Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Another 'Twilight' series hater makes a claim about the propriety of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan


It's not the first swipe that has been made at the Twilight series' enigmatic draw upon the emotions of its readership, but it is certainly one of the more colorful ones.

The Women's Media Center's Esté Yarmosh has taken a very strong stance against the propriety of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan's relationship in the series.

Says Yarmosh,

Young readers encounter women, embodied in narrator Bella Swan, shoved back into traditional gender stereotypes that have taken years of effort to overcome. And millions of young girls (not to mention adult women) are devouring these books.

I worry about the girls who seem, with quite a bit of personal conviction, to put one of the main characters of the Twilight "saga,” the vampire Edward Cullen, on such a high pedestal that they think he is the ultimate ideal of a boyfriend. That he is not. These girls need a wake-up call: Edward Cullen is a caricature of an emotionally, psychologically and physically abusive boyfriend -- and one with supernatural powers no less. It can’t be healthy to have an attachment to a fictional character with those qualities, much less a real person.

Apart from the vampires who attack Bella at the end of the first book (Twilight), Edward is the source of most of her abuse. He is dangerously possessive. In the third book (Eclipse), for example, the vampire boyfriend removes the engine from Bella’s car because she wants to go visit her friend Jacob Black. Edward stalks her, constantly asks where she is going and what she is doing and plays hot and cold in their love affair. He neglects her emotionally in some passages; in others, he tells her he loves her and wants to be with her forever.

A phrase in the series is used to sum up the relationship between Edward and Bella: "and so the lion fell in love with the lamb.” A symbolic, romantic concept perhaps, but it only reinforces traditional gender stereotypes of males being strong and dominant, and females being meek, demure and passive. Feminists have fought for decades to eradicate this trope and to stretch the boundaries of how females are viewed by the dominant society.

The phrase "and so the lion fell in love with the lamb” attempts to evoke a space where the strong and weak can co-exist peacefully. Is it also meant to suggest that the rapist/sexual assaulter can have tender feelings for his victim? With all its associations, the phrase is a prominent feature of Twilight-inspired jewelry and tee shirts populating the Internet. Its problematic quality is reinforced by Twilight series dialogue in which Bella often refers to herself as a "stupid lamb” and Edward calls himself a "sick, masochistic lion.” They may recognize their personality disorders but the books never deal with the damage. Instead, Twilight glorifies the "masochism,” making it a fetish that burrows into the minds of young readers. One website featured a Christmas ornament with the phrase "Property of Edward Cullen -- Forks, WA.” The product description read, "You belong to sexy sparkly vampire Edward Cullen now.”

You can read the rest of Yarmosh's diatribe here, if you like.

We've already discussed, at length, some of these issues raised by Yarmosh.

The gist of her argument is that the Twilight series invokes a sense of submission fetched from way back when - a time when women were supposed to wear stilettos while vacuuming and have the dinner on the table by five o'clock prompt when their cheauvinist husbands would come home from a hard day's work.

Not so, I say.

The source of Yarmosh's line of reasoning seems to be this perilous state that Bella finds herself in - being the constant center of all things dangerous. Elsewise, Yarmosh seems to strongly oppose the nature of Edward Cullen - strength, dominance, and downright abusive in her eyes.

Yet, there is something of a parable lain within the story of Edward and Bella as presented by the Twilight series that Yarmosh is ignoring in her sentiments.

Firstly, the character Edward Cullen is not considered perfect. In fact, most readers of the Twilight series are quite aware of his propensities for over-sheltering Bella on occasion. Most took offense to his attempt (as cited by Yarmosh) to thwart Bella's attempts to see Jacob, but recognized it as a split decision (the wrong one, perhaps) made to save her from danger that he later saved face for by offering her a ride to that very place he did not want her to go.

If you'll recall, Edward is quite self-sacrificing for Bella. Not only does he deny his very instinctual desires for the sake of her continued existence, but he runs the risk of exposing his entire family, and he withdraws himself from the very life he was builiding in order to protect her from himself and others.

So self-sacrificing and accomodating, in fact, that another writer had the hubris to suggest his over-zealous love for Bella was one that women were completely delusional to expect (see here).

Digress, I do.

The point is that, while there are certain instances of relapse to ages old in certain dialogue or incidences found in the Twilight series, the crux of the overall storyline seems to be about Bella's choice, her growth, and her prosperity.

While Edward Cullen may be regarded as perfect by some who find him to be so despite his flaws, you'd be hard-pressed to find a reader of Twilight who did not understand that he makes mistakes throughout the series. Therefore, that basis of the argument is null.

While you may think that Edward's concern for Bella's whereabouts is stalking, readers and fans of the Twilight series will know that she is endangered not through forces of her own (or his for that matter) control.

Yes, the series is wrought with peril. That does not forsake the strength of the mutual and equal (in emotion, at least) bond that formulates between the characters.

In fact, it is through choice that Bella ultimately becomes the most powerful character in the entire series (and Edward, by the way, proves to be extremely happy about that fact). He looks at her strength, willpower, and individualism and is "amazed."

So, before one jumps on the Twilight is anti-feminist bandwagon, perhaps a more sturdy foothold should be put into place. That is, the assumptions made should be accurate. Readers do not think Edward is perfect - so don't say it. Bella has choice, freedom, and decision-making capacity. Bella grows into the strongest and most advanced character of all in the series - which her "masochistic" companion is most pleased about.

Speaking of "masochistic," as for the dialogue subjected to such animated controversy in this article, the basis for that, too, is fairly inaccurate.

The term "masochistic" is defined as "a taste for suffering." Were Bella to be the one who described herself as "masochistic," perhaps Yarmosh's argument would hold water. However, in fact, it is Edward who suffers for the sake of his relationship with Bella. His thirst for this "la tua cantante" is so strong that it literally pains him to be near her. Bella's reference to herself as a "stupid lamb" is, instead, a play on words that indicates acceptance of her seemingly unintelligent decision to keep company with a vampire. It is not, as Yarmosh suggests, anti-feminist (after all, as always, it is Bella's choice to keep said company - a choice which Edward completely leaves on her table).

Finally, Yarmosh's snarky reference to Twilight memorabilia that says "Property of Edward Cullen" is absurd. She happily references a statement made by a self-proclaimed "graduate of the Harry Potter craze," but fails to recognize the similar product availability of that series. For instance, here is a shirt entitled "Property of the Half-Blood Prince."