Falling Prey to Twilight - Part I of the Saga

I just went to the movie “Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1”, and confessed to my husband I cried during one scene. Good grief, how humiliating.

Well, I am defenseless.

I am publicly admitting it.

I got sucked in.

Two years ago, I finally caved in to my twelve-year old daughter’s urgings to read the first book of the “Twilight” series.

A few months later, I lay helpless - a pile of warm, pulsating blood, a servile subject to these books, as if a vampire had my shoulders pinned to the floor, ordering me to stay up until wee hours in the morning flipping pages, sucking needed sleep away from me.  I awoke many mornings tired and dumbfounded how a professional woman with moderate intelligence and at least a functioning level of discernment could get bloodsucked into a Dracula-like teenage drama.

The crazy thing is, I’m not alone. Although the books are targeted to young adults, they have snared the attention of their mothers as well.

Over 50,000 mothers have become members of the “Twilight Moms” group. You can become a member by registering at TwilightMom.com, and, if your city has a local chapter, you have the opportunity to meet monthly with other 30+ somethings who have had their lives turned upside down by the movie and play Twilight games and show off one another’s expensive inventory of Twilight paraphernailia. I am not making this up.

For the record, I am not a member. I am so relieved the bite of the books didn’t alter my body chemistry, turning me into a 41-year-old kooky Twilight mom.

Well, not kooky; when given a clean pumpkin, I choose Edward Cullen, whom I fell in love with by the end of the series (not Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward Cullen in the movies; the fictional character Edward– this is an important distinction).

The books have received some well-deserved criticism for sexual content, since the largest audience is teenage girls. I would agree the language gets any women’s hormones pumping, but “explicit” is an exaggeration, in my humble opinion.  The assessment deeming the books far from literary genius is one with which I agree, but I don’t think they were not written as such; rather, as brain candy  (for enjoyment).

I have heard other valid criticisms, but the one I wrestle with the most is that from Christians -the books are about vampires. This is the very reason I did not rush down to the book store when it first came out (and is the reason I still haven’t read Harry Potter – right or wrong). A book about darkness? Not really something edifying for anyone’s mind, and a Christian should know better. But, I figured since my daughter already had her teeth into one of them, I should go ahead and check it out in the noble pursuit of being an educated parent.

After being sucked in like my sister’s friend, who claimed she found new meaning of life from the series, I really started to ponder why a good portion of the world is crazed about this, and going overboard in deriving new life purpose from it. I’d like to share my thoughts on this. If you read the books and hated them, I beg you to stay with me on this regardless, and see if you might agree with me on at least a few points. I am neither praising nor condemning the books, but rather trying to answer the question “Why did the world get sucked in?”

Before I begin, a bit of warning. I said in an earlier blog that I have this tendancy to “overanalyze every living thing and every dead thing. I try to find meaning in inanimate objects; I perform autopsies on them to discover the cause of death, and try to decode the DNA of polyester stuffing to find the essence of life. I squeeze a water-soaked rag until every last possible drop of spiritual insight-however skewed- has dripped.” (“Nerve Endings”, June 2011)

I fear this may be a good example of the aforesaid overthinking neurosis. I may be mining for deep truth in a spiritual wasteland.

But please, indulge me, starting with my next blog posting.---alg