The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer has received much attention recently. It’s been hailed the new Harry Potter series by some and denounced as one of the worst pieces of literature to be published. But just why has a book received so much negative attention?

            Firstly, I would say one of the things that make it so popular amongst its readership is lies in the main character Bella. Bella is an average, not overtly beautiful but still quite pretty girl next door. She is the girl that we can all relate to. She moves in with her father, so that her mother can spend time with her new husband. So we can relate to her, but she also puts other people before herself, a notion most people would like to see in themselves. She’s also clumsy, which is supposed to make her endearing to the reader. But there isn’t much more to Bella. So because she has a few anchoring characteristics (very generalised characteristics that most young girls will relate to) but nothing deeper, it is possible to fit her to suit the reader’s personality and make them part of the story.

            This might seem all fine and dandy, but allow me to get to my second point; Edward Cullen. I think this is where readers have the most difficulty accepting. Edward Cullen is the heartbreakingly handsome 108 year old vampire. He’s a good guy; he does well at school and is close to his family. He’s the guy ordinary girls never get, and yet he likes Bella. He likes Bella the ordinary girl, and thus by extension (remember the reader has related to Bella and put herself in the character’s place) he likes the reader. The reader forms an emotional attachment to the character much in the same way as she would to a real life crush. If you don’t believe me google Edward Cullen. He falls madly in love with Bella, and Bella falls madly in love him in return.

            But, that’s not the end of the matter. Meyer is writing for a young audience, one that might not yet understand the way ‘love’ works. Edward’s “protectiveness” over Bella is stifling but her own reaction to his behaviour is scary. When Edward leaves in the second novel, New Moon, Bella is unable to function properly until Jacob turns up.  There we have a man breaking a girl’s heart, which can only be healed by another boy.

            But I think there is something scarier; the series’ attitude to sex. . Whilst it does acknowledge that the characters want sex, it does seem to hold the old fashioned view of Bella as the temptress and Edward as the saint fighting to resist. But secondly, and I think this is what disturbs me the most, all sex in the novel is violent. When Bella and Edward first have sex, it is very reminiscent of a drug-rape scene. Bella has no memory of the incident, and wakes up covered in bruises.  Edward is racked with guilt, and it is Bella that comforts him.  Thus some suggest it introduces young girls to the idea that sex is a violent act that they should be grateful for.

            In conclusion, Twilight is definitely a love it or hate it series. Young girls love it for the inclusiveness and escapism it provides, and more adult readers hate it for the deeper implications it could have.