Bella Swan Cullen

Character Discussion Forum

Moderators: December, Bronze Haired Girl, una

Forum rules
Character Discussion Forum

Click for Forum Rules
leahroselover
Teaching Eric Social Graces
Posts: 242
Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:39 pm
Contact:

Re: Bella Swan Cullen

Post by leahroselover »

Yeah we are at the top of the food chain
Image
Avi By Kaitlin @B&E.com
Sig by Electrimafried @ASN
Why Edward Hates Blonde's Pg-13 : A Dark/Romance/Comedy Fic
dazzlingdynamite
Hiding Lauren's Hair Dye
Posts: 450
Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 9:27 am
Location: Ecosse

Re: Bella Swan Cullen

Post by dazzlingdynamite »

Totally - therefore the smartest.
I think we need a big clap for that . . .

anyways my mum is shouting at me to go to bed, laters <3
Image
Call That a Comeback?
YOU ME AT SIX
Lioness Rampant
Banging Out Dents with Tyler
Posts: 325
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:18 am
Location: Searching for my Jasper
Contact:

Re: Bella Swan Cullen

Post by Lioness Rampant »

leahroselover wrote:Yeah we are at the top of the food chain
there's this barbeque place in town that has a shirt that says:
"I didn't get to the top of the food chain to become a vegetarian"
I know it might be offensive to vegetarians, but its cute!
Image
ColormeBSG
Mara Jade Cullen
Jump Starting Bella's Truck
Posts: 138
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2008 4:16 pm

Re: Bella Swan Cullen

Post by Mara Jade Cullen »

Bella is designed to be a character that can be sympathized with so that the reader could easily step into her shoes.
I don't get why people think that she is weak and boring. She goes against the grain of what is the usual while still being "approachable" by the reader. She is takes care of her family. She doesn't just go along with the crowd. She thinks differently than her friends and classmates. She stands up to her father. And she has a strong enough personality to hold her own against Edward--who can be a little stubborn and opinionated if you haven't noticed.
So she's weak physically. *shrugs* She's human{/i] in a supernatural setting. Of course she has to be protected. People complain because they think that she is the perpetual damsel in distress. But in Twilight she doesn't wait for Edward to come and rescue her. She goes out to protect her mom and the Cullens from James even though she knows that it means her own death and sacrifice of everything that she had with Edward. I don't see that as weak. She may have been rather gullible, but I think that she shows strength of character throughout the series.
Despite her physical weakness she goes to Italy and saves Edward.
Breaking Dawn then turns the tables. She goes from being the "weak" link in the Cullen family to being the most powerful character that saves them all.

Everyone has their own opinion, of course. But I think that those who see the story as being sexist in reference to Bella's role choose to only see what they want and aren't considering her storyline as a whole.
Image
Team Edward
leahroselover
Teaching Eric Social Graces
Posts: 242
Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:39 pm
Contact:

Re: Bella Swan Cullen

Post by leahroselover »

I never saw Bella as someone I could sympathize with. I found her to incredibly , if not stupid at times. If fact, the only person I could ever imagine as Bella was Stephanie Meyer herself.

Bella is flawed in so many ways and yet never does she try and improve. I mean she's vain, dependent, naive, etc...
Not to mention her fake modesty is annoying.

"I'm hideous and boring!"
Yeah so that's why every male in Forks wants to go out with you, eat you or rape you. *headdesk*

She is physically weak, but she doesn't once try and learn how to fight until she's a vampire. Like, you would think being surrounded by were wolves and vamps you would want to learn basic self-defense.

I guess, its not impressive to me that Bella has to become a whole new species to become useful, Buffy anyone?
Image
Avi By Kaitlin @B&E.com
Sig by Electrimafried @ASN
Why Edward Hates Blonde's Pg-13 : A Dark/Romance/Comedy Fic
holdingoutforjacob
Part of Carlisle's Clan
Posts: 2169
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:43 pm
Location: Where the wild things are...

Re: Bella Swan Cullen

Post by holdingoutforjacob »

i'm no fan of bella, but this is getting awful negative...

i think i've taken sort of a different approach to reading the books. instead of judging all the characters as they relate to bella (you know, only liking characters who are nice to her and such) i judged them without the bias of the main character. and it led me to some pretty interesting conclusions.

for instance, i didn't dislike rosalie until BD, when she was unnecessarily nasty to everyone.
Image

death cannot stop true love, it can only delay it for a while...
leahroselover
Teaching Eric Social Graces
Posts: 242
Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:39 pm
Contact:

Re: Bella Swan Cullen

Post by leahroselover »

I judged every character as they appealed to me in the books and as the series went on my feelings about some characters changed.

I think the biggest change for me was Jacob. I love him, he's a mess but in BD ( :cry: ) Iets just say I try to ignore it.

Bella, I respected her when she punched Jacob in Eclipse and when she wanted to keep her baby in BD. Other than that...nothing
Image
Avi By Kaitlin @B&E.com
Sig by Electrimafried @ASN
Why Edward Hates Blonde's Pg-13 : A Dark/Romance/Comedy Fic
Lunna-san
Helping Mike to Get a Clue
Posts: 551
Joined: Sat Aug 23, 2008 9:19 pm

Re: Bella Swan Cullen

Post by Lunna-san »

leahroselover wrote:I never saw Bella as someone I could sympathize with. I found her to incredibly , if not stupid at times. If fact, the only person I could ever imagine as Bella was Stephanie Meyer herself.

Bella is flawed in so many ways and yet never does she try and improve. I mean she's vain, dependent, naive, etc...
Not to mention her fake modesty is annoying.

"I'm hideous and boring!"
Yeah so that's why every male in Forks wants to go out with you, eat you or rape you. *headdesk*

She is physically weak, but she doesn't once try and learn how to fight until she's a vampire. Like, you would think being surrounded by were wolves and vamps you would want to learn basic self-defense.

I guess, its not impressive to me that Bella has to become a whole new species to become useful, Buffy anyone?
Buffy is a vampire Slayer. She was designed to kill vampires. She recieved trainning, she fights kickboxing. Maybe the Buffy pre-vampire slayer stuff might was not so interesting. She was a cheerleader, whining and vain just like Rosalie. Bella was a normal girl dealling with the supernatural. So, she was facing things she didn't quite understand and she couldn't fight against. She didn't have the skills or the strenght to kill James, Victoria or even Laurent.

So I think she dealt with the danger the way she could. But it was an unbalanced situation.She was, in the end, just human. And she opened a door that you can't shut again.

In many ways. Buffy's vampires are far easier to kill than Twilight's. So, even Xander could kill a couple of them before being punched/pushed/almost killed. :roll: The same didn't apply to Bella. If you think about it, Bella riscked her life every minute she spent with Edward because she loves him. I think this makes her strong. But, as everyone, she has flaws. She's eighteen. So, she's maturing, especially emotionally.And she had a lot to deal with.
Mrs.Edward_Cullen<3
Official Dog Lover!
Posts: 5001
Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 9:04 am
Location: Barackling out with Bri and Brits, while making newbieness banners. Also trying out postahol.

Re: Bella Swan Cullen

Post by Mrs.Edward_Cullen<3 »

Mara Jade Cullen wrote:Bella is designed to be a character that can be sympathized with so that the reader could easily step into her shoes.
I don't get why people think that she is weak and boring. She goes against the grain of what is the usual while still being "approachable" by the reader. She is takes care of her family. She doesn't just go along with the crowd. She thinks differently than her friends and classmates. She stands up to her father. And she has a strong enough personality to hold her own against Edward--who can be a little stubborn and opinionated if you haven't noticed.
So she's weak physically. *shrugs* She's human{/i] in a supernatural setting. Of course she has to be protected. People complain because they think that she is the perpetual damsel in distress. But in Twilight she doesn't wait for Edward to come and rescue her. She goes out to protect her mom and the Cullens from James even though she knows that it means her own death and sacrifice of everything that she had with Edward. I don't see that as weak. She may have been rather gullible, but I think that she shows strength of character throughout the series.
Despite her physical weakness she goes to Italy and saves Edward.
Breaking Dawn then turns the tables. She goes from being the "weak" link in the Cullen family to being the most powerful character that saves them all.

Everyone has their own opinion, of course. But I think that those who see the story as being sexist in reference to Bella's role choose to only see what they want and aren't considering her storyline as a whole.


I very much agree with you. Bella was percepted by some people as the weak, human girl in a world of a vampires. I think you're mostly right. She may be physically weak in the beginning but she's emotionally stronger than most people. And when she ends up stronger than everyone else she does come in and save them all. Heck, she saved some people in her human life. She's not a damsel in distress. She's our heroine.
Image
Lioness Rampant
Banging Out Dents with Tyler
Posts: 325
Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:18 am
Location: Searching for my Jasper
Contact:

Re: Bella Swan Cullen

Post by Lioness Rampant »

Bella is definately emotionally unstable. I consider that weak!
Last edited by Lioness Rampant on Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
Image
ColormeBSG
Locked