CONTENTS 00:00 Part 0: Twilight 05:00 Part 1: Fiction 18:30 Part 2: Desire 44:21 Part 3: Fantasy 1:22:54 Part 4: Power 1:51:28 Part 5: Death 2:22:12 Part 6: Identity
My grandfather was THE biggest twilight fan I've ever known. He found the Twilight series just after my grandmother passed away, and the books helped to fill a void in his life. He loved the books and he loved the movies. He loved the books so much, he installed a stereo system around his entire property so he could listen to the audio books wherever he was at, inside or out. And be listened to those books every waking hour. I was a young boy at the time, so I felt an obligatory disdain for the gushy love story, but my grandfather explained it to me, and I decided it was acceptable. He had a signed copy of each book, and when he passed, he left each of his children one of those books. RIP grandpa Eddie.
I have to dwell on my like for this comment was the 666th like, and that gave me dopamine. Thank you weird goblin gods of random stuff occurring online. And Natalie. Thanks to you also, you saint of deconstruction.
I know you probably won't read this, but I still feel the need to say: thank you Natalie. Your essay on incels was the first time I became interested in politics and culture. You showed me an entirely different point of viewing the world, showed me a field of academics that I didn't even know existed. Last year I started university and I'm majoring in culture studies. And it is thanks to you that I'm doing what I love now. You showed me the way of looking at simple things like envy or cringe and seeing so much more beneath the surface, even Twilight is worth 3h serious analysis! You're an inspiration. Thank you for everything.
seconding this. I started following you (Natalie) in 2016 or so and it was your videos among some others that radicalized me. You're a huge part of the reason I'm involved in leftist politics today
Same, I'm sad she's not as frequent. Because I think she's one of the few that's more balanced. Like I either see extremes of 'men suck' or 'feminazi women!!' with no actual analysis
Yes, she is an absolute godsend. The amout of work and research and TALENT that goes into these videos is staggering. These are not "video esseys" they are contemporary philosophical works of huge value.
See how Natalie restrained herself by not making any jokes about filling her holes? Very demure, very mindful, very cutesy. Lacan says something similar.
If it’s any consolation: the Newcastle regiment that Wickham was shoved off to? IRL, they were dealt horrendous casualties at Waterloo. So if it helps, you can pretend that a French cannonball practically vaporized him.
The funnier thing is, comedian Jimmy Carr summed this up in one joke. He collected the most popular answers to surveys answered by women in what they wanted in a man. Everything suits serial rapists/killers, stalkers. There's nothing woke in woke culture. Those of any gender who want men have fantasies about 'being taken.' This *is* way over-thinking it all.
This is a masterpiece. The first time I've ever been envious of Stephanie Meyer, not for her money her success her fans, she's more than welcome to them all. But to have the great Natalie Wynn devote this much time and thoughtfulness to praising her literary creation, wow. Chapeau, Mrs Meyer.
Please, never quit. The quality of this is so high it makes the whole experience exquisite. I love how the internet has made it possible for creators like you to just create.
Her videos are the ONLY piece of media ever for which I'd be willing to spend 3 complete hours (divided throughout an entire week tho) watching till the end. And being a ADHD delu-loser myself, I consider this a 100% true achievement. Congrats to her.
@@KD_OliveiraI didn't realize this was even near 3 hours until I read your comment. I was just enjoying it so deeply and wasn't paying attention to how long its been; I'm an hour in 😂
"I am begging these people to learn to think psychologically instead of literally so that they're not constantly baffled and traumatized upon encountering literally the most common type of sexual fantasy that people have." Amen.
What always bothered me about the Twilight books wasn't that they were "problematic", it was that it was like the books reached back in time into 16-year-old me and pulled out every greasy, squirmy, deeply embarrassing fantasy I had and smeared it all over the pages with the same maturity and awkwardness that I had at the time. They made me feel intense secondhand embarrassment for all the people reading the contents and going "Bruh...*what*" because it's SO nakedly the kinds of fantasies that repressed, inexperienced girls have where everything becomes a mishmash of metaphors and the main character is both obviously ordinary but also the most, MOST special-est girl. They're so on-the-nose that they make me feel exposed and uncomfortable. So thank you so, so much Natalie for walking me through that discomfort and helping me understand that it's actually extremely common to have a squirming, awkward, deeply embarrassing 16-year-old girl inside us that we used to be who's just kind of flailing around trying to figure herself out with imperfect metaphors and weird Chosen Ones monster polycule kidnapping fantasies.
I think a lot of people fell in love with it for the same reason it creates discomfort for you- it's a very naked look into a very common type of inherently feminine wish fulfillment. The stuff your inner 16 year old self wants but has learned NEVER to say aloud. And in a way, I commend Stephanie Meyer for living her bliss for all to see. It's the phenomenon of embracing "I am cringe but I am free," but not even realizing (at least initially) that you're cringe to begin with, which is usually considered even more cringe. I'm positive there were loads of people who responded to that unapolegetic wish fulfillment with "FINALLY" instead of deep resistance. I think both responses make sense, but the fact they are total opposites despite originating from the same desire is deeply interesting.
Honestly, I think a decent amount of people jump from YA straight to romance or they never have the YA phase (since it wasn't that popular until relatively recently) and that's where all the repressed desires go. Romance can definitely still be cringe because it exposes similar vulnerabilities and also because to some degree, any description of physical intimacy is awkward (especially dressed up with flowery language), but it's generally more polished because it's intended for an adult audience. Another thing about romance, is that the tropes feel very well established and it seems like editors generally iron out the majority of the issues. I feel like some of the awkwardness of Twilight and 50 Shades is the sense there was a lack of oversight.
I’ve watched this like 5 times now and still digesting new information from it. I also find your voice calming and helpful when I’m having issues with my anxiety.
On the note of Death, Sex and Twilight I had an ephiphany a couple months ago about why i as a young gay cis male teen was so gripped by Twilight. It was because of AIDS. I had grown up through the tail end of the AIDS crisis and therefore was terrified of the kind of sex I as a horny gay teen couldn't stop thinking about. As Edward was pushing away Bellas physical advances I understood immediately it was because the physicality of sex for them would be death because thats how i felt anytime a man i wanted came close to me.
I have a feeling that if something like an “immortality injection” that stops aging was to be invented, that’s exactly what would happen to those that get it
It's rather hard to find but the 1987 film _Near Dark_ does a great take on that. It's dark, depressing, sad, and strips away all the romance surrounding vampires. One of the best vampire movies around imho.
Can we take a moment to appreciate Natalie's mastery of leitmotifs? Watching the video I can identify over 20 different tracks that correspond to their associated videos from Envy, Shame, Cancelling, Opulence, Beauty, The Hunger and even the Nostalgia tangent. Makes it feel like a cinematic universe of ideas and feelings being channeled through a modern-day Oracle of Delphi.
The REAL reason why Twilight is problematic is because Edward didn’t put his seatbelt on, so if they were to crash, his body would become a PROJECTILE that is a danger to EVERYONE. Strap in before you strap on. Buckle up EVERY TIME. You may be an immortal vampire, but your hot human girlfriend is not.
This made me think that technically vampires can die in a car accident (?). If he projectile flies to a semi and the crash is strong enough to break him into two pieces while the semi sets aflame 🤔🤔🤔
Not true because 1) his senses are quick enough that he would never get into an accident in the first place because of his super vision and fast reflexes and 2) even if he somehow couldn't avoid the accident he would still be quick enough with his vampiric senses to shield Bella - there's no possibility of him projectiling out of the car because his mind works at like 100x the speed it would take for that to happen
In trying to figure out how to have relationships that didn't propagate systems of oppression, I have been looking for the idea that, "Fantasies are not literal wishes. Fantasies construct situations where emotional needs are met and inhibitions to pleasure are removed," for a while now. Thank you.
That feels a little too convenient, like it’s said to avoid thinking about something. It’s not like fantasy is 1 to 1 with your actual desires, but it didn’t just come out of nowhere.
Just a fun truth to share. The biggest Twihards I knew when the book first came out were all military men. They were totally self aware about it as well. I remember one reveling in the absurdity of watching a guy who's 6'2" and 2301bs of pure muscle carrying ordinance while exclaiming," I can't fucking believe she kissed Jacob! What the hell was she thinking!"
I have a bunch of military friends, and they surprise me endlessly. Some times I think the constraints of military discipline are great for freeing people to be who they really are in other arenas
No, the Mormon vampires fought on the same side as the ethnic stereotypes. Well I guess against the other ethnic stereotypes, but that side only had one of those (Italiens). The "good guys" had a bunch of ethnic stereotypes.
@@cassif19 It was confusing. I think Natalie misspoke a little there. If this piques your interest, that fight sure is...something.... in both the book and I'm told it's SOMETHING in the movie version lol.
I wish i could show this video to my 12 year old self, who stood up in front of her 7th grade english class and read out the essay she wrote on Edward Cullen’s Hero’s Journey. 😂
This part of the video made such an impression on me that I took a screenshot to memorialize it. Makes me laugh whenever I scroll through my phone gallery.
Ooohh, those blood-stained pearls combined with the pure white dress. The blood red nails and the white earrings. The costuming in this video is just brilliant.
I feel like that about Naoko Takeuchi. Sailor Moon is DEEPLY personal to me, to the point where I have to limit how much fun I allow myself to make fun of potterheads at any given time, and I am SO GRATEFUL that Naoko is such an intensely private person, to the point of being borderline secretive. I hope if she's secretly a horrible person she just keeps her opinions to herself forever and that I go into the abyss completely ignorant of them.
@hopstepjump69 Well, being an ally to LGBTQ+ people isn't mutually exclusive with being a horrible person. But you're right that there's probably less of a chance that she would end up tweeting the same things as... you know who.
Wow holy shit. As a creator I know how hard it is to put something together this in depth and well produced. well done. Hoping one day I'm watching a series of yours on Netflix
btw according to twilight eye color conventions, natalie has fed on animal blood in parts 0, 1 and 3, is hungry for blood in part 2, and, if i´m seeing the colors correctly, has fed on human blood in parts 4 and 5. in part 6 she´s got one red eye and one brown eye, which i think means that she has satisfied her hunger and yet is hungry for more! very fitting to the themes. i tip my hat off to you, miss points.
THANK YOU. I noticed the colored lenses, but I couldn't connect the dots since I didn't read or see Twilight. It's been bothering me for a while now, always good to check the comments ahah
I think possibly the point with the two colours in part 6 is representing the yin/yang duality she's discussing and the roles like pursuer / pursued that she's discussing. She's simultaneously desirous and satiated. Obviously she would have to be hungry for blood in the part called Desire!
@@fang_xianfu I was just unpacking the end where she's playing piano, and doesn't "resolve" the cadence until the very end. A perfect thematic end, and then now this meta-contact-lense story?? It really is so incredible to watch art with gestalt at this level.
I love how often in this it seems like you're strawmanning someone saying something outrageous and then cut directly to them saying the exact thing you implied they said
You cannot strawman someone who viciously, violently stuffs themselves with dried hay. The devolution and abandonment of dog whistles and euphemisms has been great in that they're easier to spot than ever, and terrifying in that they feel confident enough that they don't need to hide.
@@ruffethereal1904 Oh thank you for the most amazing image you've put in my head. A snooty victorian man saying all that " _Ladies_ are naturally assexual" nonsense while going into a corn farm (because of course is corn) violently stuffing his clothes with hay, climbing up a wooden pole/ cross and tying himself up, and screaming his stupid thoughs to scare off the birds.
Yeah, it's fantastic. I laughed like an idiot while I was in line for the cashier at the supermarket. I felt really normal and clever and not embarrassed at all.
I always interpreted Jacob ending up with Renesme as Stephanie being too fond of him to leave him alone, like "here's my OCs daughter so you're not lonely"
i agree, she totally wanted to have her cake and eat it too. to me that’s also why the big battle in Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 was a rug-pull : you thought we were going to have a bunch of characters die but it was only a vision, she didn’t want to kill anyone off
I wish she'd done the same for Leah - I remember being so upset the two of them didn't end up together and she wound up alone and forgotten at the end. I'll never figure that one out. Might be that she's seen as too male-coded, since she became a "beast" before she landed herself a guy? Either way - she deserved better XD
@@mollyross888 in the books that battle does not exist, they talk the entire time there is not battle that the readers believe is real only to have the rug pulled, the battle is a movie only moment - probably because so much talking is not transferable to the screen and it's hard to keep it interesting
Just another day of Natalie casually deconstructing several fundamental aspects of existence while analysing a teenage book series and slaying harder than anyone will this entire century 💓
I am recently married. A heterosexual couple, we both have the same bachelor's degree, the same age, and kind of the same socioeconomic background. I was the one who proposed, and some people treat it like it is the greatest achievement of the feminist movement (I guess because it is a non-disruptive action, people feel comfortable celebrating), but for me and for my husband it was the most natural course of action for our relationship. He likes to be courted, he likes to feel wanted, and so do I. People always talk about how you become one, and it's always been difficult for me to understand because I am still me, and he is still himself, but we share our lives with each other to be happier. This is the first time I understand the concept. We are one not because we complement each other to be a whole, but because I can identify myself in him in the most deeply and intimate way and vice-versa. Great video, I can't believe you didn't quote the greatest line in cinema history: "Bella, where the hell have you been loca!"
Hi, I liked your post and I’m puzzled about something, you say you husband likes to be courted and you too. In my mind, not minding the gender roles, it works easier when one of the two likes to be courted and the other likes to court. You think you both are like that in any measure?
Whenever a girl proposes to a man it’s so sad. I don’t care about gender roles, I just think no man deserves for a women to propose to them. You’ll realize that eventually. I guarantee you people don’t treat that like a feminist movement when you tell them you did that. They probably just feel sorry for you.
@@catc2938 Wow what a condescending and rude reply. Consider that you have no place to comment on someone else’s relationship. They are happy because that is how things work for them.
A close friend of mine who majored in philosophy once described Lacan as an extremely clever yet not especially wise borderline-charlatan, and while I would certainly not go that far myself, I do think that the degree to which he is infatuated with his own rhetorical calculus often obfuscates his most interesting ideas. It is appropriate that Bataille was his intellectual and romantic rival of sorts, as Lacan often seems to be daintily circling or tracing the outlines of extremely provocative ideas which Bataille relishes seizing and shoving in the reader's face outright whilst shouting, "Look! Look at it!" Which I guess is the Freudian versus the Nietzschean in a nutshell.
A) I loved that phrase too! particularly because it’s not just Lacan, beginning around Kant it feels like philosophy - perhaps because epistemology starts figuring so heavily into it - becomes a little like wandering through a hall of mirrors on l.s.d., but also B) I feel like I need to speak a little in defense of dense texts, because while there are certainly people who are mere obscurantists - i.e., who misuse jargon and terms of art and overall prolix to hide their paucity or even lack of ideas - there are other times, *many* times, when a philosopher will stretch, repurpose, or distance themselves from day-to-day language *specifically* because they’re trying to lift us from the rut of our ingrained thought-patterns … the idea is that to shake up thoughts you also have to shake up words. Now, someone may debate whether or not that’s *effective* - and I can think of times a philosopher used arcane language to make a new point with all the best intentions, yet the effort fell short of the mark - but it can’t be said that dense texts are always insincere, obscurantist, and empty … rather, it’s more often the case that society will simply take a few more cycles to catch up with the philosopher; _Society of the Spectacle_ was considered nearly indecipherable when Guy Debord first released it, but people who read it today usually wonder what was ever so indecipherable about it, because the ideas in it now seem so self-evident that it’s hard to imagine a time when they weren’t. But also, C) yeah, Lacan is a LOT.
As someone (yeah, I hate beginning a comment like that) who spent 4 years studying English/literature at a university level (I don't know what I was thinking either), this was hands down more informative and thought-provoking than most of my classes. Kinda sad, really but still...credit where credit's due 👍
If it's any solace, I had a really good Eng Lit program that was Contrapoints-level thinking and critical analysis and I still know we all wasted our time getting that degree.
I imagine an English teacher rolling their eyes when a young person proposes to do their book report on Twilight, only to be hit by something like this. I enjoyed every minute of this enlightenment. Thanks!
“Maybe I’ll make a video about love … when I’m in a better mood.” Hoping this means Natalie’s in a better mood! Absolutely brilliant video-on the level of Envy for me.
I wanted to add something for the Part 5, about how death, sex and sacrificing is often similar. In Turkey and I don’t know maybe in some close cultures the henna is not used as a cosmetic entirely. To apply henna to someone has symbolic meanings. In a Turkish proverb there is 3 occasions for henna; first for the soldier since he is going for his death, second for the bride(and the groom) before the wedding night and lastly for the lamb to sacrifice. These traditions are surviving well in Anatolia and actually shows how people perceive this actions as sacred somehow. I apologize if I could not explain properly since English is not my first language. Excellent video from Contrapoints!
I just re-watched that (and much of her other content) around the time of her "but what if it's not good enough yet" tweet and when this notification popped up I was SHOOK
but you were also most likely just a victim of your time. im a couple of years too young for the twilight craze and too autistic to ever have been into the super popular mainstream franchises at any point tbh, but i still distinctly remember that anything but hating it would get you instantly ridiculed because haha sparkling vampires isn't it ridiculous. and then later a bunch of comparisons between bella and katniss from hunger games (which i embarrassingly actually remember sharing and feeling smug about, never having read or watched either at the time lol). i kind of have a new respect for the girls who were so unapologetically into the girly things though, not just twilight, also justin bieber, 1D, etc. but i don't think it reflects negatively on anyone personally to have tried to be liked and fit in at 14 and pretend to hate a dumb book for it
@@overgrownkudzu I liked your comment. It reminded me how when I was about that age I suddenly knew *everything* as soon as I had learned just one thing. But the one thing I never knew was how much I didn't know 🥹. Hey, you might like to listen to the unabridged audio version of this book (read by Ilyanna Kadusian). As a human on the spectrum with you, it is very peaceful to listen to when on long walks, doing chores, driving a long way, etc... The files should be available for free at your library. Give it a try. Let us know. 🧛🏾♀️
@@overgrownkudzu i think my path, while also too autistic to get into popular series and instead hyperfixate on niche punk bands. Part of my disgust comes from being aro/ace, so much so in fact that i believed the whole world was faking it or hoping it would be real one day. That sex or dating could be pleasurable in any way. So i looked at twilight with bewilderment, i didn't understand why kids my age were drawn to something so horny, especially in the face of the open hatred people sent their way just for engaging. Like yes all the stalker/predator dynamics in the story only triggered my trauma of having stalkers and events of SA, but i could also never understand hatred for the series. This i assume part is 100% autism, but like 1. Don't read the book if it offends you, don't worry about people who do 2. I drew stuff people considered pornographic or perverted, while i didn't understand it in a sexual light, and simply want to improve my art skills, i understood the feeling of being ridiculed or called a bad person for simply engaging with media
I knew so many people who made hating Twilight their ENTIRE personalities. The number of people who had a neutral opinion on Twilight at that time was virtually nonexistent.
This part hit me like a tonne of bricks: Masculine and feminine potential within us And it's more satisfying to express both Masculinity and femininity is a duality inherent to human existence. This is why trans women and feminine men are not appropriating womanhood. Woman is not an ethnic group. Masculinity and feminity belong to all humanity.
@@danielamagalhaes7271 If a trans woman (that is as distinct from a man pretending to be a woman) competes at an unfair advantage* in a women's category, they are cheating, and it is functionally no different than other performance enhancing drug/procedure abuse. If a man enters a women's space or facility and takes advantage of it (either by pretending to be a woman or otherwise, like that women in stem event in I believe India which got taken over by men who thought they'd have an easier time obtaining internships and networking because it was a women's event) then that thing is being appropriated. *That is to say, they haven't complied with the sport's regulations about time on testosterone blockers/oestrogen or whatever else may reasonably be required to bring them within normal afab variation.
as a gay man who has (fictional) fantasies about being...um...'ravished'...by big and strong men, it's kind of a relief to hear this kind of non-judgmental description of that urge, because it feels so accurate to me. for me, it really is a combination of wanting to be genuinely desired by someone powerful + some internalized shame. it's flattering to the ego and free from self-hatred.
@@zna9297no they dont, and argueing with strangers online will not help you get over your clear trauma (sincerely, someone who argued with people online cause of trauma a few year ago) i hope you get some help and love to move past your anger.
Yeah, I'm a bi dude who indulged in the books when I was a teen and closeted. I didn't shamelessly indulge mind, there was a fair bit of shame and unease floating around, since I wasn't on good terms with my sexuality at that time, but I do get it.
It's not OK to want to be ravished anymore? Or to be ravishing? It's passion! I feel like I'm living in the twilight zone, no pun intended, when I interact with people who venture out into social media beyond YT. They're all sucking the life out of living (again, no pun intended LOL). Bummer.
Not having read or seen twilight, I wasn't sure whether this video would be too specific for me to enjoy it, but I see now there was nothing to worry about. So well written and presented, three hours passed like nothing. Thank you for all the work that you do! ♥
oddly enough, my father, a 50 yr old indian techbro, whose main interests are stocks (?) and the economy (????) is extremely into the twilight lore. he finds the vampire/werewolf thing 'interesting.' he doesn't care much for the romance, but the movie is one of his favorites. he prefers the worldbuilding over than of harry potter (deserved) and defends it quite earnestly
completely unrelated and i havent finished video yet but on the topic of omegaverse - who what why the FRENCH REVOLUTION OMEGAVERSE. it exists. who is it for. king louis xvi is an alpha and marie antoinette is an omega. its tagged NTR??????
"Psychology without the material analysis of power fails to explain some things" - I think this is some of the best things someone ever said. I work in a mental health institution and always thought about this but failed to put it in such simple words. You are magnificent ❤
omfg this is making me feel SEEN. girl holy shit. .i am a woman but your points on how incels lack the knowledge to express that they want to be beloved, and have never felt desired - WHEW. shot to the heart. & the discussion on how women identify both with the "man" and the "woman" in the romance novels - again, i am a woman (and a lesbian) but - damn, so on the fucking nose! you have really and truly killed me WOW. i have like ten new books i need to read now, as a result of this. i hope you're happy lmao
Sometimes i think that every american dream about "better world" is already present in Modern Day Russian. And it's the way you think (bad, not working) So...In Soviet Russia Incels are quate diffrent. Instead of biological reductionism, they more in line with vulgar esotericism. They believes in some kind of "sexual energy" that is the basis of everything. If this energy circulated freely, everyone would be in harmony. But the world is mired in sin: women, instead of giving men energy, prefer to restrict and monetize it. As a result, men, instead of becoming geniuses and creators, suffer and wither. This position is not just different from that of American incels - it is the opposite. For Russian incels, it is something of a sacred act. Whereas black pill eaters are pessimistic, RU Incels leaves room for optimism - the world is bad now, but it can be fixed. In general, it does not follow the tradition of American incel dogmas. It is more in the tradition of post-Soviet esotericists, enveloped in Castaneda and Roerichs, and ofc nostagia of the fake equality in the USSR. You can google meme "Альтушка для скуфа". Even without translation you will get the point. Yeap.. Welcome to Russia 💀
I think this is my third watch? Natalie I cannot get enough of the *waves at general contrapoints collective” the writing, humor, pacing, music/sounds it’s perfect I love how much you ground your videos in research and pull from so many diverse areas of thought, this is what I want from the future. People free to use their mind and talents for joy and knowledge that you want to come back to not toiling away peddling plastic single use content that you forget about Liz
It really is truly fascinating the obsession with true crime after the vampires went out of fashion, that or the abusive emperor, the medieval tyrant, how the "monster" changes and what is the source of his power.
Fun fact that I hope you'll appreciate: In German, "desire" can be translated as "Sehnsucht" - which is literally the addiction "Sucht" to yearning "sehnen". Meaning, you are addicted to the feeling of yearning and thus don't want it to end. It fits everything you say in part 2 so well and it is one of my favorite German words, so I thought I'd share.
Never in my life have I finished a 3 hour video on TH-cam, only to immediately restart the video to watch it all over again. I've been fascinated by these topics for a long time, but to find them all here, relayed in the way this was relayed... I want to take notes and study and learn and ugh this is amazing. Thanks so much for your hard work and for sharing it with us all.
Ikr? That's how I always end up when I'm watching ContraPoints videos lol. Immediately need to rewatch and then probably again a couple days later. That said, I'm only 50 minutes into this one and I feel like it's shaping up to be my favorite, it's just broken down and explained so well!
Honestly, she covers so much ground in this video from Twilight, to sexual dynamics, to gender power dynamics, to desire vs love, lesbian radical asexual TERF feminists. It was great, but definitely feel like there was some little parts or concepts I missed like I needed to watch it again to pick up on some things I missed. So, I have gone back and watched certain parts over again.
@@Mary-ix9sgsame 😅 i started watching in the middle of the night after a small mental breakdown (cptsd + 3-weeks-into-new-job stress), because i knew natalie could never fail at making me feel better just by being so incredibly brilliant, no matter where the video would be going - and she absolutely did, even more than i dared to expect. but i had to sleep eventually and ended up to be too busy to continue watching for two days - still thinking about it all the time, even saving it up a little bit, seeing how long i could go without knowing how it would end. like a really good movie or tv show ☺️ so i have just watched the rest of it and of course i can only speak for myself but it was so worth the wait. she went exactly where i hoped she would with her main point, despite basing it in part on something i deeply disagree with, while also having basically already almost entirely explained and validated my opposition to it, so i'm now left with the sweet challenge of completing my point and proving that i can come to the same main conclusion that way, which will require at least one rewatch - that's almost the best part, just behind my love for mastering intellectual challenges about extremely relevant societal issues which also concern me on a very personal level 😁 edit: oh and also it's definitely my favourite of hers.
I was curious how Natalie would discuss Twilight since I feel like every aspect of discussion and criticism has already been done 100 times over, and her using it to instead discuss the extremely fascinating psychological and cultural history of romance novels and the moral debate over romantic fantasies did NOT disappoint me!
Ok, so that's what it is. I thought there has to be an angle here as my first thought was why in the world would I watch three hours of someone picking apart Twilight in 2024? I probably still won't but good to know there is some point to this.
Weeeell not really, "the psychological history of romance novels" is not the subject matter whatsoever, and the video largely discusses moral debates over *sexual fantasies*, not romantic ones which is an important distinction to make. @@julieblair7472
@@Emma-Maze Calm down. I have followed Contrapoints since before she transitioned, but you can't say the timing of this video is like a decade off. Like why NOW?
This is easily one of the best TH-cam videos I've never watched since being on this website for over 10 years. And it's about my old middle school obsessions, Twilight. Honestly, thank you for this piece of art.
I recently read Giovanni's Room for the first time and the section about desire reminded of the line “You don't have a home until you leave it and then, when you have left it, you never can go back”
It doesn't even seem to matter what your essay is "about." The moment I see your work pop up I know I'm going to be led down a delightful and inspirational rabbit hole of philosophy. Thanks, Natalie.
My first instinct was to wholeassedly agree with you on the aptness, but... like... that's doing clowns pretty dirty. And I only half mean that in the cliche joke way. The longer I stare at her face, the more my existential dread deepens. A clown's aesthetic is intentionally hyper-exaggerated and colorful. It is absurd to an extent that threatens to break through the floor of the Uncanny Valley. And the the genesis of that is _performative,_ a desire to entertain, or for artistic self-expression. But this woman is trying to be taken seriously, both academically and professionally. Even contemporarily, her conservatism was extreme in both its degree and _authenticity._ And that is how she chose to present herself to a television audience? Look at her. She is oblivious to that contradiction entirely. Seriously, keep looking at her. The more details that emerge, the more it becomes clear she accorded tremendous effort and numerous choices to her hair, makeup, and accessories. *Look at her. Oh my god I can't stop looking at her.* *_She is the embodiment of the void, too long observed, gazing back into us._*
when contra said "has she reinvented Christianity? well... no, she's invented something worse" i laughed so hard i choked on a piece of apple from the salad i was eating for a solid 5 minutes. then when i turned the video back on it went "PART 5: DEATH" truly the greatest video of all time
Me as a teenage boy, obsessed with Twilight, I felt so ashamed to be one of the few guys into it. It was basically a dirty secret of mine. I remember hiding the books I got from the library under my mattress.
Madam, your research and analysis into this topic are above and beyond! Thank you for all that you do. It's so refreshing to see intellectual deep dives into a topic vs. the normal daily social media reacting that plagues us these days.
She was huge a very, very long time ago. Soooo many books. Two made into TV movies, one with a very young Helena Bonham Carter. I’ll put it this way. I discovered Cartland at 13, loved it. Perfect romance for that age. And then she was the gateway romance drug to those she apparently dissed as I got older.
"Death is the dissolution of the boundaries that define individual existence" Mother out here casually tossing mind-blowing postulates like they're breadcrumbs at the park while I'm curled up in a ball dressed like a pigeon. COO, mother, COO!
1:19:00 I'd also like to point out that shy or insecure people get extremely self-conscious when people look at them in public and they overthink. But when they're asleep? They can be gazed at and admired in peace, without their anxiety ruining it.
I hope "A bold statement about the paradoxical equivalence of love and death and immortality." makes it onto the cover of a future printing of Twilight.
76-year-old guy. I clicked on this because it said "Twilight". I like "Twilight". Yeah, baby. Then I saw it was almost three hours long. I kept watching. Anyway. Yeah, baby. This is excellent, I thought. Then it got excellenter. It got excellenter and excellenter. ALTHOUGH. I cheated. I bumped the speed up to 1.25. Well done, ContraPoints! [Applause, rowdy cheering] Do your friends call you "Contra" for short?
I found your content from Adam Conover's podcast. I'm at a point in my life when I've never been so lost and directionless on who I am and what I want out of life, particularly partnership and intimacy. And yet I find myself enthralled by your work, this video in particular. It hasn't caused me to find myself, or gain direction, but it makes me exhilarated to explore the space I am lost in. To engage with the world and the people around me; not in an effort to find new identity, but so I might deconstruct the deep seeded concepts of masculinity that trap me in this state of emotional self flagellation, and see what forms on the other side. I'm not usually one to comment on things, but as I watch more and more of your videos I feel that I need to say that this has moved, and impacted me more deeply than anything I've ever consumed. Twilight video essay btw
CONTENTS
00:00 Part 0: Twilight
05:00 Part 1: Fiction
18:30 Part 2: Desire
44:21 Part 3: Fantasy
1:22:54 Part 4: Power
1:51:28 Part 5: Death
2:22:12 Part 6: Identity
I'm here so fast you're amazing have a nice weekend ♥
🎉
oh thank god you're back
love you mothaa, from vietnam
I have missed you ContraPoints! So glad you're back!
My grandfather was THE biggest twilight fan I've ever known. He found the Twilight series just after my grandmother passed away, and the books helped to fill a void in his life. He loved the books and he loved the movies. He loved the books so much, he installed a stereo system around his entire property so he could listen to the audio books wherever he was at, inside or out. And be listened to those books every waking hour. I was a young boy at the time, so I felt an obligatory disdain for the gushy love story, but my grandfather explained it to me, and I decided it was acceptable. He had a signed copy of each book, and when he passed, he left each of his children one of those books. RIP grandpa Eddie.
Grandpa Eddie sounds amazing omg. Thank you for sharing this memory. It really touched me.
This is such a beautiful story about the power of literature ❤ thank you for sharing
@michaelrmurphy2734 Well, having a grandfather would mean he has a father unlike you.
@@michaelrmurphy2734 how?
It reads like something an old mormon dude would write tbh
@@michaelrmurphy2734 ya lost buddy?
Did Natalie just use Twilight as a trojan horse to deconstruct sexuality and kink in the world at large? Respect
I know! It's amazing and just what I need.
Yes! That’s why she’s amazing.
The ushe
Maybe twilight was a Trojan horse in itself
I have to dwell on my like for this comment was the 666th like, and that gave me dopamine. Thank you weird goblin gods of random stuff occurring online. And Natalie. Thanks to you also, you saint of deconstruction.
I know you probably won't read this, but I still feel the need to say: thank you Natalie. Your essay on incels was the first time I became interested in politics and culture. You showed me an entirely different point of viewing the world, showed me a field of academics that I didn't even know existed. Last year I started university and I'm majoring in culture studies. And it is thanks to you that I'm doing what I love now. You showed me the way of looking at simple things like envy or cringe and seeing so much more beneath the surface, even Twilight is worth 3h serious analysis! You're an inspiration. Thank you for everything.
seconding this. I started following you (Natalie) in 2016 or so and it was your videos among some others that radicalized me. You're a huge part of the reason I'm involved in leftist politics today
Same, I'm sad she's not as frequent. Because I think she's one of the few that's more balanced. Like I either see extremes of 'men suck' or 'feminazi women!!' with no actual analysis
Real
Jokes on you looks like she actually did read your comment
Yes, she is an absolute godsend. The amout of work and research and TALENT that goes into these videos is staggering. These are not "video esseys" they are contemporary philosophical works of huge value.
I admire Natalie’s restraint in not making any jokes about filling her holes, very tasteful, very ladylike. Lacan says something similar.
I laughed so hard at the joke. Well executed.
Wouldn't have the restraint and have been annoying otherwise.
See how Natalie restrained herself by not making any jokes about filling her holes? Very demure, very mindful, very cutesy. Lacan says something similar.
Was looking for this lol
Very cutesy, very demure
@@tobiasnotforge Omg I going to make that joke😭
“Pride and Prejudice didn’t end with Darcy hunting down Wickham in a high-speed carriage chase” MAYBE IT SHOULD HAVE
If it’s any consolation: the Newcastle regiment that Wickham was shoved off to? IRL, they were dealt horrendous casualties at Waterloo. So if it helps, you can pretend that a French cannonball practically vaporized him.
As it should@@thequietdreamer2186
I literally yelled this at my screen
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is always there if you're looking for Pride and Prejudice but it's an action movie.
@@thequietdreamer2186thank you for this
reaching the end of a 3 hour contra video and realizing i have to wait another 18 months is my yearning.
It takes 2 babies to make one Contrapoints video
Raising the lambs necessary to slaughter in order to make these videos takes time
@@gabrielgray2345all 120.000 of them.
I was wondering if the was another TH-camr that had given up on making videos… I’m glad that was not the case. She is just taking more time instead of
Felt.
Mozart knew what great DJs know today: you gotta have some good build up before the beat drops
damnnn yo boy be on that thug shit fr fr. hey this is kind of random but could you maybe idk send me your snap?
I love it when Natalie plays keyboard instruments just for fun!!! She’s such a gorgeous musician. Signed, a t-boy viola da gamba player
Tboy swag 🎻
"'Aren't you overthinking Twilight?' No" said Nat at 1:50:56 of an almost 3-hour video. I really missed her.
Right? I was so excited when this video popped up and it is such a masterpiece.
I guess you’ve never been to an English or Literary class before?
@@rishaa682 lmao be silent.
One of my favorite moments too! I laughed out loud irl
The funnier thing is, comedian Jimmy Carr summed this up in one joke. He collected the most popular answers to surveys answered by women in what they wanted in a man. Everything suits serial rapists/killers, stalkers.
There's nothing woke in woke culture. Those of any gender who want men have fantasies about 'being taken.' This *is* way over-thinking it all.
I feel like I'm watching the bible and all my questions about the universe are slowly being answered
😆
Even though ironically the Bible has so many holes, hypocrisies, and misinformation as well 😭
Nat is better than the bible!
Ariana what are you doing here???
I’m realizing the guy I called my ‘Edward’ as a teen was really my groomer 😭 oh no. Maybe it actually did impact me negatively…
"French philosopher and pervert" applies to literally so many of them 😭
Rousseau comes more or less immediately to mind lol
My first thought was Voltaire 😢
Let's not forget the time when French philosophers tried to legalize pedophilia 💀
Let's not forget about the time when French philosophers tried to legalize ped0ph1l1a 💀
Let's not forget about the time when French philosophers tried to legalize literal p3d0*******
This is a masterpiece. The first time I've ever been envious of Stephanie Meyer, not for her money her success her fans, she's more than welcome to them all. But to have the great Natalie Wynn devote this much time and thoughtfulness to praising her literary creation, wow. Chapeau, Mrs Meyer.
Please, never quit. The quality of this is so high it makes the whole experience exquisite. I love how the internet has made it possible for creators like you to just create.
Her videos are the ONLY piece of media ever for which I'd be willing to spend 3 complete hours (divided throughout an entire week tho) watching till the end. And being a ADHD delu-loser myself, I consider this a 100% true achievement. Congrats to her.
definitively a better love story than twilight.
@@KD_OliveiraI didn't realize this was even near 3 hours until I read your comment. I was just enjoying it so deeply and wasn't paying attention to how long its been; I'm an hour in 😂
right?? 🥹
Another creator I think y'all would appreciate is cjthex. He makes unexpected takes in a similar vein.
It's like a miracle
"I am begging these people to learn to think psychologically instead of literally so that they're not constantly baffled and traumatized upon encountering literally the most common type of sexual fantasy that people have." Amen.
Amennnnn brother! (or sister, or sibling, I'm not judging just concurring)
@@nitsanraviddaos4797hi this reply is a banger lol hahahh
@@ShadowTheHedgehogOffical*”Disgusting black creatures, get out of my sight.”*
My favourite real Shadow the Edgehog quote
For me the problem is that it is a fantasy. It says something about us, our economy. If most people met their needs they wouldn’t even want this
@@wordnado9788I was with you until you brought up economy. Yes, it says something about us. No, it's not about economy, lol.
What always bothered me about the Twilight books wasn't that they were "problematic", it was that it was like the books reached back in time into 16-year-old me and pulled out every greasy, squirmy, deeply embarrassing fantasy I had and smeared it all over the pages with the same maturity and awkwardness that I had at the time. They made me feel intense secondhand embarrassment for all the people reading the contents and going "Bruh...*what*" because it's SO nakedly the kinds of fantasies that repressed, inexperienced girls have where everything becomes a mishmash of metaphors and the main character is both obviously ordinary but also the most, MOST special-est girl. They're so on-the-nose that they make me feel exposed and uncomfortable. So thank you so, so much Natalie for walking me through that discomfort and helping me understand that it's actually extremely common to have a squirming, awkward, deeply embarrassing 16-year-old girl inside us that we used to be who's just kind of flailing around trying to figure herself out with imperfect metaphors and weird Chosen Ones monster polycule kidnapping fantasies.
Wait, it's common to have a deeply embarrassing 16 year old girl within yourself?
...Uh oh.
I think a lot of people fell in love with it for the same reason it creates discomfort for you- it's a very naked look into a very common type of inherently feminine wish fulfillment. The stuff your inner 16 year old self wants but has learned NEVER to say aloud. And in a way, I commend Stephanie Meyer for living her bliss for all to see. It's the phenomenon of embracing "I am cringe but I am free," but not even realizing (at least initially) that you're cringe to begin with, which is usually considered even more cringe. I'm positive there were loads of people who responded to that unapolegetic wish fulfillment with "FINALLY" instead of deep resistance. I think both responses make sense, but the fact they are total opposites despite originating from the same desire is deeply interesting.
Mormonism keeps people in perpetual adolescence in a lot of ways. I think that's why the writing feels like it does
Honestly, I think a decent amount of people jump from YA straight to romance or they never have the YA phase (since it wasn't that popular until relatively recently) and that's where all the repressed desires go. Romance can definitely still be cringe because it exposes similar vulnerabilities and also because to some degree, any description of physical intimacy is awkward (especially dressed up with flowery language), but it's generally more polished because it's intended for an adult audience. Another thing about romance, is that the tropes feel very well established and it seems like editors generally iron out the majority of the issues. I feel like some of the awkwardness of Twilight and 50 Shades is the sense there was a lack of oversight.
Teenage boys have had many choices for playing out those half baked feelings and fantasies in their entertainment for a long time
I’ve watched this like 5 times now and still digesting new information from it. I also find your voice calming and helpful when I’m having issues with my anxiety.
On the note of Death, Sex and Twilight I had an ephiphany a couple months ago about why i as a young gay cis male teen was so gripped by Twilight. It was because of AIDS. I had grown up through the tail end of the AIDS crisis and therefore was terrified of the kind of sex I as a horny gay teen couldn't stop thinking about. As Edward was pushing away Bellas physical advances I understood immediately it was because the physicality of sex for them would be death because thats how i felt anytime a man i wanted came close to me.
Oh my God, this just opened a can of worms I didn't realise existed. Thanks, will be mulling over this connection for the next decade.
th-cam.com/video/RrttttZqCSs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=kQ8_XFqb4bNzybam
+
+
Did you ever come to terms with this fear?
I love that vampires are like, “I’m immortal, I’m immortal,” and then their whole existence is just trying to not get killed.
I have a feeling that if something like an “immortality injection” that stops aging was to be invented, that’s exactly what would happen to those that get it
It's funny how even in undeath, they still can't escape the permanence of your end, just in a different form.
I mean, that's the whole point, they are anti natural leeches that should not be alive
It's rather hard to find but the 1987 film _Near Dark_ does a great take on that. It's dark, depressing, sad, and strips away all the romance surrounding vampires. One of the best vampire movies around imho.
and then you have the twilight vampires that can't be killed without extremely effort
Can we take a moment to appreciate Natalie's mastery of leitmotifs? Watching the video I can identify over 20 different tracks that correspond to their associated videos from Envy, Shame, Cancelling, Opulence, Beauty, The Hunger and even the Nostalgia tangent. Makes it feel like a cinematic universe of ideas and feelings being channeled through a modern-day Oracle of Delphi.
+1
I would love to see a video categorizing Natalie's leitmotifs.
100%! Great catch
@@vivianetirone4454Omg that would be amazing!
@@vivianetirone4454and specifically in the form of a video essay that's 100% extra.
The REAL reason why Twilight is problematic is because Edward didn’t put his seatbelt on, so if they were to crash, his body would become a PROJECTILE that is a danger to EVERYONE. Strap in before you strap on. Buckle up EVERY TIME. You may be an immortal vampire, but your hot human girlfriend is not.
Bullet Edward goes nyoom through the window and hits innocent bystanders lmao
This is the skin of a killer, Bella!
This made me think that technically vampires can die in a car accident (?). If he projectile flies to a semi and the crash is strong enough to break him into two pieces while the semi sets aflame 🤔🤔🤔
Not true because 1) his senses are quick enough that he would never get into an accident in the first place because of his super vision and fast reflexes and 2) even if he somehow couldn't avoid the accident he would still be quick enough with his vampiric senses to shield Bella - there's no possibility of him projectiling out of the car because his mind works at like 100x the speed it would take for that to happen
@@siebenhundertsiebenundsiebzigyeah I think he would either be able to avoid the crash or fly away. Lol.
I was so sure the yin/yang, light/shade part was going to end with "and they blend together to create... fifty shades of grey".
XDDDD
How can this video essay be even more funny
Fifty genders of grey
“Bella and her polycule of monster men” THAT got me
Ah, if only…
*chuckles in Anita Blake*
🎵she did the mash🎶
🎶she did the monster mash🎵
🎵the monster mash🎶
🎶it was a graveyard Smash 😏🎵
In trying to figure out how to have relationships that didn't propagate systems of oppression, I have been looking for the idea that, "Fantasies are not literal wishes. Fantasies construct situations where emotional needs are met and inhibitions to pleasure are removed," for a while now. Thank you.
But sometimes fantasies are wishes. And sometimes toxic wishes become reality.
@@angelsunemtoledocabllero5801 that's not the point of this comment, this video, or twilight
Relationships can't propagate systems of oppression if that part of it stays in the bedroom. Do what makes you happy.
Also, sincere thanks for your Debussy at the end. And for owning a harpsichord.
That feels a little too convenient, like it’s said to avoid thinking about something. It’s not like fantasy is 1 to 1 with your actual desires, but it didn’t just come out of nowhere.
Just a fun truth to share. The biggest Twihards I knew when the book first came out were all military men. They were totally self aware about it as well. I remember one reveling in the absurdity of watching a guy who's 6'2" and 2301bs of pure muscle carrying ordinance while exclaiming," I can't fucking believe she kissed Jacob! What the hell was she thinking!"
I have a bunch of military friends, and they surprise me endlessly. Some times I think the constraints of military discipline are great for freeing people to be who they really are in other arenas
Soldiers are people too.
@@Tepidtamalesno they are not
Just realised she ended her last video saying ‘she’s switching to Twilight’
It wasn’t a joke
But I’m about halfway and there have been 2 HP references ..
@@ilmareofthemaiar I am excited.
"Fight between the mormon vampires and an army of ethnic stereotypes" 😂
No, the Mormon vampires fought on the same side as the ethnic stereotypes. Well I guess against the other ethnic stereotypes, but that side only had one of those (Italiens). The "good guys" had a bunch of ethnic stereotypes.
@@4203105 I'm not cultured enough about Twilight and it shows
It results that the real horror was racism all this time.
@@cassif19 It was confusing. I think Natalie misspoke a little there.
If this piques your interest, that fight sure is...something.... in both the book and I'm told it's SOMETHING in the movie version lol.
@@4203105Since when did Italians stop being white?
I wish i could show this video to my 12 year old self, who stood up in front of her 7th grade english class and read out the essay she wrote on Edward Cullen’s Hero’s Journey. 😂
bless
You know what? Good for her. That took real bravery and some good old 12 year old enthusiasm. I bet she made some great points. 🤍
Honestly I applaud that 12 yo, I read twilight when I was 14 and I would never have the courage to do that in front of my peers.
That is so sweet 😊 why do you think 12-yr-old you wrote about Edward's journey vs Bella?
joseph campbell would be so proud
I feel at least 30% hotter for understanding this.
"inexperienced in every kind of poverty except poverty of brains" is a badass line
old people have the most fire and intricate insults out there
"If the boy is poor, there is no room on the door" is stuck in my head on loop. Is this my psychotic break?
"Do men not have holes? DO MEN NOT HAVE HOLES????"
I think this will be lodged in my brain forever, thank you Natalie
Men in fact do have holes. - Morgan freeman. I will see myself out now.
@@GaganSingh-nx2yv
I can hear it so clearly lol
Timestamp?
I've met a man before.
I had the impression that they did, but I'm unsure now.
This part of the video made such an impression on me that I took a screenshot to memorialize it. Makes me laugh whenever I scroll through my phone gallery.
I wish I could articulate how healing and humbling this was. It was damn near spiritual. Thank you for liberating and convicting me at the same time.
"The feminine urge to be Daddy's Mommy" is gonna be living in my head paying $0 rent for days now.
That's definitely a quote
"I regret to inform you the cuck tent is racist" made me lose my entire mind
I will be joining you in this boat.
This perfectly sums up my need to dominate Daddies.
Isn't that just a variation of ancient greek philosophy? Specifically: Oedipus Rex?
Ooohh, those blood-stained pearls combined with the pure white dress. The blood red nails and the white earrings. The costuming in this video is just brilliant.
I love the bood-stained neglace, just brilliant!
Is this a Lucy reverence from Gary Oldman's Dracula!?
The different colored eyes. Victoria's furry coat. The wedding dress. The Volturi cape. The apple. The Cullen crest. It's all in there.
I screamed "Holy shit, that's RAD"
Does anyone know where she got those pearls with the red beads? Stunning!
Anyone else get a little wave of appreciative warmth at Stephanie Meyer saying she doesn't need the world to know her every thought?
She won without fighting. She's the J Cole, JK is the Drake. We're still waiting for the Kendrick...
I feel like that about Naoko Takeuchi. Sailor Moon is DEEPLY personal to me, to the point where I have to limit how much fun I allow myself to make fun of potterheads at any given time, and I am SO GRATEFUL that Naoko is such an intensely private person, to the point of being borderline secretive. I hope if she's secretly a horrible person she just keeps her opinions to herself forever and that I go into the abyss completely ignorant of them.
@@HiddenDarkHM I like that mangaka in general aren't big on being a celebrity themselves.
@@HiddenDarkHM with how much queerness there is in sailor moon i doubt it
@hopstepjump69 Well, being an ally to LGBTQ+ people isn't mutually exclusive with being a horrible person. But you're right that there's probably less of a chance that she would end up tweeting the same things as... you know who.
Wow holy shit. As a creator I know how hard it is to put something together this in depth and well produced. well done. Hoping one day I'm watching a series of yours on Netflix
btw according to twilight eye color conventions, natalie has fed on animal blood in parts 0, 1 and 3, is hungry for blood in part 2, and, if i´m seeing the colors correctly, has fed on human blood in parts 4 and 5. in part 6 she´s got one red eye and one brown eye, which i think means that she has satisfied her hunger and yet is hungry for more! very fitting to the themes. i tip my hat off to you, miss points.
THANK YOU.
I noticed the colored lenses, but I couldn't connect the dots since I didn't read or see Twilight.
It's been bothering me for a while now, always good to check the comments ahah
I think possibly the point with the two colours in part 6 is representing the yin/yang duality she's discussing and the roles like pursuer / pursued that she's discussing. She's simultaneously desirous and satiated.
Obviously she would have to be hungry for blood in the part called Desire!
@@fang_xianfu I was just unpacking the end where she's playing piano, and doesn't "resolve" the cadence until the very end. A perfect thematic end, and then now this meta-contact-lense story??
It really is so incredible to watch art with gestalt at this level.
Her refusal to finish the "antici....pation" was absolutely despicable. Permanent cancellation effective immediately.
it was a rocky horror p.s. reference
Tom Cardy did the same thing in “Artificial Intelligence.”
@@user-a2000 yes but she never finished it
That was the funniest moment! 😂 Natalies cult status upgraded to legendary, effective immediately!
Maybe it's our fault. We didn't yell "Say it! Say it!" loud enough.
losing my mind over "bella and her polycule of monster men are taking the ring to mordor" 52:37
LITERALLY
Everything surrounding “the cuck tent scene” had me on the floor wheezing.
literally had to pause the video to giggle
yesssss lmao
one of the best videos on this entire website honestly
I love how often in this it seems like you're strawmanning someone saying something outrageous and then cut directly to them saying the exact thing you implied they said
You cannot strawman someone who viciously, violently stuffs themselves with dried hay. The devolution and abandonment of dog whistles and euphemisms has been great in that they're easier to spot than ever, and terrifying in that they feel confident enough that they don't need to hide.
@@ruffethereal1904 > don't need to hand? Sure?
@@ruffethereal1904dog whistlers can hand me any time
@@dfleck9210Thanks for pointing out the typo, it's been fixed.
@@ruffethereal1904 Oh thank you for the most amazing image you've put in my head.
A snooty victorian man saying all that " _Ladies_ are naturally assexual" nonsense while going into a corn farm (because of course is corn) violently stuffing his clothes with hay, climbing up a wooden pole/ cross and tying himself up, and screaming his stupid thoughs to scare off the birds.
"He still don't know I can control himself" is such an underrated gem of a line 😂
“Ok Buddy, I’m going to shit yourself”
Wait is that an actual real sentence in the video? Where? xD
@@Emma-Mazeat about 04:30 in the video!
Yeah, it's fantastic. I laughed like an idiot while I was in line for the cashier at the supermarket. I felt really normal and clever and not embarrassed at all.
busted out laughing like I was insane on the El train at that line
I always interpreted Jacob ending up with Renesme as Stephanie being too fond of him to leave him alone, like "here's my OCs daughter so you're not lonely"
That strikes me as quintessentially "mom" in a way that isnt degrading
It's a participation prize in a way.
i agree, she totally wanted to have her cake and eat it too. to me that’s also why the big battle in Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 was a rug-pull : you thought we were going to have a bunch of characters die but it was only a vision, she didn’t want to kill anyone off
I wish she'd done the same for Leah - I remember being so upset the two of them didn't end up together and she wound up alone and forgotten at the end. I'll never figure that one out. Might be that she's seen as too male-coded, since she became a "beast" before she landed herself a guy? Either way - she deserved better XD
@@mollyross888 in the books that battle does not exist, they talk the entire time there is not battle that the readers believe is real only to have the rug pulled, the battle is a movie only moment - probably because so much talking is not transferable to the screen and it's hard to keep it interesting
finally a video adressing that edging is basically the meaning of life
Just another day of Natalie casually deconstructing several fundamental aspects of existence while analysing a teenage book series and slaying harder than anyone will this entire century 💓
what a gift to us all, truly
It was magnificent. WTF. It was a full ride.
I am recently married. A heterosexual couple, we both have the same bachelor's degree, the same age, and kind of the same socioeconomic background. I was the one who proposed, and some people treat it like it is the greatest achievement of the feminist movement (I guess because it is a non-disruptive action, people feel comfortable celebrating), but for me and for my husband it was the most natural course of action for our relationship. He likes to be courted, he likes to feel wanted, and so do I. People always talk about how you become one, and it's always been difficult for me to understand because I am still me, and he is still himself, but we share our lives with each other to be happier. This is the first time I understand the concept. We are one not because we complement each other to be a whole, but because I can identify myself in him in the most deeply and intimate way and vice-versa. Great video, I can't believe you didn't quote the greatest line in cinema history: "Bella, where the hell have you been loca!"
Hi, I liked your post and I’m puzzled about something, you say you husband likes to be courted and you too. In my mind, not minding the gender roles, it works easier when one of the two likes to be courted and the other likes to court. You think you both are like that in any measure?
I don't know what it is, maybe it's just me. I found your comment so touching that I bursted into tears
Whenever a girl proposes to a man it’s so sad. I don’t care about gender roles, I just think no man deserves for a women to propose to them. You’ll realize that eventually. I guarantee you people don’t treat that like a feminist movement when you tell them you did that. They probably just feel sorry for you.
@@catc2938 Wow what a condescending and rude reply. Consider that you have no place to comment on someone else’s relationship. They are happy because that is how things work for them.
@@catc2938 not you going full sheila jeffreys 😭
Going from the shitstorm that is the Joanne Rowling Saga to Twilight is such a boss move... Our dark mother is incredible.
She said she's switching to twilight and she really meant it!
@@Alex-ut7mgi have honestly never been happier. as an obsessive twilight fan when i was 16... this is fascinating.
It's also nice to see her cover something a lot less serious :) can't wait to finish this
"When I was young, in the 18th century..."
I always knew Natalie was one of the Fair Folk
"If you only speak in bespoke jargon you don't get quoted, sorry." This feels so validating after having to read a bunch of Lacan for class.
My friend is a huge Lacanian and i'm saving a screenshot of that as my nuclear option
A close friend of mine who majored in philosophy once described Lacan as an extremely clever yet not especially wise borderline-charlatan, and while I would certainly not go that far myself, I do think that the degree to which he is infatuated with his own rhetorical calculus often obfuscates his most interesting ideas. It is appropriate that Bataille was his intellectual and romantic rival of sorts, as Lacan often seems to be daintily circling or tracing the outlines of extremely provocative ideas which Bataille relishes seizing and shoving in the reader's face outright whilst shouting, "Look! Look at it!" Which I guess is the Freudian versus the Nietzschean in a nutshell.
+
I love Lacan’s bespoke jargon JOUISSANCE is such a great word
A) I loved that phrase too! particularly because it’s not just Lacan, beginning around Kant it feels like philosophy - perhaps because epistemology starts figuring so heavily into it - becomes a little like wandering through a hall of mirrors on l.s.d., but also B) I feel like I need to speak a little in defense of dense texts, because while there are certainly people who are mere obscurantists - i.e., who misuse jargon and terms of art and overall prolix to hide their paucity or even lack of ideas - there are other times, *many* times, when a philosopher will stretch, repurpose, or distance themselves from day-to-day language *specifically* because they’re trying to lift us from the rut of our ingrained thought-patterns … the idea is that to shake up thoughts you also have to shake up words. Now, someone may debate whether or not that’s *effective* - and I can think of times a philosopher used arcane language to make a new point with all the best intentions, yet the effort fell short of the mark - but it can’t be said that dense texts are always insincere, obscurantist, and empty … rather, it’s more often the case that society will simply take a few more cycles to catch up with the philosopher; _Society of the Spectacle_ was considered nearly indecipherable when Guy Debord first released it, but people who read it today usually wonder what was ever so indecipherable about it, because the ideas in it now seem so self-evident that it’s hard to imagine a time when they weren’t. But also, C) yeah, Lacan is a LOT.
As someone (yeah, I hate beginning a comment like that) who spent 4 years studying English/literature at a university level (I don't know what I was thinking either), this was hands down more informative and thought-provoking than most of my classes.
Kinda sad, really but still...credit where credit's due 👍
If it's any solace, I had a really good Eng Lit program that was Contrapoints-level thinking and critical analysis and I still know we all wasted our time getting that degree.
I imagine an English teacher rolling their eyes when a young person proposes to do their book report on Twilight, only to be hit by something like this.
I enjoyed every minute of this enlightenment. Thanks!
I want to like this, but you’re already at 420 likes…
Ugggggghhhh, the tension!
“Maybe I’ll make a video about love … when I’m in a better mood.”
Hoping this means Natalie’s in a better mood! Absolutely brilliant video-on the level of Envy for me.
I wanted to add something for the Part 5, about how death, sex and sacrificing is often similar. In Turkey and I don’t know maybe in some close cultures the henna is not used as a cosmetic entirely. To apply henna to someone has symbolic meanings. In a Turkish proverb there is 3 occasions for henna; first for the soldier since he is going for his death, second for the bride(and the groom) before the wedding night and lastly for the lamb to sacrifice. These traditions are surviving well in Anatolia and actually shows how people perceive this actions as sacred somehow. I apologize if I could not explain properly since English is not my first language. Excellent video from Contrapoints!
That's really interesting! (and your explanation was very clear to me :) )
Çok güzel anlattın
@@enjoyyourlattebitch 💜
"im switching to twilight"
- Natalie ContraPoints Wynn, The Witch Trials of J.K Rowling
She's always dropping hints isn't she
It was prophesized.
I just re-watched that (and much of her other content) around the time of her "but what if it's not good enough yet" tweet and when this notification popped up I was SHOOK
she did hahahah
Nooo, don't make me confront how emotionally invested I was in hating a book series I never read!
Lmaoooo
but you were also most likely just a victim of your time. im a couple of years too young for the twilight craze and too autistic to ever have been into the super popular mainstream franchises at any point tbh, but i still distinctly remember that anything but hating it would get you instantly ridiculed because haha sparkling vampires isn't it ridiculous. and then later a bunch of comparisons between bella and katniss from hunger games (which i embarrassingly actually remember sharing and feeling smug about, never having read or watched either at the time lol).
i kind of have a new respect for the girls who were so unapologetically into the girly things though, not just twilight, also justin bieber, 1D, etc. but i don't think it reflects negatively on anyone personally to have tried to be liked and fit in at 14 and pretend to hate a dumb book for it
@@overgrownkudzu I liked your comment. It reminded me how when I was about that age I suddenly knew *everything* as soon as I had learned just one thing. But the one thing I never knew was how much I didn't know 🥹. Hey, you might like to listen to the unabridged audio version of this book (read by Ilyanna Kadusian). As a human on the spectrum with you, it is very peaceful to listen to when on long walks, doing chores, driving a long way, etc... The files should be available for free at your library. Give it a try. Let us know. 🧛🏾♀️
@@overgrownkudzu i think my path, while also too autistic to get into popular series and instead hyperfixate on niche punk bands.
Part of my disgust comes from being aro/ace, so much so in fact that i believed the whole world was faking it or hoping it would be real one day. That sex or dating could be pleasurable in any way.
So i looked at twilight with bewilderment, i didn't understand why kids my age were drawn to something so horny, especially in the face of the open hatred people sent their way just for engaging.
Like yes all the stalker/predator dynamics in the story only triggered my trauma of having stalkers and events of SA, but i could also never understand hatred for the series.
This i assume part is 100% autism, but like
1. Don't read the book if it offends you, don't worry about people who do
2. I drew stuff people considered pornographic or perverted, while i didn't understand it in a sexual light, and simply want to improve my art skills, i understood the feeling of being ridiculed or called a bad person for simply engaging with media
I knew so many people who made hating Twilight their ENTIRE personalities. The number of people who had a neutral opinion on Twilight at that time was virtually nonexistent.
As a citizen of the neighbour country of Slutovenia, I just wanted to assure everyone that things in Pervoslavia are going pretty well.
My mum studied slutovenian in slutovenia! Great country, great language, she had trouble with pronouncing the slutty consonants
On the other hand I hear a lot of troubling things from Prudalia
aww that's so sweet, I am happy she could've enjoyed the beauty of our free education @@klisterklister2367
@@livendus Understandable tbh when the Horny Roman Empire was right on your doorstep
I love this thread 😂
34:27 You see how she restrained herself from making a filling your hole joke here? Very demure, very mindful
I applaud Natalie's restraint in not spending half of this video gushing about Kristen Stewart. I know I wouldn't be so strong.
I wouldn’t be able to have that restraint either.
Her recent photoshoot with the jockstrap had me all 🥵
I definitely did not pause this video on any photos of Kristen Steward :D
@@polarfoxgirl I definitely didn’t pause the video multiple times either. Definitely not.
Natalie just casually giving us a literal dissertation, which is brilliant but also funny, wrenching, affirming?? This was incredible -- thank you.
Bella just wants power, Ive always said this! Thank you, Natalie
Even the title "Twilight" contains the duality of light and darkness. What a masterpiece, truly.
This part hit me like a tonne of bricks:
Masculine and feminine potential within us
And it's more satisfying to express both
Masculinity and femininity is a duality inherent to human existence.
This is why trans women and feminine men are not appropriating womanhood.
Woman is not an ethnic group. Masculinity and feminity belong to all humanity.
infinitely beautiful part
Well, yes, and no. For instance if a trans woman (unfairly) participates in a women's sports league, then they are appropriating women's spaces.
It's almost like dividing humanity into discrete warring groups and imagining us locked in a zero sum game of shifting power dynamics is bad.
@@danielamagalhaes7271 If a trans woman (that is as distinct from a man pretending to be a woman) competes at an unfair advantage* in a women's category, they are cheating, and it is functionally no different than other performance enhancing drug/procedure abuse. If a man enters a women's space or facility and takes advantage of it (either by pretending to be a woman or otherwise, like that women in stem event in I believe India which got taken over by men who thought they'd have an easier time obtaining internships and networking because it was a women's event) then that thing is being appropriated.
*That is to say, they haven't complied with the sport's regulations about time on testosterone blockers/oestrogen or whatever else may reasonably be required to bring them within normal afab variation.
100% i feel like part of me knew this without words❤️🔥
as a gay man who has (fictional) fantasies about being...um...'ravished'...by big and strong men, it's kind of a relief to hear this kind of non-judgmental description of that urge, because it feels so accurate to me. for me, it really is a combination of wanting to be genuinely desired by someone powerful + some internalized shame. it's flattering to the ego and free from self-hatred.
@@zna9297no they dont, and argueing with strangers online will not help you get over your clear trauma (sincerely, someone who argued with people online cause of trauma a few year ago) i hope you get some help and love to move past your anger.
Yeah, I'm a bi dude who indulged in the books when I was a teen and closeted. I didn't shamelessly indulge mind, there was a fair bit of shame and unease floating around, since I wasn't on good terms with my sexuality at that time, but I do get it.
@@zna9297there's way more to unpack in your lil comment than the original. Like holy jeez man, seek help
It's not OK to want to be ravished anymore? Or to be ravishing? It's passion! I feel like I'm living in the twilight zone, no pun intended, when I interact with people who venture out into social media beyond YT. They're all sucking the life out of living (again, no pun intended LOL). Bummer.
@zna9297 The first part yes, the second part no. Is the word "fantasy" confusing you?
Not having read or seen twilight, I wasn't sure whether this video would be too specific for me to enjoy it, but I see now there was nothing to worry about. So well written and presented, three hours passed like nothing. Thank you for all the work that you do! ♥
oddly enough, my father, a 50 yr old indian techbro, whose main interests are stocks (?) and the economy (????) is extremely into the twilight lore. he finds the vampire/werewolf thing 'interesting.' he doesn't care much for the romance, but the movie is one of his favorites. he prefers the worldbuilding over than of harry potter (deserved) and defends it quite earnestly
completely unrelated and i havent finished video yet but on the topic of omegaverse - who what why the FRENCH REVOLUTION OMEGAVERSE. it exists. who is it for. king louis xvi is an alpha and marie antoinette is an omega. its tagged NTR??????
@@anitacollins571 what you described sounds amazing, can you link it?
@@anitacollins571is Robespierre an alpha in this story
This is so wholesome
This is amazing, I support your dad
"Psychology without the material analysis of power fails to explain some things" - I think this is some of the best things someone ever said. I work in a mental health institution and always thought about this but failed to put it in such simple words. You are magnificent ❤
i'm speechless. each chapter broke and fixed my brain at times. i am a new person now.
"if the boy is poor there's no room on the door" i am TRIGGERED
My jaw literally dropped.
I screamed
Oh my god I didn't get the line at first, it slipped in one ear and out the other X_X
omfg this is making me feel SEEN. girl holy shit. .i am a woman but your points on how incels lack the knowledge to express that they want to be beloved, and have never felt desired - WHEW. shot to the heart. & the discussion on how women identify both with the "man" and the "woman" in the romance novels - again, i am a woman (and a lesbian) but - damn, so on the fucking nose! you have really and truly killed me WOW. i have like ten new books i need to read now, as a result of this. i hope you're happy lmao
Sometimes i think that every american dream about "better world" is already present in Modern Day Russian. And it's the way you think (bad, not working) So...In Soviet Russia Incels are quate diffrent. Instead of biological reductionism, they more in line with vulgar esotericism. They believes in some kind of "sexual energy" that is the basis of everything. If this energy circulated freely, everyone would be in harmony. But the world is mired in sin: women, instead of giving men energy, prefer to restrict and monetize it. As a result, men, instead of becoming geniuses and creators, suffer and wither. This position is not just different from that of American incels - it is the opposite. For Russian incels, it is something of a sacred act. Whereas black pill eaters are pessimistic, RU Incels leaves room for optimism - the world is bad now, but it can be fixed. In general, it does not follow the tradition of American incel dogmas. It is more in the tradition of post-Soviet esotericists, enveloped in Castaneda and Roerichs, and ofc nostagia of the fake equality in the USSR. You can google meme "Альтушка для скуфа". Even without translation you will get the point.
Yeap.. Welcome to Russia 💀
I think this is my third watch? Natalie I cannot get enough of the *waves at general contrapoints collective” the writing, humor, pacing, music/sounds it’s perfect I love how much you ground your videos in research and pull from so many diverse areas of thought, this is what I want from the future. People free to use their mind and talents for joy and knowledge that you want to come back to not toiling away peddling plastic single use content that you forget about Liz
This is a show that asks the important questions, like "how many mafia twinks can there be?" Loved it.
It really is truly fascinating the obsession with true crime after the vampires went out of fashion, that or the abusive emperor, the medieval tyrant, how the "monster" changes and what is the source of his power.
"i can fix him" just clicked for me omfg@@ruffethereal1904
"Babies are little vampires." And I am watching this while breastfeeding. Wow.
Watch out!
I watched this whole thing while I did night feedings with my daughter and was also nodding my head vigorously at that.
Fun fact that I hope you'll appreciate: In German, "desire" can be translated as "Sehnsucht" - which is literally the addiction "Sucht" to yearning "sehnen". Meaning, you are addicted to the feeling of yearning and thus don't want it to end. It fits everything you say in part 2 so well and it is one of my favorite German words, so I thought I'd share.
❤🇩🇪
wählt die afd 💙
@@larawolf1506 👹🇩🇪
„Sucht,“is addiction. Desire is an opiate.
I love how literal german is
Never in my life have I finished a 3 hour video on TH-cam, only to immediately restart the video to watch it all over again. I've been fascinated by these topics for a long time, but to find them all here, relayed in the way this was relayed... I want to take notes and study and learn and ugh this is amazing. Thanks so much for your hard work and for sharing it with us all.
Ikr? That's how I always end up when I'm watching ContraPoints videos lol. Immediately need to rewatch and then probably again a couple days later. That said, I'm only 50 minutes into this one and I feel like it's shaping up to be my favorite, it's just broken down and explained so well!
Honestly, she covers so much ground in this video from Twilight, to sexual dynamics, to gender power dynamics, to desire vs love, lesbian radical asexual TERF feminists. It was great, but definitely feel like there was some little parts or concepts I missed like I needed to watch it again to pick up on some things I missed. So, I have gone back and watched certain parts over again.
@@Mary-ix9sgsame 😅 i started watching in the middle of the night after a small mental breakdown (cptsd + 3-weeks-into-new-job stress), because i knew natalie could never fail at making me feel better just by being so incredibly brilliant, no matter where the video would be going - and she absolutely did, even more than i dared to expect. but i had to sleep eventually and ended up to be too busy to continue watching for two days - still thinking about it all the time, even saving it up a little bit, seeing how long i could go without knowing how it would end. like a really good movie or tv show ☺️ so i have just watched the rest of it and of course i can only speak for myself but it was so worth the wait. she went exactly where i hoped she would with her main point, despite basing it in part on something i deeply disagree with, while also having basically already almost entirely explained and validated my opposition to it, so i'm now left with the sweet challenge of completing my point and proving that i can come to the same main conclusion that way, which will require at least one rewatch - that's almost the best part, just behind my love for mastering intellectual challenges about extremely relevant societal issues which also concern me on a very personal level 😁
edit: oh and also it's definitely my favourite of hers.
I was curious how Natalie would discuss Twilight since I feel like every aspect of discussion and criticism has already been done 100 times over, and her using it to instead discuss the extremely fascinating psychological and cultural history of romance novels and the moral debate over romantic fantasies did NOT disappoint me!
wow you really crystallized the subject matter so well here.
Ok, so that's what it is. I thought there has to be an angle here as my first thought was why in the world would I watch three hours of someone picking apart Twilight in 2024? I probably still won't but good to know there is some point to this.
? why are you even here.. did you ever watch a Contrapoints video before? xD@@MammaApa
Weeeell not really, "the psychological history of romance novels" is not the subject matter whatsoever, and the video largely discusses moral debates over *sexual fantasies*, not romantic ones which is an important distinction to make. @@julieblair7472
@@Emma-Maze Calm down. I have followed Contrapoints since before she transitioned, but you can't say the timing of this video is like a decade off. Like why NOW?
This is easily one of the best TH-cam videos I've never watched since being on this website for over 10 years. And it's about my old middle school obsessions, Twilight. Honestly, thank you for this piece of art.
Now I will always picture Wickham being blown up in a flaming carriage whenever Lydia asks, "Isn't my husband a fine horseman?"
Love it.
“If the boy is poor, there’s no room on the door” made me cackle at an indecent volume
hard same
SAME! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Your humour and deadpan delivery has me in tears from how hard I laughed. Immediately subscribed.
I recently read Giovanni's Room for the first time and the section about desire reminded of the line “You don't have a home until you leave it and then, when you have left it, you never can go back”
I didn't make that connection but I read it recently too, and wow! You're absolutely right. What an amazing book. I already wanna reread it
This is the second time in as many days I've seen someone mention this book, guess I'm reading it
@@peakdelvalle197 go for it!! It's a beautiful (but very tragic) story that I wish I could experience again for the first time
It doesn't even seem to matter what your essay is "about." The moment I see your work pop up I know I'm going to be led down a delightful and inspirational rabbit hole of philosophy.
Thanks, Natalie.
I'm sorry if I misspelled your name.
I’ve never read/watched any of the Twilight books/films, but am I watching this on repeat? YES
As a former twilight-obsessed teen, I assure you no mass has given me the religious experience that Contra’s 3hr long analysis of the saga brought on
The person who wrote the 50 Shades variation definitely saw “Secretary”.
"Clown drag" is the most apt description I have ever despised.
I was wondering whether someone would mention the white foundation, rather like "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane"
My first instinct was to wholeassedly agree with you on the aptness, but... like... that's doing clowns pretty dirty. And I only half mean that in the cliche joke way. The longer I stare at her face, the more my existential dread deepens. A clown's aesthetic is intentionally hyper-exaggerated and colorful. It is absurd to an extent that threatens to break through the floor of the Uncanny Valley. And the the genesis of that is _performative,_ a desire to entertain, or for artistic self-expression. But this woman is trying to be taken seriously, both academically and professionally. Even contemporarily, her conservatism was extreme in both its degree and _authenticity._ And that is how she chose to present herself to a television audience? Look at her. She is oblivious to that contradiction entirely. Seriously, keep looking at her. The more details that emerge, the more it becomes clear she accorded tremendous effort and numerous choices to her hair, makeup, and accessories. *Look at her. Oh my god I can't stop looking at her.*
*_She is the embodiment of the void, too long observed, gazing back into us._*
@@HeatSeekingVelociraptorI have you, friend. Don't worry. There is a website called the Daily Otter; they may also be able to help.
Can I just say how perfect the image of the happy family on the couch is? I haven't laughed that hard in a while.
As a 37m I did not expect to learn so much about myself from an essay on a tween novel/movie series.
Thank you. :-)
TH-cam keeps re-recommending this to me like I'm just gonna watch a three hour video AGAIN.
I am. I am going up watch it again.
I do adore the blood-spatttered-throat pearl collier.
Paired with the white satin dress? *chefs kiss *
when contra said "has she reinvented Christianity? well... no, she's invented something worse" i laughed so hard i choked on a piece of apple from the salad i was eating for a solid 5 minutes. then when i turned the video back on it went "PART 5: DEATH" truly the greatest video of all time
Me as a teenage boy, obsessed with Twilight, I felt so ashamed to be one of the few guys into it. It was basically a dirty secret of mine. I remember hiding the books I got from the library under my mattress.
Aww haha, I definitely hope you're more comfortable in your interests nowadays! ❤ There's nothing to be ashamed of.
I don't care for the books, but boy here who likes the movies.
Embrace what you love!
My republican dad loves them too. No shame buddy.
Bless you
Madam, your research and analysis into this topic are above and beyond! Thank you for all that you do. It's so refreshing to see intellectual deep dives into a topic vs. the normal daily social media reacting that plagues us these days.
The IRONY of someone calling Twilight '50 shades for teenagers' when 50 shades is, quite literally, Twilight for adults
I think that’s the joke
@@d0ubl3d but are they in on the joke?
Is that irony or is that just... "Memes which are so deep and dank that they return to normal"
@@MyScorpion42If they're not in on the joke, yes that's funny, but, i mean, doesn't it kind of show that they have correctly understood what they read
y'all whooshed fr
Never heard of Barbara Cartland before and I am obsessed with the unintentional camp of her wardrobe
She was huge a very, very long time ago. Soooo many books. Two made into TV movies, one with a very young Helena Bonham Carter.
I’ll put it this way. I discovered Cartland at 13, loved it. Perfect romance for that age. And then she was the gateway romance drug to those she apparently dissed as I got older.
@@steph990I worked at a bookstore. She had soooooo many books.
@@wildmarjoramdieselpunk6396 Soooooooooooo many! LOL!
@@steph990She took up a whole shelf! :) Not as much as Danielle Steel, but still.
@@wildmarjoramdieselpunk6396 Only because the books were shorter! Ha!
Ma’am this is a whole dissertation. I’m obsessed lmao immediately subscribed
"Death is the dissolution of the boundaries that define individual existence" Mother out here casually tossing mind-blowing postulates like they're breadcrumbs at the park while I'm curled up in a ball dressed like a pigeon. COO, mother, COO!
My god, this comment made my day :')
The pigeon costume is killing me!
1:19:00 I'd also like to point out that shy or insecure people get extremely self-conscious when people look at them in public and they overthink. But when they're asleep? They can be gazed at and admired in peace, without their anxiety ruining it.
You've just raised my shy insecurity level to the point of "i'm never going to go to sleep without ensuring the turrets and electric fence are on".
I hope "A bold statement about the paradoxical equivalence of love and death and immortality." makes it onto the cover of a future printing of Twilight.
76-year-old guy. I clicked on this because it said "Twilight". I like "Twilight". Yeah, baby. Then I saw it was almost three hours long. I kept watching. Anyway. Yeah, baby. This is excellent, I thought. Then it got excellenter. It got excellenter and excellenter. ALTHOUGH. I cheated. I bumped the speed up to 1.25. Well done, ContraPoints! [Applause, rowdy cheering] Do your friends call you "Contra" for short?
Not sure her actual friends do, but every fan does.
Yeah, baby
Yeah, baby
This comment made my day
if I was 76 I would do drugs like a motherf^%$er
I found your content from Adam Conover's podcast. I'm at a point in my life when I've never been so lost and directionless on who I am and what I want out of life, particularly partnership and intimacy. And yet I find myself enthralled by your work, this video in particular. It hasn't caused me to find myself, or gain direction, but it makes me exhilarated to explore the space I am lost in. To engage with the world and the people around me; not in an effort to find new identity, but so I might deconstruct the deep seeded concepts of masculinity that trap me in this state of emotional self flagellation, and see what forms on the other side.
I'm not usually one to comment on things, but as I watch more and more of your videos I feel that I need to say that this has moved, and impacted me more deeply than anything I've ever consumed.
Twilight video essay btw