As I sat watching the vampiric ode to true love and white weddings that dominate the opening scenes of Breaking Dawn: Part 1, I waited anxiously for the honeymoon, pregnancy and birth scenes, wondering how the film would present Bella’s bruised body and horrific pregnancy. What caused me the most trepidation, though, were the imprinting scenes likely to come at the very end of Part 1. With many children in the audience, some appearing to be as young as six, I internally cringed, anticipating scenes that would likely glorify male dominance, romanticize female submission, frame pregnancy as THE happy ending, and suggest that an adult male falling in romantic love with a baby is sweet rather than gross.
The highly sanitized depictions in the film removed the vast majority of Bella’s “violet blotches,” decorating (Meyer’s word choice) her with a few tiny bruises on her arm and shoulder. This diminishment can be seen as positive, given that it results in a depiction that does not romanticize Bella’s bruised and battered body to the same extent as the book. (For more on this line of analysis, see this post.)
However, the horrors of Bella’s pregnancy are not diminished to the same extent. Seeing her skeletal, ghostly figure on the large screen, with sunken eyes and protruding collar bones, makes visible the book’s claim that the fetus is killing her. Yet, the film ultimately depicts the pregnancy and resulting birth as miraculous, a framing that also suggests the fetus is more important than Bella. Bella is portrayed as an heroic martyr, an ultimate mother-to-be, rather than as a delusional lovestruck teen with a seeming death wish. What a message for young audiences who are also privy to the popularity of teen motherhood that shows such as 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom foster!
Perhaps the most problematic and ick-inducing moment is the poorly-handled scene where Jacob “imprints” on baby Renesmee. As he looks into the baby’s eyes, he envisions her as a young girl, a teen and, then, a woman. He falls to his knees in front of baby Renesmee at the close of the scene, in gooey admiration. With child sexual abuse scandals rocking the nation, it would be hard to pull off any depiction of the imprinting strand of the narrative that doesn’t call to mind sexual abuse and pedophilia – but the director’s choice to have the baby age in Jacob’s mind doesn’t make the ick factor more palatable. If anything, it emphasizes that Jacob sees the baby he falls in love with AS the woman she will become. Ick ick ick.
Does the film have good moments? Sure. I especially liked the self-referential comedy where the movie poked fun at itself and the franchise. The wedding toast speeches were a comedic highlight, as were all of Jessica’s lines. Bella asking Edward, “What, you’re not a virgin?” added another comedic touch to the otherwise often pro-abstinence, sex-is-dangerous, pregnancy is a “godsend” message of the film.
The Twilight films have struck a cultural nerve. We need to pay attention to such zeitgeists even if we are not “fans” – such pop culture phenomenon take the pulse of the current moment, acting like cultural barometers. I just wish this pulse didn’t include a dead-looking young mother-to-be who cares nothing for herself, only for her Edward and the “little nudger” growing inside her. I also wish it didn’t include an adult male falling in romantic love with a baby girl. That is one meme that surely deserves to be slayed once and for all.
Natalie Wilson is the author of Seduced by Twilight. She teaches literature and women’s studies at Cal State San Marcos, and you can follow her blog here.
This post originally appeared on my former blog, StyleSubstanceSoul.
I like the “cultural phenomenon” – even if this all goes away tomorrow – which is unlikely – it is what young and old are attracted by in the moment which can give a glimpse into our lives 50 – 100 years from now…hmmm!