Millions of girls and women (!) read the book cover to cover with such urgency and anxiety. Passionately explaining to anyone who is willing to hear, my friends little sister will support Edward Cullen any day of the year with a list of 10 specific points stating why he is better than the werewolf Jacob Black. And so will a 100 other females all around the world, whether they were older than the 8-year-old or not.
Men all over the world have been dumfounded at this craze. The plot that has no suspense, excitement, substance or logic has taken their sisters, girlfriends, mothers, wives and daughters and made them into vampire (or werewolf) loving maniacs.
Love it or hate it, Twilight has been catering to the same audience that Disney had only a few years (and in some cases decades) ago. So I wondered why girls all over the world, my age and older, were so crazy about this series that had no depth or plot. With all the books out and one more part of a movie left, there had to be a solid reason.
Being a female myself, I thought I might be more likely to understand the reason for the insane craze than has taken over so many people’s lives. So I did a little research.
Disney has always portrayed love to be something that arrives all of a sudden and changes your life forever. Cinderella was sad and lonely, mistreated and hurt, but then her prince arrived and rescued her from the agony that she was in. Rapunzel was stuck in her tower. Her prince gave her freedom. And the rest like so. They all end up living happily ever after because finally, someone picked them. Someone saved them. And not just anyone. Someone who had power be it economically, socially or physically. Their power was enough to save the day- enough to save their entire futures.
So 5-year-olds and 18-year-olds will sat together and watched these movies dreaming of their own futures certain that men they meet will not only be all-powerful but handsome, influential, kind, and deeply interested in their lives.
And then they grew up. Reality struck and they reached the conclusion that it was impossible for them to ever meet a prince (only one exception for Princess Catherine) and live happily ever after. But what about the rescue? What about the high expectations that men have to live up to?
Twilight to the rescue.
Edward Cullen, so perfect in all his glory, has saved the day. The fantasy that there could be a man so flawless has been repackaged from a Prince on a white horse to a vampire sparkling like a million diamonds in the sun.
Women all over the world, now 15-year-olds and 28-year-olds are sitting together and watching these movies dreaming about their own lives, biting their manicured nails in anxiety- how can someone so awesome be interested in someone as boring as myself?
The definition of family has changed over the years from something like an association that two people enter into, to something that is less about commitment and more about passion and fantasy.
I can only hope that one day real marriages are able to outlive the silly love stories that my generation is manufacturing.
