Twilight, Bella, and feminism

   Anyone who knows me know I have a (slight) obsession with the Twilight series. I didn’t read them, nor see the movies, until I was 22 years old, so this is more than just a case of a teenager being enamored with something she eventually grows out of. I will love Twilight forever, and no amount of hate or criticism will change that. I understand that this post is coming much too late, but I haven’t had a chance to properly reread the books until this month, so here it goes.

   There is a basic premise that I have to put into simple terms here: while I do enjoy watching the movies (mainly because reading the books took me a month–who has that kind of time?) I have to reject them. As all movies based on books essentially do, they strip down the plot, leave many, many things out, and are not a good representation of the books in general. They also strip Bella of much of her internal dialogue and many noteworthy characteristics. 

   There is nothing I find more annoying than people who criticize these books without having read them. So stop doing that please. Kthanks. Enough on that. 

   Anyone who has read the books can easily see why I love the Bella in the books so much more than the Bella in the movies. I’m not sure in which way to go about this; as a compilation of Bella’s traits or of people’s criticisms of her, but regardless I would like to begin with this: please take a moment and think, really think, about the person you were in high school. When you were 16, 17, 18 years old. Were you an enjoyable person to be around? Were you an confident or as knowledgeable about yourself as you are now? If you answered yes to these questions, you’re lying. The fact of the matter is teenagers are mopey and sullen and basically little bitches who are unpleasant to be around 90% of the time. 

   Now back to my main point. Bella is 16 when this story begins, and 18 when she stops aging. Meyer’s representation of her is that of a typical teenager, because that is what Bella is. Bella believes herself to be “normal” with nothing special about her at all. She has average self confidence at best and hates being in the spotlight because she doesn’t think she deserves it. But under all the teenage angst, Bella is actually a character worthy of redemption who has many admirable qualities. 

   First, Bella is giving. She is inherently unselfish. The premise of the book is that Bella can see how unhappy her mother is, so volunteers to move in with her father, who lives in a completely different state, hours and hours away from home. She does this without any external complaining at all, reassuring her mother that she is completely happy with this choice. Bella is always willing to sacrifice her happiness for that of someone she cares about; be it her mother, her father–who she immediately begins to take care of upon her arrival, Edward, Jacob or her daughter, who she is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for. As soon as she finds out that she is pregnant, she realizes that there is a good chance she might die so that her child can survive, and she accepts this fate without a moment’s hesitation, never allowing Carlisle or Edward to sway her decision.

   Despite her lack of confidence in herself and all the self-doubt that she struggles with, she never wavers in making decisions for herself and knows herself. I can’t stress this enough–for a girl of 16, Bella knows who she is and what she wants, and sticks up for herself when it is necessary. There are people who pass their whole lives without taking the time to know themselves and thus are the main contributors to their unhappiness, but at a very early age Bella knows herself and what will make her happy.

   Bella is also accepting of everyone’s differences. So Edward is a vampire and Jacob a werewolf? She explicitly tells Jacob, and thinks to herself on many occasions, that it doesn’t matter what someone is; rather who they are and the what they do that actually matters. She is a good judge of character and rises above the petty natures of other people her age.

   In every situation she faces, Bella presents a sense of bravery intricately linked to her sense of self and ability to make sacrifices for the people she loves. She chooses the happiness and safety of her family members over self preservation. She chooses to save her mother from James, facing death; she chooses to save Edward from the Volturi, even while thinking that Edward doesn’t love her and doesn’t want to be with her; and finally, she puts Renesme’s life before her own in choosing not to terminate her pregnancy. 

   She also forgives easily and is able to understand where other people are coming from. She practices empathy on a daily basis and gives the people around her more credit than she gives herself. She wants the happy ending that all of us want, whether or not we acknowledge it. And she is willing to make sacrifices and work hard to have it. She loves fiercely and without abandon. At heart she is a romantic. Without ever calling herself one, she is a feminist. A strong female character making her own choices and standing up for herself in stressful and potentially traumatic situations? Why yes, I do believe she is not only a feminist, but a role model as well. One doesn’t have to be out saving the world like Hermione or Katniss to be a feminist. What if you only save yourself? Or like Bella, yourself and your daughter as well? Why shouldn’t you be a feminist, too?

   Finally, the last movie completely strips Bella of her actual role in the final scenes. Bella has a power known as a shield, one that she can use to protect others with while fighting. It is because of this protection that the Volturi decide not to fight. They are scared of Bella and the strength she presents. This is never mentioned in the movie, along with countless other things. To say I am disappointed by the movies is an understatement; but then again, all movies pale in comparison to books. There has never been one adaptation that I have been happy with, and I am pretty sure there never will be.

      Meyer also gave readers the chance to see Bella through Edward’s eyes in her unfinished novel Midnight Sun, and my heart broke when she announced that because of it being leaked, she wouldn’t be finishing it. All the points I make here are easily seen through Edward’s narration of Bella, which is both breathtaking and heart wrenching. 

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