Spiritual discernment is necessary for healthy spiritual growth. There are times when I scratch my head and wonder at the media choices that our students make. What is even more mystifying is the parental stamp of approval of these choices. However, I’ve been around enough to realize that when a student claims a parent is okay with something, it may be quite the opposite.
Often, a teacher will hear rumblings about a video game or a movie that concerns them. This is what prompts this particular Pondering. Twilight is a young-adult vampire-romance novel written by Stephenie Meyer (a professed Mormon). Published in 2005, it was followed by subsequent novels (New moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn). The movie is about a seventeen-year-old girl named Isabella ‘Bella’ Swan. She moves from Arizona to Washington and finds her life in danger when she falls in love with a vampire named Edward Cullen. I’ve not seen the movie version of the book, but I went online to pick up the basic plot summary.
When Bella moves to her new school, she is befriended by several students. Several boys compete for shy Bella’s attention. She is seated next to Edward on her first day of school. Edwards seems repulsed by her. He warms up to her and they begin a relationship that reaches its zenith when Bella is nearly run over by a fellow classmate’s van in the school parking lot. Edward saves her life by appearing instantaneously and stopping the van with his bare hands.
Bella constantly pesters Edward with questions because she can’t understand how he did what he did. After tricking a family friend into telling her local legends, Bella concludes that Edward and his family are vampires who drink animal blood rather than human. Edward confesses that he initially avoided Bella because the scent of her blood was so desirable to him. Over time the two ‘fall’ in love.
Another tracker vampire named James decides to hunt Bella for sport. Edward’s family attempts to distract James by splitting up Bella and Edward. Bella is hidden away in a Phoenix hotel, but James finds her. He claims he is holding her mother captive. Bella surrenders herself, James attacks her, and Edward comes to the rescue and kills James.
James had already bitten Bella’s hand, so Edward sucks the venom from her system before it can transform her into a vampire. Bella and Edward go to the prom, Bella expresses her desire to become a vampire, and Edward refuses her request.
The cover pictured is explained by the author. The apple represents the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2.17 is quoted at the beginning of the book). Meyer uses the image to represent Bella’s knowledge of what good and evil are, and the choice that she has in partaking of the forbidden fruit (Edward), or choosing not to see him.
I completely understand why a movie like this would appeal to our students—especially the girls. Romantic fiction allows the reader (or viewer) to live vicariously through the characters. The emotional pull of such fare can be overpowering for a young person. However, giving into such media choices is deleterious to the spiritual well-being of our young people.
The movie taps into the longings of lovesick girls. It also confuses that which is obviously evil (vampires) with that which is good (resisting temptation). This is what the Harry Potter series does so effectively. Edward’s temptations to attack Bella and subsequent setting of boundaries to protect her, along with Bella’s willingness to let go of her soul for ‘eternal love’ with Edward are all metaphors for sex, lust, and the allure of the forbidden. The movie contains the use of God’s name as a swear word. It also has some other crudities in it. Edward is a practiced deceiver and rule-breaker. By the way, why is that girls like guys like this? Bella intentionally wounds her father with words her mother used when they divorce.
The movie doesn’t pass the muster of good biblical discernment (see Romans 12.1-2; Matthew 16.26). The fact that a girl would give up her eternal soul to love a vampire forever should be enough of a reason for a student to stay away from the movie. It is confusing and spiritually disabling for our young people.
