critical analysis number one

Peter J. Smith

Dr. Kahn

Propaganda Power and Politics

February 6^th 2010

Critical Analysis Number One

The Twilight book series has exploded in popularity as of late. Although the Twilight series has gained serious fanfare it has also received a significant amount of criticism from several religious groups. A popular Catholic website named Catholic Online recently published an article by Leticia Velasquez that heavily criticized the series and strongly implied that the books were “toxic” to the young people that read them.

The majority of this article appears to utilize a persuasion method called pathos which means that it generally appeals to the reader’s emotions while trying to persuade them that the Twilight series is bad. This is evident from the onset of the article. The beginning of the article warns that parents are “unconsciously lowering their standards” and that “as the rest of the culture of death slinks to new lows, we who are trying to raise souls for heaven must remain vigilant”. Sentences such as these frame the rest of the article as one that promotes a feeling of uncertainty and fear about what young people may be exposed to (in this case Twilight) especially since the parents may not be “conscious” of it.

Another example of the author of this article trying to make people afraid of what the Twilight series could do to their children can be found in the middle of the article where the author boldly states that Twilight is “about sex, plain and simple”. The author also writes that the theme of “living on the edge of darkness” that is prevalent in Twilight and other children’s literature such as Harry Potter, and A Series of Unfortunate Events “have created a generation of children who have never seen the true, the noble and the beautiful.” Both of these sentences further play on parent’s fears by alluding to the idea that Twilight will somehow corrupt its readers. Since Catholic online is mostly read by practicing Catholics this article elevates this emotion since most Catholics believe in abstaining from sexual activity until marriage and want to raise their children in a strong faith filled environment with Jesus Christ as the focus. These two statements give the impression that Twilight is something to be feared despite the fact that the main character Bella does not have sex with Edward until the final book of the series when both are married. In addition to that it appears Twilight’s main story seems to be more focused on two people that struggle to be together because of their circumstances, an idea that has been utilized in many other accepted children’s stories such as Aladdin.

There is a final type of propagandist persuasion utilized in this article: the appeal to logic or logos. At the end of the article the author offers a solution to young people reading the Twilight series by stating that parents should introduce their children to Christian authors such as C.S. Lewis since those books will not contain the dangerous material found in Twilight. This is especially surprising since the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis are children’s fantasy books that incorporate violence, evil magic, and wizardry.

In conclusion this article, although it appears as simply a critique of a popular book series it is in fact a prime example of propaganda. It demonizes the Twilight series as toxic and dangerous to the children who read it without giving any credence to the books as simply romance novels that do contain several moral lessons and values that are widely recognized by Catholics.