Twilight: A Love Story?

I really thought the love story was well treated and beautiful though of course, it was a little on the corny side. It was such a breath of fresh air to have a hero who could act like a gentleman!

I can see what the Marxists have done here to smear my name. Don't ever think that you are better than everyone else if in your "virtues" you lack integrity. This is what holds the Dorian's together.

For all time we will hold our national identity because it's in our blood and when the time comes, the dormant supressed spirit will know what to do.

Like I said, a personal insult that hasn't gone unnoticed.
The reason they still suffer is because the "romantic-fallacy" has been executed well and they want to believe that "those" aren't "out to get them". It's love and virtues that will always reveal the true natures of all nations of the world..

I find him bitterly ironic people would encourage young girls to read this on the grounds it's a good book for young girls. Have you read the third book, in where Bella runs way from home with Edward and Jacob? It's so cold, Bella may freeze to death, so the solution the boys decide upon is that she must sleep with Jacob. Indeed, in the same sleeping bag, which Edward blithley permits. In the next chapter, Jacob attempts to force himself on Bella. The originial vampires were metaphors for the supressed sexuality of the Victorian age, and many were thinly veiled metaphors for sodomy. Werewolves were used in mideval Europe to explain the concept of serial killers. Disturbing? Without a doubt, and yet Twilight is passed off as decent literature. case be? “His eyes burned with sincerity for a protracted moment—playing havoc with the rhythm of my heart—and then turned playful" I have little doubt a sentence like this would give any decent english teacher a heart attack. What, to sum up, does this show impressonable readers? 1) Romance is ALL physical. Rare do they rave about something not related to the love of thier lfe's eyes, hair, skin, "scent" (remarkably predatory) 2) This rubbish is passed about as good writing. I shall applaud anyone who can make sense of the above sentence. I do not mean to be rude. Perhaps this book is good for goyish girls with its message of waiting unitl marriage, but it's quite a bad idea for jewish girls. Isn't it somewhat foolish, with our determination to protect us young girls, but expose us to shmutz? I saw what happened to my friends. One was so repulsed by what happened in the last she looked physically ill. You may disagree, but please consider before handing the books over to your delighted daughter.

Well would you want the love of your life to freeze to death? Get real! And though you may call it schmutz, it sounds like you've read all three books.

The original vampires were actually just literal bloodsuckers, not a metaphor.

My first vampire movie had a very pale, caped figure with fangs and shifty eyes seducing beautiful women. He would even tell them "I want to suck your blood", and they would simply swoon. I couldn't imagne what made them so stupid. This fascination with vampires is centuries old. We tried to kill them with stakes in the hear;repel them with garlic'test them with mirror. And now, they are back in a much more sympathetic and relatable form. Edward feels he is a monster without a soul. Bella has complete faith in him. She sees the good in him, she is able to help him to believe in himself. He protects her from all the evil guys; he is also an honourable gentleman and never takes advantage of Bella. Now, tell me what girl wouldn't love that? Bella shows a quiet strenght throughout the entire series whether it's defending her Dad or protecting her unborn child. She knows what she wants, she is not stuck of herself and she gives to those she cares about with a passion. We might wonder what happened to those original vampires, they were real evil guys. The vampires here are more complex and like the writer of this ariticle says have the ability to transcend and overcome their most base desires. No garlic needed here.

Well, thank you! Someone who is Team Edward, finally! And who doesn't take these things too seriously! :)

"She knows what she wants" is not a phrase I would ever think of to describe Bella.

It's one of a vampire's powers that they can control people.

I have to disagree with your statement that this series is about love. Relationships, maybe, but not love. The relationship between Bella and Edward so horrified me that I could not finish the series. What Bella thinks of as love in no way aligns with how Judaism defines love. She is needy, dependent, and a regular bowl of mush, feeling that she is nobody without Edward to give her an identity. He wants to drink her blood, the scent of which he finds maddeningly attractive. Does that sound like a healthy relationship? At one point Bella states, "Jacob is like my air and sunshine; Edward is like the drugs I crave. How could I choose between them?" (this is a paraphrase, the exact words escape me but that was the comparison she made.) To compare this series to Harry Potter in terms of the values and morals that it teaches young readers (or any readers) is frankly offensive. To quote Andrew Futral: “Harry Potter is about confronting fears, finding inner strength, and doing what is right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend.” (All this is aside form the abysmal quality of writing.)

I respectfully disagree with the stance that Twilight has deep insights to convey to our teen girls regarding love. They may possibly learn something positive about love but they will also be putting a lot of trash in their heads, as well. (Edward's family deals with one threat to Bella by tearing off the rival vampire's limbs and head and burning his body parts.) I suggest that the appetite for the romantic thrill of the gothic love story is so ingrained in the Western female psyche that even an Observant Jewish woman can be captivated by it and rationalize its consumption by Jewish girls because she sees parallels in what we are taught about ahava. The Twilight "saga" substitutes vampiric bloodlust for the run-of-the-mill salaciousness we normally find in adult film and literature. The first film was threatening, violent, bloody, filled with predatory sexual undertones and it is all couched in a carefully packaged world of teenaged love-drama. This is certainly NOT how we should be introducing our daughters to their sexuality and their understanding of what they can hope to expect from love/ahava. IMO, this series of books and films are not fit for the minds and hearts of our pre-teens.

As some one who grew up with a TV I was fortunate enough to realize that it was damaging and was determined not to have one in my home. Although I do have contact with girls aged 9 to 19 (having 3 daughters in that age group) I had not heard of the Twilight saga until last week and my girls (having no internet access) have never heard of it. Neither have their friends, because I made sure to move to a community where no one owns a TV. You are so right Tseruyah, there cannot be enough positive in TV watching to out way the negative. Since R' Keleman was referenced, anyone who would like to read further on thisshould look at what he says regarding TV in his book "To Kindle A Soul" I understand that not everyone can move, but the idea is to surround yourself with like minded people to support your efforts. Plan for success and you will be successful.

Its so obvious why everyone loves this story - its the ultimate materialistic dream come true. Bella has the opportunity to be forever young and beautiful, rich, and powerful. All she has to do is give up her afterlife (disconnect from her soul/relationship with God). For Bella, and most young people today, this is an easy decision (with or without a guaranteed forever faithful lover thrown in)! If this were a true story, people would be lining up outside the Cullen's door begging for a bite. But really, I loved the books too. They were also very well written.

I´m not a teenager. I´m 57 years old. And I loved this Saga. It shows us all, young and old, love, the powerful one is still possible. Even in today's cynical society. Love that makes you drop every irrational convention. I was hooked by the story, and its depth. And so are some of my students. I´m an English teacher, I recomend the Saga to them, so they read well-written English, too.

I agree that it was a well written book, but only in a way that captures the reader to keep reading because it sucks (pardon the pun) you in. As a student, though, I absolutely disagree that you should be recomending it to other students as an example of well-written english (besides for the fact that I think it a totally inappropriate book whatsoever for teens for the reasons mentioned by other responders). As a matter of fact, MY English teacher specifically said Twilight is NOT a good example of something well-written and that we should not write that way unless you are writing your own book or want to do some creative writing. Though, as an English teacher who teaches how to write better-written essays, she said that is definitely not a book to use as something to base off of. It is a very CASUALLY written book. No essay or formaly written anything should be written that way. Twilight is written in language that out generation can relate to, and that's why it's so popular, not because it's written well.

Learn to write well before you criticize others.

OK, I'll bite (ha ha) ... how could anybody in any even minimally observant Jewish household become captivated by a book or movie or TV series or any other aspect of a cultural craze based on eating blood???

Dear Teenage Girl and Another Teenage Girl, First of all, I'm so glad that my article is provoking this kind of discussion. Good for you for being empowered, thinking young women! Knowing that there are girls like you out there makes me want to cheer. Secondly, your points are all valid. Like many books, the Twilight series can be interpreted in a number of ways. Some people look at the character of Bella as a weak personality and dangerous role model. Others look at the character as an example of quiet individuality and strength. Personally, I am not committed to either stance. I was not intending to idolize Twilight as the Jewish ideal. However, Twilight is a pretty far cry from, say, Friends With Benefits. (I never saw the movie, but with a title like that nobody has to.) As flawed as the Twilight canon is, it is still fundamentally the story of two people who try to do the best that they can for each other and who cement that loving commitment with marriage. It's a story that tells readers that love and decency are worth fighting for. That's a very unusual message for today's mainstream, popular media. Does Twilight have a lot of other, less valuable messages? Sure it does. It wasn't written by G-d. It's just a series of novels. Nonetheless, I'm glad that a whole lot of girls today are waiting for their "Edward" instead of their next hook-up. With Admiration, Braha P.S. Team Jacob, eh?

I think , you people totally misunderstand the story. It is like you can see only what is given to you on the plate and nothing else. Moreover , I am almost sure none of you have acutally read the book , so.... It is not the book that makes the girls crazy , it is the things around them in their daily life. It how people behave around them , it what people say. And people really do crazy stuff these days...... It is not the book that creates problems and the society. I going to the movie theatre this Friday and I am going to enjoy the show. Sad you have not read the book, it is so much better. A Vampire is a fantasy , a fantasy that poeple love because they cannot find what stands behind it so easy in their real life, sometimes they cannot find it at all. Enjoy this life. Hashem gave it to us for reason .

To Anonymus- I DID read the book. i watched my friends go mad over goyish men (who if you read the talibloids, have quite sorid personal lives- the 'chaste' edward especially) I read and watched enough. This is not something to show young, impresonable girls with healthy hormones.

I agree w/ Teenage Girl. This book is messing up girls of this generation. They begin to think that this is what they really want - a creep (although I doubt they realize it) who makes them feel "loved". This whole series feeds girl's desires of what they wish they could do pr feel because they know it's inappropriate (I'm especially talking about the frum girls who know they'll never experience such a thing). They start dreaming and thinking and obsessing over such shmutz, yet sadly they don't realize or don't want to realize that it's not good for them. This is totally corrupting girls' expectations of what should be normal. And what about when the get married? or start dating? Are they going to be wishing that they could be in a huge Twilight-like drama? Poor boys to have such a messed up generation of girls to marry and expect them to be the most romantic hero-type man in the world. I actually once heard a peer of mine say she wished her life could be like a movie - all dramatic with boys fighting over her because it's so exciting.... It's sick. THIS is what Twilight is doing to our generation. I actually only read parts of the books (although siblings and friends have read it and told me the whole story), and I know it's written to suck you in. It does a good job of it, but truthfully, in the end I felt empty. Did I gain a THING from reading it? No. I'm proud to say I haven't seem the movies. It scares me that what is already so captivating in the books can be seen by my eyes and then I'd have the picture of it forever in my mind. Rabbi Wallerstien said once in a shiur that a girl has to be so careful of what she watches (movie-wise) because if she starts to think of the man in the movie while she is with her husband, their child can end up with the neshama of a mamzer (chas v'shalom). I think Twilight is the epitome of what R' Wallerstien was talking about. As I mentioned earlier, Girls start to imagine themselves in place of Bella. So terrible.

Bella and Edward are not good role models. The book is about lust, not love. Bella shows that you need a guy to be happy.

You praise the book for its positive messages...but what about the other messages I, a teengae girl, recieved? 1) Edward emotionally abuses Bella. This is one of the aliment of dating abuse: he hurts her and puts her life in jepordy...but she always returns to him because he's her "True love" 2) never once did i hear them discuss the good things about each with the good things being things other than thier looks and her "smell". Thats not love, thats obsessive lust. 3) they wait until marriage for the foolish reasons. their kisses are VERY intense...they're quite willing to not wait, if you read her thoughts... 4) bella is a TERRIBLE role model. she throws away academics, social life, a future healthy life- college, etc and devotes herself completley to the emotionaly unstable edward, even coming to the point where she attempts suicide. More than once. She is the willing slave of edward, simply because of his charm. We young girls are told there is a prince charming to devote ourselves to, let him do whatever he wants to us in hope of feeling "loved'. We should be aware a proper relationship is bases on mutual trust, admiration, respect, et cetera. thier relationship has none of these things. If this toxic relationship were real, it would have a terrible ending.