The Limelight That Is Twilight

Alright, it's time to talk about Twilight. Again. Because I'm sure you've already found you and your friends discussing what all of the hype is about. You're right about the hype part. Twilight is a four-part book series about the tortuous relationships between humans, vampires, and werewolves, with the main characters set at about the 17-18 year-old age level.

The books are popular amongst the tween (by the way, who doesn't detest that word?) demographic. Accordingly, the books are written for that exact reading level. Since the Harry Potter series has come to an end, the next generation of kids are trying to find the Next Big Other Worldly Thing. But the Twilight series doesn't compare to its predecessors (Harry Potter, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings), as it predictably moves through a love story between, essentially, high school sweethearts, without any semblance of character complexity.



Bella is a human who desperately wishes to become a vampire so that she can be with her vampire-boyfriend, Edward. You know this from the first page of the series, and you're also tediously reminded of it throughout the series as she annoyingly begs Edward to "change" her. Edward refuses to do so until they are married like the good Christi... I mean, vampire that he is.

The Biblical undertones may be one reason why the series has become popular. But what about the murders and violence? Couldn't vampirism and werewolf-ism be associated with the Satanic?

The books don't stray too far into the lore of those worlds, which the books would have benefitted from. Instead, they noticeably lack depth. The author confines her characters into realities similar to our own, not daring to offer the readers a compelling, imaginative glimpse into how fantastical Bella's adventure from human to vampire could be. The series will continue to be popular coinciding with the release dates of the upcoming movies, but the franchise will never parallel the global hysteria of past fandoms.