Twilight, it’s the hottest and one of the most lucrative franchises out there. It has captured the attention of young teens nationwide and has so easily burst onto theater screens to capture the box office as well. It is a phenomenon. The overwhelming amount of dedicated, hardcore fans it has is astonishing. But, why is this? Why has the youth of America fallen victim to poor literature?
At the very core of Twilight there is a spark of an interesting idea that was mangled and turned into nothing but a half-hearted erotic fairy tale written by an overweight Mormon woman who thinks Washington State is an interesting place. There is nothing wrong with a Vampire/Human love story. They can be done well. (Ex. True Blood) But when you take the Vampire and turn them into fangless, day-walking, brooding, and worst of all sparkly pansies, it’s no longer a true vampire. What Stephanie Myers has done is bastardize one of the most interesting creatures in all of history to compensate for her lack of creativity. Every single one of the changes made to the traditional vampire lore serves a purpose to the plot and they solely exist in order for this romance between the terribly confused and terribly stupid Bella (I get it) and the all too ‘perfect’ Edward.
Some may call it “originality”, its not. It’s just an excuse. The things that separate humans and vampires would only make a romance more interesting. How do they deal with the restriction of only being able to roam in the dark? How does a young teenage girl feel when the one she falls for is of the living dead, who have a completely different set of natural laws to go by. How do they deal with not being able to see each other very much? It’s these little conflicts that help define character and can only aid in the story. But in Twilight the vampires are all young, attractive, rich, can go out in the day, live forever, and have various other abilities. Tell me, what are the drawbacks to being a vampire in this world? I cannot think of any.
It is another avenue sealed and thus destroying another dimension that could make these characters, dare I say, interesting.
The set up is like this. Vampire guy ‘Edward’ meets high-school girl, who has moved to Washington State to be with her father, on a regular school day. He is attracted to her because she smells really good. You know kinda like how you go into a very good restaurant and smell a juicy steak. Bella would be the steak. In Twilight, Edward’s ‘Hunger’ for her is equivalent to lust (how’s your mind? Blown?). So through out he is fighting his ‘hunger’ (I get it). Its presented, in the films, that Edward is pretty much trying to get to know a steak before he indulges in it. He stalks the steak, watches the steak, and protects the steak. He is the only one who can touch the steak. It’s Edward’s fucking steak, get it?! Bella is ok with this cause Edward is attractive. I cant see any other reason.
Why does a 100 plus year old Vampire need to go to High School? Oh, cause he was turned when he was 17? Maybe cause he is trying to fit in? Well you would think after about 100 years he would understand that he was a vampire and could do just about anything he wanted to do. Being immortal is not really a bad thing especially if it’s been for only 100 years. You would think he would have moved on from High School at least to college maybe do some grad school. Its not like he would have to take night classes. I guess broadening horizons is not ‘cool’. Then again a Mormon writes this so, I guess, usual logic does not apply.
In Part 2 more about this phenomenon will be discussed. I will continue on about lapses in logic, how its set women back at least 60 years, how its hurting film, the potential positives and more.
