Up@dawn 2.0

Sunday, March 3, 2013

H01 – Larissa’s Midterm Post 2/4: The Twilight Saga

New Moon
 
Team Edward or Team Jacob?
Unfortunately, I’m not talking about Jacob, even though this particular film is all about Jacob. Check out the New Moon trailer!
 
 
The low down: Edward realizes how dangerous it is for Bella to be surrounded by vampires and decides to break up with her. Bella, who is very upset because Edward and all of the Cullens left town, starts hanging out with Jacob. We find out that Jake is a werewolf. Through a serious miscommunication, Edward ends up thinking that Bella died and wants to kill himself. Wait, how does a vampire die exactly?
 
The Volturi.
“dun – dun - duuunnnnnnn!!!”
The Volturi are the oldest vampires who keep all of the other vampires in check. They’re a bit creepy.
Why do vampires need a “leader”? Well, we have Hobbes who said that all humans need someone like an authoritarian with almost unlimited powers over citizens because humans are selfish. This can be applied here. If vampires could do whatever they wanted: A. humans would discover that they exist B. humans would try to destroy them and C. it would be a blood bath. Also, you have on occasion a rogue vampire who could possibly be discovered. This does not benefit the general vampire population, or as Rousseau would put it, the General will. You need a leader so people stay in line with everyone’s best interest. And of course you have Hegel, who said that true freedom only comes from a properly organized society. But aren’t the Cullens themselves already a miniature society?
The Volturi interfere only when something bad happens, or when something interests them, which is why they are so interested in Bella. You see, Bella wants to be turned into a vampire. Edward does not condone this type of thinking. He disagrees and he doesn’t want to turn her. Here’s why:
Edward does not think he has a soul and if Bella is turned into a vampire, then he believes she will also lose her soul. Do humans even have souls? Hobbes and Epicurus didn’t think so. In fact, Epicurus thought you won’t experience death: you’ll be unaware. You won’t be there. You die with your body. Yet, vampires are considered to be the undead. They did die to become a vampire and they are still there to witness the aftermath (and continue living). That really isn’t death though, is it? Their body died but the person didn’t. If they don’t have a soul, they wouldn’t be aware of their existence. Vampires can die again: is that the death of their soul? Cicero thought that the soul lives forever. Even though Edward “died,” he still has a soul. He’s capable of thinking and making decisions, like Descartes said: “I think, therefore I am.” Vampires think. If you are capable of going through some sort of thought process, that classifies you as existing, at least. Edward isn’t just some mindless body walking around.
Augustine, for part of his life, was a Manichaen. They believe that good comes from the soul, and that evil comes from the body.  
 

This really does sum up Edward’s view of himself. Generally, vampires are bad. If being a vampire causes you to lose your soul, all that’s left is your body.
No soul + evil body = bad vampire
I think anyone who’s seen the movie or read the books can agree that Edward is not evil. But does morality automatically constitute having a soul? I guess the real question is if we do have souls, what exactly is it?
 
Word Count thus far: 1289

1 comment:

  1. Awesome post!
    You really did an amazing job tying in the philosophies of a ton of philosophers! Perhaps there is something more to that vampire fluff.. :)

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