Unhealthy obsession

Teenage girls drawn to Twilight and its shallow look at romance need to understand what real love looks like | Megan Basham

AP/ Photo by Deana Newcomb (Summit Entertainment)

Die-hard fans of the vampire romance novel Twilight will be happy to know that the film (rated PG-13 for violence and sensuality) follows the book nearly to the letter. For everyone else, however, this isn’t good news. The nearly $70 million the big screen debut of Twilight brought in over the weekend doesn’t change the fact that the medium of film only magnifies the weaknesses of author Stephanie Meyers’ creation.

Many Christian readers have heaped praise on the Twilight series because its main characters maintain sexual abstinence. Never mind that, like most modern vampire stories, Twilight substitutes blood-drinking for sex. Therefore, to commend its young lovers for abstaining from intercourse is akin to commending a chocoholic for abstaining from brussels sprouts. In other words, the story hardly presents a positive relationship model for teenagers. There is little between Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), a solemn 17-year-old who moves from Phoenix, Ariz., to Forks, Wash., during her junior year, and her 90-year-old vampire classmate Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) beyond scowling and lust.

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November 29, 2008, Vol. 23, No. 24

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