I’m the first person who’ll tell you how important the Twilight series is — not from a literary standpoint, mind you, but more from a Read the full post.
Dec 1
2009
12:12 PM ET
Are Edward and Bella in an abusive relationship?
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I have to say that I too was not happy with the way Bella was portrayed in New Moon. In the book, after Edward leaves her, she loses reality and stops talking to her friends and family for months! Its briefly touched on in the movie, but it is dragged out in the book. I was concerned thinking that these young girls are out there reading this, thinking this is what happens when you lose love. That life is over and the only way to get back from it is to find a new love. I am sorry but I would have liked to have seen Bella not be quite as weak as she was portrayed in the book. I think it gives a bad example to young girls that you can’t go on living without a man in your life.
Sorry, but when you are a teenager and you lose your ‘true love’ this is kind of what happens. Male or female, it always seems like the end of the world when you are 16 or 17!
Even at 28, losing the man I truly loved & thought I would marry put me through the ringer. While I wasn’t exactly catatonic as Bella was described, it took months to pull myself out of that hole.
Oh yeah, I’ve gone nearly catatonic over a boy break-up before. Everything was so draaamatic. I never thought I’d make it.
I hate to break it to you people, but when you’re heart gets broken, you feel what you feel. You don’t “learn” to feel from reading books or anything else. Your gut reaction is what it is, it’s not a learned behavior.
Ms. Jordan,
With all due respect, have you read the books? If so, you will know that the questions you posted are answered:
“Bella gets married fresh out of high school, with nary a word breathed about higher education?” Yes, higher education is duscussed.
“And then, when she becomes pregnant, why does she emphatically refuse an abortion, even though the pregnancy is killing her?” Bella addresses this too. Again, read the books or if you have read them, read them again. As to whether one agrees with Bella’s choices is another matter and although I do not agree with one or two myself, I believe she had a right to those choices. Yes, she is 18 but a legal adult nonetheless.
Seriously. This is the most irresponsible piece of journalism I’ve read in a long time. Does this “journalist” (and Im using this term against my better judgement). Ms. Jordan, I suggest you do your research before you print out these ridiculous points. Edward wants Bella to go to college- as a matter of fact, he is the one helping her fill out the college applications- and Bella is accepted at Dartmouth and they do make plans to attend- until she (SPOILER ALERT FOR BREAKING DAWN) gets pregnant. The abortion ? Seriously? Are you an idiot? IT IS A FICTIONAL BOOK! He wants to take the baby out because they don’t even know if the baby is #1 human and #2 because it’s killing her… Does he not change his mind once he can read the baby’s mind and realizes that it’s not a monster like they all thought? Bella on needing a man to save her…well, DUH, was it not Bella who saved Edward in New Moon? I never write comments to these articles, everyone is entitled to their opinion but when such ignorant and incorrect information is distributed, it’s impossible not to react. Pick up the books Ms. Jordan, then report accurate and articulate reviews.
I’m so glad I’m not the only person who noticed this. Granted I’ve never read the books, so I can’t speak to them at all, but the movies make me cringe a bit at how much Bella seems to need a man to survive. I don’t know about abusive, but it’s certainly unsettling. And to all of the people talking about how it’s “just fiction,” fiction can have a lot of influence in the real world, and not just on the young ‘uns.
She doesn’t NEED a man to survive, she was fine before she met Edward, but he is her true love and of course she’s depressed when he leaves. Jacob was someone that made her feel better – he could have been male or female – didn’t matter.
WHY are they “true loves”? What do they have in common? What personalities do they have that attracts them to each other? What common goals and aspirations do they have? Oh wait, Edward sparkles. And he’s hot. She he can’t hear her thoughts. And he sparkles. True love. Gotcha.
SHUT UPP BROOKE ur and idiot!
Bravo Jane!
Brooke’s the “idiot” here? Learn how to type and please get back to me.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. No name-calling is necessary to begin with.
Everybody would’ve been happy if Edward had stayed there and let James kill Bella. I mean Bella has to proof she’s a strong female character even if it means dying because there is no way in hell a human be it man or woman would be strong enought to even tickle a vanpire in Stephenie Meyers’ series.
so ummmm has anyone read anything else lately that doesn’t deal with Twilight.
My seven year old daughter saw the movies and I read the books to her, she asked a lot of questions on why, but i answered them to the best of my knowledge.
The most important thing is to remind them its a fictional story intended to entertain.
SPOILER ALERT! Actually, in both Eclipse and Breaking Dawn Edward begs Bella to go to college instead of being changed into a vampire. On top of that, all of the vampires received their degress post being changed, so Bella now has an eternity to get whatever degrees she wants. You guys can try to make this a “Bella is weak, and Edward controls her” thing if you want, but part of the story is showing how clumsy and fragile she is during the first 3 books, and then she ends up being the rock and savior of the entire family at the end. Get over yourself and read the whole damn story!
Could people please stop taking this series so seriously? It’s a love story about a vampire and a human, with a werewolf thrown in for good measure. IT’S NOT REAL. Parents, please tell your daughters IT’S NOT REAL. I’m sure they get it already, anyway. Glory.
No kidding. And while we’re at it, could people please stop taking The Bible so seriously? IT’S ONLY A BOOK! IT’S NOT REAL!
Don’t bring the bible into this, because I seriously have my doubts about that book too.
Exactly! In fact I think I would trust Twilight more. Because she had an education when she wrote the books, and also being LDS she never drank, so at least she was sober when she wrote them. I know your trying to be sarcastic crispy, but really the bible was written so long ago by people who had no idea what an education was and they also had no clean water so they had to drink wine.
She went to Brigham Young. I wouldn’t exactly call that an education.
SPOILER ALERT!!! Didn’t Bella tell Edward in New Moon after she saved him, (thats right she saved him, I think for being such a so called weak girl that was pretty interesting.)that since he knew that she was ok she could let him go? He was the one that got all mushy
I think EW is in abusive relationship with Twilight.
yes..lol
Yes, they’re totally beating the hell out of it.
“Are Tina Jordan and Twilight in an Abusive Relationship?”
*Spoiler Alert*: YES
The EW and Twilight wedding was beautiful
I can’t believe the editor approved this ridiculous statement. For Christ sake Tina, it’s a book….a make believe story, not the real world. And to add insult to injury, many of your statements aren’t true to the book.
Here, here.
You think there’s an editor? HAHA!
SIMPLY STATED AND TOO TRUE
I just want to say a thank you to EW for exploring these issues with Twilight. I do love the books for the sheer entertainment value, but these things you are writing about are exactly the things that upset me about tween girls’ obsession with it. I have voiced all these things to my friends who are hardcare Twilight fans and it’s too the point that we can’t even speak about it because we all end up in a very fierce argument. And we are all in our 30′s! It’s just nice to see a major publication also voicing these concerns.
While peeps want to pick and pick at these books, I think its a good thing kids are even taking the time to read! You should be thankful for that and not spoil it for them.
If we could only get them to read Mein Kampf. But hey, at least they’re reading!
I’ve always thought that Edward and Bella’s relationship was completely unhealthy and sends a terrible message to young girls. This is not the type of relationship young girls should be aspiring to have. Ask any happily married adult woman if they would like Edward and Bella’s relationship, they’d probably say no. But these young girls think that this is some kind of ideal. It’s a little bit scary.
What women would not want someone who loves them more than anything? Who would put their own happiness aside for their partner? I love my husband but it’d be nice if had a few of Edwards traits.
What woman would not want someone who is completely controlling and arrogant but uses the excuse of “but I love you so much!”? You know, just like in actual, real life, domestic violence situations?
What is doing the damage is all these articles. Dear me it’s a STORY. Heavens, Buffy and Angel didn’t spark such extreme reactions and they were around for quite a few seasons. Some of the story arcs were similar and Angel didn’t even marry Buffy before they went all the way.
Why does Angel need to marry Buffy? I haven’t seen the show but if they’re both consenting adults why does marriage need to be brought into it? You can have a fulfilling, sexual relationship and not be married.
Disclosure: I’ve never read Twilight and don’t really understand the hype behind it. From what I hear it’s poorly reading and (apparently) borderline anti-feminist. But Melissa makes a good point. I’ve been a gamer pretty much my whole life and I’ve always been annoyed by then number of groups who try to ban “violent” video games because young men (and it is mostly men who play these games) will immediately run out and try to beat up a prostitute or massacre the next alien horde that invades us. It always struck me as extremely patronizing especially during my teen years when I thought I knew better than everyone. The tone of these posts about Twilight and the resulting comments rings a very similar note in my mind. Are the people who write these articles implying that young women are incapable of distinguishing fiction from reality and are trying to emulate more than just Bella’s style and are actually going to model their whole lives after her? I never tried to live the same life as a Grand Theft Auto character or for that matter Batman. I agree discussion is important but that discussion should be between parent and child not between child and writer. Count me as a non-fan who has more faith in the decision-making abilities of young girls.
For me, it’s not that people can’t distinguish fiction from reality; it’s the fact that it perpetuates harmful messages about women, men, and relationships that exist in the culture at large without even bothering to examine them critically.