RIP Robsten

Poor Flora Mouse. As you may know already from a previous post, Flora loves Twilight. The series (book + film) is about a human girl who, against better judgment, falls crazy in love with a vampire. Meanwhile, Flora’s a mouse in love with a cat (Max). So you can kind of see why the story, with its theme of interspecies love, speaks to her.

And so she’s been taking the reported demise of Robsten (Robert Pattinson + Kristen Stewart, the real-life couple who play the couple in the film) pretty hard. We keep trying to reassure her that whatever private difficulties the actors may be having (due to the release of photos of Stewart kissing someone else), it has no impact on Bella & Edward (the characters they play), or on their eternal love story. As of now, Flora‘s having none of it. For her, and for many other young mice & Twilight fans, Robsten = Twilight.

I know that Flora will be OK. And even though I don’t know her personally, I hope Kristen Stewart will be, too. Yes, I know other parties are likely smarting as well, but public reaction has been particularly harsh towards her, and her alone. —Including (unbelievably) death threats on Twitter from Twilight fans who prefer her (now ex-?) beau. Meanwhile, I’m a fan of Stewart’s acting, especially her extensive work in indie films, and would like her to be free to do more of it, unfettered by what she herself swiftly acknowledged was a terrible lapse in judgment. So I would join Conan O’Brien’s Angry Mutant Ape in saying, hey, just leave the girl alone, already!

I have to say, as an aside, I love Conan. He’s a classy guy not to kick Stewart when she’s down, which is kind of what late night comedians are expected to do when celebrities err. —Though, interestingly, most have taken the high road on this one—unlike the news media—many not mentioning it at all. Conan’s sole Tweet on the matter poked very gentle fun at the “big news” this is, and the young adult fan base that is taking it so hard, while leaving Stewart completely out of it: “The only way this could be worse is if Hermione cheated on Ron with Peeta.”

(If you are not familiar with those other YA franchises, Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, that joke won’t make sense, but trust me, it’s very funny.)

And I would wish well to the other parties involved, of course—Pattinson, and the director’s wife and kids. The director himself? —The 41-year-old Rupert Sanders, who had recently been her employer? Between sobs, Flora has said that he’s a “rat fink.” That sounds a little harsh to me, but then she’s likely a little cheese-deprived. I’m going to go out now and buy a nice Baby Gouda, see if we can coax Flora out of her mouse hole and cheer her up. And then maybe I’ll try and have a heart-to-heart with her about how all this stuff is really not our business to judge, as tempting as it may be.

We’ll see. I just started a cheese-free diet myself, so I’m not sure I’m in the mood to let that older, married-with-kids, director dude off the hook so easily.

Regardless, I’ll sign off for now with an illustration created a few years back for the release of Twilight Eclipse, the second movie in the franchise.

In this installment, Bella is torn between the steady, devoted Edward she adores and rude, reckless, buff Jacob, whom she has some feelings for, and who wants to steal her away. At one point, in a moment of crisis and confusion, Bella kisses Jacob. She immediately repents, and Edward forgives her on the spot.

In addition to improbably understanding vampires, the plot includes dangerous shape-shifting werewolves—but they don’t carry cameras, and just stalk vampires, not 22-year-old women. Life doesn’t always imitate Art—or Twilight—alas.

Take care, everyone, and have a good Sunday evening, and a happy Monday, too. Enjoy the Olympics, and this lovely cooler weather we’ve been having, too. See you all soon!