Culture Shock!!!: Twilight Edition

Well. Tonight I saw The Twilight Saga: New Moon for the first time.

I know, I know, I'm horribly behind.

But here's the thing. I read Twilight a few years ago and stopped after that one. I had since seen Twilight, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn: Part I. My general impression was that the storylines were potentially interesting, except for that whole Edward/Bella business. However, now that I've seen New Moon, I'm totally Team Jacob.

I'm sure this is news to no one, but Edward and Bella seem to have a ridiculously unhealthy relationship. He's saying things like, "You're the only reason I'm still living," "When I thought I lost you I wanted to kill myself," "When I thought I lost you again I decided to go kill myself forreal." It's creepy. And Bella, this teenage girl, is all about throwing her life away for a DEAD GUY. I don't think they saw the irony in that whole Romeo and Juliet death scene -- they were two dumb kids who killed themselves because they couldn't be together. To my view, there was no maturity in any of their behaviors, but they felt forced into a  bad situation by their families. It's tragic more for that reason than for the fact that they were together a whole five minutes and it wasn't working out. In Twilight the two main characters are encouraged to act like they can't possibly survive without the other. Awful message for the youth, I'd say.

I mostly prefer Jacob because he's, you know, alive and marginally less of a stalker.

But here's the thing. I would love for fans who disagree with me to explain, logically and articulately, why the Edward/Bella relationship is healthy. I just can't figure it out for myself. Do they come off way more obsessive in the movies than in the books? I'm genuinely curious. After all, I'm the girl who disagreed with the majority opinion that Taylor Swift is pop culture's favorite virgin.

So let me know your thoughts on Twilight's romantic entanglements (not just limited to Edward and Bella). I think we could have a good conversation.



PS It will be a glorious day when I've written enough on here that I don't have to keep falling back on that T-Swift post. But honestly, I'm a little bit proud of it.