Breaking Dawn: Part I (I for Inappropriate)

Note: May contain spoilers. Do not read if you dont like spoilers but haven't yet read the Twilight books (And if you havent but plan to, you probably should cause they're on the fourth movie. Sheesh)

In 2008, the Twilight saga's first movie came out. I, being relatively clueless, had not yet heard of Twilight until about two weeks before the movie's debut. At first I thought "Vampires? No thanks." I snubbed them, as a person of literary snobbery usually does. I recall in high school when everyone was fawning over Harry Potter and I also had no interest. Fantasy smatansy. (I've always had a thing for true crime, mainly from my father's collection of books, and I was asked by my 5th grade teacher if my parents knew I was reading The Burning Bed, when I took it out for free reading time)

However, I went to the movie just to see what all of the buzz was about. Immediately after viewing the (let's face it, B caliber movie) I picked up the first Twilight book. Then the second, third, and fourth. I didn't tell a lot of people that i was reading these books, because they had gained a reputation of being for mostly tweens and teenagers, I felt embarrassed, at 22, picking them up from the "Young Readers" section of Hastings. I did get through the four books, although i felt that the fourth book, Breaking Dawn, was incredibly disturbing. It explained in graphic detail a sex scene between the two main characters, then detailed her drinking blood to feed this demonic fetus that had been spawned inside her, and her subsequent traumatic delivery of said demon. It creeped me out.

Let's just say that these movies will never win anything more than an MTV movie award. (Probably for best kiss). The movies are full of beautiful cinematography, but as for the acting, it leaves something to be desired. So why is everyone gaga over Bella and Edward? I think I have a few ideas:

1.) Edward is the "perfect" man. Other than the fact that he is undead, 17 years old forever, and mostly a freaking drama queen, teens and young adults (and even a 70 year old lady at my office) fawn over him. Why? Because to the teens, he's who they look for in a mate (what it's supposed to be like as teenagers in love). To the young adults, they strive to find that in the beer-guzzling frat boys that they are surrounded with, and to the older crowd, he represents chivalry, and an honest break from the ball-scratching, dirty old man that their once charming groom has grown into.

2.) The setting is realistic. Stephenie Meyer took vampires out from coffins and stakes, away from mansions with cobwebs and fangs. She placed them in our world- and made them closer to humanlike. They possess unbelievable beauty and poise, and money. They are not a threat to your world as they do not kill humans for their feeding. In theory, any man that we meet at a bar or at the supermarket could be an Edward Cullen.

3.) Everyone loves a forbidden love story. Romeo + Juliet. Cleopatra and Marc Antony. Sonny and Cher. All of these relationships were filled with tumultuous times, death threats, thinking that your brother was going to suck her blood... oh wait, that's just Bella and Edward. So we find ourselves rooting for the crazy kids, (or in some cases, Jacob, the werewolf) pining for them to find a way to live happily ever after. See: Every Katherine Heigl movie.

As I sat in Breaking Dawn Part 1, I realized how ridiculous the story line really, truly was. But that's okay, because we have enough real life stories out there. Enough broken hearted stories. Maybe what we all need is a little fantasy, something that, in our minds could just happen....