I was avoiding my schoolwork with yet another TikTok doom scroll (as one typically does) when I came across what perhaps may be the most important breaking news of 2023: A Twilight reboot show is in the making. I froze in bed as the entire series flashed before my eyes. The beauty, the chaos, the awkward acting and the blue filter.
Honestly, I don’t have much to say in regard to THAT news, but this very important political news did remind me that I’ve kind of always wanted to write about Twilight! I’m a pretty outspoken member of the Twilight defender community, and I’m not afraid to be judged for it! Is the writing great? Not really. Is the acting great? They probably did the best that they could with what they were given, but honestly, I’d have to say not really. Is the main character my favorite? No. But is the main character at least tolerable? Often times, no.
Yes, there are a few flaws here and there, and yes, the love story of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen may not be the healthiest depiction of love, but I. Love. This. Series.
All of that being said, If you’ve never seen these films, or maybe you weren’t a fan of the series, let me provide you with different angles to view this tale that may make the series a little more sensible, or at least, a little more entertaining.
Quick Disclaimers: 1.) I will be writing about the movies specifically. I recognize that the books have more details and may provide clarity that negates some of my views, but as for now, I will be analyzing the series from the viewpoint of the movies only. However, once I finish the series, I will perhaps write an updated analysis. 2.) These are my opinions! Everyone is entitled to them, so we don’t have to agree, and that’s super okay!
Okay, without further ado, let’s take a deep dive into the world of Twilight!
A Comedy
From the famous line “Bella! Where the hell have you been, loca?” to the iconic sparkling vampire skin (one of my headcanons is that Edward secretly loves the song “Bejeweled” by Taylor Swift), I think it’s no surprise that Twilight can really be viewed as one big joke. You can honestly just pretend that the movies and books are intended to be a caricature of romance, dramatized elements of common tropes that were written with the intention of being laughed at! I think there are plenty of goofy moments in the Twilight series, but I’ll give you just three.
- The first movie, in my opinion, has the most comical moment, but the one that gets me every time is the scene right before the “Bella’s Lullaby” montage where Edward flies out his window with Bella on his back and says *I suppose in flirtatious tone* “You better hold on tight, spider-monkey” and then flies up into the air. This moment precedes what may be my favorite scene in the entire series and my favorite song in the entire series, but it’s very silly that he did that.
- Another good one from the first movie is when Edward is literally sparkling (making the whole place shimmer), and he looks at Bella with so much defeat and says, “This is the skin of a killer, Bella.” Like, no, it’s actually the Anastasia Beverly Hills highlighter in the shade Iced Out. An honorable mention is later in the scene where Edward literally tells Bella he killed people in the past, and then says he wanted to kill her, and she immediately says, “I trust you.” Like, girl??? Maybe we should take a second and at least think this through first??
- My third example is from the last movie where Bella finds out Jacob’s nickname for her daughter, Resume, I mean — Renesmee, and she says “Nessie? YOU NICKNAMED MY DAUGHTER AFTER THE LOCH NESS MONSTER!?” In general, this scene probably has the most emotion we see from Bella in the whole series, and I truly live for it.
Bottom line, Twilight is extremely unserious at times.
A Tragedy
Where do I even begin here?
I’ve watched the movies so many times, and I truly get something new with each watch, but one of the greatest discoveries I made with this series is that it’s kind of sad when you think about it, and I really think the story would make more sense if it were meant to be written as a warning of the thin line between love and obsession, or as a tale of the sacrifices and tradeoffs some make to have the “perfect” love story.
The story is about Bella, a girl who moved away from her mom and the sunny weather of Arizona to live with her dad in Forks, Washington. She’s sad and bored there, she doesn’t really fit in, people pay an uncomfortable amount of attention to her, and her dad tries to make her comfortable, but their dynamic just isn’t great. Then she meets Edward, and after some bizarre moments in which he saves her, she discovers that he’s this murderous, supernatural being that is in love with her but also kind of wants to kill her? But she LOVES him and decides almost immediately that she, a person with little will to live and even less sense of self, is “unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him” and wants to be with him forever, even if she has to lose everything and everyone in her life currently and become a vampire like him.
Edward doesn’t want Bella to have to make these sorts of sacrifices, and he also believes that when vampires die, they have the worst of fates for eternity. He doesn’t want this life for Bella, so he tries to separate himself from her in the second movie, but it nearly kills both of them. When Bella does turn into a vampire, she has to pretend that she died, which always makes me feel absolutely terrible for Charlie, her dad, who loved her and wanted nothing more than for her to be safe. Problems from the first movie follow them all the way until the end when they find themselves in a great war against the evil elite vampires, where there are even more vampires and werewolves in danger. Their love ruins the lives of so many, and the guilt definitely begins to eat at them.
And we simply can’t ignore Jacob. He starts the series as this sweet little guy who is in love with his childhood buddy, but tragedy strikes for him in several ways. First, he turns into a werewolf, which is an excruciating change that alters his personality for a bit in the second movie. He’s constantly led on by Bella during Edward’s absence and loses her time and time again throughout the series. What makes this worse is that Jacob would have probably been her pick if it wasn’t for the wildly and unexplainable feelings she had for Edward. Edward is cold, gloomy and everything Bella claims to not like in the first movie, whereas Jacob is described as the sun and is warm. He reminds Bella of her home in Arizona (call me a hypocrite, but I’m still more on the Team Edward side, myself).
I think the most tragic part about his character is that he imprints on Bella’s child, which is basically the same thing as being the child’s personal servant for the rest of his life. Could you imagine being in love with someone, and then after being rejected by them for your natural enemy, you’re forced to awkwardly and embarrassingly stick around as the personal servant to the child of the person you possibly wanted to marry? Also, the Cullens move around a lot, so I imagine poor Jacob has to follow them like a sick little puppy until he dies. Yeah, I can’t forgive Stephanie Meyer for that one.
What makes some of the tragic aspects of Twilight so sad is that some of these things can happen in real life. So many people have given their all to their relationship, trading their identity for the hope of “happily ever after,” especially before women had rights and agency. Bella may have been a little luckier, but most are not and end up giving themselves away to energy vampires and trust — that’s a sort of trauma that no one should have to go through. When Bella is without him, it’s like she’s going through the effects of withdrawal that come with addiction. In the scene where he first reveals his true identity, Edward says, “As if you can outrun me! As if you can fight me off!” Obviously, this is quite literal for the plot, but this hopelessness isn’t as fictitious in a more metaphorical sense.
I love the series, but there truly is a lot that could be unpacked if you ever have the chance.
A Fantasy like no other
Finally, you can view Twilight exactly as it should be viewed: a fantasy of its own. The story doesn’t have a lot of logic to it, and I don’t think it’s supposed to, or that it even has to. One element of the story that I believe appeals to so many fans is the relationship between Bella and Edward. Yes, it isn’t explained much, but there’s no doubting how he feels about her. Psychoanalyze me all you want, but this addition to the plot brings me a sense of comfort I don’t get very often. Edward and Bella are in love, and that’s simply that. Well, with a few bumps in the road, but you know.
I believe there is a ton to love about the series. It’s awkward, but that’s what makes it unique and charming. The blue filter from the first movie is legendary, and can we talk about that soundtrack?? It’s outstanding! Twilight is a rainy spring day, a summer break binge, the first day of fall, and the dead of winter all at once. Sometimes it makes me want to laugh, sometimes it makes me want to cry, but Twilight always brings me into a fantastical world truly like no other, and that’s enough for me to watch the movies again and again and again.
Still debating how I feel about this reboot TV series though.