I’m gonna be a devil’s advocate here, but let me acknowledge a few things first.
1) Twilight is still a bad story and glorifies many things that should not be glorified. Romanticizing controlling/abusive behavior is never okay.
2) There are still some painstakingly laughable moments.
3) The majority of these points are in correspondence to the movies, not the books. I couldnt stand reading the books because Meyer uses a lot of annoying Purple Prose.
4) This is my own opinion, so dont get butthurt.
Now onto some good points on Twilight. (There arent much but the good points are some really good points that we should all take away from.)
The main point is that Twilight has some characters with some traits that we can all relate to.
Bella
Many people think that Bella is a blank slate, but she really isnt. Many people fail to see her motivations. She absolutely despises being normal. The whole saga is her pretty much fighting between who she should be and who she wants to be. It’s a struggle that everyone faces in their life. It’s not as easy as choosing who she wants to be with, Edward or Jacob (I’ll get to these characters in a second). Apparently to most people, it’s not okay for a woman to want something. She has to live by society’s standards. /sarcasm
I will admit that Bella’s reactions to some things, like Edward breaking up with her, are a little overdramatic, but at the same time, guys do this stuff too. It happens to everybody. But when she starts doing things with Jacob, she’s still attached to the idea of being who she wants to be.
In essence, choosing Edward is choosing the side that she wants to be, and choosing Jacob is choosing the side that she should be. Theres a difference.
Edward
Before I start saying my point, just know that I dont completely agree with everything he does. His actions are a little bit over the top and I do not condone their romance in any way.
That being said, the majority of the problems in Bella and Edward’s relationship stems from Edward’s insecurities… and Bella’s insecurities. Bella hates having a normal life, and that is why Edward is a life changer for her. On the other side of the coin, Edward thinks Bella should have a normal life because it’s very precious to him.
Which brings me to the point of why I find it appropriate that Edward’s vampire disposition was forced onto him. Edward probably never wanted to be a vampire in the first place. It was the Spanish Flu that ripped his life away from him, and as a result, he finds having a normal life to be a precious thing that someone should hold on to.
Bella absolutely hates her normal life with her normal friends. That’s why she gets so obsessed with Edward. Edward isnt just another boy toy to Bella, but instead, an escape into the world that she wants. The world of the supernatural.
This ties into the events of Breaking Dawn. In the scene where Edward tries to force Bella into getting an abortion, he tries to isolate himself from her. This is a result of his insecurities at play, which is also the reason why we have a lot of single mothers. The fathers are so insecure of themselves, they see themselves in their children. So they leave the significant others. But the moment that he sees the child is more like Bella instead of himself, he stays.
It isn’t until the end, when Bella fully becomes a vampire, that they stop having problems.
So here we have Edward and Bella, two different people with opposite insecurities, but they do love the other for the way they are. I dont condone it, but i can understand it.
Jacob
I dont know why many people dont see this. Jacob IS the physically abusive asshole. He constantly objectifies Bella, making her into a prize to be won. Because she isnt available. He also pretty much says to Bella “Dont piss me off, or I’ll cut you.” Hence his whole werewolf thing.
Also, his rash actions could be described in the scene in Breaking Dawn where Edward gives her a Ceasarian by teeth. When Bella ‘dies’ Edward continues to try and save her with his venom, while Jacob mopes and tries to go for the person responsible: the baby.
I can compare it to the commentary from the Elephant Man, played by David Bowie at one point. In this scene, The Elephant Man, Merrick, is conversing with Ms. Kendal on Romeo and Juliet.
“Merrick (M): I like love stories best too. If I had been Romeo, guess what?
Ms. Kendal (K): What?
M: I would not have held the mirror to her breath.
K: You mean the scene where Juliet appears to be dead and he holds the mirror to her breath and sees-
M: Nothing. How does it feel when he kills himself because he just sees nothing?
K: Well. My experience as Juliet has been… that while I am laying there dead dead dead, and he is lamenting excessively, I get to thinking that if this slab of ham does not part from the hamhock of his life toute suite, I am going to scream, pop off the tomb, and plunge a dagger into his scene-stealing heart. Romeos are very undependable.
M: Because he does not care for Juliet.
K: Not care?
M: Does he take her pulse? Does he get a doctor? Does he make sure? No. He kills himself. The illusion fools him because he does not care for her. He only cares about himself. If I had been Romeo, we would have got away.”
Does Jacob make sure that Bella’s alive? No. He checks the mirror for her breath and the illusion tricks him. While Edward is trying his hardest to make sure she lives, Jacob leaves, accepting that she is dead, and goes to try and kill the baby, which, through the power of Deus Ex Machina, he imprints on her. Weird.
But even with all of this said, Jacob is still a character we can relate to, or at the very least, seen in real life. He’s selfish and only wants Bella because she cant be had. He wants a challenge.
All in all, through the terrible plot, I have to give credit where it’s due. A lot of people say that Twilight has no substance, but they are mostly men who just cant understand Bella. People who think that female protagonists in books have to be fucking godly icons or else they lack substance. This black and white fallacy has gone on for far too long.
A character does not need to be an icon to have substance. Sometimes you have to dig deeper.
Just because Bella isnt an icon doesnt make her less of a character. But I think it goes further. A lot of people who write anti-twilight threads refuse to acknowledge Bella as a person. She is a Damsel in Distress sometimes, but that doesnt make her a character. If anything, these readers are objectifying Bella.
And a lot of readers tend to ignore the Manic Pixie Dream Girl thing happening in a lot of media. But when its a Manic Pixie Dream Guy, everyone loses their minds.
Im just saying that there are a few things to take away. Twilight is pretty horrid, but it shouldnt be dismissed as a waste of space. There’s good that comes with the bad.
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