A Road Less Travelled

Last night Raquel and I went and saw Twilight. I will state here publicly and with no shame that the whole thing was my idea. I’ve never read the books and I’d only heard about the series from Raquel who’s also never read them. I saw a trailer and the movie looked interesting. Plus, if it’s such a big deal kinda wanted to know what everyone was talking about so I would know what’s up. And also Raquel and I hadn’t gone and done anything that was just fun for about two months. So we went to a movie and then got some bad coffee afterwards. It was a fun evening and a funny movie, though I’m not sure the movie was supposed to be.

I went into the movie with my filters up. The books and the movie all seemed to be aimed at young women, girls really, so I was betting on the movie makers trying to play on my heartstrings and my emotions. I wasn’t really interested in that thank you very much which gave me a sense of detachment. So I was sitting back from the movie and watching it while also paying attention to how I was ’supposed’ to respond. It was like watching a horror movie without the soundtrack. At times it was so ridiculous that Raquel and I laughed so much that I was afraid the other eight people there were going to get mad at us.

For those of you who don’t know Twilight is the story of a girl named Bella who moves from Arizona to a small town in Washington to live with her dad. She’s swarmed by all the kids at her new school because she’s new and she’s shiny which is rather disconcerting to her. There she meets a boy named Edward who turn out to be a vampire who doesn’t eat people. His entire family only eat animals and try to live in the world as normal as possible. Of course they fall in love and we get to watch all the horribly awkward conversations. Two-thirds of the movie is awkward conversations between Bella and Edward punctuated by awkward conversations between Bella and her father who are trying to reconnect after years apart. There’s some action toward the end when a tracker vampire who’s moving through the area takes an interest in eating Bella, but other than that it’s a very slow and personal movie.

The thing that I came away from the movie with is the idea that I am ’supposed’ to want a relationship like Bella’ and Edward’s. That their’s is the ideal romance and what I’m suppose to desire. Now, I actually liked most of their relationship. There were many times that the camera was just panning around the two of them talking. We have no idea what they were saying, but they were building their relationship on communicating with each other which is a rarity in the teen romance scene. But other than that the whole thing looked horribly painful and difficult.

He can never completely relax around her because if he did he’d probably eat her. She can’t fully explain anything to her father about her new boyfriend because the whole ‘he’s a vampire’ thing is kind of a secret. So I’m supposed to want and hope for this relationship that’s really a mess?

I’m really glad I didn’t seen this movie when I was a teenager and I plan on avoiding the books. Because while I am able to laugh at the portrayal of the relationship there is still something there that is appealing and desirable. Edward takes care of Bella. He protects her in a very real way and genuinely cares for her. At his best moments he wants what is best for her no matter what it costs him. Bella is fascinating to Edward. In the fiction, each vampire has special gift other than all the super strength and speed and undead qualities. Edward’s is that he can read minds except, for reasons that are never explained, he can’t read Bella’s. She is a mystery to him and so is fascinating. That’s why they spend so much time talking; he wants to figure her out and she’s letting him. That sort of relationship is very appealing. Which is why the movie and the series are so dangerous. There’s a relationship held out as something to desire that is full of messiness and icky parts. It’s also impossible because vampires don’t actually exist. But there is enough truth tucked into all those lies, enough good parts hidden away in the bad that it would be very easy to hold their romance up as an ideal and to want only that. This is what a lot of teen girls are reading and watching and many of them have no other example of love and romance. I’m glad I saw the movie if for no other reason that to be able to talk to them.

Plus, it was pretty funny.