It’s almost here!  At 12:01am I will be enjoying the film Twilight, a film which I have been anxiously awaiting for the last couple of weeks.  I have been counting down the days until the films release this week by posting a new Twilight related post each day.  On Monday I introduced guest blogger Kristina Sanchez, an aspiring screen writer, author of the blog How To Be A Customer, and die hard Twilight fan.  Kristina has since generously given us some amazing insight into Twilight and why so many of the people who are against it are wrong.  Yesterday we took a break from Kristina’s posts so that I could share with the world my Breaking Dawn soundtrack, but today Kristina is back with her third and final post in this series. Again be reminded that if you haven’t read the complete Twilight Saga that there are some spoilers in this so read at your own risk! If you didn’t catch the first two be sure to head over and read Edward Cullen: A Thin Line Between Abusive Teenage Boyfriend and the Perfect Man and Bella Swan: Human Heroine or Pathetic Wallowing Weakling?.

And So The Lion Fell In Love With The Lamb

When it comes to the Twilight haters I hear the word “unhealthy” being tossed around more than curse words in a Kevin Smith movie. Watch a few nightly news specials and everyone’s got a degree in pop psychology these days.These complaints are generally broken down into three categories.

When Edward Leaves

Is Romeo and Juliet not taught to every high schooler? Quick break down of Shakespeare’s classic: He’s a horny, fickle teenage boy and she’s a moon-eyed, besotted teenage girl. They over dramatize themselves into an early grave taking a couple of others with them.

Where Shakespeare’s tragedy is the very essence of teenage, human love, Twilight portrays perfectly the deepest and most pure of loves. As any perfect thing, that love is entirely fictional. Like the vampires and werewolves that grace its pages, a love like the one they share very simply does not exist on this mortal coil. In this mindset, when you reevaluate Bella and Edward’s actions while apart, their choices seem reasonable and obvious.

First Edward as, being fictional already, his feelings are more easily explained. Meyer’s describes her vampires as being forever frozen not only in age but in personality as well. As such, for them to experience the bond of love is for them to undergo a change that is etched into the core of who they are, changing them permanently. Unlike humans, whose hearts can heal with time, a vampire who loses his mate cannot be healed. Imagine the utter agony that is a freshly broken heart, and then imagine that the pain will never lessen, never dull – and you can live forever. Also, don’t forget that for a vampire, every single memory is as fresh as the moment it happened and they cannot even seek the relief of sleep. Death is really the only thing you can ask for.

Then, Bella comes under fire for her “pathetic” reaction to Edward leaving her. We’d all like to believe that we can be strong during a break-up but more often than not, this is when we’re at our weakest. What we must understand about Bella is that the love she feels for Edward will not dim or change because it was never a normal, human love. In addition, she’s lost not only Edward but an entire family, an entire other existence she’d wanted to be a part of. That would be devastating to anyone.

The level of their obsession for one another

Ironically enough, Bella and Edward were probably the biggest fans of this particular complaint during the early days of their association. Throughout the series Meyers takes very obvious pains to thoroughly define a “normal” love and then to set them apart from that. Look at the evidence: Bella resists marrying Edward through 2 books for no other reason than the fact she knows how it will be perceived. “…aren’t you going to say that I sound exactly like every other infatuated teenager since the dawn of time?”
She asks her mother after she’s finally agreed to marry him.

And then the whole Jacob situation was Bella dealing with a normal, human love, and a fairly ideal one at that. Yet as easy and wonderful as it would have been, Bella grieves the loss of that love for a single night where she would have gone to her grave feeling the hole Edward left inside of her. Yes, Bella and Edward are illogically obsessed with each other – but they also exist in a world not bound by time and other things that keep our lives in a constant flux of change. Because their time-line is infinite, they can put each other at the focal point of their existence.

Their unhealthy relationship

I’ve heard this one tossed about a lot with nothing to back it up – probably because there isn’t much of anything to find. We’ve already debunked Bella’s subservient behavior (snort) and Edward’s abusive, controlling side, so what else is there? Bella and Edward are somewhat ideal. Yes, they both make mistakes, but in general they are entirely open with each other, always affectionate, able to compromise and for chrissakes, they didn’t even have sex until after they were married. Perhaps they were referring to how unhealthy it is to be around a person who is constantly on the verge of murdering you, but this is more a plot point than a dangerous idea for even the most impressionable of minds.

Believe me, it took me a long time to understand the reasons why I love this series with the passion that I do. You won’t find a harsher critic than I, so I can understand and accept the fact that anyone could dislike this series. But in an age where so few people – young and old alike – pick up a book, words like unhealthy, pathetic, weak, abusive and controlling should not be thrown around lightly and without understanding. A friend of mine once told me, “I can’t stand Eminem’s music but I can appreciate the beauty of his talent and the artistry of his words.” It was to his credit that he tried to see the appeal so he could be firm in his distaste and the reasons for it. Dislike Twilight if you please but take the time to understand it before you turn someone away from what could be, as it most certainly was for me, a beautiful experience.

Greetings Twilighters and Twihards and welcome to the second day of our five day long tribute to Twilight leading up to the films release.  Today I am happy to showcase the second of a three part series written by guest blogger Kristina Sanchez, an aspiring screenwriter and the author of the amusing blog How To Be A Customer.  If you missed her first post be sure to check out Edward Cullen: A Thin Line Between Abusive Teenage Boyfriend and the Perfect Man.  Again we want to warn you that there are spoilers in these posts so if you have not finished the Twilight Saga I would recommend reading with caution.

Bella Swan: Human Heroine or Pathetic Wallowing Weakling?

Ah, Bella. There are so few great female leads in books, movies and T.V. so why so many people have to see such weakness in her is beyond me. She’s a very strong character. I find her to be at once relatable as a teenage girl and unique – because she’s not nearly as annoying. I apologize teenagers but you are annoying, and I mean that with love. It’s one of the biggest reasons why I was so surprised at just how much I love this series. I suppose it’s because none of them really act all that much like teenagers, Bella especially since she and Jake are the only ones who actually ARE teenagers, and that’s why I love them.

Bella is SO weak. She always has to be rescued. She’s setting feminism back 100 years!

From page one, EVERYTHING about Bella is quite the opposite of weak. It takes a considerable amount of courage to uproot yourself from a life and a place you love no matter what situation you’re going to. But Bella is going somewhere she hates! Not a lot of us would make that choice. Then, of course, putting aside for the moment the fact that Edward is a vampire, Bella, quite obviously, becomes obsessed with the lad. Now, like anyone, I know a thing or two about crushes. If any of the guys I’ve crushed on invited me to sit with him at lunch, and you don’t know how much I hate to admit this, but I’d be much more of the Jessica Stanley type- omygosh, I can’t believe it, SWOON! Bella is, understandably, occasionally dazzled by Edward, but she more than holds her own during this conversation. Not only does she NOT sit there grinning like a moron, she unleashes the full power of her irritation on him. That’s more than a little impressive. Okay, now remembering the fact that Edward is a vampire…the same vampire who was glaring at her with pure hate in his eyes that first day…and considering the fact that he was trying to be intimidating in the hospital hallway after the accident, I cannot fathom calling Bella weak. Not only is she not intimidated but she stands firm in what she knows is the truth, despite his mocking and his glower.

The fact that Bella has to be rescued all the time is not a product of weakness but of her constant struggle to live in a world of super strong, mythical creatures when she herself is merely human. She is not the demure damsel in distress crying out to Edward for help. Quite the contrary. She hates when her vampire family and werewolf friends have to defend her. She rushed off to meet a vampire, knowing with absolute certainty he was going to kill her, to save her mother. She took off without a second thought to an entire CITY full of vampires to save Edward. She had no problem being in the same field with a plethora of bloodthirsty, uncontrollable and super-super strong newborn vampires. No one is more irritated by her human frailty than Bella is. Listen to what she tells Edward in the hospital after James. “I can’t always be Lois Lane…I want to be Superman too.” It is not a character flaw that all the dangers that endeavor against her can kill her with their pinky fingers.

I’ve heard two facets of the feminism issue. The first is that she blindly follows Edward’s every command. This is just plain laughable. I’m assuming this stems from the handful of times she did what she was told – like drinking her soda. One of the things Kristen Stewart, who portrays Bella in the movie, is constantly talking about is how Bella is actually the aggressor in their relationship. Edward is quite consistently doing all he can to push her away, back into the human existence he believes she should be a part of. Even as late as their wedding in Breaking Dawn, it’s Bella who says “I’m not afraid.” Edward’s answer: “I am.” She almost never listens to Edward. The second is her relationship with her father. It’s been written in several posts how her “lazy” father demands that Bella cook and clean for him. Well, I’ve read each of those books at least 10 times and I have yet to find that demand. A woman who cooks and cleans is not setting feminism back, but if you think that’s the case, I very strongly suggest that you look the word up and reassess your understanding of the term. It has a lot to do with freedom of choice.

Bella is always whining.

Whose inner monologue is all rainbows and butterflies? More importantly, why on earth would I want to read an inner monologue of a 100% content person. It’s uninteresting.

Okay, these accusations tend to fall into two different categories. The first is Bella’s chagrin at her popularity. Oh my God, what teenager would hate to have an entire school worth of friends and admirers at her feet? But that’s what makes Bella so unique among teenage characters. Bella’s popularity is virtually meaningless when you break it down. As she observes, in a tiny town such as Forks, she’s gossip – a freak. None of her friends, initially, are friends with her because they know her. Obviously, that’s impossible.  The same goes for her admirers, all of whom are more interested in her shiny newness than her. By stark contrast Edward sees and is interested in HER. During their first conversation in Biology, it’s fairly obvious that in the week she’s been there no one else had bothered to get to know her. I suppose some people just aren’t content with superficial friendliness.

The second complaint about Bella’s whining is her negative self image. This is often construed as unhealthy. Quite the contrary, Bella is merely human. She doesn’t obsess over her looks. She doesn’t wear make-up. She doesn’t constantly obsess over this or that portion of her imperfect body. It is perfectly natural for Bella to look on Edward as a God just because this is one of the befuddling and irritating byproducts of love. But in addition to this Edward is actually God-like. He is supernaturally beautiful and strong where she is…human. Even if she were the most beautiful of humans, which she is not, she would have still felt a certain amount of despair about the difference between them. This is natural and logical. There’s something to be said about truthful characters. Perhaps, in a perfect world, none of us would have any self-doubt, but we all know that’s just not the case.