Bella=Beautiful

Sexuality is a concept that penetrates all aspects of our brain and society.  Many of our actions, especially in adolescence are driven by lust and love.  The Twilight series utilizes this sex drive and combines it with the passion of obtaining what one cannot have.  At its most basic level the series begins with sentiments of love.  The main characters name is Bella, which is beautiful in Latin.  Bella uses this same word, beautiful, to describe Edward after he reveals his true form to her on top of the Mountain.

Sexuality runs far deeper than the skin in this series.  Edward is described as incredibly good looking, Bella is warned on her first day of school about him and advised not to waste her time.  It is in large part the confidence and mystery that he exuberates that contributes to his appeal.  This same logic holds true in our culture.  Especially with the advent of the Internet and the amount of relationships that begin on-line physical appearance is less and less important.

The article, “Twilight and Transformations of Flesh: Reading the Body in Contemporary Youth Culture” provides insights as to the delicateness of the female body and how Twilight can be seen as a link between the concepts of female perfection and mortality.  Edward is in love with Bella and although biologically it does not make sense, and he is at times forced to fight the strongest urges, he protects her and does anything he can to not allow harm to come to her.  Many draw the parallel of Edward resisting taking Bella’s life to abstinence.  We can see throughout the film the internal struggle going on in Edwards head, biologically he is driven to want her but emotionally he knows that allowing himself to cave in will have dire consequences.  This is a similar dilemma we see that Grace in The Secret Life of the American Teenager has with sex.  There is a part of Grace that desires the physical act, but emotionally she feels tainted after having sex.  She even goes so far as to blame her father’s death on her action.  Edward appears to be struggling with overcoming a temptation as well.

It is interesting to think of Bella as someone who is constantly changing while Edward is someone who is constant.  They each want the others existence as it is human nature to always want what you cant have.  Twilight and the relationship between Edward and Bella demonstrate the difficulty in adolescent relationships.  When Bella is first going to meet Edward’s parents she is worried not that she is going to a house full of vampires, but she is concerned that they may not like her.  It is this type of irrationality that is a byproduct of love.  No matter the hurdles or the obstacles, love seems to prevail.