The question for the nuns is this: to Twihard, or not to Twihard?
To Twihard is to join the younger members of the millenial generation who read the books and shriek at the movies. In fact, when Twilight was simply a popular novel, the Sisters were the target audience. Most of us were literate young women with pocket money, some with more romantic success than others.
The Twihards amongst our community feel an emotional bond with Twilight: it was part of our mixed experiences of adolescence. We were fans before RPattz, KStew and TTautAbs joined in the frenzy. We love the movies, of course, for their display of well-developed male flesh. There is a lack of that at our nunnery, as the monks of MIT do not visit as often as Mother Superior KBott promised.
The Twihaters, on the other hand, believe their status as Wellesley women means they have Values and Standards. Their progressive philosophy, saturated in holy devotion to Feminism and Success, means they evaluate their choices critically. Notwithstanding Jon Stewart's sexism, the Twihaters despise Bella's vacuous stares and Edward's stalkerish tendencies. The writing is horrible, they point out, the fans annoy the educated world and the author is a Mormon.
In the history of the Church and the cloistered community, the phrase in the world but not of the world comes to mind. As the Christians struggled and struggle to understand how their beliefs implicated their behavior in a non-Christian world, so do the nuns of Wellesley struggle.
How do women who believe in strength, success and ambition watch movies? Do they turn off the TV in disgust at gender stereotypes and the upholding of feminine weakness? Or, like the Medievalist, do they vacillate between opinions and venture to see New Moon on opening night because they can't remember the last time they saw a man?
I ponder.*
*In the Convent, we do not come to Conclusions. We ask questions, discuss, debate, disagree, and then walk to the ville for coffee.
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