When the coveted film Twilight hit theaters in 2008 I was over the moon excited to see it. I’m sure I wasn’t the only teen begging their parents to drop them off at the movies so they could watch it for the first time with friends. If you were one of the people that didn’t jump on to the moving bandwagon, I will do the honor of giving you the short version. The averagely beautiful leading lady, Bella, moves back in with her father in Forks (some town where it always seems to be raining), after living with her mother for most of her life. Of course she meets a handsome, mysterious guy, because they always meet THAT guy.
Bella can tell that something about Edward (Mr. handsome and mysterious) is a little off. While working together in class, he try’s his hardest to resist her, because he knows he is no good for Bella. The two end up spending more and more time together, because he obviously couldn’t resist, and Bella finally discovers what is so off about Edward. He’s a Vampire! They realize they need to be together, and the rest is history.
At the tender age of 14 Twilight seemed like the ultimate love story. The movie oozed mystery and forbidden love. I had also read the book, and that made me even more eager to see the story all play out across the big screen. I also hadn’t really seen too many other movies, besides Dracula, that depicted a love story that included vampires. To simply put it, I was a bit obsessed. Now at the age of 21 I see the movie all the time on cable television, and I skip right past it. A few weeks ago I made the choice to re-watch the movie I had once loved so much.
I made it into the first 15 minutes of the movie and my first thought was “why is there a blue film through out the entire movie?” That irritated me a little, but I continued to watch. I had gotten to the part of the movie where Bella had finally pieced it together and discovered that Edward was a vampire. I couldn’t believe that she followed him into the woods even after she suspected that he was drinking blood in order to survive! She finally forces it out of him, and she knows for sure that he is a vampire. At 14 I thought this was so cool, and now I had the complete opposite feeling. I couldn’t understand why she wasn’t running for the hills! She is alone in the woods with some creepy guy that glitters in the sun, he admits to being a vampire, and she has no urge to run. I must add that I had never really noticed it before, but Bella had very little confidence in her self. She was so awkward that it was slightly uncomfortable to watch.
I unfortunately keep on watching until I get to the part where another vampire wants to kill Bella … of course. Bella all too quickly makes the decision to run off with Edward and his vampire family. She writes her dad a note, and runs off in the night (it might have been day time but the entire movie was blue, so I really couldn’t be sure) with her new boyfriend. I had to stop right there. I couldn’t take any more. What had happened over the years? Why was the movie I had once loved so bad? Who did Bella think she was? When did it ever become cool to just leave your dad a note on the kitchen table, and run off with your sparkly boyfriend?
I was a little saddened by the fact that this movie didn’t please me how it once did at the age of 14. I wish I could tell you the exact reason behind this change. Maybe with age comes the wisdom to not overlook stupidity for a good love story. Maybe I was more carefree and open to endless possibilities at that age. The first Twilight film wasn’t as glorious after almost seven years. Hopefully I can find another movie to obsess over the way I once did Twilight.