Staffer Expresses Contempt For Twilight Series

A newly wed 18-year-old high school graduate, sallow and undernourished, cradles her bruised stomach, curled in pain in a finely decorated open-floor-plan mansion. A man hands her a 20-ounce Styrofoam cup—something you might expect an Oreo milkshake or a cherry-flavored soda to come in. Tentatively, she sucks through the clear straw; the audience squeals as they watch her taste the cup’s contents: O-negative blood.

She pauses. Her mouth is slightly open, allowing the audience to squirm as it sees the blood staining her teeth.

“It’s good,” she announces.

This scene is as disturbing as the rest of the “Twilight” series but it’s only one of many unhappy surprises in the latest installment, “Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1,” which premiered on Nov. 18. Even if it wasn’t gory, if it wasn’t set at a staggeringly slow pace, if it didn’t create unintentional laughs at uncomfortable scenes, this film is repulsive in theme: domestic abuse is perfectly fine—because he loves you.

Bella Swan enters marriage hopelessly devoted to Edward Cullen, a vampire ex-murderer—a small, bloody fact which he waits until the eve of their marriage to share. He is secretive and dark and has about as much control of his emotions as a brooding toddler. Unsurprisingly, his massive strength and inability to control his temper lead to him physically harming Bella.

After the first night of her honeymoon, in a sleepy, post-sex haze, the teenage protagonist stands in front of a mirror, nonchalantly pulling down her robe to reveal bruises left by Edward’s grip. Edward shows moody regret at her abuse but all ever-apologetic Bella worries about in response is if he’ll sleep with her again. This girl has been beaten by her new husband but she’s the one who acts like she’s sorry.

“Last night was the best night of my existence,” Edward reassures Bella.

In her mind, if he beats her, it’s because he loves her too much and he just lost control. She must forgive him and spend scene after scene begging him to take her back—resorting to playing chess rather than talking because there must not be anything better to do if sex is being withheld.

This is not a good script. These are not pleasant images. And this is not a healthy example of a romantic relationship for anybody—much less young girls.

For all intents and purposes, Bella Swan marries a gang member—Edward Cullen’s mythological “family” is at odds with an opposing group over a turf war. Though Bella is close friends with the opposing group, she must adhere to the rules of her husband’s group and hope they are able to protect her.

Bella is only one of the many poor women role models: Bella’s high school friend is whiny, complaining and jealous at the wedding, her mother is uninvolved in her life and one of her new vampire “sisters” loses control and tries to drink Bella’s blood. There is no strong woman protagonist in this story—only weak wives, bridesmaids and mothers who are dependent on men.

The political message behind this story just as stunning. In their modern, mythical love affair, Bella and Edward choose to wait for marriage to have sex—yet, for all of their beliefs in abstinence, they use no protection. As such, the teenage couple is quickly faced with an unplanned pregnancy.

Here, the anti-abortion theme shines: the family argues over the semantics of “baby” versus “fetus” and Bella insists on the use of “him” or “her” rather than “it.” The result of their first sexual encounter acts like a fast-growing parasite, crushing Bella from the inside, breaking her ribs and sucking the nourishment out of her skeleton-thin body until it is satiated with the O-negative concoction.

It’s not just that these visuals—such as the wedding guests’ corpses being piled into the shape of a bloody wedding cake or Edward biting into his wife’s womb—are scarring, but the story is terrible, the script is crude, the dialogue is sloppy and the graphic effects are mediocre. Everything about this movie-going experience was unpleasant and vaguely creepy.

Despite its gaping shortcomings, this film and the “Twilight” series are ludicrously popular. In its opening weekend alone, “Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1” grossed approximately $139.5 million nationally—the fifth best opening weekend in box office history. Additionally, Distributor Summit Entertainment reports that 80 percent of “Breaking Dawn’s” audience is female. Adventure and romance draws this lady audience in but, under the guise of a devoted marriage, they witness domestic abuse, reinforced gender roles and none-too-subtle political messages.

This film isn’t about a storybook romance. Audiences and all of the series’s fans need to analyze the story and recognize the signs that this relationship isn’t romantic—it’s abusive. And domestic abuse is not OK—even if your boyfriend is a vampire.