Real Life Support for Moms
Mothers in Love with Twilight’s Edward Cullen
By
Melissa Stanton
www.lifesupportformoms.com
One benefit of having been consumed by kids for years and being
out-of-touch with pop culture is that when I finally got clued in to the
Twilight series of bestselling vampire novels by Stephanie Meyer—as I
did in December—I didn’t have to wait for the next book, or for the
movie release, etc. All things Twilight were available and ready for
this latecomer’s delight.
But now I’m feeling like a drug addict.
Before I explain my struggles with addiction, if you are a Twilight
virgin, here’s a quick introduction to all the fuss: The books are about
the relationship between Edward Cullen, a 17-year-old vampire, and Bella
Swan, the very human object of his affection and desperate desire.
Edward, who stopped aging when he became a vampire in 1918, and his
vampire family are “vegetarians.” (They crave human blood but only feed
off the blood of animals.) He hasn’t had a girlfriend in his entire life
and falls hard for Bella, an actual 17-year-old girl and classmate at
the high school he attends. The four books—Twilight,
New
Moon,
Eclipse and
Breaking Dawn—follow the travails of their forbidden, passionate,
yet essentially chaste, love.
The books were written for teenagers, specifically teenage girls. But as
I’ve learned from my friends and on the Internet, and experienced
myself, mothers are obsessively in love with Edward Cullen.
My friend Erin, who has had a long addiction to Edward, essentially
became my Twilight dealer. She lent me the books (I later bought them
all) and took me to her second viewing of the film.
I’ve read the four novels in the series—twice!
I read the online version of Midnight Sun, which is Meyer’s unfinished
draft of Twilight as told by Edward rather than Bella
Note to Meyer: Please finish Midnight Sun and write all the books
over in Edward’s voice. The stories are even better hearing them from
him.
Note to interested readers: Go to Meyer’s website,
www.stepheniemeyer.com, to download her official PDF of the draft.
After I read the books and all I could read about them, I picked-up
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, a classic Bella and Edward read and
discuss. Although I kept Eclipse at my bedside for weeks, I didn’t open
it again. I had kicked my Twilight habit and was sober for more than a
month, until March 26.
On that day, a half-dozen friends and I gathered to watch the Twilight
DVD, which was released on March 21. I watched the film again the next
night with my family.
Among the seven women present at the DVD gathering, only Lia (I’m
changing her name to protect the obsessed) and I had become consumed by
the books. The others attended for the fun of getting together, and out
of curiosity about the story and their own teenage daughters’
obsessions. (A couple of those girls wanted to attend our showing. We
should have let them. It would have been an interesting
intergenerational experience.)
When I had suggested to Lia that we recommend the series to our
15-member book group, she responded by saying, “I don’t think I want
that responsibility. I don’t want to be the reason someone becomes so
consumed by the stories that all she wants to do is read the books, and
read about the books, and think about Edward Cullen.”
Well, that’s essentially what’s happened. Three of the gathering’s five
Twilight virgins announced they were now going to read the books. One
emailed that night about how she was looking at her husband and trying
to imagine him as Edward Cullen.
Other friends have confessed to spending hours on the Internet,
searching for more information about the stories and, in a couple of
cases, looking into whatever happened to that long ago high school
boyfriend. My ob/gyn and I got sidetracked into a conversation about the
series during a recent appointment. I know moms who’ve left their
husbands home with the kids so they could go to the movie. The books are
easy reads (no great brain power needed) and great escapism. Even the
most frazzled mother will be mentally whisked away from the physical and
emotional chaos around her.
My husband looks at me in disbelief whenever my Edward crush surfaces.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asks. “It’s like you’re in love with a
fictional character.”
My response: “He’s just such a good boyfriend.”
Although Edward Cullen could easily be described as an obsessive,
controlling boyfriend, Bella doesn’t feels that way about him. And
because she doesn’t, I don’t either.
Edward loves Bella enormously and protects her constantly. He’s smart,
thoughtful, well-mannered, devoted. He cooks for her, even though he
doesn’t eat food. He cuddles her to sleep, even though, as a vampire, he
never sleeps. Because vampires are super-strong, and their bodies are as
hard and cold as marble, he touches Bella gently and tries not to chill
her by touching his skin to hers. And despite Bella’s pleading that they
go all the way, Edward won’t because he’s afraid he might hurt her.
(And, it’s later revealed, he’s fearful of the soul-damning consequences
of premarital sex.)
Edward might get some of his morality from his creator. Author Stephenie
Meyer is a Mormon mother of three sons. But in reality, how accepted and
successful would a book series for teenagers be if the main character
was having wild sex with a vampire? The kids might like it but parents
would howl.
In a way, Meyer has created the boyfriend we’d wish for our daughters
and the cautious, responsible, gentlemanly son we’d be proud to call our
own. Or, forgetting our age, she’s created a character we wish could be
our own love interest! (In the film, Edward is played by the strikingly
beautiful British actor Robert Pattinson, 22, formerly Cedric Diggory in
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.)
The other connection the book likely makes for many us older gals is
that it takes us back to when we were 17, or whatever younger-than-now
age we were when we had crushes, when the cute guy we watched from afar
actually spoke to us (or didn’t), when we first fell for someone who
felt the same about us.
I’m working on putting the books (and Edward?!) aside and getting back
to my life, at least until the movie of New Moon opens on November 20.
Have you read the books? Seen the movie? Are you similarly smitten? Or,
since we’re talking vampires here, have you been similarly bitten?
Twilight
New
Moon
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn
About
the Author:
Melissa Stanton is the author of The Stay-at-Home Survival Guide:
Field-tested strategies for staying smart, sane, and connected while
caring for your kids, published by Seal Press/Perseus Books
(www.stayathomesurvivalguide.com). Prior to becoming an at-home mother
of three, Stanton was a senior editor at LIFE and People magazines. Her
articles have appeared in The New York Times, Glamour, Parenting and
Brain,Child, among other publications and websites. Stanton is the
founder of “Real Life Support for Moms” (visit her blog at
www.lifesupportformoms.com). She lives with her family outside of
Washington, D.C.
Copyright © 2009 Melissa Stanton
