Show Me What It Looks Like

Outside your window at twilight.

Twilight. Just one more comment, I promise.

I am just so intrigued — not by the concept, characters, or storytelling, but by the general female response to the character Edward Cullen. So now, this is nothing to say of the book’s writing style or plot development. Some people are hard on Twilight, and rightly so. But it is what it is. I just have some things to point out about the immaculate vampire boyfriend.

Have you ever heard women say that their idea of relationships was skewed by the fiction they were exposed to as children? Perhaps that Disney gave them unrealistic expectations of love? I think it’s a common sentiment, yet some people make a bigger deal about it than others. Some girls need to be the princess just that much more. Even so, it has me a bit concerned for this generation of female teens, because it seems to me that Edward of the Twilight series was written with the expressed purpose of being perfect.

Edward is so good-looking that it “hurts to look at him”. He has superhuman strength and speed, and is thus able to redirect oncoming traffic with one hand. He is confident, he is brilliant, he is tall. He drives his shiny car extremely fast. He is detached to society’s opinion of him. He has prodigious piano-playing talent. He is also, to an unnatural extent, in love with a girl named Bella.

The only thing surprising about Bella is her averageness — written so that many, many girls would have no trouble identifying with her. No trouble projecting themselves onto her character. For while she is seventeen in the book, her internal dialogue is more reminiscent of fourteen. She’s the new girl, she doesn’t consider herself beautiful, and she’s insecure. Then again, is adolescence kind to anyone?

It isn’t abundantly clear why Edward falls in love with her, but he does. He is concerned in the utmost with her safety, health, comfort and happiness. Being a vampire, he does not need to eat or sleep. He has completed high school dozens of times, effectively erasing study time from his schedule. In short, he literally does have every second of his day free to give her. He can easily sneak into her room at night with no fear of being caught by dad — Edward can read minds, meld into darkness and has extrasensory hearing. He is stalwartly loyal, giving no other woman so much as a meaningful glance. Edward is Bella’s sure protection, always there to catch her when she trips, always able to dispatch all who seek to harm her.

Reading about such devotion would make any dreamer question their imperfect relationship.

I suppose I just worry for the girls who will refuse to settle for anything less than this in a man. And there is  something to be said for not settling. Yes, he should love you and protect you. He should be concerned for you, listen to you, be loyal to you. But for all he is, Edward is not real. There is no man who can live up to that standard. In reality, guys who have no lives beyond their girlfriends are clingy and stifling.

Perfect men are fictional.

So are perfect women, and never the two shall meet — save for in fairytales.