Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Paper Topic

Hello friends! Wanted to post my paper topic for helpful commentary too! So, eyerolls aside, I'm working on writing my paper about how "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown" by Holly Black (in Strahan) is the anti-Twilight. I say again, the ANTI-Twilight. So no gooey sparkly vampiry stuff here. Rereading the story has really highlighted how grim Black's vampire world is. It's pretty dark and the romanticism of being a vampire and such is definitely not present. What caught my attention the most (without ruining the fun of my class presentation tomorrow) is the constant reference to becoming a vampire as "the infection" and the constant use of words like "poison" and "outbreak", which makes it sound more like Ebola or something (I think we talked somewhat about this in class and how it was what made the story "science fiction" which is another HUGE difference from Twilight).

Bailey loves comments. Oh, and Happy International Peace Day!

4 comments:

Katy said...

Oh yeah. This is a great topic. There's so much material out there that you could go on for far more than 2,000 words. Maybe you could compare and contrast specific characters in each to make the argument that much deeper. Good luck!

Jordan said...

I agree. Comparing specific characters sound like a good idea. You could also bring in maybe one more source, one that is more like Black's version of vampire, where the vamps are seen as diseased and dangerous, not bright and shiny.

Mark Penner said...

I also like the topic. Perhaps pursuing an angle along the lines of to what extent either "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown" or "Twilight" is representative (or a perversion)of the vampire archetype as traditionally portrayed in English Literature.

Courtney said...

Good idea! I liked what you said at the end and it would interesting to talk more about what makes "Coldest Girl" science fiction, while Twilight is not, even though they both concern the same topic. Good luck!