Over the past five years, Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight has blown up in mainstream media. While the books do have a large following (mostly pre-pubescent girls whose hormones are raging) there is an even bigger group of Twilight-haters. While I would really not like to consider myself in the group of anti-fans who are making Twilight even more popular with every joke and strike they take at the series, I must talk about the true ridiculousness that was the fourth movie in the set of five, Breaking Dawn.
First, let’s discuss the writing. I could see the writers’ sad attempts at humor in the beginning of the film, to try and displace the disgust you would feel later on (in the infamous birthing scene.) The awkwardness oozed out of Kristen Stewart and her on-screen family as they tried to make uncomfortable humor out of sexual innuendo. While I can’t remember specific lines said, I do remember the faces of the actors as they recited them. They looked ill-at-ease and like they were just not believing in what they were saying. That brings me to lovely little Kristen Stewart, and her ingenious acting.
In the grand wedding scene, with beautiful lights and trees and dresses and people, you would expect the most beautiful asset to be the bride. So out comes Bella Swan, in a long, gorgeous, white dress, looking constipated. A couple steps later, her face transitions to appendix-bursting-level pain. As she continues down the aisle, her face does soften, but into some apathetic looking stupor. May I remind you, this is her wedding day. The day she finally gets to marry her beloved Edward, all problems aside, and she looks angry, confused, and sick. Wonderful acting, Miss Stewart. I applaud you.
The third issue I noticed within this movie had to do with the general storyline. After the first night of Edward and Bella’s honeymoon, Bella wakes up with large bruises along her arms, remembering the night before. Edward apologizes frantically, but Bella relaxes him, saying that it’s okay, and that he was just trying to make her happy the night before. Forgive me if I’m reading too far into this, but as a high school student who took Health freshman year, I would say that these are definite signs of an abusive relationship. First comes the honeymoon stage (literally), then the violent stage, and lastly, the apologetic stage.
A responsible woman would leave the relationship. Breaking Dawn is encouraging girls to stay with the boys, as long as they “know that they love them and that they won’t do it again.” In all seriousness, this isn’t a positive message to be spreading to millions of teenage girls, who could likely be in this situation later in life.
In other words, Breaking Dawn was just as idiotic as I anticipated. Although, I must say it wasn’t boring in the least. I don’t recommend this movie, but if you do see it I advise to watch it light-heartedly, because there is no way you can take this movie seriously.
