Mar 19 2009
Is Twilight Too Graphic for Teens
Few books in recent memory have captured the same level of crazed fandom as the Twilight Saga. Teens especially have devoured each of the four books in the series and clamored to the cinema when the movie was released. While some parents are just as enamored with the budding romance between awkward Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen, far more parents remain content to leave this series for their children to enjoy.
But is that a good idea? Are the Twilight books and movie too graphic for teens?
Obviously, that is a question each parent will have to decide based on their beliefs and the maturity level of their child(ren). In case you’re one of the parents who has not read the series, I’ll address some of the major issues that come up so you can make a more informed decision. (Of course, keep in mind that I am the same crazy chick who runs Your Dark Passenger and The Vampire Lair so take what I say with a grain of salt.)
Anyway…let’s get to it with today’s topic (This will be a mini-series) :
Vampires and Blood Drinking in Twilight
Just by their very nature, vampires are sensual creatures in works of fiction. For whatever reason, drinking blood and sex seem to go hand in hand. The majority of the vampire books I’ve read have lengthy passages about finding victims, draining them of their blood and killing them.
Twilight is different.
The Cullen family call themselves “vegetarian vampires” because they do not feed on the blood of humans, only animals. So there’s no human blood drinking there. The story is told in first person narrative by Bella Swan, a human who falls in love with one of the vampires, Edward Cullen. Because she’s a human and doesn’t drink blood, there’s nothing to tell there. Even during the brutal fight scene, she can’t really describe much because her perspective of it is…skewed.
The series does become a bit more violent as the books progress, but there are no real descriptions of people drinking blood or feeding until the final book. Even then, it’s nowhere near as bad as most vampire books I’ve read.
Though it’s been embellished from the book version to make it more of a Hollywood vampire thing, it’s still nowhere near as bad as it could be. The one scene of a vampire feeding on a human is completely in context so there are no sexual undertones to it. And, if you’ve seen it then you already know, it’s so cheesy that most people in my cinema were too busy making fun of the facial expressions to pay attention to the fact it was a vampire drinking blood.
So, in my opinion, Twilight is not too graphic for teens from the blood drinking perspective. Join me tomorrow when I’ll discuss if Twilight is too sexy for teens because of the romance.
Jen
“The difference? I make sarcasm look good.”
I agree it’s not too violent, but I was reading adult books at my daughter’s age (14) and she’s pretty advanced. I did go to the movie with her and read the entire series afterwards. The details that people get worked up over are not as important as the underlying meanings.
In my opinion.