding because she loved Ben and they had, I think, a better relationship than Jessica and Mike. Angela and Ben were just more made for each other, you know?

They were more understanding because Angela just WAS. That's the way she was. I can't really agree with you about Angela and Ben, because you didn't ever see much of them. Smeyer I think wanted it to look that way, but I never really saw for myself. They talked about eachother, they went on dates, but there wasn't a lot of them.

Felicity Worthington wrote:

Yeah, Jessica confuses me. One minute, she's Bella's friend, and the next, she's on the "evil" side.
I think Angela was the most understanding because she loved Ben and they had, I think, a better relationship than Jessica and Mike. Angela and Ben were just more made for each other, you know?

Umm. I think she [Jessica] was the most realistic one of them all. I wouldn't be Bella's friend either if she completely avoided me for 6 months, barely contributed to anything I said or did, and also spent all her time with her secretive boyfriend.

About her relationship... uhh yeah, most high school crushes, etc. are like that. They're all tingly and giddy at first and then they just fizzle. Pretty normal compared to the rest of them.

Yes I read Twilight before everyone else! I am so worried that AGATB will become the new Twilight=(

Well.
I live in Sweden so the first book is calle "Ögat över månskäran" I don't really know how to translate it... I think "The eye over the moonshire" can be right, but I'm really not sure.

The one above is the first book...
The second book is "Upprorsänglar" wich meens the same as Rebel Angels.
The third book is called "Längtans rike" wich translates something with ""The Realms of longing" or? I don't know.

It's really interesting the way languages translate...

blue_panda_41295 wrote:

It's really interesting the way languages translate...

Indeed.

Like Dumbledore is Bumblebee in France or something.

Wow... That's odd. I wonder if they kept his name the same in the books then, or if they came up with something else?