Twilight: Lowlights and a Farewell to Jacob

by Kari Tervo

I finally finished watching the Twilight saga. In honor of the great experience I had with the movies, I'm going to post some feedback about stuff I didn't like, and then bring you back up to a soaring farewell with triumphant music, a montage, and some fuzzy focus romance.

I'm referring to this criticism as "lowlights," which I think is a great time to declare that I'm glad that stupid ombre hair trend is over. Girl, you're gonna regret that in 15 years like Jennifer Aniston regrets the Rachel. I do admit, I did have some Rachel-y color banding in the late '90s, but I thought it was cool. My head looked like a sunset, or cinnamon toast.

What? What am I talking about? Twilight. Okay.

I shared a collection of fun thoughts about the first 4 movies, here. And I started talking about how I think some feminists have it all wrong about Twilight, here. All in all, I've been pretty happy with the series--it has made me laugh, cry, cringe, feel suspense, wonder, and do all those things movies are supposed to do! In short, I've been wonderfully entertained by this series.

Yet, I didn't enjoy Breaking Dawn, Part II as much as I did the first four films in the series. Here's why:

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Highlights and Horrors of Watching Twilight

by Kari Tervo

I just finished watching part four of the Twilight saga, Breaking Dawn, Part I.

In my earlier post on Twilight (here), I was in the middle of Eclipse, the third one. I wrote, "I’m just hoping the birthing scene involves sunlight and sparkles. And I hope none of you who have seen it are laughing at that."

Ummm. . .ha ha ha! The birthing scene alone was so intense and tragic, I had to watch from that point to the end in three separate sittings. Oh, how I long for the blissful ignorance of my youth (last Monday).

So, about this baby vampire (or whatever it is; I guess I have to watch Breaking Dawn, Part II to figure that out): Renesmee? Really? C'mon, Stephenie Meyer. Bella is the anti-lame. I don't think she would really get so sentimental or obvious as to make some horrid hybrid of her mother's name (Renee) and Edward's mother's name (Esme). Probably her high school friend Jessica would do that. I don't know, maybe motherhood changes you. They say there's something about baby brain. But I really think Stephenie Meyer was like, screw it! Who cares about its name when there's a grand possibility Jacob is going to eat it? At least Alice spoke for all of us when she strongly advised against Renesmee. She could see it coming that we wouldn't like it. Would that we all had such informative visions.

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Twilight vs. Team Feminist. Part One: Hermione's Shadow

By Kari Tervo

I just started watching the Twilight saga, five years after the first movie came out. I had known the basics of the plot forever, because the franchise is larger than life. I think Twilight has had more covers of Entertainment Weekly than the Entertainment Weekly logo. I decided to give it a sit-down and see what I’d been missing. 

I’m on the third movie now, Eclipse, and I’m enjoying the series. It’s a timeless story with modern (and monster) flourishes. The special effects are cool, and the cinematography is magical (that’s the kind of stuff we say out here in Hollywood). I admit I’m having a little trouble even looking at creepy, pasty-faced Edward (I do not see what that girl sees in him). That’s the primary reason I’m leaning Team Jacob, but I’m hoping that kid can learn to control his aggro a little. Maybe put him on a light dose of anti-psychotic. But another thing keeps creeping into my mind, like Edward stalking Bella in her room while she’s sleeping: All the feminist critiques I’ve seen floating around about Twilight.


A lot of feminists hate Twilight. If you Google “Twilight” and “anti-feminist,” you get around 30,000 results. I started watching the series fully expecting to cringe frequently from a feminist perspective. Instead, I’m left scratching my head. I just don’t see how Twilight is so anti-feminist. I’m here to defend Twilight from a feminist perspective. Over a few posts, I’ll cover just a few areas of criticism and explain why I think they have it wrong. Here’s the first one:

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