As someone who when I was into the Vampire craze a few years ago kinda, sorta, defended Twilight. What bugged me most from the Twilight haters was when they'd say "Bella gave up her family and friends for her boyfriend".
Bella's family was broken and her friends were fake. The biggest problem the movies have is Anna Kendrick made her character to likeable. Bella gained a family by joining the Cullens.
I'm someone who very much appreciates fiction that carries the message that family isn't just about Blood. There is no personal reason for me to relate to it so much, I wasn't adopted and I'm not planning to adopt. But I do. It has a lot to do it being important to my Faith, a key New Testament theme is Gentile believers being adopted into the family of Abraham.
So it bugs me when these Twilight haters think they're being Feminist by saying that. Conditioned to think it's always problematic for a female character to chose her boyfriend over anything. Yeah it fits patriarchal norms when it's the woman leaving her original family and joining a new one via marriage. Thing is though all the Cullens were adopted.
As I've been watching more Clannad lately, and looking at Tomoya's relationship with his own as well as Nagisa's parents, it's kind of the gender reversal of Twilight's situation. Tomoya has no Mom and his dad is a drunken degenerate. But he very much becomes part of Nagisa's family, it's all quite touching. Nagisa's parents are the coolest parents in Anime.
Update: When I eventually finished Clannad I was quite annoyed at how one arc near the end was about excusing Tomoya's father. I'm all for forgiving him but they more or less tried to suddenly say he didn't do anything wrong at all, which boggles my mind.
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