Critical Analysis of Twilight Article: Why Bella and Edward's 爱情 isn't true 爱情

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posted by MCRTS

OK, I know 你 guys are thinking: "What?! How dare you! Bella and Edward's 爱情 is the best and most romantic 爱情 of all times!111Elevntyone!!!1" And then, you're going to say I'm just some guy who hasn't read the books. I'm not. I'm a teenage girl, and I have read all the books. Even Bree Tanner and that bit of Midnight Sun on Meyer's website.

I'll just discuss the reasons why it's not true love.

Physical Attraction
...And 更多 of it.
Picture this. Our great female lead is in an average high-school cafetaria, surrounded 由 average, high school kids. It's noisy and loud, and she wishes she was some place else. Enter male lead. She gazes at him. Her 心 pounds, her eyes melt, and her breath quickens. He's so gorgeous, so handsome, the 爱情 child of Aphrodite and Apollo, the reincarnation of Adonis, a living, breathing form of Michangelo's David. This was it. Her salvation from the normal, boring people in that normal, boring school! He looks up, right at her, and her breath gets caught in her throat. Then, he gives her a ferocious, death glare.

*wipes the sparkles off keyboard.* There we have it people. The first meeting of Bella and Edward. The very first thing that captures her attention is his beauty. And she will continue to talk about his infinite beauty throughout the whole damn series. Seriously. She describes about his eyes, hair and body, so much and in such great detail that I want to wring her neck. There's only so many times where 你 can read "his golden orbs", "his amber eyes", "his pale, white body which resembled Michaelengo's David" before 你 totally loose it.

I know that physical attraction is what draws 你 to a person. I'm a girl. I've had my fair share of crushes, and they've all started with a hot guy. But the problem with Bella is that her initial attraction to Edward doesn't progress from physical attraction. To be in 爱情 with someone, truly in love, means that 你 have to 爱情 them for who they are inside. Maybe they can make 你 laugh, come up with the most ridiculous, yet fun things, share the same interests 或者你 can have meaningful conversations with them. A marriage 或者 a relationship just based on physical attraction isn't going to cut it. And even though she claims it isn't about his looks, it is. The only thing we ever hear about Edward from Bella is his looks. Which makes me wonder if he's a good-looking robot.

Conversations
And lack of it.

DO NOT get me started on that. No seriously. Their conversations are so mind-blowingly stupid, I don't even want to read them. The dialogue is like "Oh, I 爱情 you, but I can't be with 你 because I want to drink your blood." It's fine if he brings it up now and again. But every damn conversation in the first three 图书 leads back to his attraction to her blood, and how he's a danger to her. Honestly, if I were Bella, I would dump him. If I were me, I would become a vampire just to tear him into shreds and burn the pieces. Their conversations are never about books, 或者 movies, 或者 sport. If it's about any of the above, it always leads back to how perfect Edward is compared to Romeo, 或者 how the 爱情 between the two characters is no where as perfect as Bella and Edward's. Yeah right.

Here are some examples of their conversations, taken from the book:

Bella: "It seems like you're saying goodbye when you're saying something else."

Edward: "if leaving is the right thing to do, then I'll hurt myself to keep from hurting you, to keep 你 safe"

Only people who are just starting out will talk to each other like that. After a few years, they don't. But in Breaking Dawn, Edward still talks to Bella that way and it's incredibly sappy and disgusting.

Getting to know you, getting to know all about you...
He doesn't know her. At all. 你 guys may say it's because he can't read her mind. Think about it, none of us here can read minds. But somehow, we know the traits and characteristics of our friends, relatives and lovers. For Edward, he has to stalk her sleep (and hope she talks in her dreams), ask her direct 问题 about her likes 或者 dislikes, 或者 read other people's thoughts about her. Why the hassle? Wouldn't it be better to talk to her NORMALLY, hang out with her, and really get to know her? Just because he knows her favourite colour, 或者 animal, doesn't mean he knows EVERYTHING about her. It just means he's read her 脸谱 profile. There are many incidents which 显示 that Edward doesn't know Bella. He calls her "selfless" in Midnight Sun. Has he seen how she acts? She's the least selfless person I know. She'll do something, but whine about it the whole day. That's hardly selfless. He takes her to the prom, and she's CRYING. "Why is he doing this? Doesn't he know me?" Good question, Bella. He doesn't.

If he doesn't even know her, how can he claim to be in "twu wuv" with her?

Fighting
A couple usually fight and make up. In fact, fighting is NORMAL in any relationship, not just romantic relationship. Bella and Edward fight over stupid stuff like him changing her, marriage and so on. I think their arguments are largely pointless, and can be explained with a little logic. Which clearly is alien in these books. Seriously. Edward is the guy she wants to spend her whole life with. And she doesn't want to get married to him? In all honesty, I think it was an attempt to throw in some last 分钟 conflict.

Other than the marriage and the changing bit, Bella lets Edward off too easily. When they reunite in New Moon, it's "Oh, my heart, now that I've saved 你 from the throes of death, let us frolick in the fields of our love! Now, our 爱情 has strengtenthed and is soaring to the heavens!" Which is all and well, and something Bella would say in normal circumstances. But they aren't reuniting under normal circumstances. Bella is back with him after he dumped her in the middle of the forest, broke her 心 and caused her to be zombie Bella for FOUR whole months. Let's not forget that she tried to do reckless stunts just to hear the sound of his voice. Bella whines most of the time, but after Edward left her, it seems as if her whining is on full-blast replay. After ten over chapters of whining and moping about the hole in her broken heart, the one who caused it returns and she doesn't give him any shit for it? I don't buy it. Let me emphasize this. I. Do. Not. Buy. It.

A normal woman in that situation will rage. She'll scream, punch, hit and kick him with all she's got. Bella has the tendancy to over-dramatise things way out of proportion, 给 what she usually does, she will react that way-you know, raging and stuff. Even Hermione-who keeps her cool better than Bella and doesn't fall into pieces every time something goes wrong-was punching and hitting Ron when he came back after he left her and Harry to fend for themselves. It's a realistic reaction. Hermione's frustration shows that she cares deeply about Ron. She's angry that he left her to possible danger. The reaction of Bella? She falls into the arms of Edward and kisses him deeply. Cue the rainbows and flying unicorns.

Well, these are some of the points I came up with after 阅读 the books. Feel free to contribute/rebut in the 评论 :)

jennipop22, razorblade31 and 9 others like this

Me_Iz_Here One more thing about the fighting: Normal people don't become zombies after just a year of dating. They move on. Bella has moving-on issues. Serious ones.

_Victoria Good job, I really liked your analysis. I agree in almost everything, especially in the Fighting part, when you give the example of Hermione's reaction when Ron came back. It is a realistic reaction indeed. It seems Bella is not a normal woman, she do not get angry, she do not think rationally and she only cares to think about Edward's sparkle skin lol.

Merope29 agree. man we are totally on the same page with the "Bella letting Edward off too easily." what Eddiekins did was a low blow on her pride and self-esteem. I'd probably throw fiendfyre on that arrogant undead if he tried to pull that stunt on me.

Ultimately57 Me_IZ_here they weren't even going out for a whole year, I don't think. I agree on everyone of those points. Especially Bella letting Edward off too easily. If that was me, I'd go into mega RAGE against him! I'd punch and kick him and he'd know he'd deserved it. But Bella is just like, "Meh. Who carfes if he left me for four months, left me in a forest, and broke up with me in a humiliating way? He's hot, why bother?"

funkyorange Totally true. I wish weirdward would burn. Burn in hell!!!!! Totally. And if he DEMANDED I marry him after all that, well...there would just be one big bit of ash where he was standing. Totally.

woofbark Supporting the fact that Twilight is shallow, check these statistics I gathered. This information was not foraged; I had to reread the Twilight series for a school assignment (we had to read eight books, give four negative and four positive reviews)..... To support that Twilight is shallow, as you said, I used the GRANITE-ATOR! It's a revolutionary device which counts the amount of times Bella calls Edward A)Beautiful, gorgeous, etc B)Cold and hard like GRANITE, or MARBLE, etc C)Velvety voiced, or bell-like, etc. D)"Sweet fragrance, wonderful scent, etc E)Fluid in movements F)Perfect at everything/piano/handwriting/baseball etc. G)Like any famous statue, god, or beautiful mythical creature (such as angels) AND THE RESULTS ARE...... Book One (Twilight) 317 times. I'm not even kidding.I'm serious. Book Two (New Moon) 98 times. (Mainly "velvety voice," but she sees a lot of him in her dreams. A lot of saying Edward is beautiful is also crammed into the last few chapters.) Book Three (Eclipse) I lost my notes for this one, so I can't say. Book Four (Breaking Dawn) 86 times (Half the book is Jacob's POV, though.) That's all, folks!

Renarimae ^Wow, that's bad. These results in the comment above are proof that the Bella and Edward couple is a shallow, unhealthy relationship based mostly (if not purely) on looks. I give the article an A+++++++++++++++++++++++! A-MAY-zing!

-Grace- Your article is very good, well done! I hope it's ok if I respond with my own interpretation. I'm a twihard :) Physical attraction: I don't think she only likes him for his looks at all! Of course she was initially struck by his appearance, as all humans are when they see vampires in Twilight. But after that, I thought she was more intrigued by the mystery he (and his family) presented. There's this group of supernaturally beautiful, isolated students, all of whom are foster siblings and make little contact with the rest of the student body (despite the fact that in such a small town, there probably wouldn't be the opportunity for very many friends outside of Forks high). Then she goes to her class and Edward behaves like a complete lunatic towards her (another student even comments on how strangely he acts towards her), and then doesn't return to class! When he does return, he behaves completely normally and is very polite, but also, as far as she is concered, quite annoying ^_^ After that we see more and more of his personality, and she falls in love with him. I don't think that's too much based around his looks, it seems quite plausible :) Although I don't like him romantically, he has many endearing qualities and I can understand how people would :)

-Grace- Next! :D Conversations: Oh, I really like their conversations! :D Their banter is entertaining ^_^ But on a deeper level, hmm, I really can't think how to articulate it. Would it make sense to say that we don't see all of the time they spend together? It's kind of implied, if that makes sense. These two characters are in love, so it's implied that they know enough about each other and have enough in common to have fallen in love. We see the snapshots of their time together that are the most dramatic, amusing, or relevant to the plot. Does that make sense? ^_^

-Grace- Oh, I forgot to add something to that one. You said "Only people who are just starting out will talk to each other like that. After a few years, they don't. But in Breaking Dawn, Edward still talks to Bella that way and it's incredibly sappy and disgusting." 1. Well, they probably haven't been together for a few years ^_^ I don't think it's even been 2 when they get married. But don't quote me on that, I hated BD and have only read it the once. But anyway, that's just me being pedantic :P Secondly, the idea is that they are in love :) True love, the fairytale kind. I'm a real romantic, so I've done research here. There are couples who are still very much in love after 50 years. It's relatively rare, But that's what the story is about! :) But if hearing people gush about their undying love for each other isn't your thing, I can understand it annoying you ^_^

-Grace- Knowing her: It's similar to the "conversations" thing. But to address the other points you made: He doesn't talk to her normally to begin with because he doesn't want to get involved with her, for her own safety and his peace if mind. He's really curious about her, because he can't read her mind, and she behaves in ways which are unexpected to him (which is saying something, considering his experience of people and their motivations). Like you said, they talk about it a lot; he initially tries to stay away from her, but she intrigues him :) But about him not knowing her, I don't really understand what you mean. What kind of things do you mean he should know? So I can't really comment on that further without understanding what you mean more, but until then, what you said about him taking her to the formal even though she didn't want to go. I don't think it was indicative of him being ignorant of her wishes, I think he just chose to go against her will! ^_^ He knew that she wouldn't mind so much once she was there, and he wanted her to have the experience :) And about him saying that she is selfless, I haven't read the books in a while, but she tries to sacrifise herself to save her mother at one point. And she stabs herself with that rock in Eclipse, thinking that it will save Edward at her expense. She also moves to Forks for her mothers sake, knowing it will make her unhappy. I don't believe that selflessness really exists, but for all practical purposes those acts fit the definition of selfless :) Bleh. That was kind of garbled because I wasn't entirely sure what you meant, but I hope it's comprehensible ^_^

-Grace- Fighting: I'll go paragraph by paragraph :) 1. I'm not sure what you mean by that first part (about their fights being largely pointless) but the last part, about her not wanting to marry him, makes sense! There are plenty of girls who want to spend the rest of their lives with their partner, but don't believe in marriage :) Bella explains her reasons, I believe it was something along the lines of not wanting to be one of those small town girls who gets married straight out of highschool because she fell pregnant; she was afraid of being judged. 2. It makes sense that she wasn't angry with him when he came back, because she wasn't angry at him for leaving! She didn't understand why he wanted to be with her to begin with, so she didn't think it was wrong of him to (seemingly) decide that he didn't want to be involved with her anymore. So it makes sense that she wasn't angry with him for leaving. When they first re-met, it's understandable that pettier emotions such as anger were not in the forefront of her mind, considering that they were all in danger of sudden, violent deaths D; Then they go back to Forks, and he explains his reasons for leaving. They make sense! I disagree with them, he should have known that because they were in love, she wouldn't just be ok. But seriously misguided though it was, his heart was in the right place. It was an error in judgement :) It would have made sense for her to be angry with him for breaking her heart, but it wouldn't really have made sense for her to refuse to be with him because of it, considering his reasons and his genuine remorse. Perhaps she would have been angry with him for a while had it not been for their recent near death experience, but as I mentioned earlier, things like that tend to put your priorities in order :) Plus, anger is a pointless emotion :) 3. Ditto above. It made sense for Hermione to be angry, she felt wronged! Bella didn't feel wronged. In her mind he just wasn't interested anymore, and she had always wondered what it was he saw in her. It made sense to her that he didn't want to be with her. That was fun! :D Thank you very much.

MCRTS Hey guys! Thanks for the responses so far! woofbark: [b]Book One (Twilight) 317 times. I'm not even kidding.I'm serious. Book Two (New Moon) 98 times. (Mainly "velvety voice," but she sees a lot of him in her dreams. A lot of saying Edward is beautiful is also crammed into the last few chapters.) Book Three (Eclipse) I lost my notes for this one, so I can't say. Book Four (Breaking Dawn) 86 times (Half the book is Jacob's POV, though.)[/b] Oh my gosh. I had no idea! I believe it's less in New Moon because for half the book, Edward isn't around. -Grace-: Wow, I like how comprehensively you've debated my points. I had as much fun reading your posts as you probably had writing them! I'll just clarify what I mean by Edward's knowledge of Bella, and also the fighting part. Edward's knowledge of Bella. He knows the little things about her, the basic stuff, but he doesn't know her personally. This is from New Moon's FAQ by Stephenie Meyer: [i]Equally as cataclysmic—Edward finally realizes the intensity of Bella's feelings for him, something he has always underestimated. Here's the thing about Edward: he knows human nature pretty well.[/i] This right there proves that Edward doesn't know Bella well. If he does, he would not have underestimated Bella's near obsessive feelings for him. If he had taken the time to really talk to her, he would have known that her feelings and attraction to him are as strong as his for her. Edward has always underestimated Bella's feelings for him, right until the last chapter in Breaking Dawn when he is finally able to read her mind. But then, I don't blame him for not knowing her well enough. Every train of conversation they have is either (A) "I'm not good enough for you because I want to eat you (Edward)/I'm not as beautiful, smart, and talented as you are (Bella)" or (B) I love you and I know you love me, but I love you more than you love me." [b]Fighting 1. I'm not sure what you mean by that first part (about their fights being largely pointless) but the last part, about her not wanting to marry him, makes sense! There are plenty of girls who want to spend the rest of their lives with their partner, but don't believe in marriage :) Bella explains her reasons, I believe it was something along the lines of not wanting to be one of those small town girls who gets married straight out of highschool because she fell pregnant; she was afraid of being judged.[/b] I meant that the fights were pointless because it's illogical. First, Edward will forbid or limit their time together, or stop Bella when things get too heavy between them-if you know what I mean. Then, he tells her constantly they can't be together because he wants to eat her as much as he loves her. The logcial way out to anyone with any logic would be, of course, to turn Bella into a vampire, so that Edward won't crave her blood and they can be both equal participants in their relationship. But, and there's a big BUT,[i]Edward doesn't want to change her![/i] The reason he gives is that she'd lose her soul if he changed her. I believe it's just an excuse-maybe Edward has a thing for damsels in distress and treating women like porcelain dolls. As for the marriage thing, Bella's being illogical. Bella is willing to give up her LIFE to be with Edward for all eternity. She's ready for immortality. Compared to immortality and being with your true love forever and ever, marriage is a piece of cake. I don't get why Bella's kicking such a huge fuss over marriage, when the OTHER things she's about to undertake are of greater scales than marriage.

-Grace- YES you replied! :D No one ever replies! *Bursts into grateful tears*. "Edward's knowledge of Bella. He knows the little things about her, the basic stuff, but he doesn't know her personally. This is from New Moon's FAQ by Stephenie Meyer: 'Equally as cataclysmic—Edward finally realizes the intensity of Bella's feelings for him, something he has always underestimated. Here's the thing about Edward: he knows human nature pretty well.' This right there proves that Edward doesn't know Bella well. If he does, he would not have underestimated Bella's near obsessive feelings for him. If he had taken the time to really talk to her, he would have known that her feelings and attraction to him are as strong as his for her. Edward has always underestimated Bella's feelings for him, right until the last chapter in Breaking Dawn when he is finally able to read her mind. But then, I don't blame him for not knowing her well enough. Every train of conversation they have is either (A) "I'm not good enough for you because I want to eat you (Edward)/I'm not as beautiful, smart, and talented as you are (Bella)" or (B) I love you and I know you love me, but I love you more than you love me."" I don't know, I think it would be easy enough to underestimate! :) He thinks that she's amazing, and he knows that lots of other guys do as well. He knows she has other options; healtheir and easier options. It's like...he can see that she loves him, inspite of these other options, but he doesn't know why. You know when he says "the way you regard me is ludicrous?" His perception of himself makes it difficult for him to understand why she loves him so much. That doesn't really mean he doesn't know her, just that he can't see himself the way she does. That's fair enough isn't it? :) "I meant that the fights were pointless because it's illogical. First, Edward will forbid or limit their time together, or stop Bella when things get too heavy between them-if you know what I mean. Then, he tells her constantly they can't be together because he wants to eat her as much as he loves her. The logcial way out to anyone with any logic would be, of course, to turn Bella into a vampire, so that Edward won't crave her blood and they can be both equal participants in their relationship. But, and there's a big BUT,Edward doesn't want to change her! The reason he gives is that she'd lose her soul if he changed her. I believe it's just an excuse-maybe Edward has a thing for damsels in distress and treating women like porcelain dolls." Oh I see! You don't like their fights because it always comes down to the fact Edward doesn't want to destroy Bella's soul, and that doesn't seem like a real reason; so their fights always seem kind of weak. Like the fights are only a plot device; like he only has that issue because otherwise there would be no reason for Bella to remain human. Right? :D It makes sense for that to annoy you. Whenever he gives his soul argument I feel a terrible sense of frustration at the fact that I can't personally rebut it ^_^ But the way Carlisle explains it does make sense. You know the scene in the kitchen, after the Jasper incident at the party? Carlise says "if you believed as he does, could you take away his soul?". Despite the fact that religious belief is completely unfathomable to me, from his theistic point of view, it makes sense as a decision. Even if it was an excuse on Meyer's part, I think it was a reasonable one. It fits his character well, whatever the motivation behind it :) "As for the marriage thing, Bella's being illogical. Bella is willing to give up her LIFE to be with Edward for all eternity. She's ready for immortality. Compared to immortality and being with your true love forever and ever, marriage is a piece of cake. I don't get why Bella's kicking such a huge fuss over marriage, when the OTHER things she's about to undertake are of greater scales than marriage." To us maybe, but she has a problem with it on principle. She just doesn't want to be that person. It's obviously not the commitment, because like you said, she wants to be with him forever anyway. But to her it's important. Not so important that she isn't willing to compromise, as she ends up doing, but important enough that she's not going to just agree to it without incentive :)

-Grace- Does no response mean you agree? *grins hopefully* :D

MCRTS I agree to disagree. I've said all I wanted to, so yours would be a fine rebuttal for the Twifans side! :)

-Grace- :)

BabyOwlLover4 Also, Hermione wasn't even officially dating ron, she just really, really, truly cared for him

AlmostGenius Amazing article! Agreed with everything!

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你 don't have to dress like a skank to send sexualised messages to 粉丝

posted by Asvini

I saw a review of the new Twilight movie, and in a generally negative review one thing 说 in defence of the movie was that Bella doesn't dress like a skank (paraphrased) and she just looks like a normal girl, which was called a good message as they felt it's healthier for girls to see Bella/Kristin Stewart on screen than someone like Angelina Jolie. That on 最佳, 返回页首 of the fact that I keep hearing people say in defence of Twilight 'well at least it sends tweens a good message concerning not having sex too soon' since Edward refuses for a long time, and pretty much all they seem to do is touch...