A Vindication of Twilight?: Re-read 10 years later

Note: There will be spoilers discussed below.

First Impressions

The last time I read Twilight I was 12 years old and loved it. Now, currently in the midst of finishing my feminism dissertation on patriarchal norms in popular culture, and currently self-isolating, my curiosity was peaked: is the Twilight I remember one that was read through naive rose-tinted glasses? Does it actually have an anti-feminist rhetoric? Over the past two days, I have read Twilight (note only the first book in the series) and have taken notes of my thoughts while reading.

The most fun part of this reading was all the little details that had to be left out during the movie. The fact that Rosalie and Jasper are supposedly twins, while the rest (Edward, Emmett and Alice) are not blood-related, I found so interesting! Little details like this were so nostalgic.

Now, for how much people say Meyer is a horrible writer, I have to stay a vehemently disagree. I’ve read hundreds of books over the past year, most romance and of those either contemporary, fantasy or paranormal, and I have to say Meyer’s writing is an excellent break for those who want a rich narration without – what I find to be – the inaccessible prose of the classics (like Wuthering Heights). Bella’s descriptions of the lush Forks transports the reader to a place where vampires (and werewolves for that matter) are real. Many readers critique the ‘purple prose’ of Meyer’s … and how Bella’s narration is not reminiscent of a 17-year-olds. However, I’d argue that Bella’s favourite literature, which encompasses Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and also includes plays like Macbeth, illustrates why her vocabulary is much more formal than typical 17-year-olds. It also makes sense her narration reflects her AP English education.

Delving into the Common Critiques

A significant critique for many reading Twilight was the characterization of Bella. Did I find Bella annoying, whinny and straight-out infuriating at times? YES. But, her annoying traits start from page zero and are distinctly her traits – not ones that she gains after falling in love with Edward. I would also argue that many of her annoying habits are fallacies one has when you are an immature teenager who believes they are more mature than they are (ahem, every YA heroine… ever).

#1: Martyr-Syndrom
For most people, Bella’s martyr complex is most memorable in the climax of the story – when she sacrifices herself to save her mother (we’ll get back to this). While stupid, it’s not a new flaw. In fact, Bella coming to Forks in the first place, is seen as her sacrificing her happiness for her mothers! She martyr’s herself to see her mother happy – but, because she’s a moody teenager, she doesn’t have to be happy with her choice, and therefore takes out her frustrations of parenting her parent on how she sees Forks. When reading Bella’s reaction to James saying he’s holding her mother captive, her fear felt very real to me. As the whole book of Twilight attests up to this point, Bella has a very off sense of fight-or-fight. Her terror leaped off the page for me … and as her characterization (and her inner narration) demonstrated throughout the novel, once Bella makes a decision, she does not waver nor second-guess (even when she should). The fact that every option meant someone Bella loved could get hurt resolved her end it by marrying herself to James. However, it was incredibly naive to not think he wouldn’t emotionally torture her with hurting (and possibly killing) her mother first … she’s just lucky he didn’t actually kidnap her mom.

#2: Loner Superiority
I’ve lost track of how many YA and NA books are out there with a loner/outsider MC who looks down their nose at the “in-crowd” because of their normalness, or “basicness.” The fact that being “basic” is something sneered at in today’s society is honestly another example of this. Bella hates anything that draws attention to herself (she stresses about how her black raincoat might make her stand out on the first day of school). She abhors having to drive in Charlie’s police car – it literally flashes lights that society knows to pay attention to. Now, with her sacrificial move, Bella went from a high school with thousands of students in it, to 358 … and she’s the new girl where everyone knows everyone … and therefore, cannot merely disappear amongst the crowd. A prime example that Bella’s #1 concern is fitting in: she pities the Cullens because they were outsiders despite their beauty (2006: 22, 1st edition). As if the only thing that matters is fitting in. She is so hung-up on finding somewhere to belong that she typecasts everyone she meets: Eric, the “chess club type.” Niceness is also re-written as an annoyance: Eric is ‘overly helpful’; Mike is a ‘chatterer’ and a ‘golden retriever.’ Both boys went out of their way to talk to Bella on her first day and make pleasant conversation. But, because Bella perceived these actions as emphasizing her ‘outsiderness,’ she grew increasingly annoyed and frustrated by these nice acts. Therefore, because she doesn’t feel she fits in – or belongs anywhere – Bella retreats into herself where she is comfortable. This theme is not unique among YA and NA literature, which is why it didn’t really bother me once you realize it’s merely a coping mechanism for fear of rejection from her peers. Honestly, so much was mentioned in this book that it made me wonder if Bella was bullied at her old school? Because why didn’t she keep in contact with any of her friends? Or, at least mention one by name? There has to be another reason why a girl is utterly okay with moving high schools before grade 11 besides “it’s something nice to do for my mom.” [In Chapter 4, when Edward says he doesn’t want to be friends with her, Bella comments sourly, ‘she’s heard that before.’ (2006: 75, 1st edition)and in Ch 9, Bella states she has a habit of repressing bad memories … and she’s good at it).

#3: Dependency
Now, there really isn’t much to argue about Bella’s dependency on Edward. Her need to be near him, I 100% agree is unhealthy in any relationship. I do have to say though that I think her fear of him being out of sight – in this book at least – is that she doesn’t trust him to stay (he’s always trying to convince himself and her to leave). Therefore, to her, when in sight, he’s not gone. I would also suggest that in the books, her relationship with her mom is quite unhealthy. It insinuated that Bella is basically the parent of Renee (she cooked, did the errands, etc.). If this is the case, Bella could’ve been raised to see dependency as how to express her love. We take much of how we function in relationships from what we learn in our childhood.

#4: Maturity
This part made me laugh. The fact that Bella is argued to be an old-soul. That Renee tells Bella, Bella was born at 35 … I’d qualify Bella is like a 35-year-old man. She’s not interested in attending Prom, but she by no means is mature when it comes to handling her emotions or frustrations. The whole angsty portion of the book where Edward is struggling with … you know not killing Bella and then falling love with her … obviously leaves Bella feeling quite a bit of emotional whip-lash. Now, the mature thing to do (you know, when not knowing about the killing part) would be to calmly discuss his behaviour. Instead, she tries to show him up in Biology and gets frustrated when he’s obviously quite smart (although they’ve both done the experiment before so unsure if they’re smart or just cheating). Her self-preservation tactic with him is to become very defensive … turning conversation that could be innocuous into an argument when they didn’t have to be (another example is in Chapter 2 when Edward asks her to explain why she moved to Forks when she obviously doesn’t want to be there). When you feel like people are always judging you, I think that calls for self-reflection rather than randomly lashing out at people.

#5: Insecurity
I never noticed this in my first read, nor in my many viewings of the books … but Bella is scarily insecure. Her inner narration surrounding not only Edward is steeped in language that consistently puts herself down. For example, she describes herself as “pitiful,” “freakish,” “cowardly.” She also sees herself and Edward in different leagues (see Chapter 3). Her detestation of attention is equated to humiliation … therefore, you could draw a conclusion that she perceives attention toward herself emphasizes her ‘otherness.’ She consistently draws dramatic conclusions when Edward is upset … she thinks it’s always her fault or about her in a negative way. For example, Edward is mad after the makeout. She thinks he’s mad at her, but he’s upset he doesn’t have enough control. Probably the most dramatic is her belief that Edward regrets saving her in the parking lot car accident … OR the fact that Edward can’t read her mind and is dismayed because she thinks this makes her the freak.

#6: Mary-Sue
Not many people like a Mary-Sue character, because, let’s be honest, a perfect MC is not relatable nor enjoyable to read. For me, if I like the storytelling, I can forgive a Mary-Sue. Therefore, I did not find Bella to be a case of unforgivable Mary-Sue-ness. When all the boys wanted Bella, it made me think that Forks is such a small town … everyone knows everyone – everyone has already probably dated everyone by 11th Grade. A new person then becomes a novelty. If you read Mike, Eric and Tyler’s interests separate from Bella’s narration, it becomes evident that their initial interests devolve into a competition between them. For example, the fact that Tyler asks Bella to the dance even though Mike already told him she was going to Seattle. Also, at no point is Bella ever interested in any of them … therefore, her turning them down is not something Bella should be critiqued for … a girl is allowed to say no to ALL of the boys if she so pleases. Also, separate from the three human boys that are into her … Bella is such a typical angsty insecure teenager. Her unique characteristics are as follows: scarily clumsy, danger-magnet, and smells too good to Edward. Even Edward’s siblings do not understand the allure. Which is why I’m curious if vampires in this world mate similar to how they do in The Discovery of Witches? Because that would explain so much of Bella and Edward’s behaviour (and mutual obsession) towards each other.

#8: Too Stupid To Live?
While it is frustrating that Bella needs to be saved by Edward and his family so often in the book, I have to say it’s realistic since Bella is not only human but is also clumsy to her detriment. A prime example is when the four human men cornered her in Port Angeles: she decided to stand her ground, and fight was a better option since running would most likely result in her falling and ending up on the ground. So while her humanness is annoying, it is not unrealistic. The only real TSTL moment was her going to see James. It was just pure luck he liked to play with his food.

Bella and Edward Actually Have Chemistry?

While neither Bella or Edward are very deep characters, I wasn’t really troubled by that. There’s so much angst going on that I didn’t find it to be a glaring issue while re-reading the book. I was shocked to (re)discover that Bella and Edward actually have so much chemistry, and have quite a few scenes where their flirting and sassy teasing shocked me. The Bella and Edward of the films are so damn morose and repressed that I made me think Twilight was more Brontë-ian in its characterization. In fact, there are many scenes when Edward is laughing and smiling and playfully teasing Bella and her clumsiness. EDWARD, who, from what popular narration has been over the past decade, is a Heathcliff 2.0! There were quite a few critiques of how Bella downplayed her relationship with her mom in the hospital scene (“it’s just a crush”) because it obviously contradicted everything Bella was saying to Edward. However, Bella’s relationship with her mom is about protecting her mother, and her mother associates teenage “love” with her own doomed teenage love with Charlie, which yielded Bella when they were only 19/20. Bella’s assuaging the concerns of a mother who doesn’t want her daughter to make the same mistakes. The little details like this emphasize the consistent characterization evident in Twilight. Also, the fact that Bella and Edward also have banter … and inside jokes … shook me (in a good way). Their relationship, again while not deep, is freaking cute like a regular high school relationship would be. It just so happens their inside jokes are about his vampirism, but no book is perfect.

In Defense of Bella’s Perceived Vanity

High school romances don’t need to be “deep.” During your teenage years, you like someone, and you feel ALL these emotions that you don’t really have the emotional maturity to dissect and understand. They are, therefore, all lumped into love. Many criticize the fact that Bella’s only with Edward because he’s the most beautiful … and that she turned down the rest of her suitors (Eric, Mike and Tyler) because they weren’t as pretty. This conclusion was defended with evidence of the fact that Bella consistently mentions Edwards beauty on every page she’s with him. I argue that Meyer made Bella notice Edward’s looks in every page because how else do you convey to your readers’ unearthly beauty. That the person was so goddamn beautiful, it hurt to look at them? You ensure it’s still something to note, even once Bella becomes friends and then more with Edward. Because, to the human eye looking at someone unearthly beautiful, there is no “getting used to it.” He – and the Cullens – are so beautiful that they appear alien! Bella also details to Jess she likes Edward for who he is underneath his handsome face … thank you very much. AND for all those who argue Edward is only with Bella because she smells nice … DiD yOu EvEn ReAd ThE bOoK? Her small makes him want to kill her. He persevered to protect his family. He was annoyed that a mere girl got him to tuck tail and run and hide all the way in Alaska, so he investigated her … what is it about her that makes him so weak. And, in looking to discover why her blood is his weakness, he had to talk to her, to learn more about her …. and then he fell in love with her. So I’d argue, he fell in love with Bella despite her smell … because her being that much more appetizing to him, just makes their relationship that much harder. *End rant*.

Let’s Discuss the Anti-Feminist Messages

The whole point of this re-read really wasn’t to defend Twilight as a novel … although that’s kind of what it has turned into. My initial interest was whether the story does purport anti-feminist themes. My conclusion is that nothing in this book is anti-feminist … it merely has the same structure of many dramatic true love high school paranormal romances (tbh, even adult books like The Discovery of Witches use this ‘true love’ trope).

In Twilight, there are no markers of a toxic relationship which many have argued is the case (please note by toxic I mean abusive, and not the very typical true-love obsession that YA/NA has archetyped high school romance to be). All the big decisions to be made in the book that concern Bella and her life are made by Bella … even when they aren’t necessarily the smart decisions (ex. Running to save her mother with no plan, even though she’s human). Now, the following are definitely markers of an unhealthy relationship: 1) watching Bella when she’s sleeping, 2) the dependency Bella feels towards Edward. However, they are both tropes that are rampant in paranormal romances (honestly, TVD has way more concerning anti-feminist themes with its use of compulsion) … the watching when sleeping is just plain weird … and cannot be excused nor explained. The dependency I tried to explain BUT does not justify the romantic fetishization it has been given. The only caveat to the dependence is that Edward is not pleased by it. However, this does not excuse the fact that neither works to address the issue to create a more healthy relationship.

A reviewer from a while ago mentioned the fact that Bella is always the one cooking for Charlie, while he watches TV. The situation gave me pause as well until I read the scene at the beginning of the book, where Bella has something Charlie made and finds it unedible. Bella also finds comfort in taking over the cooking because it’s something she used to do in Phoenix for her mom; it gives her a semblance of normalcy in her new home. For those who are incredulous, questioning what Charlie did before Bella came to live with her … take it from me. I’m not a good cook compared to my best friend. However, when living by myself, I can cook for myself, and I will eat everything I cook. My best friend adores cooking and is very good at it. As a result, she cannot stomach anything I cook. Therefore, when you’re good at cooking, you have much higher standards … which I can only assume is the case for Bella.

New Moon and Beyond

Now, I do believe there should be a caveat to this review. Many friends have reminded me that most of the anti-feminist themes take place later on in the series. After having these discussions, I decided to continue my re-read to the rest of the series. I forgot how sad New Moon is! Even though the magnitude of Bella’s depression is scary, considering it’s solely because she thinks Edward doesn’t want her … I was invested in the book. It also solidified the Bella-Edward Ship for me … if Bella that devastated by Edward disappearing (and I mean all traces of him gone), she deserves to be with who she wants. I also liked how the book slowly teaches Bella that while she does not want to live without Edward, she can.

1. Jacob forcibly kisses Bella and continues kissing her even when she’s attempting to shove him off. Bella punches him for it and breaks her hand as a result. Edward’s pissed that Jacob touched Bella when she vehemently said no.
2. Before the fight scene in Eclipse, Jacob threatens to kill himself in the fight just to get Bella to kiss him. Bella then kisses Jacob to prevent him from purposely hurting himself. He blackmailed her into kissing him. Even if she loves him, this is a huge red flag.

The relationship between Edward and Bella is obviously not the healthiest due to its dependency. Still, I hope all avid YA/NA paranormal romance readers admit that this level of dependency is a common way authors in this genre depict romance. So, it really is an issue with the genre circa 2008-2012.

Re-reading the series was super nostalgic, and I was incredibly impressed by how much I appreciated the writing, and the little details that the movies decided to ignore. Although, I will say the movies definitely softened Rosalie’s character (she basically didn’t care at all if Bella died after giving birth to Renesme in the books–it was even hinted at that she would prefer it).