I didn’t read the books but I watched that first movie and wondered how this could be a “romance”. I admit I didn’t think about the dark side — that girls, or even women, would use it to justify their own relationships. That could be, and I’m sure in some cases it is, but what I hate most about these things is how lavishly the writers are rewarded for writing what amounts to a poor stab at literature.

I felt the same way about ‘The Outlander’. I read the first book all the way through, though I knew it was trash long before it ended. The protagonist is supposed to be a strong woman but throughout the book she subjugates herself in order to reach some sort of incomprehensible goal. She’s so madly in love with the red-headed Scotsman she willingly puts herself in unspeakable dangers. I much preferred ‘The Hunger Games’, where the female protagonist is an actual hero, or even ‘Harry Potter’, where Hermione is the smarter one and gets her friends out of all kinds of messes.