Ginger Snaps (2003)

I delayed watching Ginger Snaps for years because of the DVD cover. It gave me the impression of some really cheesy 90's b movie and I didn't want to waste the time. But. A friend strongly recommended that I watch it, and thank god I did. This is one of the best paranormal movies I've seen.

The story is about two sisters and one night walking home, the elder, Ginger, gets bitten by a 'dog'. Slowly the bitten sister begins to change, in a social sense as well as a physical sense. She begins taking an interest in a boy she and her sister previously looked down upon, she distances herself from her sister, Brigitte, with whom she shared a very close bond before the bite, and she even experiments with drugs. In addition to this, her hair begins to change colour and she grows more of it all over her body. She even grows a tail. Brigitte becomes concerned and looks into many possibilities, one of which is that her older sister was bitten by and is now changing into a werewolf. She then goes about trying to find a cure, while having to deal with Ginger, who is getting cravings for blood and is changing into something that is less and less like the sister she was once so close with.

What makes this movie different than a lot of other paranormal horrors is that there is a really strong feminine voice present in both of the sisters. Other than Buffy, women play the wilting heroine in horrors, and in a lot of other genres as well. Not so in this movie. Ginger has a very powerful personality throughout the whole movie. Even before the change, she'd stick up for Brigitte when she got picked on and would talk back to people who would speak against either her or her sister. After the change she exuded an even more pronounced air of self- confidence. she doesn't show doubt. Brigitte on the other hand at first seems very timid and meek, which she might be, Brigitte displays an inner strength that ginger lacks. She resists the temptation of power, which she would get if Ginger bit her and she turned into a werewolf. She seems like a follower at the beginning, but she's just loyal.

Something else that makes this movie interesting is that it's an allegory of puberty for girls. After Ginger gets bitten, she also gets her period for the first time. Then when she is reacting weird to being bitten by a werewolf, adults just assume she's acting so abnormal because 'its that time of the month' instead of seeing it for what it is. It's a great social commentary on how society tends to deal with women as something foreign and potentially scary, especially around menstruation. The funny thing was that it was women voicing these views. The mom just fluffs off Ginger's moody behaviour as 'growing up', and the school nurse does the same thing when Ginger tells her about her symptoms. All of the Ginger Snaps movies have some sort of feminist theme if you look for it, but this one is the most blatant and deals most directly with how as a society we choose to perceive women as foreign, evil, and abnormal.

Even without the allegorical reference this was an awesome movie. It was fast-paced and suspenseful. On my top five list for paranormal movies of all time!

Wolf Moon by Charles de Lint

This novel was well put together, I quite enjoy this author. So far everything I've read by him (to date probably 3 books including this one... but still) has been well written. He seems to know what words to use to best capture a feeling or mood or set the tone. Characterization is also very well done.

This book is about a werewolf who comes across an inn and falls in love with a woman there and her family and tries to set up something of a life with them, but he has this evil magician on his tail who wants to kill him. The time in which the book took place has a kind of a solemn almost medieval mood too it, not with the knights n' such, but the way in which the characters speak and the setting, it all has a 'back then' feel to it. So he tries to set up this life and it gets to be near perfect, which he longs for because in his past he hasn't been accepted by neither humans nor wolves because of what he is. But here he has finally found a place where people accept him. Then he goes to this party where the evil magician/ harper is and the harper moves in on his new found happiness.

I wish the author would have went into a bit more detail when concerning the actions of people not narrating, because I guess it's too much like real life where we have to assume inner turmoil and motivation behind their actions, but besides this criticism, this book was pretty good. Even as I noted this I still very much enjoyed the story, only after I've finished do criticisms pop into my head, when I'm no longer under the author's spell :P

A decent read on werewolves. There is a bit of romance, but it isn't the focus of the story. It's more about the werewolf himself and his struggle to find a place for himself in the world. It's a pretty good one.

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

I'm beginning to get really annoyed with the heroine. 

I liked Twlight, it got me into reading after going through something of a slump in that department. The characters were all interesting and the story was one we all know (if you're into the vampire romance scene) but given a fresh spin so that your interested. The second book was not as good as the first, but still had a good story and though Bella was beginning to get on my nerves a bit, I could deal with it, though a lot of her flaws were illustrated and brought to light in that one. don't get me wrong, I love flawed characters, I just recently finished breakfast of champions by vonnegut, is there one character in that book that isn't flawed? But that doesn't matter because their flaws are made known to the reader... and I guess celebrated for what they are in a way. In this instance, it seems like no one in the book can see Bella's flaws, she is the 'ultimate possesion' everyone either wants her or hates her because others want her, because she is of course the ultimate, and therefore has no flaws (by the by, I'm being sarcastic, but in the best way possible), and because her flaws were not recognized, they were glaringly apparent, and extreemly annoying. But still the story kept my interest and was in no way a disapointment as a whole.
 
Now in the third book, she's getting on my nerves. Firstly, right off the bat, one of the main parts in this installment of the series is Bella's relationship with Jacob black. Now, if I were to start reading the series now, I would be able to accept their relationship as it is, but having read a supposed 'history', where did this relationship come from? In the last book Bella spent a week or two with Jacob and only searched him out ever so that she could escape her problems and maybe get closer to what she percieved as 'Edward', and then all of a sudden no one knows Jacob like her? Give me a break! That would make more sense if they had some sort of history before Twilight, which they do, but she said that she barely remembered him the first time they met in book 1, and even then she used him to her own ends. So in my opinion, that relationship, at least on her side, doesn't make sense or doesn't really resonate with me as a deep and meaningful relationship that would inerfere with her relationship with edward, but she somehow makes it, which makes you wonder the level of her commitment to him. Speaking of that, sometimes in this book I didn't really feel Bella's connection with Edward was something 'real'. It's ok that Bella's relationships with other people are weak in a romance, so long as she has a strong relationship with her lover. and she doesn't have a strong connection with anybody, except Edward, and thats fine, its a romance, no one else is supposed to be connected. but somewhere in the third book we have Bella pushing Edward away? I mean she isn't supposed to cling to him (never that), but she starts resenting his feelings. She gets her back up that one time, in the entire series, that he makes a request of her, that is for her own benefit. But she whines to him every night to stay with her while she's sleeping. 

I guess my problem is that it seems Bella is extremely selfish and expects people to what she says without really reciprocating. In fact shes quite passive throughout the entire series, surprisingly. There is alot of things happening, so you almost miss it with all of the action, but the action is happening around her or because of her, but she never takes an active role, and yet she's so selfish and demanding. thats what bugs me. (and it took a whole three books to figure it out).
 
Alright, my big schpeal out of the way, Bella and her interactions with the other characters was the only thing I didn't like about this series. If she had been removed from it I think I would have loved this series and would have been demanding more. I have been reading that there will be another book with Edward narrating this time, maybe that will be better, but then again... am I willing to risk the time and possibly money?

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

I enjoyed Twilight and was really looking forward to the sequel, but I was very disappointed in this book. The only thing this installment in the series did for me was to lower my opinion of the heroine Bella. Her actions in this novel showed her to be selfish and weak, characteristics I didn't pick up as strongly in the first novel, but now that this side of her was brought to my attention, I can think back to the first book to instances were she displayed these characteristics. The author is good at developing plot, but the characterization doesn't really do anything for me, I feel no connection to the characters and by the time I was three quarters through the novel I really wished Bella would grow a back bone and stop being so superficial. The relationship Bella has to other supporting characters is very weak, though it is emphasized in a way that would suggest it being something more substancial. She selfishly seeks Jake's company so that she can 'hear' Edward, and then all of a sudden he's her best friend... of course she has no friends in this installment so its true, but being together for a few weeks won't make you someone's bosom buddy, well it could, but I didn't feel it in this instance. things like that. 

Also, everything was so dramatic for Bella in this book. I mean its great to place emphasis on emotion, but there is such a thing as going over board to the point of superficiality, to where you start to doubt the character... not something you want. And I hate the superficial 'caring and worrying over others'. That is a valid characteristic that can be pulled off wonderfully, but not when the character, on the same page, will be rudely selfish and uncaring about those around her. And on that note, I dislike how the author makes Bella solve situations. Bella is portrayed to be intellectually disecting the problem and finding the 'obvious' and best solution that all the other characters go along with because of its brilliance. And most of the time her 'intelligence' makes no sense, as the solution is most likely based on emotion, which is fine, so long as it isn't passed off as intelligence.
 
That said, the story is good and it is only the character that gets on my nerves, and that is because everything was dragged out for so long, but thankfully the characterizations are not all the book is comprised of. It took me until I was half finished the book to realize that I was somewhat upset with the main character, the plot is very good and worth reading. I will read the third book, granted not with the same enthusiasm with which I began the second, but I will read it and look forward to an interesting ending. And hope that the main character will shape up and stop clinging to every available male.