Twilight

So, I finally watched Twilight, the first in the film trilogy based on a popular series of novels aimed at young readers, about the romantic relationship between a human, Bella and a vampire, Edward.  Having heard so much about the film in the popular press, I figured it was high time I educated myself on this pop cult phenomenon. Aside from the hilariously awful dialogue, numerous plot holes, and budget special effects, I was stunned by how the film portrayed Bella and Edwards relationship as border-line obsessive. Now, I get that teens can be highly emotional - everything seems so much more dramatic and intense when you're young (at least from what I remember) but I'm not convinced that the type of romantic relationship depicted in the film is productive in any way, other than to reinforce very outdated ideas of heterosexual love. I remember when the first film came out, and I was reading all the online debates and reviews, and I was under the impression that many fans loved Bella as they viewed her as a positive role model for young women. Again, I found little evidence of that in the film. In fact, I found her character to be rather weak; one who is not assertive but who's agency is totally usurped by the creepy hold of a 'man' she barely knows! far from a love story, Twilight perhaps reveals the troubling nature of unhealthy relationships which, at any moment, might become violent. I mean, Edward convinces Bella to leave her family, after convincing her to lie (in a very hurtful manner) to her father, and basically uproots her from her whole life...there is a scene towards the end of the film where she is being driven off and she passes a restaurant where her friends are hanging out and having fun, doing teen things...I thought there seemed to be a moment of self-reflection and maybe regret but no. There is no discussion about how she has given up this life to be with a man she barely knows! Twilight then, looks more like a warning narrative for teen girls than a love story, at least from where I stand.

As many reviewers have already pointed out, Twilight also appears to be a story about abstinence; indeed, throughout the film, the two must constantly restrain themselves, for if Edward becomes too 'aroused' he might not be able to 'stop himself' from biting Bella, even though he is later put in a position where he must 'taste her' to save her life. Oddly enough, I think I found this one of the more interesting aspects of the film...not so much because I read it as an abstinence narrative per se, but because it seems to me to be more about male (hetero)sexuality. The film doesn't go far enough in troubling these expectations though but tends to uphold a rather stereotypical notion of heteromale sexuality as potentially out of control and dangerous...that young men are not in control of their sexual feelings and therefore women must be careful in their temptation (i.e., the bedroom scene where Bella, for a moment, sexually asserts herself only to have Edward, rather aggressively, rebuke her because of his 'blood lust').
However, this brings up many of the same questions and feelings I had about the cosmetic surgery debate, I don't want to assume that all young women who watch these films interpret them uncritically, or as Hall would say, in the 'dominant' way. I'm sure there are researchers already putting together focus groups and whatnot to understand how young women have received the film, and I look forward to reading that literature someday. I definitely adhere to the idea that women are NOT cultural dupes (again, me thinks I need to consider that more in relation to the cosmetic surgery debates) but dammit, I can't help but feel annoyed that so many women (and yes, many adult women love the films!) find pleasure in these representations. There is such a lack of diversity when it comes to women and Hollywood, that such mass appeal tends to reinforce the idea to all those sexist male producers that this is indeed what women want! ugh, the ongoing struggle for representational equality has been a long one, but one worth fighting for.