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Twilight

Mia Escamilla

Professor Crystal Bazaldua

English 1301

November 6, 2022
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Twilight is giving vampires a new, demeaning reputation that slaps the faces of earlier

authors, filmmakers, etc., who helped to create the monster's distinctive image. Today's

conception of a vampire is attractive, courteous, and loving, not pale-faced and evil. Bella, a

teenage girl, who relocates from Phoenix, Arizona to the little town of Forks, Washington and

falls in love with vampire Edward Cullen. James, a nasty vampire, begins to hunt her,

endangering her life.

Youth Theory of Analysis, which views youth as a place of transition rather than as

another person, looks at how young people interact with the social discourse that is now in place

(adulthood). It focuses on an age-based power hierarchy that is dictated by culture. The target

audience of fiction for young readers is atypical in the publishing discourse since they don't

(typically) create the texts they read. Because it emphasizes the voice of the "power-holders," or

adults, this exclusion of the young readers' voice has the potential to marginalize and (in time)

colonize young adults as readers. By analyzing contemporary fiction for young readers using an

age-based interpretative framework, youth theory is examined. For example, Silva and Savitz

used a youth lens to examine representations of adolescent characters and experiences that

reinforce or contradict social constructions of youths across young adult novels commonly read

in secondary classrooms. They found examples of adolescents taking on adult-like roles,

exercising emotional discipline, and/or demonstrating agency and independence in ways that

challenge traditional ideas about youths. The authors suggest that the youth lens can foster

critical analysis and discussion of dominant discourses about adolescents.

The director and producer combined the ancient with the new by including what we

think we know about vampires. Because of the utilization of cutting-edge technology and

cinematography, every action was accurately portrayed, leaving the viewer wanting more. It

exposed fresh vampires and werewolves. For several reasons, including the icy pale complexion

and rapid, inhuman reactions, it has become the most popular teen movie. Bella Swan was one of

my favorites and least favorite in this film since I could identify with her due to her low self-

esteem and propensity to take on more than was required. The fact that Bella is more

autonomous than most teenagers is one of the reasons I like her. For example, Bella has relocated

to Forks when the story begins (Twilight, 2008, 00:01:10 - 00:04:00),

so that her mother can spend some time by herself and with her new husband. Despite

having no desire to go to Forks, Bella makes the decision to do go anyway. She is prepared to

quit school and is lying because she wants to make her mother happy by giving her space. On her

first day at her new school, she caught the eye of many of the classmates/guys in her grade and

finds her a friend group. Bella is blindsided by Edward's good looks, but his first response to her

is very negative. He slowly starts to become less mean, but he still warns her to stay away from

him. I realized as I watched the movie that although Bella and Edward are very much in love,
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Bella does not have any other big ambitions, goals, aspirations, or interests. Additionally, in my

opinion, their coupling lacked love. Many would agree that it is better to be enticed by someone's

personality than their appearance. In my opinion, Bella was more drawn to Edward's appearance

than to his personality, and Edward liked Bella because of her "scent” (Twilight, 2018, 00:10:21

- 00:10:20). Not because it was love at first sight, or anything like that but because it was for

her blood and how he was able to spell it from afar.

A few days later, when Bella is standing in the parking lot listening to music and

is almost hit by a van driven by her friend, Edward jumps in front of her stopping the van

from crushing her with his own hands. She started doing some research and quickly

discovered other older texts that depicted vampires or how they were described in the

novel "the cold ones." When she called him on it, he acknowledged that he was a

vampire. He started to retreat, anticipating that she would change her mind about him at

this point, but the exact reverse happened. He says that although he chooses not to hunt

people, he is particularly drawn to the fragrance of her and might not be able to resist her.

For this reason, he asks that she keep away from him. Interestingly, Bella is not

frightened by the notion that Edward and his family are not human, and young

people still fall in love with each other. As the story thickens, James, a tracker vampire,
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kidnaps Bella; Edward and his family sacrifice their lives to save her, a human; and

Edward stops Bella from turning into a vampire after James has bit her. He almost kills

her with his bite, losing a lot of blood but Edward saves her when his family shows up

just in time. But Bella had already gotten bitten, so he had to exercise extreme restraint to

only draw just enough blood from her to release the vampire venom without really killing

her knowing Edward was opposed with her. Bella sustains merely a few broken bones

and a cut on her forehead as a result of him saving her and being successful in doing so.

After recovering, Bella returns home with her dad at Forks, where Edward astonishes her

by inviting her to their high school prom. She explains to him that she wants him to turn

her into a vampire as well so that they can be together forever, but he is very opposed to

the idea since he does not want to take away her life while she still has a choice to be

human and be with her family as a human. Bella later asks Edward to turn her into a

vampire during the prom dance, but he declines (Twilight, 2018, 01:50:10 - 01:53:50).

The young couple are the targets of a conspiracy by James' and the lover Victoria (red

head) to exact revenge for the death of her boyfriend. She was also there at their school prom

watching them from afar in the building window, looking down. Knowing and planning how she

was going kill Bella and take everything Edward ever love away from him how he did to her.

The plot of Bella, who is a seventeen-year-old in the film, is adapted from Stephanie Meyer's all-
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time best-selling book. Bella moves from sunny Arizona to dreary Washington. To please her

mother, she had willingly relocated from her home in Arizona to Forks, where her father resided.

Bella is lonely when she meets Edward. Later, falls in love with him, a vampire, but not knowing

what she got herself into.

References

Silva, A. F. & Savitz, R. S. (2019). Defying Expectations: Representations of Youths in Young

Adult Literature. Journal of Adolescent & Adult

Hardwicke C., Condon B., Weitz C., Slade D., 2018., Twilight. Summit Entertainment.