When I see girls going gaga over Edward Cullen, I am amazed at their obsession with the blood-sucking ‘undead’. Edward Cullen, in case you have been living under a rock in Antarctica, is the vampire protagonist of the Twilight series authored by Stephanie Meyer. It’s not like the books weren’t bad enough (and I should know, I read all four in two weeks. Ah, the insanity of an idle mind); the powers that be decided to compound the present craze over the book by making the truly terrible Twilight movies, which boast of incredibly bad acting, laughable make up and no creative imagination whatsoever.
Quick synopsis: Bella moves in with her father who lives in a rainy town called Forks, so that her mother can go on tour with her step-father. She starts high school, boys start falling in love with her, though she can’t figure it out, and at this point, which is about 20 pages into the book, the author introduces Edward, handsome, ‘perfect’ Edward , thus conveniently bypassing the need to give Bella any background history whatsoever. She seems to have had no semblance of a life before moving to Forks, and quickly falls in looove with Eddie boy, after exchanging about 20 words with him. Eddie boy is not any boy, he is a vampire, an old vampire, and a vampire who sparkles in sunlight. Seriously, sparkles. Now falling ‘irrevocably’ in love with a sparkly stalker vampire (he sneaks into her room at night to watch her sleep, the creep) vampire is never a good thing, and neither is having a hormonal werewolf for your best friend. The series should have never gotten past an editor without undergoing some serious hacking, but evidently, said editor was on vacation.
The series are not the best books for impressionable teenagers, and the main reason for that is the female protagonist of the series – Bella Swan. I have never come across a more needy, spineless and annoying character in a book. She shows no sense of self preservation, is morally ambiguous, and her world revolves around her boyfriend. I mean, going numb, curling up into a ball and jumping off cliffs because a boy ditched you? Not cool. Surely falling out of love is an option? No guy is worth jumping off a cliff, for Christ’s sake. Her aim in life is to turn into a vampire and be with her guy forever -- go get a degree, a job!! She idealises Romeo and Juliet (and look how well that story ended). So in the end, what message is the author giving out? Forget about defining your identity, be ambitionless, selfish, dependent on a guy for your happiness to the point of being suicidal; be a perpetual damsel in distress and be careless about the feelings of family and friends? And what is this talk of 'irrevocable' love? Besides sounding slightly daft, it is also sounds completely wrong when a 17 year old says it, who simultaneously wishes to have the sparkly prima donna as her boyfriend for ever or die. What a choice.
Give me Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel (ooh, David Boreanaz) ANY day. They have courageous, independent and strong characters who can act as perfect role models for teens, rather than whiny Bella Swan.
