Twilight is a well-loved film and movie series, books written by Stephenie Meyer and the film directed by Catherine Hardwicke, Chris Weitz, David Slade, and Bill Condon. The films were made shortly after the books were published, and they generated a huge fan base. The first book was published in 2005, with the other books and films following shortly after. Twilight is one of my favorite series and has a cult-like fan base. A lot of people view it as an old cheesy rom-com series. Besides its cheesy stereotypes, Twilight has some interesting points that most people don’t see, such as the age difference between the two love interests, their toxic relationship, and Bella’s, the main character, vulnerability.
The main character, Bella Swan, is a quiet girl from Phoenix who moves to a small town, Forks, where she starts a strange relationship with Edward Cullen, who she finds out later is a vampire, along with his family.
Bella is seventeen years old, and Edward is 104 years old, meaning Edward is technically 87 years older than her. He became a vampire when he was only seventeen, like Bella is now, so he never matured physically or mentally for the past 104 years. He still has the mindset of being seventeen years old. Also, Edward only progresses through school by memorization since he has been attending high school for the past 80 years.
Historically accurate vampires are mythical creatures that roam around the world at night-time, looking for humans whose blood they can feed off of. They will suck on people’s blood with their fangs, turning them into vampires after sucking them dry. They usually hunt at night because sunlight weakens them. Some can turn into other creatures, such as bats, and they show no shadow and have no reflection. Most also have super strength and increased senses. During the middle ages, vampire accusations were common; if someone had a rare undiagnosed mental or physical illness, they would be labeled a vampire. There was a blood disease that caused people to break out in blisters when exposed to direct sunlight, which was labeled as a vampire, causing the myth of vampires not being able to go near the sun.
Twilight vampires have more unique characteristics than the typical vampires. Most vampires have super strength and heightened senses and drink human blood, but the Cullen family are trained to only drink animal blood. The Cullens and normal vampires have no shadow either because they cannot absorb sunlight, which is necessary for a shadow to form, but they have a reflection in a mirror. Another trait is that every vampire in Twilight has a unique ability that is based on their personality, which was not seen in most vampire myths. Twilight vampires do not burn in the sunlight; they sparkle and look like they are covered in glitter.
Another thing not mentioned in the series is how Edward and Bella obsess over each other to an unhealthy level. In the first book, Edward snuck into Bella’s room and watched her as she slept. Many people looked over the fact that he was stalking her. First, breaking into her house, second, finding her address, and third, just watching her sleep is creepy. For Bella, her obsession with Edward was his physical attraction and desire to be young and beautiful forever. She wanted to stay with Edward so that she would be young and immortal. Edward controlled every move for Bella, made all her decisions, and controlled her life, so she felt she couldn’t live without him which caused her obsession with becoming a vampire and staying with Edward forever.
The Cullen family dynamic is weird. Carlisle was the first one to be a vampire. He started the family, essentially playing matchmaker. Alice, Emmett, Edward, Rosalie, and Jasper are his ‘kids,’ and Esme is his wife. Alice is dating Jasper, and Rosalie is dating Emmett, but they are all foster siblings. They are not blood related, yet they live together and play family. This family dynamic is just kinda strange.
Many things are hidden in the Twilight series beneath the cheesy rom-com stereotype. But which side are you on, team Edward or team Jacob?
