What Twilight Teaches Young Girls about Love and Life
Today I went to go see the new Twilight movie “New Moon”. New moon is part two in the Twilight Series. So what is Twilight about? Well to make a long story short, Twilight is a love triangle between a human girl (Bella), a guy Vampire (Edward) and another boy that can turn into a Wolf (Jacob). There is more characters in the story and more to the story but I’m going to focus on these three characters in this article. I’m going to explore how the character of Bella is a girl that a lot of young girls might identify with and also how the interactions she has between Edward and Jacob affect her and how her character can have an effect on young girls subconsciously when it comes to how they view their love life and life in general.
I’m specifically going to focus on New Moon but want to take a step back and tell you how I got introduced to the first Twilight movie. I was watching another film when I first saw a preview for Twilight. This is my first time ever hearing about this film and at this point didn’t know that there were a series of books that the movie is based on. My first reaction was “Nobody is going to want to see this. This movie looks horrible”.
When Twilight first came out I was watching another film. When I was finished watching my film I has some time to kill so I thought that I would sneak into another movie. The only one that was about to start that I could sneak into was Twilight. So I said to myself “What the hell” and went in. When I sat down I noticed that about 90% of the audience was teenage girls between the ages of maybe 13 to 17. What I thought was funny was I was the only guy sitting in my row I was surrounded by teenagers. I said to myself out loud “Wow I can’t believe this theater is so packed”. This girl and her friend over heard me and said “Of course it’s packed all of my friends love twilight. I love the books”. This is when I first found out that this movie was based on a book. I really couldn’t believe it.
During the film I just kept hearing the girls giggle every time a new character came on the screen. This movie is basically 90210, One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl, mixed with Romeo and Juliet and vampires. If I had a dime for every time I heard a girl say so and so is “Hot” I’d have a couple of hundred bucks. I kept hearing girls saying things like I want a guy just like Edward, why can’t I find a guy like him, I wish my boyfriend was like him etc. This “Edward” character was so unrealistic that it wasn’t even funny. He had the whole “I will love you, protect you, never leave you super cheesy romantic thing going on. I could understand why these girls were eating this up and at this point I was starting to see how this movie was playing on most of the fantasies women have about a man being the “perfect” type of guy. The first Twilight movie basically ends with Bella and Edward being together and Jacob (the Wolf boy) as just being Bella’s guy friend.
Now keep in mind that most of the girls that saw New Moon have read the books and seen part 1. The girls that are going crazy over Edward and Jacob and fantasizing about them are either seeing themselves as the Bella character or comparing their own loves lives to what they are seeing on the screen. Also keep in mind that some of these girls are at the age where they most likely have no real dating experiences, some of them are probably virgins and never had a boyfriend or even dated a guy seriously. So the messages that they are taking in subconsciously are what they are going to expect in their love lives when they get older.
Now let me give you a brief synopsis of New Moon which is Twilight part 2. The movie starts out with Edward and Bella still together. Bella and Edward are in love but Edward dumps her in an attempt to protect her from all the issues they will have being together with her being human and him being a vampire. At one point in the movie Bella gets cut and starts bleeding and Edwards brother (who is also a vampire) tries to attack Bella for her blood. Edward and his family leaves and moves away. Now at this point you see Bella sad sitting around for months sulking because Edward is gone.
Most girls would be sad if the guy that dumped them left. This is understandable. What’s disturbing is Bella has problems sleeping and starts to act crazy screaming in the middle of the night because her boyfriend left her. She then starts to put herself in danger to the point of almost killing herself multiple times in the movie thinking that this will bring him back. She thinks that he will save her if she is in danger. So in Bella’s mind she is saying “I cant live with out my boyfriend and all I have to do is try to kill myself (put myself in danger) and he will come back and save me since he is my protector”. Edward saves Bella’s life in part 1 and is not only her boyfriend but is also seen as her protector. Most women want a man that can protect them but in this film him being a protector is taken to the extreme in the sense that now Bella has become dependent on Edward. This is why she can’t sleep and screams in the middle of the night. If Edward protects her life then her life is in danger if Edward isn’t around. She literally can’t “LIVE” with out him. Or in other words “Bella cant live without a man”.
While Edward is out of the picture Jacob and Bella start to hang out a little more. Jacob figures that this is his chance to make a move. What’s funny about this is Bella is depressed until Jacob is with her. There is a part in the movie where she even says that she is starting to feel better because she has him around. So basically what she is saying is that she needs another man around her in order to feel happy. There is a point in the movie where Jacob tries to get with her and she doesn’t want to because she is still in love with Edward. She tells him that she still wants him around only as a friend. All of a sudden Jacob ignores her and then she is calling him constantly and worrying about why he doesn’t want to see her. Then when she finally sees him he tells her that he doesn’t want to be her friend because of Edward. She is now upset that Jacob doesn’t want to see her.
What’s funny here is Jacob is obviously a better guy for Bella but she just wants to be friends with him while she still yearns Edward the guy who left her. There is a part where she says that she knows that it’s selfish for her to just use Jacob like this knowing how much he wants her. Most women end up doing this. Knowing a guy really wants them and then just keeping them around as a friend. (there is actually footage of the girl playing Bella who’s name is Kristen Stewart talking about her character in the movie and saying that In real life Jacob would be a better match for Bella)
What’s even more ridiculous is that near the end of the movie Edward’s sister sees a vision of Bella dying so then he decides that if she is dead then he wants to kill himself too so he can be with her in the after life. Girls that are watching this are given the false idea that men think about love the exact same way that they do. It’s also like telling the young female audience that a man has to be willing to kill himself for you in order to show that he loves you. If he’s not willing to sacrifice his own life then he must not really love you.
New Moon could have been titled “You can’t live with out a Man” or “You’ll be unhappy without a boyfriend”. This is the message that is being presented to these young girls in this movie weather they realize it or not. There’s nothing wrong with being entertained but young women need to realize that they need to be happy with themselves and not to depend on a man to save them and bring them happiness.
Mr. Locario
Get my books “The Magnificent 10 Crucial Dating Tips for Men” and “It’s Your Fault Your Single Tips on Finding Mr. Right” at http://www.Mrlocario.com
