So, I read The Twilight Saga when it was popular for a couple of reasons. I wanted to know what the hype was, and my nieces were reading it, and I wanted to know why it was such a big deal for them personally. All in all, the books weren’t as horrible as some describe them to be. While the plot had issues, and Bella never really grew or changed much in the entire series, and there was a cop out where battle scenes were concerned so that we didn’t get to see the main action or there was no “final battle” to tie the whole thing together, nor did any of the main characters get sacrificed for the greater good, it wasn’t a terrible read.
My main issue, however, is with Bella and how she is portrayed. I thought the days of romanticizing the damsel in distress were over. Apparently, I was wrong. Bella seemed like a middle-aged housewife with no job skills who was afraid to leave her husband because she couldn’t live on her own or care for herself. Her dependence on these guys and how they felt for her were so crippling that she couldn’t function without them. In all honesty, getting your heart ripped out by the person you love is one of the worst feelings you can ever have. It’s harder as a teenager. I remember that awkward time and how crushing a rejection could be. I’m not saying that the take on Bella isn’t somewhat realistic, but I wonder if that’s the type of emotional attachment we should be teaching our teenage girls. Let’s face it, they probably picked up the book because friends were reading it, and then they fell in love with Edward Cullen (for reasons beyond me) right along with Bella. They probably discussed the books with their friends, visited fan sites on the internet, immersed themselves in the Twilight world in as many ways as they could. Do we really think that this kind of attention to these books didn’t somehow shape (or fog) their perspective on how relationships might go? Let’s forget the vampire and werewolf factors for a minute and look at the relationships. Bella and Edward have this insane connection and just like that, they are seeing one another, but he’s always sneaking into her room to watch her sleep, controls where she goes and what she does, follows her around without her consent to do so. He acts as if she can’t survive or do anything without him by her side. He even cuts her off from the only friends she has at school and takes her into his family. She is so in love with him that she accepts all these things as his adoration for her… until he leaves her like she’s nothing- in the middle of the woods, no less. Then she falls to pieces. And she doesn’t just fall apart for a week or two then pick herself up and move on. She falls apart and stays in a depressed state for months on end, even having night terrors because of the trauma losing him has caused. Uuuuummm… can you say overkill? I wanted to slap her across the face and tell her to get over it. Maybe that’s because I’m older now and I understand that these things happen. In your lifetime, love will come and go. Some will leave you busted wide open and hurting for a while. Others will just make you angry and leave you glad it’s over. Either way, you get past it, and you’re skin is a little thicker for the next time. Bella does what a lot of people might do. She eventually (after months and months) finds someone else to fill the void she has. And poor Jacob! She ultimately drags him along for a ride to satisfy her own selfish needs because she just has to have someone there to keep her from doing something reckless to harm herself, and then she rips his heart out to go save the asshole who dumped her in the first place. Not only that, but she sort of pits them against each other as they vie for her affections, and being the selfish person she is, she refuses to let either of them go for the other because someone as helpless as she is needs two crutches, not just one. I’m being a bit facetious here, but as popular as these books were, I’m hoping that the majority of teen readers were just in it for the cool vampires and hot werewolves because if they idolize Bella, there is something wrong in their thinking processes. I had this discussion with my nieces, and ultimately, I did get my point across. You have to be strong, independent, and not allow others to be your main reason for existing. If you lose someone, you can’t lose yourself in the process because we always lose people. It’s how life goes, but the only person we have to live with 24/7/365 is ourselves. My advice: Read what your kids read and discuss it with them. It can forge bonds and open up areas of discussion that can be important for emotional and intellectual growth- for both of you. ;-)
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Samantha Buttrick
Author of "The Beast of Yorkshire Place" and "The Wasteland" Archives
October 2015
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