The Twilight Saga

I know this series is a a few years old, but I still have some strong opinions about it that I felt needed to be shared. I also want to try something a little different and instead of choosing just one movie I’m going to review all five of them. That brings up another point; while I am reviewing the movies, I will have to draw on some knowledge I have from reading the books.
This series is all-around terrible for young, impressionable girls. First, if Bella wants to be with Edward, she has to live with the knowledge that at every moment Edward wants to rip her throat out and drink the very essence of her life. Bella seems to be not at all bothered by this. In fact, she blindly accepts it because he’s “hot” and she “loves” him. Every second she spends around him she is putting her life at risk. At least Edward tries to stay away from her because he knows the danger she’s in. Bella is an idiot for continually putting herself in harms way and Edward blatantly tells her that it causes him physical pain to be around her and not kill her. And yet she ignores that he’s in pain and still wants to be around him. So she loves him, but she subjects him to excruciating pain every second they’re near one another. If that’s true love then I don’t want any part of love, ever!
Secondly, if they want to spend forever together, Bella has to die. There’s no way around it; she has to die and become a vampire. Vampirism is greatly romanticized here. The focus is on how she will become nearly invincible, incredibly beautiful, superhumanly strong, may gain a special “power” or gift, and she will sparkle in sunlight. Um, what? What about the part where she will want to kill people all the time? That part is touched on, but one of Bella’s “gifts” is superhuman bloodlust control. How convenient.
I, personally, would never want to live forever. It’s unnatural and I couldn’t stand to live with myself for that long, let alone live with someone else. I would have to watch every person I have ever cared about die. But again, Bella just accepts this because Edward is gorgeous and she’s apparently in love with him.
Her entire life revolves around him. She becomes defined by her relationship with him. He breaks into her house and watches her sleep most nights and if that isn’t creepy then I don’t know what is. That’s stalker behavior and the fact that she thinks that him doing that is “sweet” and even falls in love with him is insanity and she belongs in an asylum.
Before this, Bella has presumably never had a boyfriend; never had someone she had real feelings for. Edward is her first and last boyfriend. Last time I checked, that is far from practical. That’s more like a Disney princess movie and we all know how realistic those are.
In the second book/movie, Edward dumps Bella because he thinks he’s too dangerous for her, which is right and I commend Edward for that. In response, Bella goes into a deep depression for four months because apparently that’s a completely acceptable reaction when a boy breaks up with you. After her dad threatens to send her back to live with her mom, Bella becomes an adrenaline junkie. When she subjects herself to danger she hallucinates that Edward is pleading for her to stop, so she continually puts herself in harms way. Again, this is apparently a completely acceptable reaction when a boy breaks up with you. I hope you’re catching my sarcasm. After one of Bella’s particularly dangerous stunts, Edward thinks that she is dead so he goes to the Volturi (vampire police) to off himself because he just can’t stand to live in a world where Bella doesn’t exist. Dramatic much? He doesn’t think twice about his family, he doesn’t care that they all love him. He only cares that his then ex-girlfriend that he broke up with is supposedly dead. Don’t get me wrong, he has every right to be upset and be emotional. But to kill yourself over it? Turns out Bella isn’t actually dead, so she jumps on a plane to Italy at a moments notice to save him. She doesn’t even consult her father, she just goes. Oh wait, she leaves her dad a note…yes, I’m being serious. An 18 year old girl leaves her dad a note before she goes to Italy to save her ex from killing himself because he thinks she’s dead. Yes, she’s technically an adult and can do as she pleases, but she still lives in her dad’s house. Common courtesy calls for at the absolute least a phone call. A conversation has to be had before a teenager hops on a plane to another continent.
For some reason, Bella is obsessed with having sex with Edward. Being from another time, Edward refuses to have sex before marriage, which is surprisingly admirable given that he’s a teenage boy with raging hormones. So Edward and Bella get married. When I was 18, the last thing on my mind was marriage to my then-boyfriend. Sure, some couples get married at a young age and it works out great, but that usually happens after they’ve been dating for a few years. Edward and Bella just met a little over a year ago and now they’re getting married? And almost solely for the reason of having sex. After their marriage, they do have sex and Bella gets pregnant with a daughter who ends up being the death of her. Literally. Bella dies during childbirth and comes back as a vampire. That little girl is then aging at an accelerated rate and will most likely meet her maker in about 10 years. That just goes to show that a vampire and a human probably shouldn’t be together.
My biggest issue with this series is the gender roles that are displayed. Edward plays the typical male protagonist, and Bella plays the typical female protagonist. Even with smaller characters, stereotypical gender roles are rampant. It is repeatedly mentioned that Bella’s father doesn’t really clean and he can’t cook, which leaves Bella to do it for him, filling the role of a stereotypical female. She also is a damsel in distress throughout the entire series. She lets Edward and Jacob defend her and rescue her countless times. Edward is all too comfortable being the heroic, protective, barbaric, alpha male. He goes as far as buying Bella the safest car he can get his hands on. Another character, Mike, gets made fun of when he can’t handle a gory movie because real men should be able to take blood and gore in stride. The gender roles in this series are infuriating, and it will undoubtedly poison young girls’ minds into thinking they need a guy to be happy and to save them.
One last thing before I wrap this up is Bella’s choice in a guy. This may just be my inner Team Jacob coming out, but it’s the obvious choice. Edward is a creepy, overprotective, ancient, alpha male stalker who Bella has to die for. Even though Jacob is literally the alpha male of the werewolves, Bella wouldn’t have to change to be with him. Additionally, the only reason there are werewolves in the first place is because of the “bad” vampires that are in town and the only reason they’re even there is because of Edward and his family. If the Cullen’s would just skip town then there would be no werewolves and Bella could be happy with Jacob. That’s the path her life should have taken, and Bella even admits that. However, she stupidly goes against nature and chooses a guy that wants to kill her 24/7 until he turns her into a vampire. Yeah, real romantic.
Contrary to what you just read, there is a part of me that likes the Twilight Saga because of the potential it holds. I think Stephanie Meyer is a fantastic writer, but she just made a few huge mistakes here. The overall storyline is good, but the execution needs a lot of work. Meyer helped to kick off a generation of vampire, werewolf, and even zombie filled shows, books, and movies. Many of which have found a special place in my heart. To any girls who may be reading this, I am telling you right now, do not aspire to be Bella! Aspire to be independent and strong and confident. You absolutely do not need a guy; you only need your family, your friends, and, if you’re like me, God. If I had to give this series a rating, the movies would be 2/10 and the books would be 3/10.