In My Opinion: Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined

Hello people of the Internet! Do you guys remember Twilight? That 2008 young-adult-vampire-romance novel that spawned a money making franchises, created countless jokes and memes that will haunt all those involved with it to their graves, and led to the making of a BDSM erotic novel so ridiculous that it would have the gimp from Pulp Fiction going:

He did what with the tampon?

For those of you lucky enough to dodge this pop-cultural bullet I suggest you hit the deck because in honor of the series's ten year anniversary Stephanie Myers has created another book titled  Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined.

As horrifying as this must be I can assure you that it only gets worse. For instead of being about Edward and Bella's lives after Breaking Dawn, or even about one of the secondary characters, this story is a retelling of the first book only with the genders of the characters-except for Charlie-swapped.

Just pretend that the child is your mental health

As you can tell by the gifs I'm not really much of a fan of this new book, not because what it is about, but the reasons why it was made. You see according to interviews the reason why Myers decided to create this "story" was because she was under the impression that changing Bella into Beaufort-I swear on my grandmother's gave that is really the name she went with-would stop the world from seeing her as a damsel in distress. Please use the following ellipsis as a moment to allow this to sink in.

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..........It hit rock bottom? Good, on with the post! 

Now the most obvious thing wrong with this is that Mrs.Myers is implying that the damsel in distress is a roll that can only be played by female characters which is completely false. At first damsels in distress were actual damsels because their stories were reflecting the idea of the time in which women were thought of as helpless plot points that turn into a reward for the hero. But like with other aspects of our world this idea has changed with countless books, TV series, comics, plays, and other forms of media having damsels that are not only male but have different ages, social statuses, and even species; go here if you want some examples https://youtu.be/SE7FK9H8gGE. Hell, even the hero of the series can be a DID.

The reason why this is possible is because a damsel in distress is not an role defined by what a character is but by what they do in the story, and needing to be saved by the hero does not mean they are to be hated by the fandom. In fact some of my most favorite fictional characters are the ones whom tend to get tied to the train tracks more than they should. The reason I don't find them irritating  is because they have personalities that are likable, developed, and don't revolve around their archetype. Take for instance Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane from Spiderman.

 I admit I see why Peter Parker is willing to dive off of sky scrapers for Mary Jane: She's pretty and seemed to be the only non-related female character that didn't treat him like garbage in the first two films, however if I were a superhero I wouldn't give her the same attention. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't sit back and watch her get roasted in a house fire but I wouldn't make her the eternal object of my love and undying affection because she doesn't offer anything about her to love or be affectionate about. I am sorry if she is not like this in the comics, but the first introduction I had to her character was in the Raimi films and in those movies the majority  of her scenes involved her needing to be saved from some type of threat, messing around with the relationship between her and Peter, or showing why the aforementioned relationship would not be able to function in the real world!

The relationship between Gwen and Peter doesn't have this problem; she is someone I would bend over backwards for even if she was just my friend. Not only does Gwen get into less trouble in the Webb films, but the times she does is usually because the threat is too much for her to take care of on her own and/or she was helping Peter beat the bad guy. And her contributions actually lead to their demise! Also while she does love Peter enough to disregard the wishes of her dead father to stay away from him she isn't too devoted to the point that she wouldn't break up with him when the relationship threatens her goals or emotional health. And even though she does take him back it is only after they both agree to make compromises that  they are both satisfied with. Like real, and believable, couples do. 

Stephanie Myers this is what a believable attraction looks like!

Unlike other Hero/Love interest parings I honestly thought that Gwen and Peter could have had a happy future together which was why it broke my heart when she died. Sorry for anyone who didn't see the Amazing Spider man 2 but not only does Gwen Stacy die she dies because Peter fails to save her. Combined with the fact that they had a real connection it is understandable  why Peter would become horribly depressed over her passing.

Why couldn't it have been MJ?!

But even after she is gone Gwen still manages to give Peter the support of a caring girlfriend by reminding him that he should continue on with his life even though she's not going to be in it. Well that is if cloning or magic is not going to be a possibility in the next film. This type of selfless love is something that both Raimi and Myers failed to portray and cannot be fixed with an overused fanfic-trope. 

That's all I got to say so until my next post I ask that you Live well, Laugh Often, and Love much.


Pics and Gifs courtesy of:

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