Twilight is a Psychological Thriller, Not a Love Story

i'm the world's most dangerous predator well yeah  she's 17 for crying out loud across the span of the twilight franchise we were fed a lot of lies  we were led to believe that any of these people could even remotely pass as high schoolers we  were foolishly tricked into allowing a grown man to imprint upon a newborn baby well actually i  don't think that managed to slip through anyone's fingers stephanie meyer i'm on your head today we  were bamboozled hoodwinked even into believing a love tria

ngle ever existed between the three leads  and above all we were duped scammed swindled some might say out of the love story of a century  a literal century despite all the lies fed to us over four now five consecutive books none are  more ghastly than the lie presented in the first twilight novel i am here before the jury today  to defend my client formerly known as still a better love story than twilight comments against  charges of unjust criticism it is within my right as a distinguished fan

owner of all four books two  twilight shirts and the entire series on blu-ray to stand before you today and declare my client  innocent you heard me twilight is not a love story before we begin i want to thank surf shark for  sponsoring this video and protecting me from being followed around the internet by creeps like  edward cullen who are looking to invade my privacy something i've noticed while rereading twilight  other than you know the obvious is how easy it is for someone to just steal a

ll of your data  find your location no matter where you are and stealthily climb into your window at night while  you're sleeping well maybe not the last one unless you're weird sorry edward the point is internet  providers and hackers alike can easily invade your privacy in fact internet providers can actually  sell your data to third parties the reason i love surfshark so much is because they won't let  that happen no matter if you're searching up vampire folklore in your free time or trying t

o  use public wi-fi to purchase exclusive twilight merch with your credit card surfshark won't let  anyone steal your information their award-winning encryption makes it so that even if a hacker  does get their hands on it it's as unreadable as bella's mind is to edward even if you're not  into all of that fancy technical jargon surfshark still has something for you all you have to do is  connect to surfsharkvpn change your location to place else my preference has been london in  montreal lately

and you suddenly have access to an entirely new catalog on your favorite streaming  services like netflix if you're interested you can use my promo code shan spear in all caps  for 83 off and three extra months for free that's shan's spear in all caps for 83 off and  three extra months for free and thanks again to surf shark for sponsoring this video now let's get  back to ripping edward a new one twilight gets a lot of flack published in 2005 and adapted just a  few short years later in 2008 t

he book and movie alike have faced constant online criticism and  even remains scorned to this day not including the infamous twilight renaissance happening on tumblr  as we speak if you were too young to experience the thirst society had for twilight in the mid to  late 2000s or you were just too cool to read four consecutive novels about the worst love story in  history let me break it down for you starting with isabella bella swan starts off our story as a  17 year old girl who has just moved

from the sunny capital of arizona to the dreary waterlog  territory of forks washington bella is a hater of all things cold and wet and only moves to  washington to please her mother renee renee is described as a quote loving erratic hair  brained in cold woman whom bella has spent a majority of her life taken care of whether  it be keeping track of renee's belongings making sure the bills get paid or making sure they  always have something to eat in the relationship of mother and daughter bell

a consistently shines  as the mother figure while renee is relegated to the child position bella even mentions toward  the end of the book that between the ages of 8 and 17 her mother had never quote come close  to trying to sound like a parental authority in quote to bella we can see how this dynamic  between the two takes shape in the form of bella's sudden move to washington her mother who's dating  a professional baseball player wants to travel but will feel guilty about leaving bella behind

and  bella so used to sacrificing her childhood to take care of her mother moves to the last place she  wants to in order to live with her father charlie bella is just selfless like that she's always  willing to sacrifice herself to save others even if it's not in her best interest but she  has more to offer than people-pleasing traits one of the things the movies fail to highlight is  book bella's quick-witted sarcastic humor she's as sassy as any teenager is and very stubborn when  she's made

up her mind on something at her core she's also a very obsessive person i've mentioned  in the past videos that despite my growing hatred for stephanie meyer and everything she's ever  created one thing i find interesting is the fact that bella is allowed to be utterly obsessed with  a boy and it's never painted as a childish flaw like we see across other media depictions of  teenage girls that doesn't mean stephanie meyer presents it in a healthy way because she certainly  doesn't bella's obse

ssive traits become a detriment to her own health she becomes so  dependent on edward when he doesn't show up to school she falls into a depression going  as far as not eating she's deeply insecure i suppose as most girls her age are but  it becomes strained with edward because she's constantly on the brink of death whenever  he's not around one step forward 300 steps back there are also moments where she can be critical  of others like jessica but she's an overall likable main character that's

far more than what  i can say about edward i'm damned for eternity god save my soul cullen sir cullen was born in 1901  in chicago and died a mere 17 years later from the spanish flu he was already orphaned by that point  with both of his parents succumbing to the illness before him so when he was changed into a vampire  by his doctor and soon-to-be father carlo cullen he had little to no ties left to the human  world and boy does it show oh brother this guy stinks everyone always bags on bella

for having  absolutely no personality in the movies but every time i reread twilight i'm almost shocked at how  boring edward is as a character bella actually has more of a sense of humor than he does probably  because he spends most of his time wallowing in self-pity or being condescending to bella which i  guess doesn't leave much room for witty one-liners the most interesting thing about edward that i  think stephanie meyer doesn't emphasize enough is that there is something off-putting about

  him bella consistently describes edward as unnaturally beautiful dazzling charming with  a voice like velvet that lures in the listener he has a sickly sweet smell to him and lavender  eyelids that make him look at a loss for sleep all the things that should make other people fall  over themselves in admiration for him and his other family members but there's something strange  about the cullens something alien in their inhuman beauty that triggers our instincts it triggers us  to run to look

away to not get too close edward is every bit as stubborn as bella he gets frustrated  easily and is described as having sudden mood swings one minute he's ecstatic and the next he's  self-loathing he's apparently good at everything according to bella from hunting to playing piano  to academics to driving to baseball from far away he looks as promising as any high school boy would  be to another high school girl as fitzgerald once said he looked at her like all women wanted to be  looked at by a

man but beyond all of the things that make edward a grand catch in bella's eyes  are all the glaringly obvious traits that make him scary for reasons beyond his thirst for  blood bella and edward meet on bella's first day at school in the cafeteria bella uninformed of  the cullen family secret just like everyone else is fills a strange inclination towards edward who  she describes as the beautiful boy the beginning of the relationship marked by these first  few moments of introduction is marred

by an interesting word choice on stephanie meyer's part  she uses the word frustration to describe edward's reaction to not being able to read bella's  thoughts and that word will crop up repeatedly across the novel as we come to learn just how easy  it is to frustrate or anger edward but even more interesting is the constant use of words like  hostile antagonistic furious aversion revulsion intense dislike hate-filled eyes derision and  etc to describe the emotions that play across edward's fa

ce whenever he looks at bella in the  beginning stages of their relationship on page 23 bella estates he stared at me again meeting my  eyes with the strangest expression on his face it was hostile furious and on page 24 she states i  peeked up at him one more time and regretted it he was glaring down at me again his black eyes full  of revulsion as i flinched away from him shrinking against my chair the phrase if looks could kill  suddenly ran through my mind thing is edward doesn't kill her ob

viously but that doesn't mean  there isn't a violence behind his gaze on numerous occasions edward fully maps out different ways  to murder bella and everyone who may be a witness on that first day he contemplates massacring  the entire classroom of high school students and leaving bella for last later that day when she  stumbles into the school's office where he's at he weighs his options of killing the entire office  staff and then bella and you would think as they begin spending more time tog

ether this desire to  hurt her would dissipate but on numerous occasions edward makes it clear that he doesn't trust  himself to not kill her if they're ever left alone on page 214 as they're planning their first  date of sorts or at least the first time they're planning on intentionally being alone edward tells  bella that she should tell her father charlie that she'll be with edward that day when bella acts why  edward's eyes are quotes suddenly fierce he states to give me some small incentive

to bring you back  when the day comes for them to be alone edward asks whether bella has told charlie where she's  at and who she'll be with quote nope but jessica thinks we're going to seattle together he seemed  cheered by this idea no i told her you cancelled on me which is true no one knows you're with  me angrily now that depends i assume you told alice that's very helpful bella he snapped are  you so depressed by forks that it's made you title he demanded when i ignored him this theme  of

edward getting mad at bella and blaming her for her possible death continues it's almost as  if edward isn't a century old and very aware that bella is a 17 year old girl with an undeveloped  frontal cortex he expects her a child who's very much in love with him after three meetings to make  rational decisions and then blames her for his own selfishness when she doesn't stay away from him he  thinks of her as a demon quote summoned from his own personal hell sent to ruin him end quote  and the

only reason he doesn't go through with slaughtering her in the beginning is because he  doesn't want his actions to impact his family who will have to flee if people become suspicious  of them you may be wondering how does bella take this information does she run does she tell her  police father that some weird kid from school is threatening her no on page 272 she states  i was filled with compassion for his suffering even now as he confessed his craving to  take my life so it's safe to say that

things were off to a bit of a rocky start in the  relationship but the cool thing about being human is that you make mistakes learn to grow from  them and become a better person for yourself and your romantic partner oh what's that edward  isn't human and he doesn't learn to grow from his mistakes therefore making it impossible for him to  become a better person for himself or his romantic partner and now it's worse because i'm repeating  everything you say into the microphone oh okay if you're

like bella and the concept of  your significant other snapping at any given moment and murdering you is still a turn  on to the point where you'd forsake your entire life just to be with them like the monster [  __ ] extraordinaire you are seek help i'm just kidding no really i mean i have my therapist on  speed dial if you want to set up an appointment somehow edward's desire to murder bella isn't  even the worst part of their relationship i can excuse the inherent sexiness of dating a vampire

  and possibly being bitten by them especially if he looks like robert pattinson but i draw the  line at every other facet of their relationship i just want to mention that from this point on  i will be mentioning instances of gaslighting and other forms of abuse such as pedophilia so  please if you need to click out of the video i completely understand one word kept appearing in  my notes while i was rereading the novel and that word was intense the relationship between bella  and edward is sud

den electrified and reminiscent of romeo and juliet it's positioned as this pure  unbreakable bond that will last until the end of time since by the end of the franchise bella is a  newborn vampire who is married to her vampire beau and a mother of a half vampire demon child that  has 18 alternating yet growingly terrifying faces it's supposed to be the love story of a century  so how do you explain the constant gaslighting the constant over exertion of physical power  that edward holds over bel

la the stalking and the questionable although admittedly fictional age  gap for context gaslighting is defined as a quote form of psychological abuse where a person  or group makes someone question their sanity perception of reality or memories a person who  has been gaslighted will most likely feel confused anxious or even unable to trust themselves editing  shania here to say that i looked deeper into this article about gaslighting and i found some  interesting facts edward performs at least t

wo of these gaslighting techniques countering  and denial i'll get into the evidence in a second but countering is defined as quote questioning  someone's memories in quotes by saying things like you never remember things accurately denial quote  involves a person pretending to forget events or how they occurred they may deny having said or  done something or accuse someone of making things up the article goes on to say that in an intimate  relationship quote an abusive partner may accuse someon

e of being irrational or crazy in order  to isolate them undermine their confidence and make them easier to control end quote  which is definitely shown in edward's behavior on page 43 a week or so after bella and edward  met for the first time edward politely greets bella as she sits next to him in her assigned seat  this interaction is confusing to bella who a week prior was subjected to unfounded vitriol from  edward quote my mind was spinning with confusion had i made the whole thing up he w

as perfectly  polite now later edward admits that his change and attitude toward her was a ploy to get her to  quote forget his behavior that first day end quote for an extreme example of gaslighting in the books  we witness edward questioning bella's sanity after he saves her from being hit by tyler's van when  bella asserts that edward was across the parking lot when tyler's van swerved toward her making  it impossible for him to save her in time edward tries to charm her out of it quote bella

i was  standing with you and i pulled you out of the way he unleashed the full devastating power of his  eyes on me as if trying to communicate something crucial end quote when bella doesn't relent edward  grows angry with her and stephanie meyer begins deploying the usual charged words in her arsenal  words like annoyed cold resentment cutting quote what do you want he acts sounding annoyed his  eyes were cold i saved your life i don't owe you anything i flinched back from the resentment in  h

is voice bella you hit your head you don't know what you're talking about his tone was cutting  on page 65 edward looks at bella incredulously stating you think i lifted a van off of you  his tone questioned my sanity and when bella persisted nobody will believe that you know his  voice held an edge of derision now further there are countless moments where bella notices just  how easy it is to anger edward and how that anger always seems to be directed at her when they're  playing an innocent ga

me of 21 questions which you know what never mind when they're  playing an innocent game of 21 questions bella accidentally says that her favorite color  is the color of his eyes her reaction to saying this information is telling quote i worried it  would provoke the strange anger that flared in edward whenever i slipped and revealed too  clearly how obsessed i was in quote when she brings up these moods where he seems to be mad  at her he states that he's never mad at her but rather at himself

she reminisces on this stating  quote i remembered the black moods that pulled him away from me that i had always interpreted as well  justified frustration frustration and my weakness my slowness my unruly human reactions end quote  and even after he tries to make it clear that it's not bella's fault that he's so angry he still  manages to place blame on her whenever he is angry to the point where bella's already  extreme insecurity is exasperated when james begins hunting bella edward states i

f you  let anything happen to yourself anything at all i'm holding you personally responsible do  you understand which i don't think he meant that literally but the context of the moment happens  in heightened stress after a yelling match between alice edward and bella moments prior he says it in  a serious tone i assume to which bella replies in a serious tone i can't tell if it's the product of  stephanie meyer's writing style where she chooses ill-fitting adjectives to describe simple dialogu

e  or if the statement is just as dire as it sounds i want to take a brief intermission to explore  that because as i was reading i noticed just how intense stephanie meyer writes she uses charged  words for very normal situations almost every question edward acts bella is usually accompanied  by the word demand bella says that she'll always want to be with edward forever but instead of  simply saying it bella warns edward that she'll always want to be with him i'm all for drama  but the connota

tions of words are significant in literature and descriptive writing because  they imply tone we're reading these exchanges in our head so when edward demands something of  bella or when bella warns edward of her love it becomes double-sided even though the dialogue  itself is very normal and at times stephanie meyer's writing in general becomes cartoonish due  to the drama of it all and it's highly reminiscent of the cartoonish drama of gothic novels for  instance when edward kisses bella for t

he second time bella becomes lightheaded and literally  faints like actually passes out in his arms she's gone to the world and the problem is  only exasperated because edward was in the middle of calling her the world's sexiest woman  due to her high fashion outfit of a blue blouse and long khaki skirt if my voice sounds a little  far away from the mic it's because i'm across the room googling stephanie meyer's address so  her and i can have a little talk but let's get back to it there are a fe

w instances in the first  book where edward uses a questionable amount of force on bellow in one instance after bella faints  during a blood typing portion of science class she decides to go home for the day quote we were near  the parking lot now i veered left toward my truck where do you think you're going he acts outraged  he was gripping a fistful of my jacket in one hand he was towing me toward his car now pulling me  by my jacket it was all i could do to keep from falling backwards he'd pr

obably just drag me along  anyway if i did end quote however bella refuses to get into the car and contemplates running to  which this beautiful loving romantic line is said i'll just drag you back he threatened when  am i gonna leave this misery because i cannot [ __ ] live like this and a little unrelated but  i think this quote is extremely interesting when edward is explaining his self-control around bella  he mentions that it will be harder to be around her scent if he were to leave her for

a period  of time because he has since grown desensitized to it when bella suggests for edward not to leave  he states that suits me bring on the shackles i'm your prisoner bella takes note that his quote long  hands formed manacles around her wrist as he spoke instead of the other way around which brings us to  our final two subjects the strange possessiveness edward has over bella which leads to him  constantly stalking her in the questionable age gap between the two edward states that the  f

irst time he climbed through bella's window to watch her sleep was after mike newton asked bella  to prom edward for the first time in his life felt jealousy he describes the feeling as a quote flair  of resentment almost fury in quote he watched her sleep that night weighing his options of leaving  fork so she could live a long and happy human life or to be selfish and be with her the scene  in which bella finds out about the stalking is horrifying she invites edward to come into  her house for

what she thinks is the first time but he uses a key to open the door for  her she acts confused if the door was unlocked quote no i used the key from under the eve i  stepped inside flicked on the porch light and turned to look at him with my eyebrows raised  i was sure i had never used that key in front of him i was curious about you you spied on  me but somehow i couldn't infuse my voice with the proper outrage i was flattered edward  was unrepentant what else is there to do at night wait a d

amn minute in another scene in the book  bella is almost attacked by a group of men in port angeles luckily before she is edward comes  barely around the corner to save her as per usual you may remember the iconic car whipping scene  which almost manages to make me forget about the whole stalking thing in the first place but  alas i'm petty edward states that he followed her to port angeles even though she was spending the  day with her friend in order to protect her just in case she needed his

help it's presented as this  heroic selfless act but i can't even fathom my own boyfriend following me out of town without my  permission let alone some strange boy i don't even know especially when i'm hanging out with  friends and then proceeding to spy on me without me knowing it's grossly possessive and yet again  is written off by stephanie meyer as his valiant deed and then as if things couldn't get any worse  there's the startling age gap between our two love interests of course edward is

physically 17 he's  technically the same age as bella even becoming younger than her when she turns 18. but in reality  he's a century old if the book takes place in 2005 and edward was born in 1901 that would make  him 104 years old you can write that off any way you please after all it is a fantasy novel  it's a fictitious relationship and there is the inherent romanticization of vampires but stephanie  meyer doesn't stop there with the age discrepancy it's not enough that edward is older tha

n bella he  makes it clear that he thinks of her like a child not only does stephanie meyer incorporate  strange language to imply bella's fragility or small size in comparison to edward such as the  numerous references to bella being held by edward like a child or like a toddler but there are also  many instances where edward refers to bella's peers who are the same age as her as children on  page 269 edward states quote it took everything i had not to jump up in the middle of that class  full

of children and he stopped abruptly looking away two pages later on 271 he states who were you  an insignificant little girl he grinned suddenly to chase me from the place i wanted to be and  when jacob black's father billy comes to warn charlie that edward is too dangerous to be left  alone with bella edward refers to jacob as a child bella says quote jacob is not that much  younger than i am to which edward grins and says oh i know oh brother this guy stinks when bella  acts for his vampire ag

e the first time he wonders if it will upset her if he tells her the truth  so to me it's very clear that the age gap between the two isn't just some trivial fact that's meant  to be tucked away in between the lines it's a big indicator of the dynamic between the two i forgot  to mention that there's the scene where edward asks bella how old she is to which she replies  17 and he pulls out this age-old predator tactic by saying you don't seem 17 well she is so where  do we go from there edward t

hinks of bella as a child which is gross when you consider the amount  of times he nearly kills her because he's just so turned on by her and it's even grosser when  you consider the underlying evidence of abuse between the two of them the relationship at  its core is unhealthy and the first book only scratches the surface of it all that's my opinion  you guys still think i'm hot after all of that