It’s Time We All Agreed ‘Twilight’ Is Actually Great

There were two kinds of people in 2008: those who obsessively loved Twilight, and those who hated it with just as fiery a passion. There was no in between. And the more Twi-mania built, the more feverish the backlash against it grew.

Like anything created and consumed by predominantly women and girls, Twilight was met with a level of vitriol that, for all its faults, it didn’t deserve. Don’t get me wrong, the movie – and the book it was based on – is far from perfect, and there are legitimate criticisms to be made about its more problematic and regressive elements. But frankly, those topics have been sucked drier than a mountain lion after Edward Cullen’s finished with it.

Looking back after more than a decade, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed by a sense of fondness and deep nostalgia for the movie. There was a reason so many of us were addicted to it, after all.

Let’s take a look back at some of the things that made Twilight so great.

Horny on main

The reason for the level of passion on both the love/hate sides of the fence when it comes to Twilight can be broken down to one key thing: at its core, it’s about (straight) female desire and sexual awakening. Nothing makes a certain section of the population angrier than the idea that girls and women actually have sexual agency. So it’s pretty remarkable that one of the biggest movies of the last 20 years was all about a teen girl’s horniness.

The “Mary Sue” label Bella got lumped with suggests there’s something wrong with wish fulfilment and fantasy, when in fact that was the whole point of the movie. Bella takes one look at Edward and decides that she wants him, and she spends the rest of the movie – indeed, the rest of the whole series – going after that goal.

While many worried that this sent a dangerous message about devoting your life to a guy, what the pearl-clutching missed was that Twilight wasn’t offering a how-to in living your life well. I honestly don’t think anyone watched it and thought “yep, Bella makes great decisions, I’m going to be just like her”. What Bella did offer was a female character who expressed her desire and pursued her lust, while Edward’s prudishness pushed back against the pervasive trope that teen guys are only after sex. Their dynamic wasn’t perfect, but there was power in it.

Twilight told teen girls (and grown-ass women) that the intense feelings of lust and longing they felt were normal and even good. It’s something we still don’t hear often enough.

Everyone say thank you Catherine Hardwicke

Catherine Hardwicke thought she was directing a quirky little indie movie about a teen girl’s intense crush on a sparkly vampire, and she turned it into one of the biggest blockbusters of the decade. She frequently doesn’t get the credit she deserves for making this happen – not least because she didn’t work on any of the subsequent (more polished, but far less magical) Twilight movies. Everything that followed, though, built on the success of the world she set up. With a tiny budget, she managed to create a movie that had a defined aesthetic, a great cast (more on that in a sec) and some legitimately beautiful moments.

People might complain about the pace of the plot, but the way the romantic and sexual tension unfolds is pitch-perfect. The chemistry between the cast is great, and Hardwicke infuses the whole thing with a beautifully dry humour that just isn’t present in the books. The truly excellent soundtrack elevates the whole thing to the next level. Catherine Hardwicke really did that.

Those kids can act

One of the most derided parts of Twilight is the acting, particularly of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. But anyone who is remotely familiar with their work in the time since knows they’re talented as hell. The thing is, that’s evident in Twilight too. There’s a raw naturalness to their performances – despite the entirely unnatural plot – that is charming and compelling. Kristen Stewart’s Bella is awkward and bumbling, while Robert Pattinson’s Edward exudes cool guy sex appeal, and their scenes together never fail to crackle.

Frankly, the fact they could say some of the lines in the script with a straight face is proof enough they’ve got mad skills.

The supporting cast is also pretty stellar. It’s not wall-to-wall great, but there are stand out performances – most notably Billy Burke’s Charlie Swan, and Anna Kendrick’s Jessica. Yeah, you probably forgot that Twilight gave us Anna Kendrick, right? But she’s truly wonderful in it. 

Supermassive Black Hole

I can’t finish my ode to Twilight without specifically mentioning one of the greatest scenes in cinema history: the baseball scene. It perfectly encapsulates everything that is excellent about the movie: the killer soundtrack, the playfulness and even goofiness, the cool (on several levels) aesthetic, and, uh, Edward looking really, really hot. If you don’t derive joy from this scene – and, indeed, the whole damn movie – then frankly, I feel sad for you.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to rewatch Twilight for about the 1067th time in my life. It’s what she deserves.