Okay. I’m trying. A week ago during our Sunday morning youth time I had an opener where I would say a word and people would say whatever came to mind first. I said Edward (vampire dude in Twilight) … wow. I mean, I knew there would be a reaction, but it was right up there with the response to ‘Jonas Brothers.’ So I figured it was time and I stopped at Blockbuster on my way home to rent a copy.
Heather and I watched it. Not the greatest movie; obviously low budget when it came to special effects, but I certainly understood a little more why the girls were all freaking out about it. They all warned me, though, that the book is ‘waaaaaay better,’ so I borrowed a copy and I’m a couple hundred pages into it now. It is a lot better than the movie, but I have to say, I totally get why girls love it so much now. It is 100% a first person perspective from a teenage girl, with all the drama, confusion, and everything that that entails (as far as I know).
I know some people think kids shouldn’t be having anything to do with it; it’s vampires and all that. But it’s kind of too late for that now – it’s like Harry Potter huge now. No stopping it. So how do we turn the conversation to something good as opposed to building walls? I’m working on that. But right from the beginning it opens with statements about the value of sacrificing your life for someone you love …
Matthew McNutt 
We girls love romance! I would even say we need it. According to Stasi and John Eldredge in their book Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul (I might have just done a study on it not to long ago!) we need beauty, romance, and adventure. All three of which are in Twilight! The key with any good romance that tugs at our girly heartstrings, is to sort out the examples of true love, told to us in 1 Corinthians 13, verse the examples of the selfish kind of love we all see so much of today. Every good romance has both, and it's always the examples of true love that make us all go awe….
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Matt – the books are TEN TIMES better than the movie. Unless you've read the bookd … the movie isn't going to make a ton of sense because a lot of the details has been removed for time sake.
The author wrote the first book – Twilight – in a very seductive manner. You're drawn in and you can't help bu continue reading the story. It's all about this love that's so powerful life doesn't exist without the other person. It's much more sophisticated than a teenage romance – and has depths of meaning adults can probably relate to better than the teens can.
You ask what lesson can be taught from the story. Keep in mind I'm not a religious person and won't see this the same way you might. Edward represents the fallen angel – even in the movie there's a shot of him where the wings of a stuffed owl give him the appearance of an angel. He's supposed to be evil – but he fights for all that is good in the world.
Bella is the center of the story – it is her coming of age that is relevant. In book 4 we see her rebirth – the caterpillar turning in to the butterfly. But in Twilight she's struggling to figure out who she is as a person. Edward comes along and he helps to define that. Even though she has found this love that's so pure – she still stands out as an individual fighting for what's good in the world. She can see past this monster that Edward thinks he is … and finds his soul.
I'm not sure if I explained that right … I could probably go on and on about it. The book for me is one of the best I've read – and I've done nothing but think of it the past two weeks and what's going on metaphorically in the story.
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I will repeat it until eternity if need be: Vampires don't sparkle! (I'm with Matthew on the Buffy and Angel stuff.)
And you have to love how Edward just stalks Bella – so romantic, that stalking……..
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Another few thoughts …
1 – Ask the kids what defines good and what defines evil. Ask them just because the Cullens are Vampires – does that make them evil? How would that translate in to real life – should we allow our prejudices come in to play when judging an individual? Are all Polish people dumb? Are all Irish people drunks?
2 – What extremes would you go to for your family? The Cullens accepted Bella even though she was different from them {Rose had the hardest problem with accepting Bella}. And they protected her as a member of their family. What defines Family – in these modern days?
And if you want to dive into the next three books – there's discussions on Marriage, Intimate Relationships, Abortion, etc …
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This is the one instance where I think the movie is better than the book. I totally agree with Stephen King on this one. The book was painful to trudge through (I teach girls so I had to) until James shows up– then it got meaty.
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