The cultural phenomenon that is “Twilight” was born in late 2005. Now, 20 years later, “Twilight” is still considered a bestseller and reaches a new audience every year. The books were international bestsellers before the first movie was even released. With four (original) books with over 400 pages, five feature-length films starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, and five killer soundtracks, the TwiHard epidemic was hard to escape from in the early 2010s.
The book follows seventeen-year-old Bella Swan, who moves from Phoenix, Arizona, to Forks, Washington, to live with her divorced father. Just when Bella starts to get settled into her new home, she comes across the mysterious Edward Cullen, who seems to have an intense disliking for her upon first glance.
Bella Swan, being the first new student to Forks High School in a while, becomes a local celebrity. The clumsy, pale-skinned daughter of the chief of police. Most everyone in Forks is friendly, except for him. The one person she seems most interested in. Edward eventually comes around, but not without confusing Bella so much that she goes to a childhood friend and member of the Quileute Tribe, Jacob Black, for a better understanding of Edward and his family.
Bella soon finds out Edward is a vampire and leaves readers and movie watchers with an unforgettable quote, “About three things I was absolutely positive, First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him– and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be– that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.”
“Twilight” is considered a fantasy romance and drama. While the first book has its own drama to deal with, the most famous conflict is the fantasy love triangle between a human, a vampire, and a werewolf shown throughout all the books and movies. A very popular trope in young adult books then and now is a love triangle. “The Summer I Turned Pretty” and “The Hunger Games” are great examples. Team Edward and team Jacob took the world by storm. The target audience for the “Twilight” novels was young women and teenage girls.
Despite all the love for the book, there is still controversy over whether the book or movie is better. Junior Lily Drollinger said, “I prefer the book because in the movie, you miss out on so many details, and the book really just does a perfect job of explaining and describing things in a way that makes you picture it all in your head.” This is how a lot of fans feel. They can’t love the movies more than the books because the books provide so many little details that may not matter to the average reader, but to a “Twilight” fan, they do. Some fans like the movie better, though, because of its vibe. They love the dark and dangerous vibe that comes from the acting, cinematography, and editing. English teacher Ms. Carter said, “I prefer the books because I feel like there is so much more to the story and the individual characters, especially the Cullen family that we get in the books that we don’t get in the movie because they had to cut for time.”
Due to the epic twentieth-anniversary celebration “Twilight” is having, they have released the saga with a new floral design for fans to pre order. It wouldn’t be a “Twilight” release if there wasn’t a controversy where people pick sides. First, there was team Edward or team Jacob, and then, team Movie or team Book, and now, team Florals or team Not. While some fans find the Florals beautiful and think they represent the story well, others hate the colors and feel disappointed by them.
Constant controversy with a piece of media seems to be good though. If people are picking sides, then they are advocating enough to make this widely talked about media more popular. As more people picked their “Twilight” boy team, they convinced others to read or watch the series, this earned the franchise more popularity in the late 2000’s. It’s like the saying, “All press is good press”.
After 20 years the book still holds up as one of the world’s most well known and well loved romance novels. Its mix of genres has spread out the audience it reaches and almost creates its own new genre of twilight-esque media.
