The air gets colder, the days get darker, and the chill in the slight breeze reminds you that it’s time. The blue filter season is upon us. While you’re nowhere near Forks, Washington, you can almost hear the soundtrack of the beloved film play as you walk through the changing of the seasons. The best time of year has finally arrived! As you bundle up and turn on your TV, you think to yourself: Why do we deprive ourselves of the joy that only Twilight can give in other seasons? Please let me inform you that Twilight is forever.
Yes, forever. Don’t let your younger Gen Z brother tell you it isn’t. The melodrama, the ambience, and the iconic lines from the films will live on for centuries. You mean to tell me, “Bella, where the hell have you been, loca?” won’t be etched into the minds of this generation and the next?Â
All jokes aside, “Twilight” marked a time where teenage girls were allowed to be teenage girls. It was cool to gush over werewolves and vampires and argue over which was better— to fill movie theaters or to buy merchandise. “Twilight” (2008) and its following films marked the beginning of the young-adult book-turned-film genre. While it wasn’t the first time a film was adapted from a popular book series, it was certainly one of the first times I remember a previously despised and ridiculed demographic of adolescent girls becoming a respected (and even feared) consumer group.Â
Young girls became the deal breakers in the film industry, and if they did not like your content, you were done for! The movie made over 407 million dollars in the box office during its release, beating “The Incredible Hulk” (2008) and “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” (2008). The entire franchise ended up profiting over three billion dollars, sending its critics and mockers rushing to make parodies, skits, and references in their own work. Even SNL, which has a demographic of adults aged 18-49, encouraged their writers to look for inspiration in the undead characters. Taylor Swift, one of the biggest stars on the planet and America’s sweetheart, went from blonde to brunette to portray the girl everyone wanted to be: the incomparable, incredibly pale Bella Swan! If that does not speak volumes about the impact of the series, I don’t know what will!Â
More iconic movies were born following the success of the saga, like “The Hunger Games” (2013), “The Fault in Our Stars” (2014), and “Divergent” (2014). Where would we be as a society without the presence of Hazel Grace Lancaster, Augustus Waters, and Katniss Everdeen? The answer is nowhere. Absolutely nowhere.Â
So no, “Twilight” is not a stupid movie. It is a record-breaking, precedent-making, cultural reset of a movie that will stay in the American consciousness for as long as the young adult genre shall live. Watch it whenever you want, proudly!
I rest my case.