The Twilight craze is sweeping the nation. Not being the type of person that runs out to read a book or see a movie the second it becomes popular I didn't mind admitting that I had no personal experience with Twilight. To be perfectly frank all I had to hear was the word "Vampire" and I knew Twilight had no interest for me. I held this stance for a couple of years. People asked me "Have you seen Twilight?" Me: "Um, no, I'm not into vampire movies." Fine.
But, with the release of the second movie, New Moon, Twilight has once again become very common conversation. Only this time around, instead of just getting the "Have you seen it?" questions I was starting to get "What do you think?" questions. From young girls, from parents of young girls...
I don't like to give an opinion on something I haven't seen or read. In some cases I'm completely comfortable with saying "I haven't read it/seen it myself, but I know I won't because of 'such and such' theme." In this instance I was beginning to feel like I needed a little something more to go on. I was bothered a little bit by the amount of people (especially young girls) following this craze.
So. I watched the movie the other night.
And, (aren't you lucky) I'm going to tell you exactly what I thought. Please don't be offended if my opinion differs from yours. This is my blog and I reserve the right to publish my opinions here. If your opinion isn't the same as mine it doesn't mean I don't like you or think you're stupid. It just means that I
believe in my opinion enough to share it with you.
So, Twilight.
My first impression was this:
Bella has zero social skills. Within a day or so of moving to Forks and starting at her new high school she acquires a group of friends. I honestly don't know how this is possible. She almost never talks to any of them, they all talk and she's always off in another world, paying no attention to their conversation. In fact, she avoids conversation in the most obvious ways. If someone approaches her she often responds with a monosyllabic answer and beats a retreat ASAP. I wonder if she's supposed to be shy? She comes across as stuck-up and arrogant. I bet I could count on one hand the number of times she actually smiles in the movie. Yeah... I can see why Edward is attracted to her.
When Bella goes shopping for prom dresses with two of her "friends" she spends most of the day staring out the window of the dress shop and giving half-hearted "that looks good" comments to her friends. Even her friends laugh because she gives them the same opinion on every dress they try on. She's so obviously not paying attention or even caring much what her friends wear to prom. Honestly, I wouldn't take her dress shopping with me...
At one point, Bella is forced to be mean to her dad so that he will let her go, which is imperative since her life is at stake and so is his if she's near him. After breaking his heart Bella feels badly and looks melancholy for a minute. I kept waiting for her to break down and bawl but it never happened. But, honestly, they didn't have that great of a relationship before. She treated him with the same cool aloofness she gave her friends.
Edward. Um, creepy stalker? Seriously. He practically haunts Bella. He stares at her, is always telling her to "stay away" from him, but won't leave her alone himself. He follows her everywhere (but, it's ok, because he says it's because he "feels protective") He even climbs in her bedroom window and watches her while she sleeps. (But, that's ok too, because he says it "fascinates him".) He admits that when he's with her it's all he can do to keep himself from killing her. Romantic, huh? Yeah, someday I hope to fall in love with someone who wants to kill me, too.
About three-quarters of the way through the movie I was wondering "What is the draw here?" Why are so many people enamored by this?
Here are the things I've heard are the supposed "good points" of Twilight.
- Robert Pattinson, (Edward) is kind of cute, I guess. If you like the anemic, violent, angry looking type.
- Edward and his family are mild as vampires go. They don't survive on human blood, instead they restrict themselves to only drinking the blood of animals. Wow. That makes me feel so much better.
- There's evidently some kind of pro-chastity message in the movies/books. I don't really see it. Edward and Bella share some passionate kisses and it's evident they would go farther except Edward is afraid he won't be able to control his passion and may kill her. Now, there's a real reason to save yourself. Especially if you're dating a vampire.
- Edward saves Bella's life several times. I think the whole movie is made up of him saving her life. Now, I'm certainly as much excited by the romance of that as the next girl. Prince Charming rushing in battling evil to save a girl's life is exciting. But, is it at all realistic that Bella encounters near-death experiences 6 or 7 times in the space of 90 minutes? Edward has amazing strength and speed and that's pretty cool. But, then again, Superman has amazing strength and speed too, and he uses it to save Lois Lane's life plenty of times but as far as I know he never fantasized about drinking her blood.
- Aside from the times when Edward is staring at Bella with his intense, crazed stalker eyes, he is a perfect gentleman. He always opens the car door for her. Aww... How sweet. I wonder. Are girls today so starved for a little proper affection and respect that a nice gentlemanly act like opening a car door would make them willing to date someone that wants to kill and eat them?
- Edward refuses to turn Bella into a vampire even though she insists that she wants him to and is "Ready." Honestly, I think it's just the author's way of making room for 3 more books.
- The one positive aspect of the film that I found was Edward's "parents" especially his dad. (The "mom" is somewhat underdeveloped.) Vampire though he is, he manages to live as a respected member of a human community without being weird about it. You won't find him giving the intense, stalker vibes that Edward is constantly putting across. When Bella's life is threatened Edward's dad pulls the family together and they risk everything to protect her. As he says "Bella is with Edward, and we protect our family." It may mean losing everything they've worked to build but there's a strong sense of family unity and fighting for justice that is always a positive message.
I'm aware that Edward is a vampire. I'm aware that vampires live on blood and that if Edward didn't have blood to drink he would die. So, therefore this kind of message is acceptable? WRONG. The scary thing about this message is that it's all too real. Take out the vampire element and Edward is an intense, possesive, murderous stalker. And there ARE people out there like that who do not have the "I'm a vampire" excuse. Do we really want our young girls to get the impression that it's ok to date someone like this? Bella is not afraid of Edward. This makes Edward love her. But, really, shouldn't she be afraid? Shouldn't she avoid him? Shouldn't she run away like he's the plague even though he does open the car door for her and habitually saves her life? Girls, there are better guys out there.
Imagine Bella explaining her new boyfriend to her dad "He's really sweet, he watches me while I sleep, he follows me everywhere, he knows he's dangerous and isn't really sure he can control himself enough to be around me without murdering me, but it's ok, because he's a vampire and I'm not afraid of him."
Obviously, Bella cannot explain this to her dad (or anyone else for that matter). He wouldn't understand. So, she has to keep it a secret. Which brings me to my biggest beef with Twilight. Do we REALLY want to encourage this kind of mentality in our young girls? The "my parents won't understand, so we have to hide it from them," mentality. For the sake of argument let's again pretend that Edward doesn't have the vampire excuse. He's just the intense, possessive, murderous stalker. And somehow, someway, he's able to use all these bad qualities to pick up a quiet, introverted, secretive girl. Isn't that a recipe for disaster? Aren't those the guys we tell girls to stay away from? Aren't these situations EXACTLY the reason that we promote and encourage communication between kids and parents? If so, then WHY is a story with the exact opposite message so popular?
Tales of forbidden love have held a special place in our hearts since Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet. And my heart melts as much as any other girls' over these stories. Um, Lorna Doone? *sigh* But, the question I have to ask is: "Aren't some loves forbidden for good reason?"
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