But, I do own all the books, posters, soundtracks, and every once in a while I will check the fansite. I will not lie, every time I see the movies I get butterflies in my stomach when I see Jacob Black take his shirt off. When Edward kisses Bella I secretly wish it was me. Don’t quite understand what I’m talking about? Well here’s the quick summary of this vampire phenomena everyone is raving about.
The Twilight movie series originated from the best-selling novels by Stephanie Meyer. The series revolve around a Bella Swan, a high school student new to Forks, Washington. When she moved into this small dreary town, she catches the attention of the mysterious Edward Cullen. What seems to be like a normal romance changes quickly when his vampire identity is revealed. Although they are complete opposites, their love is too strong to break. As different obstacles test their love, nothing seems to break it.
In the sequel, New Moon, the character Jacob Black is introduced. In the beginning of this movie Edward is convinced he is too dangerous for Bella and leaves her. Jacob Black, a very attractive gentleman I might add, sweeps Bella off her feet as she mourns in her break-up. But of course Jacob cannot be just some extremely attractive person; he is a shape-shifter. On his command he can turn into a wolf. Currently in the series now, Edward is back in Bella’s life because he couldn’t bare being away from her. Now Bella is torn between the love of her life vampire, or the muscular fighting shape-shifter. Oh the romance!
This complex story has America on their feet. Girls around the country are fighting over who Bella should be with. Shirts are being made saying “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob”. This vampire phenomenon has taken the world by storm. So much so that many TV series have a similar vampire plots; True Blood, Vampire Diaries, The Gates, Being Human, and many more. The Twilight movies are directed towards pre-teen and teenage girls, and in my case, college students who have grown up reading the novels as well.
When a media text such as Twilight influences many things in our society, it is imperative to critically analyze it. Through the use of narrative criticism, we can best analyze this text. As we learned in our class lecture, narrative criticism allows us to “study texts and how they are structured into a cause-and-effect chain of events with a beginning, middle and end”. Narrative criticism explains how we use stories to depict our own lives. Twilight is an ideal example that shows how a text mirrors the lives we live. Fans around the world wish to be a part of this fantasy world. Of course Twilight doesn’t mirror our lives exactly – we don’t have vampires and wolves running around us. But the story of an outcast girl falling in love is every girls dream. Having two guys fall for us is even better!
But why does Twilight have such a hold on many girls around the country? Let us use Vladimir Propp’s narrative structuralist approach. Propp states that all stories have similar structures. Propp gave all the characters in story a “type” which will enable the viewer to create assumptions of their roles. Propp stated that every story has a princess, a villain, and a hero. Bella is the clear princess, and it is up to the audience to choose who the villain or hero is. The love triangle Bella gets herself into has become a real life drama girls around the country are involved in as well. If you are a Jacob Black fan, Edward would be your villain, and vice versa.
As we fit each of the characters of Twilight into Propp’s character types, we can see how appealing the Twilight movies are. Many of the characters conflict with one another, and their conflict engages the audience as well. Edward and Jacob can both be the hero or villain in the eyes of the viewers. Because of such conflict, we the viewers are so engaged into this film.
So why is it important to critically analyze the Twilight movie series? As I stated earlier in my blog, so many young girls are so entranced by this Twilight world. Girls want to choose who Bella wants to be with, and girls want to be Bella.
Two men fighting over a girl is not a scenario that should be advertised to young girls around the world. Not only is Twilight stating that a girl should have the option between two men, but that she needs a man to fight her battles. As we can see from this clip, Bella is being over powered by all the male figures around her. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd9zKDcuqkY&w=640&h=390]
I am reluctant to admit that the image and story Twilight sends to girls around the world is not all that great. The female sex is portrayed as needy, confused, and helpless without a man. Although I know Twilight shows a fictional reality, I will always be a fan.
References: Vande Berg, L. R., Wenner, L. A., & Gronbeck, B. E. (2003). Critical approaches to television (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
I wrote this blog for my Media Criticism class. The basis of the assignment was to analyze a text. I wrote about what I know best - Twilight =) Here is a link to my wordpress blog
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