Introduction by Victoria Betancourt
Scrolling through TikTok mindlessly, I come across the official Paramount account with a Twilight video, making fun of the franchise in a fun and humorous way. Seeing this piqued an interest within me and I couldn’t resist actually trying to watch the movies. Once I did, I never turned back.

Since then, The Twilight Saga has risen back up in popularity, especially with Gen Z.

My favorite part of the series has to be the characters and casting. You can find these personalities in your daily life and the actors portray their roles perfectly. Today, we’ll simply be discussing the main three characters: Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black. 

Starting off with Bella Swan, a girl who recently came back from Arizona to live with her dad again after years away from Forks, Washington and played by Kristen Stewart, she who looks eerily similar to the character in the book. It feels like she came straight off the pages! Although she seems too basic, Stewart gets the job done with her acting. Even without narration, you can tell exactly what she’s thinking.

Even though they’re memes, the scenes where Bella is in a depressing state after Edward leaves in New Moon and where she argues with Jacob over her recently born child, Renessme, show how Stewart can leave you with the same emotions as Bella. 

Moving on to the next character in this love triangle: Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Jacob… is a lot. When we first meet him, he’s an innocent and sweet kid who lives in the reservation and is a part of the Quileute Tribe (which is a real Native American tribe, who in this franchise possess a special gift. *cough cough* some of them are werewolves).

Bella mostly uses him to get information on Edward Cullen and for entertainment purposes, but Jacob wants more. This is where the issues start occurring. As the plot continues throughout the saga, Jacob acts more and more entitled and honestly like a brat (this gets intensified when he officially becomes a werewolf). Lautner portrays his character so well that you start to wonder if he’s like his character in real life and feel a slight dislike for him whenever you see him on screen. 

Fast forwarding, the series ends with Jacob ending up with Bella and Edward’s child. If that isn’t a red flag, I don’t know what is. We respect all opinions here, but if you like Jacob… no comment. 

The last of the iconic love triangle is Edward Cullen. He is a 104-year-old vampire who looks eternally 17 and like a Greek god. Portrayed by Robert Pattinson, Edward starts off as the mysterious love interest who quickly turns into something more. Although he seems odd and off putting at first, once we get to know him, he truly is a sweetheart. Throughout the whole series, we always see Edward do what he thinks is best for Bella. 

One of my favorite scenes with him is when Jacob, like the toxic person he is, leads him to believe that Bella is dead. When you see Pattinson portray Cullen, you truly believe he feels what the character does.

Final thoughts by Gaby Danger
The real trouble with these movies is really in the script. A lot of people shun the actors as untalented and not serious, but it seems more to me that the script was just awkwardly written.

In their defense, a lot is taken from the books. While I wouldn’t call them “badly written,” they’re certainly not Shakespeare. After all, they are Y/A novels, so they’re written to be accessible. The writing is adequate and definitely readable, if not a bit choppy or awkward at times. This is seen in the screenplay and probably partly at fault for the awkwardness of the films. That being said, I really wouldn’t hold it against the actors. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson have both gone on to do some pretty good movies that ended up doing well, so it’s not an issue of their ability, just some rocky writing. 

Notwithstanding what the movies lack in cinematics, they make up for in the soundtrack. I enjoy listening to all kinds of music, but I seriously haven’t seen a soundtrack as absolutely loaded as the ones for Twilight. From Muse to Bruno Mars, Bon Iver, and SIA, to Radiohead and Green Day, the tracks from these movies have you wondering who could have possibly been behind this, and leave you feeling like a moody teenage girl. If you take nothing else from Twilight, just listen to the music. 

Overall, I think Twilight’s resurgence is incredibly interesting. I used to be one of those girls who swore I was different because I didn’t like it, or I thought it was cheesy and outdated, but when I finally sat down and enjoyed the series, I found myself eating my words a lot of the time. I won’t sit here and convince you to like them because they’re this perfect masterpiece of film and literature, because they are far from that, but I will tell you that they are a fun read/watch.

For me, I just enjoy Twilight at its face value. Just a cutesy love story where everyone is content at the end. It’s comforting to just watch something and not have to read too much into it. Sometimes a vampire is just a vampire, and I wouldn’t change that. 

So, if you got to the end of this, I promise that if you watch Twilight, you’ll certainly have a good time, and probably a couple giggles too.