Critical analysis of Twilight and its narrative
Are you team Edward or team Jacob? Bella is a good protagonist and role model? Twilight is problematic. But, why?
The Twilight Saga is a YA, vampire themed, romance-fantasy series — made up by four books: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn — written by author Stephenie Meyer, that became a global phenomenon on 2005.
The film adaptations that came out from 2008 to 2012 only increased the popularity of the story.
The series follows the last teenage years of Isabella (Bella) Swan, who moves from Arizona to Forks and meets the handsome, 104 year old vampire Edward Cullen.
Encounters with vampires, werewolves (the love triangle with one of them) and the conflict that entering this fantastical world entails, moves the plot and puts Bella and Edward’s romance to the test, and it ponders the question “does love conquer all?”
We experience the story through Bella — first narrator, diegesis; though there are times throughout the saga, like the epilogue in Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, that another character — Jacob — narrates the story instead.
The plot is heavily driven by the romance. Not only the one between Edward and Bella, but also the developing spark between Bella and Jacob, which creates the love triangle this story is so loved for — Team Edward and Team Jacob, get it now?
The love-hate situation between this two males is also a feature that attracts the audience, their fight for Bella’s love and what’s ‘good for her’. Two handsome males fighting for the love of a woman?! What girl wouldn’t want that, right?
The narrative is largely set in Forks, Washington, where Bella lives with her father, Charlie Swan. Phoenix, Port Angeles, Olympia, Seattle, Jacksonville, “Isle Esme” and La Push are among the cities that make brief appearances or are mentioned in the series.
Some prevalent places where the action takes place are Bella’s house, the high school she and Edward go to, which is in Forks, Edward’s house, where he lives with his family — the Cullens. The forest/meadow, where Edward revealed his true identity and then turned out to be his and Bella’s “special/romantic” place.
In an interview with Oprah in November 2009, Meyer explained that the idea of the saga came to her in a dream on June 2, 2003 about a girl that fell in love with a vampire who loved her but thirsted for her blood.
“[A dream like that] had never happened to me before and hasn’t happened since. It was a ‘one of a kind thing’, and I knew I couldn't waste it.”
The saga was best received amongst young adults, specially females, with the fantasy and romance in the books being the pull of interest.
Despite its success, however, Twilight was one of the most challenged books of 2009, according to the American Library Association, for being sexually explicit, being age-inappropriate, and for religious views; some schools and libraries were asked to remove the books from their shelves.
In addition to this, the romances in this story have been heavily criticised, as people believe that they portray toxicity and emotional manipulation.
Bella has also been the victim of this criticisms, as her character has become a a stereotype — “the Bella” — when analysing fictional, female characters, as being described as the “clumsy, go with the flow, I’ll-die-for-him-to-prove-I-love-him, I’ll-attract-all-the-problems-and-let-everyone-else-solve-them” type of character, which begs the question: is this the type of heroine young girls should be looking up to?
However, whether or not you like the series, millions of people worldwide do! (Not going to lie but… I was a die-hard fan myself!) The story’s popularity matched that of other well known franchises, like Harry Potter.
Twilight, although a current meme on social media (when the books and films are almost a decade old) is, at this point, a guilty pleasure for us women who’ve outgrown the vampire fantasy.
The story, though sometimes cringy, is still enjoyable to read and watch.
Old, but very much, still gold.
