I Love(d) Twilight | Teen Ink

I Love(d) Twilight

July 23, 2010
By lizzymwrites GOLD, Miami, Florida
lizzymwrites GOLD, Miami, Florida
13 articles 0 photos 56 comments

Favorite Quote:
The only people for me are the mad ones... the ones who never yawn and say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders against the stars." - Jack Kerouac


Let it be stated right away: I used to love Twilight. Stephenie Meyer’s writing had me hooked from the start. I went to Barnes and Noble for the release of Breaking Dawn. I obsessed over Midnight Sun and wished for more. Oh, did I mention I’ve read Twilight nine times, New Moon five, Eclipse three and Breaking Dawn four?
Twilight changed my life. Because of it, I discovered fan-fiction. I was obsessed. I wrote (and spoke) only about Edward and Bella for about a year.
Then I watched a parody on Youtube. That was all it took for me to realize how ridiculously unsubstantial the plot was. Now, keep in mind that I had read the book nine times. I knew it by memory. I did not judge it based on what others thought.
I have been the girl who gushed over Edward watching his love sleep. Now, I am the teen wondering how I didn’t notice that behavior strongly resembles that of a stalker before. I never liked Bella, but now, my feelings about her go deeper than disinterest.
Bella is supposed to be the typical teenage girl. She is not. I, for one, am a typical teenage girl, and when I switched schools boys didn’t instantly become infatuated with me just because our town is ridiculously small. My friends aren’t constantly telling me that I don’t see myself clearly and am actually gorgeous – though I use glasses, I happen to have a mirror. Keeping my grades up is not easy for me, though most consider me the smartest girl in my class. I know that I have talents, but I also know that I am very impatient, inconstant and a little lazy. I have actual faults, and they are bigger than being gravitationally challenged.
This book is just plain unrealistic, and the fact that it’s about vampires has nothing to do with it. Love doesn’t grow in a few weeks. You have to know someone to love them – which is why Bella and Edward’s relationship isn’t exactly healthy. He’s obsessed with her (and it’s not endearing, no matter how you look at it) and she is far too dependent on him. Soon, her life revolves around him, to the point that she has only one semi-friend outside his family. Love should compliment your life, everyone, not become the reason for your existence! The proof? One day, Edward tells her that he’s too good for her… and Bella still begs him to stay. She begs him! Does the woman have no pride?
Too many of us have been swept up into the dazzling flurry that is Twilight. Girls, Edward is not the perfect boyfriend. His fault: being controlling. He makes decisions for his girlfriend without consulting her. A good boyfriend wouldn’t presume to know that his girlfriend can’t possibly love him the way he loves her. That’s downright insulting.
But the worst part is the way Bella is constantly begging Edward for sex. Bella eventually ends up marrying him because she finds the need for sex overwhelming (and because she thinks being a vampire will make her and Edward equals). Does that sound like something you want to build a life-long relationship on?
Then they finally do the deed – without a condom, may I add. Yes, they got lost in the heat of the moment. Too bad for them. The consequence? A baby.
Teen pregnancy doesn’t end the way it did in the books, girls. The father won’t marry you. Your parents will be pissed. The baby may be sweet, but it won’t be adorable when it keeps you up all night crying. Going to college will be impossible for most, and very hard for others. Your whole life will be changed because you got lost in the heat of the moment! And in the end, you won’t regret the baby, but you’ll wish you’d waited to have a child.
So move on, everyone, but get something from the Twilight fever. If you learned to love reading, keep doing it. Understand that sometimes a guy may seem charming until you realize otherwise, and that smart girls can save themselves.


The author's comments:
I don't have anything against Stephenie Meyer (I loved The Host). I just think that maybe girls shouldn't look up to a character that is as weak as Bella. She is not weak because she is human - she is that way because she lets her boyfriend slowly take control of her life. And that is NOT right.

Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 36 comments.


on May. 29 2011 at 1:49 pm
Emma.H.96 DIAMOND, Kalamazoo, Michigan
65 articles 0 photos 67 comments

Favorite Quote:
You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should've behaved better. -Anne Lamott, from Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.

I utterly and completely agree with everything you've said in this, The realtionship is unreal, the love is unreal and the characters seem almost unreal even though it is a book. Please check out my take on this...it has the same idea of yours and its in my works...Thank you!!!

 


on Apr. 12 2011 at 5:56 pm
dancegirl13 BRONZE, Roslyn, Washington
1 article 0 photos 26 comments
I TOTALLY agree. I mean, I saw the first two movies, but only because my friends wanted me to go with them. Wasn't it in New Moon when Edward leaves Bella and she sits in her room staring out the window for, like, a year? Some role model - without Edward, she's not even strong enough to live her own life. Girls should be looking up to real, strong women, not people like Bella!!

on Apr. 1 2011 at 2:29 pm
JustAnotherOwl SILVER, Unknown, New York
6 articles 0 photos 378 comments

Favorite Quote:
"See, we don't really care who you are;
Everyone is capable of looking up and wishing on a star.
So catch it, so contagious, this day-dreamer's disease,
And hope can be your sword, slaying darkness with belief."

"Sanctuary"- Paradise Fears

I meant to say "That doesn't make me not smart."

on Mar. 29 2011 at 4:31 pm
JustAnotherOwl SILVER, Unknown, New York
6 articles 0 photos 378 comments

Favorite Quote:
"See, we don't really care who you are;
Everyone is capable of looking up and wishing on a star.
So catch it, so contagious, this day-dreamer's disease,
And hope can be your sword, slaying darkness with belief."

"Sanctuary"- Paradise Fears

I agree. But, I mean...I still like the Twilight series. It sort of a guilty pleasure kind of thing. And just because I read something like that & love it, that doesn't make me smart. I understand that Bella is a weak sort of character and that the book is kind of sexist, & I really don't want to be like her (I never really liked Bella at all. Actually, I hated her throughout the whole series. Alice is so much better).

TheDuck GOLD said...
on Feb. 27 2011 at 7:10 pm
TheDuck GOLD, Braselton, Georgia
11 articles 12 photos 77 comments

Favorite Quote:
“Raids, bullets, crime... no problem. A missing duster? Crisis."-The Last Sacrifice
"If we stand for nothing, we'll fall for anything." -All Time Low

  Totally agree!  And even though she has a bf (who is one of the hottest book characters ever!) she is still able to make her own decisions unlike bella

on Feb. 27 2011 at 6:28 pm
lizzymwrites GOLD, Miami, Florida
13 articles 0 photos 56 comments

Favorite Quote:
The only people for me are the mad ones... the ones who never yawn and say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders against the stars." - Jack Kerouac

LOL. Now, Dracula... THAT's a good vampire novel...

on Feb. 27 2011 at 6:26 pm
lizzymwrites GOLD, Miami, Florida
13 articles 0 photos 56 comments

Favorite Quote:
The only people for me are the mad ones... the ones who never yawn and say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders against the stars." - Jack Kerouac

Oh, I love that series! Claire is an incredibly strong protagonist =)

 


TheDuck GOLD said...
on Feb. 27 2011 at 8:25 am
TheDuck GOLD, Braselton, Georgia
11 articles 12 photos 77 comments

Favorite Quote:
“Raids, bullets, crime... no problem. A missing duster? Crisis."-The Last Sacrifice
"If we stand for nothing, we'll fall for anything." -All Time Low

Amen!!!!  Try out the Morganville Vampires!  It kicks a$$

on Feb. 26 2011 at 12:35 pm
Hawthorn BRONZE, Nowheresville, Maine
3 articles 0 photos 55 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Know Thy Enemy" Sun Tzu

I don't really know what you are talking about because I am possibly the only person in my grade who has absolutely no interest in twilight at all, it only took me a few sentences to realize that it just couldn't compete to Dracula.

on Aug. 16 2010 at 5:08 pm
DifferentTeen PLATINUM, Seaford, Delaware
32 articles 2 photos 329 comments

Favorite Quote:
"There’s no such thing as true love, just spurts of insanity—falling over and over again, thinking that won’t happen to me"

Yeah and guys don't always swoon over a new girl.

GoldenIvy said...
on Aug. 10 2010 at 3:06 pm

This is exactly how I feel about Twilight! I am ashamed to admit that I was obsessed with Twilight until a friend made me realize how utterly stalker-like Edward is, and how ridiculous the entire series is.

You're a fantastic writer :)


on Aug. 9 2010 at 3:03 pm
lizzymwrites GOLD, Miami, Florida
13 articles 0 photos 56 comments

Favorite Quote:
The only people for me are the mad ones... the ones who never yawn and say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders against the stars." - Jack Kerouac

ugh that must suck LOL

on Aug. 9 2010 at 3:02 pm
lizzymwrites GOLD, Miami, Florida
13 articles 0 photos 56 comments

Favorite Quote:
The only people for me are the mad ones... the ones who never yawn and say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders against the stars." - Jack Kerouac

I definitely agree =)

on Aug. 9 2010 at 3:01 pm
lizzymwrites GOLD, Miami, Florida
13 articles 0 photos 56 comments

Favorite Quote:
The only people for me are the mad ones... the ones who never yawn and say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders against the stars." - Jack Kerouac

at least her writing keeps improving =)

Kay4theRoses said...
on Aug. 9 2010 at 2:55 pm
Kay4theRoses, O&#39brien, Florida
0 articles 0 photos 75 comments

Favorite Quote:
"all's fair in love and war." And "Beware of a fat man whose belly doesn't jiggle when he laughs."-A Chinese philosopher. =)

no, its deffintly newer but it didn't get nearly as much press as the twilight series.

on Aug. 9 2010 at 9:56 am
lizzymwrites GOLD, Miami, Florida
13 articles 0 photos 56 comments

Favorite Quote:
The only people for me are the mad ones... the ones who never yawn and say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders against the stars." - Jack Kerouac

Oh, yeah, I loved it =)

But is it newer??? I thought it was older...


Kay4theRoses said...
on Aug. 6 2010 at 8:02 am
Kay4theRoses, O&#39brien, Florida
0 articles 0 photos 75 comments

Favorite Quote:
"all's fair in love and war." And "Beware of a fat man whose belly doesn't jiggle when he laughs."-A Chinese philosopher. =)

haha, finally someone who actually knows what there talking about has something substantial to say about the twilight series.

That being said, I like how the books were written. everything you said about the plot is true, but her use of vocabulary, firstperson accounts, and transfer scene to scene is amazing. If you read her newer book, host, you'll see what i'm talking about.

anyone read my stuff and tell me what you think?


on Aug. 3 2010 at 12:46 pm
lizzymwrites GOLD, Miami, Florida
13 articles 0 photos 56 comments

Favorite Quote:
The only people for me are the mad ones... the ones who never yawn and say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders against the stars." - Jack Kerouac

 

I know. He's creepy =D


zozo42 said...
on Aug. 3 2010 at 8:52 am

Amen to that sister.

I'm the same as you. took me a while to realise Edward was way stalkerish...the of course i saw the movie - that totally turned me off Edward


on Aug. 2 2010 at 12:34 pm
lizzymwrites GOLD, Miami, Florida
13 articles 0 photos 56 comments

Favorite Quote:
The only people for me are the mad ones... the ones who never yawn and say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders against the stars." - Jack Kerouac

Yeah, normal teenagers don't suck at everything, we usually have something we're good at.