ne0dym

decoding neo's twilightenment

26/04/2025

i have made no secret in recent times that i've come to unironically love the first Twilight movie. in reality, i was a proud Twi-hard as a preteen around the time the first and second films came out and the franchise was the hottest new thing. back then there was a big rivalry between Twilight fans and Harry Potter fans, and i eventually succumbed to the social trend of hating Twilight, joining the HP side of the fandom wars (shudders). by the time the movie series ended i was already well over it, and i didn't think about Twilight again for many years beyond the superficial "twilight bad" jokes. in 2019, my good friend came over and brought her laptop with all the movies downloaded, which we speed-watched skipping over all the romance and drama and watching just the vampire scenes because they're actually super fun; technically, it was the first time i'd ever seen the later movies. but i believe it was only in early 2024, when i was building this very website, that i reached Twilightenment, as they say. since then, i've become a genuine fan of the first movie specifically, and in this post i wanna do a write up of the movie from beginning to end, gushing about all the things i love about it, whether they be silly or wholesome.

just a quick reminder that yes, i am aware that twilight has a series of problems that have made it a target of some valid and some less valid criticism. for instance, the underlying racism in the indigenous community's portrayal as uncontrollable, possessive werewolves is certainly impossible to defend. there's also bella and edward's fixation on chastity before marriage, bella sometimes taking on traditional female gender roles, and the whole messy baby situation, which are often seen as the author's mormon values seeping through and can be difficult to swallow. but i think some arguments used by twilight haters are either misguided or dishonest, often disguised as a feminist take yet deep down revealing misogyny and conservatism. so many people hated twilight just because it's something women and little girls were into. here are some video recommendations that might give you a new perspective on the series: a video essay titled "An Ardent, Unironic Defense of Edward Cullen" that i watched some time ago and which really contributed to my newfound appreciation for the first Twilight film; the excellent video by Contrapoints, which i saw more recently and is very well produced, researched and presents a compelling analysis of the franchise's themes; and the video titled "Dear Stephenie Meyer" by Lindsay Ellis, which i just saw right after publishing this (so this is a P.S.) and basically echoes a lot of points i've mentioned here. those videos challenge some of those bad-faith arguments made against Twilight as far as Bella and Edward's relationship goes, defending that it's actually okay for a girl to like a guy who's kind of a freak.

that said, i'm not going to go into any of those touchy or "problematic" points. the world doesn't need yet another nobody pointing out twilight's defects. i'm here to be an unapologetic fan of the first Twilight film and highlight everything that makes it fun, cute, silly, hilarious, nostalgic, and ultimately my not-so-guilty pleasure.

open credits

00:00: the first shot of the film depicts a deer being hunted by an unseen predator. in the voice-over, our protagonist Bella says "I'd never given much thought to how I would die. But dying in the place of someone I love seems like a good way to go." i love this intro because you gotta remember this is a 17 year old, which makes the line sound so edgy and dramatic, but then again i totally understand her. have you seen posts of guys wondering if girls also ever fantasise about dying heroically or sacrificing themselves (they're usually met with much bewilderment)? for me i can say hell yes. as a child that watched shounen anime, i was fascinated with mortality in that sense, and especially up to around age 15, i would always find a way to create angsty situations and kill my OCs. that's still a little younger than Bella is, but i've made my point: teenagers have angsty thoughts like that.

00:02: what an iconic title shot. people meme on the film's blue filter but the bizarre colour palette gives it such a defining aura, like a movie to watch on a cold, rainy saturday while all cozy in bed with blankets!

i absolutely love all the scenes featuring the non-vampire characters in this movie, most of them don't have much nuance but the things they do and say and the way they interact just feel so natural to me, and they are super funny sometimes. a good chunk of this post is just going to be me gushing about them. to start, you can tell Charlie is trying to connect with his daughter and being a little awkward about it, and you'd expect Bella to resent having to come to Forks and be rude and push her father away, but that is not the case. the scene where she receives the truck from Charlie + Billy + Jacob is so wholesome, she's genuinely grateful for the gift and excited to drive it, even though it's not as fancy as her schoolmates' cars, and the adults have a cute little duel in the background.

00:05: when Bella arrives at school on her first day you kinda think the kids are gonna be mean to her, but throughout the day she quickly finds a group of friends to hang out with! Eric is understanding of Bella's wish to not be on the newspaper and he backs her up when Angela brings up the topic again, Mike and Jessica praise Bella's volleyball playing and laugh at her joke about being kicked out of Arizona for not being tan, and Angela promptly accepts Bella's idea for a newspaper feature. Bella is immediately welcomed into that existing friend group, which shows that she isn't awkward or bland at all! she has a quiet strength about her, a little reserved but otherwise a good-natured kid with a great sense of humour, and she's adapting very fast to her new environment!

00:09: i love it when Jessica is describing the Cullens to Bella and says "she's with Jasper, the blond one who looks like he's in pain", iconic and accurate. the other humans are really funny and cute too: Bella's mom doesn't appear as much, but we can tell they have a great relationship and miss each other from the way they joke and tease. these cute interactions and witty banter give the scenes with human characters so much charm, and you end up loving them as much as the Cullens.

00:16: the biology teacher seems like a great guy, so enthusiastic and dedicated to his demonstrations. i have honestly rarely seen a high school setting portrayed so authentically in media, where i can totally buy that these are teenagers with their own friend groups, likes and dislikes, senses of humour, feelings they can't quite express. i think that is because everyone gets along pretty well and laughs and hangs out together, instead of people being mean to each other all the time. though, with their ages, demeanours and the fact that they drive, they actually feel more like college freshmen to me than high school juniors (driving age is 18 in brazil, so already past high school, which is from ages 15-17 typically), but that's just the vibe i get.

Bella seems pretty comfortable around her new friends, and it's only around Edward that she becomes the awkward, insecure adolescent mess that people love to meme on her for. like obviously that's because she has a massive crush, and teens act silly and say silly things when they like someone. and the same goes for Edward, who's just as nervous as Bella, staring at her weird and saying funny shit like "It's the fluorescents. Um... [just walks away]". it's hard to accept the argument that he's a "toxic abuser" or a "p*do" when he's so clearly an emotionally repressed eternal teenager longing for romance yet unable to accept his own attraction because he cares for others so much and hates the life he has.

00:26: again, i adore the interactions between Bella and her schoolmates, like her line "Prom. Dancing. Not such a good idea for me." is so funny to me. i don't know if this movie's script is hilarious on purpose, but Bella is actually so sassy and her self-deprecating jokes never bring the mood down because she's so chill. Eric showing off the worm always makes me smile, these kids are so fun and i wanna be their friends. and Bella is such a supportive friend, she smoothly deflects Mike's prom invitation by suggesting he ask Jessica instead (who's very happy about it), and later at the beach she encourages Angela to ask Eric to prom, calling her a "strong, independent woman". i think i might actually love Bella as a protagonist.

00:42: Edward revealing that he can read minds and saying what all the people around are thinking and when he says "Cat." the camera just shows a guy smiling and sighing. soooo true that is me i am always thinking about cute cats. also, in the scene where Bella is figuring out Edward is a vampire, there is a brief shot of a fantasy of him biting Bella, and he looks so emo and handsome with the blood on the corner of his mouth owo. vampires ARE sexy as hell. the soundtrack in this whole bit including the mountain sequence goes incredibly hard too. i'll take this chance to praise the score by carter burwell, as people often rave about the licensed songs while completely overlooking the score which is an even more important tool in the soundtrack to set the movie's tone. there are so many great motifs that permeate the film. the score is so underrated that it's completely unavailable to stream in brazil, so i decided, while working on this article, to buy it on itunes so i can always revisit the movie in audio form.

00:50: here is something i wish was more deeply explored in the series. Edward claims multiple times that Bella's scent "is like a drug" to him and that he constantly has to fight the urge to kill her, but we don't really get to see this struggle of his. i'm not sure how the film could've showed it better but i love vampires and the dynamics a vampire/human relationship has, so i wish we'd seen him acting more like, well, a vampire!

the forest scene is genuinely great. i love how Bella takes the lead, inviting Edward to give them a try, and how she doesn't have to submit to him or be intimidated by him. Edward is no abuser seeking to dominate her with his superior strength and longer life experience, he actually respects Bella's individuality and is very concerned for her well-being. i feel like they stand on pretty equal ground honestly. it's cute seeing them getting to know and be comfortable around each other, especially when Edward says he wants to introduce Bella to his family and he's acting in a legit normal chill human guy way.

01:04: guys they released a Lego set of the Cullens' house and i kinda want it lol. from now on we get to know the other vampires and they are all so wholesome, it's worth watching the subsequent films just to learn more about them. the Cullens are a great bunch: Carlisle and Esme are very kind and supportive; Rosalie is unpleasant at first but we later learn about her tragic past and why she resents Bella, as she eventually warms up to Bella and finally accepts her into the family; Emmett has some fun brotherly moments with Edward and Bella; Alice is very pretty and quirky and has a cute sisterly relationship with Bella, supporting her through the lows and highs; and Jasper initially has trouble being around Bella but later on overcomes the thirst and grows close to her, bonding over their experiences as newborns (but don't ask which side he fought on in the civil war). they all have such cute interactions between themselves and with Bella, it feels good to see her being welcomed into that bizarre family.

okay so this film was likely the beginning of my "clair de lune" curse. this beautiful piece increasingly crops up in media i consume! that's not a bad thing by any means, it's just a funny coincidence that it keeps haunting me. i can think of at least 3 other media i know, 2 of which i watched for the first time in close proximity, that feature the music. the movie sadly cuts it right at my favourite part, only to follow it up by even greater poetry: "hold on tight, spider monkey".

01:19: it's time for the incredible baseball scene! as mentioned before, this film and indeed the whole franchise has a great selection of licensed songs in their soundtracks, serving as my introduction to both muse and paramore. muse's "supermassive black hole" is what makes the baseball scene so memorable, but it's a really fun moment in the story in its own right, with some goofy editing that liberally uses both slow-mo and sped-up shots to convey the vampires' speed and strength, the thunder sound effects in sync with their swings and collisions (a fact that, despite being explicitly mentioned by Bella, somehow never really registered in my mind until my recent rewatches), and generally the wholesomeness of the situation and characters. the game is interrupted by the bad vampires' arrival and i love how they interact with the Cullens before they realise a human is among them. both sides are cautious but polite towards one another, respecting their boundaries and showing some camaraderie. once the formalities are done Laurent even playfully suggests they all play baseball together, to which Victoria (shoutout to her actress who is a québécoise and sadly was recast in the 3rd movie) and some of the Cullens react with excitement, which is kinda cute. Edward seems to be the only one who remembers Bella is with them, and while his family all lowered their guard at the prospect of some ball game, he's obviously the first to protect Bella after James realises there is a human. it's always cute when "villain" factions meet and have a diplomatic dispute over their turfs or whatever, and here Laurent is the reasonable leader of the pack who agrees to leave the resident vampires alone (and later shows courtesy again by warning the Cullens about his own companions).

01:25: Bella tricking Charlie in order to protect him is honestly heartbreaking, it's the only time she's this mean to him and he has no idea why, poor guy. as they drive to the Cullens' house, there's a moment where Bella sees her friends coming out of a cafe looking like they were having fun, and she has to be thinking about how she's suddenly got into this whole supernatural, life-threatening situation while the folks from school get to live their normal, innocent lives... the Cullens don't hesitate to make a plan to deal with James while keeping Bella safe, with Carlisle telling Rosalie, who's still reluctant to do anything for Bella, that they have to protect Bella as she's part of the family now, demonstrating once again that they are the nicest, most welcoming family in fiction.

01:35: the quote from the intro is back, now with context. bella is so brave and strong voluntarily going to meet with the vampire that's trying to kill her, in order to save her mom who she believes was taken hostage. as a tween i was never suicidal per se, but as i mentioned at the start i was obsessed with stories where the protagonist is ready to face their death (whether they wished for it or not), incorporating that element in many of my stories. however, i don't think i ever consciously clocked this movie as an example of it; Bella and James's confrontation would probably feel way more appealing to me if James didn't come across as such a creep in that shot where he pins Bella to the wall. like, it looks much more r*pey than vampirey, if that makes sense.

thankfully, the icky feeling goes away as Edward arrives and the two vampires fight over Bella, tossing the girl around and flying across the room and breaking stuff everywhere. James manages to bite her, and i quite enjoy her screams of pain and agonising writhing, definitely fuelled my lifelong love for what some people might call "whump". Edward's deranged feral look when Carlisle and the rest arrive to finish James off is super sexy too.

01:40: here is a twilight memory that just came back to me, and which i had in fact already mentioned somewhere on this website. so during middle school my school took us to an amusement park in a city far away for a day, and in the evening on the way back, the little tv's in the coach bus had a few media playing on loop, including this film. i'm only half sure i'd already seen it by that point, but that moment provided me with a very fond and nostalgic memory, the movie's ending being my strongest recollection.

Edward just looks so good in this whole scene, especially when he bites Bella to suck the venom out. in a series where, as far as i'm concerned, we don't actually see the vampires being vampires that much, i'm glad there is this little moment of Edward very nearly losing control. it's really hot when a vampire bites their human partner and drinks a bit too much, causing the human to black out or, in Bella's case, have a near-death experience complete with flashbacks and everything. a friend once said something like, they don't call an orgasm "la petite mort" for no reason.

01:43: i have to agree with my mom, who never got off the twilight train; Edward actually is perfect. although he repeatedly tries to push Bella away for her own sake, as a consequence of his self-loathing and protective nature, he remains so gentle with her. that forehead kiss made me feel things as i wrote this.

01:49: it is the prom scene and we get to see Bella's friends again for a brief moment, a reminder of how wholesome they are as they wave at Bella and Edward and cheer for them. maybe these two are in fact a good couple, the clumsy but sassy new girl and the weirdo loner handsome guy. the song that plays during their dance, "flightless bird, american mouth", is another lovely tune i discovered thanks to the movie, one that always fills me with a warm nostalic feeling with a hint of sadness.

by this point Bella has concluded that the only way she can keep on living is by abandoning her mortal existence and becoming a vampire, as she's convinced she needs Edward in her life forever and dreads the implications of her mortality. that's almost as much of a life-changing decision to make at 17 years old as picking what to study in college, haha. the different lifespans relationship trope is really popular but never resonated with me that much; i guess much like Bella i also don't like thinking about one character growing old while the other largely stays the same. i mentioned before that Edward has some juvenile traits, but there is wisdom in his insistent talking Bella out of wishing to become a "monster". he and some of his family members, like Rosalie, know that being a vampire comes with many dangers and obstacles, and they don't want to rob Bella of the innocent life they wish they still had. it's a nice sentiment, really.

but it's a perfectly normal part of being an adolescent or young adult to be so strongly in love that you believe that person was your soulmate, and you'd be willing to do anything to be with them. Bella's eagerness to throw away everything that makes her human, just to be with this one guy who happens to be an immortal vampire, is just that idea taken to an extreme. fortunately, after faking Bella out with a tender kiss on her neck, Edward convinces her to remain as she is for now, with a line that i like very much: "is it not enough just to have a long and happy life with me?". she looks disappointed for a moment, but ultimately acquiesces before sharing a kiss and a dance. the final shot of the movie shows Victoria watching them from inside the building, and then walking away with a smile, her revenge plotted and the franchise's success secured.

end credits

so this was a fun little self-indulgent project! i did this rewatch and write-up over multiple days, fuelled by weed and a desire to share my love for this movie in long form. what started out as a half-ironic guilty pleasure evolved into genuine appreciation for the entire movie, with all its teen drama, hilarious jokes, wholesome friends and family, banger music, and gloomy blue filter. there are some things i like about the second movie too (all of them having to do with the vampires, not the werewolves), but after that my good will towards the series sharply diminishes. nevertheless, i think it's cool that we have a story that encapsulates the overwhelming longing, anxiety and passion that come with young love. it's a wish-fulfillment story where a teen girl likes a "bad boy", has some freaky fantasies, knows what she wants and gets her way in the end. i think there is value in such a story. Twilight was an integral part of my growing up, and i'm glad to have come around to really enjoying it again.