A look back at what Twilight has done for us.

Let's take a look-see,

Successfully sullied the reputations of Dracula and Nosferatu.

            These iconic vampires did nothing wrong. They couldn’t have known how disgraced their species would become. But now, thanks to Stephanie Meyer, when I hear “vampire” I think about Robert Pattinson’s hair.

Turned Cedric Diggory into sparkly nonsense. 

            I can’t see Harry Potter now without thinking about Cedric ripping his shirt off and glittering in the sun like a Kindergartner’s art project. I do not like this.

Taught our young girls that abuse is romantic.

            Here’s the kicker. This is what shifts Twilight from being an annoying fad to being downright dangerous. Stephanie Meyer has an incredible amount of influence, influence that most of us could only dream of, and she is not using it responsibly.

            First, let’s look at how she managed to get that influence. Twilight’s popularity baffled me for a while. Why should a glittery undead kid from Washington suddenly capture every tween heart in America?

            The answer is actually quite simple. Bella Swan, Meyer’s klutzy, self-conscious protagonist, has absolutely no personality. There is nothing to her that is unique or out of the ordinary. In fact, she could basically be any girl in America. Which is why it is so goddamned easy to project your own personality onto her. Bella becomes her reader, and the reader becomes Bella. The reader falls in love with Edward. The reader thinks it’s romantic for Edward to sneak into her room to watch her sleep. The reader thinks it’s ok for Edward to steal the engine out of her car when he doesn’t want her to go to Seattle with her friends. The reader would readily alter her entire being for a man.

            So now that the reader is fully immersed in Edward’s sparkly arms, they start to take away values. Tweens are extremely impressionable, which is why I was absolutely horrified when I saw the latest Twilight movie. I don’t want to give away any spoilers (I lied I totally do) but in the end, Bella and Edward live happily ever after. A bit too happily ever after. Literally nothing sad happens. Jacob’s love for Bella is abated when he realizes that he’s actually in love with her newborn daughter (apparently there’s nothing wrong with that), Eddie and Bells have their happy little family, and no one, not even one person that they loved got killed. Or even hurt in any way. Even though the existence of the insane bloodthirsty monster baby was dangerous to absolutely everyone, everyone walks away without a scratch.

            I take issue with this.

            Let’s compare it to Harry Potter for a second. In Harry Potter, the characters are forced into situations where they must fight for good. They do not have a choice in the matter. They must make decisions, decisions that have consequences, and if they make the wrong decision, they must learn from their mistakes. In The Order of the Phoenix, Harry acts without thinking and his godfather dies. And he doesn’t come back. This is something that Harry must accept and grow from.

            In Twilight, Edward and Bella are not forced into anything. They choose that they want to be together. They choose that they want to keep the child when it turns out to be a monster. Bella decides that she wants to become a vampire. All of these decisions should have consequences, but Stephanie Meyer decided that they actually don’t. Bella and Edward can be as selfish as they damn well please, and absolutely nothing negative will happen because of it.

            This concept terrifies me. The fact that young girls can read this and think that this is how the world works and that they can follow their heart with no regard to the people around them, means that this up-and-coming generation might be the death of us.

Just some food for thought.