Stephanie Meyer’s first installment of the Twilight saga was released in 2008 and became the obsession of middle schoolers and married women alike. When it was first released during the most awkward years of our lives, Bella Swan and Edward Cullen were in love, and we were in love with them. The way Edward was completely dedicated and obsessed with Bella never seemed like a bad thing. Instead, the intimacy between them left audiences with a deep longing for something similar. Our 13-year-old selves were completely sold (or at least mine was). As time went on and the Saga was more or less completed by the final Breaking Dawn installment, the audience grew up and we have realized several questionable aspects from this problematic romance. Now we are in 2020, and Meyer has released Midnight Sun (Twilight but from Edward’s perspective) and the response is mixed. We aren’t naive 13-year-old anymore who will fawn over the young-love obsession, so how does this relationship stand up to today’s mature audience?
One of the craziest things about Midnight Sun is that it made me take these vampires more seriously. I’m not going to lie, Bella and I were on the same page about not being very intimidated by Edward and his family. I never realized how close Bella came to being slaughtered. We all should know the iconic scene in the first movie when Bella walks into class and Edward subtly reacts to her smell. Bella and I both were fairly confident that Homeboy was being dramatic, and his killing instinct wasn’t so intense around Bella because his love was supposed to be more powerful. Boy oh boy, were we wrong! Apparently, she and everyone else in that classroom during that first encounter were actually breaths away from being mauled like a holiday dessert. When I realized, I was definitely on Edward’s wavelength about leaving forever and not messing with Bella.
Maybe we already realized this before, but I want to point out here that Edward had an overbearing case of Savior Complex. It was a perfect pair since Bella was truly written to be a damsel in distress, and Eddie was more lenient after Bella changed. He was still insufferable while she was human, killing spiders in the name of love when he snuck into her bedroom, kidnapping her from her amazingly wholesome father, and following her out of town to make sure she stays safe. Edward does all of these things and says it is for her own good because she is always getting into situations, but I am not buying that. By our standards today, this would be labeled a controlling and abusive relationship. This was such a toxic habit he found himself in and that’s not even including how many times he kept trying to leave and manipulate her.
