It’s not quite like first love, but more like first lipstick.
Bella Swan is about to celebrate her 18th birthday, but Edward Cullen (along with his family) needs to leave urgently. So, she has to turn to a childhood friend—you know, to fix her motorcycle. If you’ve read what we call the “plot” (or worse, wondered who Bella and Edward are), don’t waste your time on the movie; you’ve already missed everything. Conversely, if you’re up to date, stop reading this: what does it matter how others view your love?
The “Twilight” saga is like a private club. Not a teenage girl? Get out. The thing is, Edward is so sweet, so mysterious, pale, gloomy, so reserved (you’re just waiting for him to bite you, and you want it so badly!)—and then: he’s gone, he left her! But he still worries, appearing as a ghostly vision in difficult moments, shaking his head reproachfully: Bella, don’t do that, it makes me sad. And, by the way, girls, there’s an interesting alternative: have you seen Jacob without a shirt? Oh, how he fixes that motorcycle!
The Dilemma
How to describe the confusion of the gray mouse Bella, faced with the agonizingly sweet choice between a boy from a cologne ad and a boy from an underwear ad? Can’t she have both? No! They are enemies worse than the Montagues and Capulets: one is a vampire, and the other is a werewolf—this, girls, is called “conflict.”
Twilight’s Impact
Seriously though, “Twilight” hammered the final nail into the coffin of sexism: the male body in pop culture is now a commodity as widely consumed as the female body.