Twilight of Discernment

Twilight is a series of vampire fantasy romance novels. They have become wildly popular among teenage girls and middle-age women and have an almost cult-like following. Vampire romance might sound like an oxymoron, but historically many vampire movies have a romantic element. The plot line in the famous novel Dracula centers on Dracula’s turning the lady Lucy into a vampire and attempting to do the same to Mina.

However, Twilight differs from Dracula in that the vampires are “good.” They have learned to resist their urge to kill humans and drink their blood. They can act in noble and unselfish ways. Dracula is a villain but Edward is a hero. This fits the modern trend of the musical Wicked and the fantasy Harry Potter novels, where witches and wizards may turn out to be pretty nice people after all. This characteristic distinguishes all three modern stories from Narnia where witches are evil and only the foolish Edmund gets confused about who is good.

The idea of a good vampire, one you could fall in love with and marry and live happily ever after with, is the central tension in Twilight. Edwards is still a vampire after all, a creature categorized as “undead.” He has a cold dead heart, and no blood courses through his veins. He doesn’t eat or drink or have any normal bodily functions (except one – this is a romance, after all). He still craves blood and battles the urge to kill people and drink their blood.

From the beginning the reader wonders where Bella, the heroine, will be turned into a vampire. Can she remain human and be happily married to the vampire Edward? The answer of course is no. Long ago the original vampire told another lady “you will not die,” but he lied. Bella will die a gruesome bloody death and be resurrected as a vampire.

At this point Twilight fans will accuse me of an error of fact. As the story reads, Bella doesn’t die. Edward nobly saves her from certain death by turning her into a vampire instead. Such is the strange world of Twilight where this horrific outcome can be perceived as a good thing. Bella is now going to live forever as one of the undead, doomed to struggle forever with the urge to kill people and eat their blood. I would argue that Bella the human is dead. This undead creature that bears her name and looks like her is not really Bella. Bella lies dead with her spine broken, her abdomen violently torn open and her lifeblood gushing out. It is appropriate to call what happens next a miracle bordering on a resurrection.

In the case of Twilight, hundreds of pages of romance have prepared the reader to see this transformation as a good thing. In traditional vampire literature you would rather die than be turned into a vampire. In Twilight that fear turns into Bella’s only hope.

I see in this story an analogy with the romance the modern Christian church is conducting with the world. Can you marry the world and not be transformed by it into the world’s image? Twilight gets the answer right – you will be transformed. For much of the church the transformation has already happened. Whether this is a triumph or tragedy is the question of our age. Whether Twilight is a triumph or a tragedy is a test for Twilight readers, but to argue that it is neither is to miss the seriousness of the question.

Disclaimer: I haven’t read the Twilight novels or seen the movies. These comments are based on reviews, plot summaries, and discussions with readers. Please correct me on any misunderstandings or errors of fact. But don’t use that as an excuse to ignore the issues raised.

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