So it’s official: The Twilight series, written by Stephenie Meyer, has become a best-seller and has stayed at the top rank of the list longer than J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series (Memmott). But is Bella Swan, the Twlight protagonist, truly worthy of the “heroine” title or is she just another female cliché?
Twilight fans all around the world have “fallen in lust” with Edward Cullen (Bella’s vampire lover) and Jacob Black (Bella’s best friend, who happens to be a werewolf). Readers, however, are ignorant about all of the sexist stereotypes that have been delivered to them in the form of these three 500-or-so-page novels.
It’s apparent that Edward Cullen is deeply enticed by Bella and is, therefore, very attached to her. But it’s arguable that he’s more so attached to her hip. Or at least, he wishes that he was so that she could be within seeing distance of him at all times. Bella is continually controlled by Edward throughout the Twilight series and Edward’s compulsive, controlling behavior is fueled by Bella’s friendship with the neighborhood werewolves.
Sure, it’s common for a guy to be so crazy about his girlfriend that he’ll take any possible measures to prevent her from being unfaithful. In reality, Stephenie Meyer should’ve considered this while writing her series: that this may send off a negative portrayal of young men’s and women’s relationships. In turn, because many are inspired by the Twilight characters, this may influence how people perceive the opposite sex.
Within the first book of the series, Twilight, Bella visits a town near her home called Port Angeles with her girl friend, Jessica. There, she is followed by a couple of men when Edward oh-so-heroically shows up out of nowhere and saves her. After this (page 174), he says “I followed you to Port Angeles… I’ve never tried to keep a specific person alive before, and it’s much more troublesome than I would have believed.” In reality, if a girl’s boyfriend were to do this, one would view him as a stalker rather than a sweetheart.
In essence, this notion gives young women the idea that it’s okay for their boyfriends to behave in manipulative ways to protect their girlfriends or to preserve the integrity of the relationship. It also gives guys the impression that relying on manipulation is more effective than maintaining mutual honesty within a relationship. It implies that men still have the right to have some form of control (or, rather, a psychotic form of control, might I add) over their girlfriends.
Not only is Edward far too controlling of Bella throughout the series, but she is extremely dependent on him. Granted this is supposed to be a romance novel, but since when was love the equivalent of danger-prone obsession? Bella puts her life at risk, cliff-diving and approaching creepy strangers at night, solely to get Edward to notice her and come back for her after he leaves her. These scenes imply that it’s acceptable for girls to do anything just to get their boyfriends back. It gives readers the image that women are desperate.
Bella is also constantly viewed as the weak character because she is female and human. She is constantly protected by either her vampire or werewolf friends. On page 323 of New Moon, Bella and Jacob are confronted by Jacob’s werewolf pack. “I cowered into Jacob’s side, my eyes scanning the forest for the other werewolves. When they appeared, striding out from between the trees, they weren’t what I was expecting. I’d gotten the image of the wolves stuck in my head. These were just four really big half-naked boys.” Sadly, not only does Meyer project women as weak cowards who depend on men for safety, she tries to glamorize this concept by throwing in a few hot, shirtless guys to sweeten up the idea.
There’s a scene in Eclipse (among many others) where Jacob Black’s village member tells the story of a man named Taha Aki who was the first man to transfer his soul into a wolf’s body. This man fights with an enemy, the Cold Woman (a vampire) who is on the verge of killing him. The story—teller speaks about Taha Aki’s wife, who sacrificed herself for him. “‘Then the third wife did something the Cold Woman did not expect. She fell to her knees at the blood drinker’s feet and plunged the knife into her own heart (258).’” This illustrates how the series focuses on the weakness of women as well as how women are used as objects. Women are constantly self-sacrificial within the Twilight series, which is a huge problem within reality as well.
Though Stephenie Meyer’s series does express a star-crossed lover story about a human and a vampire, which is certainly appealing to many young people today, she needs to consider the stereotypes she recreated on her road to success. Meyer should take into consideration that her audience is made up of predominantly young people who may take for granted that the stories are fictional. Readers should be more conscious of the negative images that Meyer’s characters send to young women and men worldwide.
Anita Wota is a 2010 GirlSpeak editor.
Memmott, Carol. “Twilight Series Eclipses Potter Records on Best-Selling List.” USA Today. 5 August 2009: n. pag. Web. 13 July 2010.
