History Fridge / TWILIGHT

*** Vampirism has been a sexual metaphor for as long as it's appeared in literature. Meyer wasn't doing anything clever there. In fact, looking at the way vampires are handled in a story is really telling about how the contemporary society views sex. {{Dracula}} was originally an ugly old man who seduced young women into being his slaves and whores, but one can't help but be drawn to him, for some reason -- Victorian society on sex in a nutshell. This changes over time, as Dracula becomes a ManOfWealthAndTaste, but still unrepentantly evil, on through vampires with variation, some more evil than others, until you hit the modern sexual revolutions and heavily romanticized vampires in AnneRice novels and such. There is then a revival of the awareness of the dangers of sex and therefore vampirism but still a romanticized version present in Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer and Series/{{Angel}}, where vampires seem to represent sexually aggressive individuals that the [[YouGoGirl Superpowered-Empowered]] ActionGirl must eliminate (and also enter into relationships and have sex with -- though that's shown to have nasty consequences too). After all this, we get ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', penned by a Mormon housewife, about ultra-hot, Adonis-like, cold-as-marble-but-still-"perfect" vampires that the MarySue protagonist desperately wants to be with but can't, not until she's married, because she just can't, ok? [[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle And now you understand vampirism as a sexual metaphor]].

* Once you remember that Bella is a teenager, her reckless and ill-conceived behavior actually makes perfect sense. She's headstrong, impressionable, and lacks the wisdom she would need to realize just how bad the choices she's making really are, and she sticks with Edward throughout almost the entire narrative purely because she's too immature to realize their relationship is not healthy; when the relationship is called off for a few months, she sinks into a period of depression because she's too young and inexperienced to understand that she needs to move on; and she makes choices that hurt the people around her because she hasn't grown up enough to think of anyone's happiness but her own. When you think about it, she's just making the same mistakes many other teenage girls have made in the real world, and the only thing that's actually stopping her from being relatable is the fact that the background narration is sheltering her from the fallout of her actions.

*** Fridge TearJerker: These types of issues often form as a result of '''severe''' neglect and/or abuse (usually the ''sexual'' kind). Suddenly this entire series takes on a sad, dark light.

*** You have to keep in mind, though, that Edward is supposed to be from the early 1900's. Edward himself talks about how seventeen-year-olds were more mature and allowed more responsibilities (i.e. getting married). Either his mental state depreciated, he was an exception to the norm, or Stephanie Meyer [[TheyJustDidntCare didn't bother with being historically accurate.]] Given that we never really hear his reasoning it's a tough call. Personally, I think his behavior is more like a [[CantGrowUp fifteen-year-old in an immortal body]].

**** A much better question is: how was Edward able to father a child at all? Males need to make sperm, they can store it but once that's used up they need to make some more. If the sperm in Edward's body is preserved from when he was still living, then it is likely to be ''''all he has''' and he has only '''one shot''' of becoming a father. Getting a woman pregnant by having sex once is possible, but considerably unlikely depending on Bella's cycle, if the egg implants and a number of completely random. And this is assuming that Bella can carry it to term, as early miscarriage is a very real threat (about 1 in 4 pregnancies I think). And this is besides the point if Edward even had '''one''' [[ADateWithRosiePalms "date with Rosie Palms"]] in the hundred or so years of his existence being trapped in the body of a seventeen year old teenager. And if Smeyer says that would never have happened, '''then she doesn't know men'''.

**** A much better question is: how was Edward able to father a child at all? Males need to make sperm, they can store it but once that's used up they need to make some more. If the sperm in Edward's body is preserved from when he was still living, then it is likely to be ''''all he has''' and he has only '''one shot''' of becoming a father. Getting a woman pregnant by having sex once is possible, but considerably unlikely depending on Bella's cycle, if the egg implants and a number of completely random. And this is assuming that Bella can carry it to term, as early miscarriage is a very real threat (about 1 in 4 pregnancies I think). And this is besides the point if Edward even had '''one''' [[ADateWithRosiePalms"date with Rosie Palm"s]] in the hundred or so years of his existence being trapped in the body of a seventeen year old teenager. And if Smeyer says that would never have happened, '''then she doesn't know men'''.

**** A much better question is: how was Edward able to father a child at all? Males need to make sperm, they can store it but once that's used up they need to make some more. If the sperm in Edward's body is preserved from when he was still living, then it is likely to be ''''all he has''' and he has only '''one shot''' of becoming a father. Getting a woman pregnant by having sex once is possible, but considerably unlikely depending on Bella's cycle, if the egg implants and a number of completely random. And this is assuming that Bella can carry it to term, as early miscarriage is a very real threat (about 1 in 4 pregnancies I think). And this is besides the point if Edward even had '''one''' [[ADateWithRosiePalms|date with Rosie Palms]] in the hundred or so years of his existence being trapped in the body of a seventeen year old teenager. And if Smeyer says that would never have happened, '''then she doesn't know men'''.

**** A much better question is: how was Edward able to father a child at all? Males need to make sperm, they can store it but once that's used up they need to make some more. If the sperm in Edward's body is preserved from when he was still living, then it is likely to be ''''all he has''' and he has only '''one shot''' of becoming a father. Getting a woman pregnant by having sex once is possible, but considerably unlikely depending on Bella's cycle, if the egg implants and a number of completely random. And this is assuming that Bella can carry it to term, as early miscarriage is a very real threat (about 1 in 4 pregnancies I think). And this is besides the point if Edward even had '''one''' [ADateWithRosiePalms|date with Rosie Palms] in the hundred or so years of his existence being trapped in the body of a seventeen year old teenager. And if Smeyer says that would never have happened, '''then she doesn't know men'''.

**** A much better question is: how was Edward able to father a child at all? Males need to make sperm, they can store it but once that's used up they need to make some more. If the sperm in Edward's body is preserved from when he was still living, then it is likely to be ''''all he has''' and he has only '''one shot''' of becoming a father. Getting a woman pregnant by having sex once is possible, but considerably unlikely depending on Bella's cycle, if the egg implants and a number of completely random. And this is assuming that Bella can carry it to term, as early miscarriage is a very real threat (about 1 in 4 pregnancies I think).
And this is besides the point if Edward even had '''one'''' DateWithRosiePalms in the hundred or so years of his existence. And if Smeyer says that would never have happened, then she doesn't know men.

* One of the bigger criticisms of the series is the nonessential re-writing of vampire rules, i.e., sparkling in sunlight. Why is it okay in books like HarryPotter and PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians, and not Twilight? Because when those series' made stuff up, (the concept of parsulmouths, Athena's demigod children fearing spiders, ect.) they made sure that it didn't contradict existing lore. There's almost nothing partaking to snakes in particular in the lore of wizards and witches, and Athena having demigod children (through different means rather than physically, thereby working around her status as an eternal virgin) is never mentioned in myths. However, lore of vampires very clearly states the sunlight kills, or at least hurts, them. The problem is that the books are disregarding classic lore in favor of its own rules.

** I am somewhat convinced that this is the same thing as what was going on with some of the characters in ElfQuest. Basically, I think Jane's talent was Healing, but emotional and physical pain thwarted her talent and made it ''cause'' pain instead of relieving it.

* One of the bigger criticisms of the series is the nonessential re-writing of vampire rules, i.e., sparkling in sunlight. Why is it okay in books like HarryPotter and PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians, and not Twilight? Because when those series' made stuff up, (the concept of parsulmouths, Athena's demigod children fearing spiders, ect.) they made sure that it didn't contradict existing lore. There's almost nothing partaking to snakes in particular in the lore of wizards and witches, and Athena having demigod children (through different means rather than physically, thereby working around her status as an eternal virgin) is never mentioned in myths. However, lore of vampires very clearly states the sunlight kills, or at least hurts, them. The problem is that the books are disregarding classic lore in favor of it's own rules.

** Seeing how the "LD50" line (the distance from ground zero where the number of survivors closer than that point equals the number of deaths further away) is taken to be the 5 psi overpressure gradient, and a 5 psi overpressure is sufficient to demolish structures not made from reinforced concrete, it's another CriticalResearchFailure on Meyer's behalf. Not to mention the little fact that the 5 psi distance is also about equal to the point where ambient air temperature is in the several hundred (~300 F) degree range for those not protected. Even worse, the 20 psi gradient (about a third of the distance to ground zero as the 5 psi gradient) is sufficiently strong to blow apart steel reinforced concrete structures and ambient air temperature is in the high hundreds (~700 F) degrees, which is sufficient to incinerate exposed humans (i.e. no body left, just ash). At the 1000 psi gradient (roughly 1/10th the 5 psi distance), no known structure can survive, and things are ''''vaporized''', due to 1500+ degree heat. FYI - a typical 1 MT nuclear warhead has a 5 psi radius of around 6 km, while a small 20kt (like Hiroshima) has a 5 psi radius of under 2km. Yes, the rare extra-lucky human can survive around the 20 psi distance, if shielded by a structure. A vampire in the open couldn't make it there, no matter how tough Meyer claims they are.

***** Building on that, does that make what Bela and Edward want to do Bestiality?

* In the BD1 movie, chess is a metaphor for sex. (They didn't even play until they were married.) The pregnancy has to be a metaphor for their relationship - unexpected, inevitable, fucked up, derailing, sucking the lifeforce out of Bella and eventually killing her.