I'm ashamed to admit that I own and have read all four "Twilight Saga" books. I'm even more ashamed to admit that at first, I loved them. When I was introduced to the series in middle school, I became enchanted with Bella and Edward, Bella's insecurities, Edward's secret powers, and their love story. For those of you who have never heard of Twilight, it's a modern-day "Romeo and Juliet" story by Stephenie Meyer that has also turned into a movie series. The gist of the series is this: Bella and Edward are involved in a "forbidden love" because Bella's a human, Edward's a vampire, and he could possibly kill her. So right now Twilight probably seems to you like the average overly dramatic teenage love story. But that's not the main reason why the series is so bad. The bone I have to pick with it, and the reason why Twilight is an appropriate topic to discuss in this blog, is that Twilight is disempowering for women. The video above contains several very good explanations for why Twilight is bad, and I would love to expand on these reasons below:
Reasons Why Twilight Sets a Bad Example
1. Bella Swan is an insecure, passive, and shy young woman who suffers from low self-esteem and never tries to change this throughout the course of the novels or movies. She is a static character. We never see her try to face her challenges head-on.
2. Edward Cullen is a controlling and perhaps abusive boyfriend. He stalks Bella. He gives her orders and expects her to obey them. He forces her to do things she doesn't want to do, like go to Prom.
3. Jacob Black, who's competing with Edward for Bella, isn't much better. Throughout the novels, we see him become intensely jealous over Edward and Bella. Jacob exerts his control through threats and intimidation.
4. The constant theme that women are prizes to be won. Bella never steps in and straightens things out between Edward and Jacob. Actually, she likes them both but never does anything about it. She simply waits around for one of them to "win" her.
5. The fact that Bella loses her idenity when guys are involved. She pines over her boyfriend, and when he disappears in the second book, she completely loses herself, her friends, and her family.
6. The "Damsel in Distress" relationship that Bella has with Edward. Bella consistently endangers herself and "must" be saved by her boyfriend. We are never shown that Bella is strong and capable of protecting herself.
It blows my mind that the Twilight franchise has made so much money. I don't know why this is. Do young girls fall for it out of identifying with the shy and insecure Bella? Do they fall for Edward? Do they enjoy the fantasy part of it? In all cases, it still makes no sense, and even scares me a little, that Twilight has become such a phenomenon. I understand the insecurity that teenage girls feel, but it scares me that they see Bella as a role model since she never learns how to stand up for herself. I also don't like that they're so fascinated with Edward for the above reasons I've mentioned that he shows signs of being an abuser. And when it comes to fantasy, Twilight is one of the least unique fantasy novels out there. In fact, it's also one of the most poorly-written novels that ever became a bestseller. It's time for us to move on from this silliness, and leave Twilight on a bookshelf somewhere to dust away.
