Series of vampire romance novels by Stephenie Meyer
Twilight
is a series of four
fantasy romance novels
, two companion novels, and one novella written by American author
Stephenie Meyer
. Released annually from 2005 through 2008, the four novels chart the later teen years of
Bella Swan
, a girl who moves to
Forks, Washington
, from
Phoenix, Arizona
and falls in love with a 104-year-old
vampire
named
Edward Cullen
. The series is told primarily from Bella's point of view, with the epilogue of
Eclipse
and the second part of
Breaking Dawn
being told from the viewpoint of character
Jacob Black
, a
werewolf
. A novella,
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
, which tells the story of a newborn vampire who appeared in
Eclipse
, was published on 2010.
[1]
The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide
, a definitive encyclopedic reference with nearly 100 full color illustrations, was released in bookstores in 2011.
[2]
In 2015, Meyer published a new novel in honor of the 10th anniversary of the book series,
Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined
, with the genders of the original protagonists switched.
[3]
Midnight Sun
, a retelling of the first book,
Twilight
, from Edward Cullen's point of view, was published in 2020.
Since the release of the first novel,
Twilight
, in 2005, the books have gained immense popularity and commercial success around the world. The series is most popular among
young adults
; the four books have won multiple awards, most notably the 2008
British Book Award
for Children's Book of the Year for
Breaking Dawn
,
[4]
while the series as a whole won the
2009 Kids' Choice Award
for Favorite Book.
[5]
As of November 2011, the series had sold over 120 million copies worldwide with translations into at least 38 different languages around the globe.
[6]
The four
Twilight
books have consecutively set records as the biggest-selling novels of 2008 on the
USA Today
Best-Selling Books list
[7]
and have spent over 235 weeks on the
New York Times
Best Seller list
for Children's Series Books.
[8]
The novels have been adapted into
The Twilight Saga
film series by
Summit Entertainment
. The film adaptations of the first three novels were released in 2008, 2009, and 2010, respectively. The fourth novel was adapted into two films, the first film being released in November 2011 and the second film in November 2012.
[9]
Twilight Saga
Twilight
Bella Swan
moves from
Phoenix, Arizona
to live with her father in
Forks, Washington
to allow her mother to travel with her new husband, a minor league
baseball
player. After moving to Forks, Bella finds herself involuntarily drawn to a mysterious, handsome boy,
Edward Cullen
and eventually learns that he is a member of a vampire family which drinks animal blood rather than human blood. Edward and Bella fall in love, while James, a sadistic vampire from another coven, is drawn to hunt down Bella. Edward and the other Cullens defend Bella. She escapes to Phoenix, where she is tricked into confronting James, who tries to kill her. She is seriously wounded, but Edward rescues her and they return to Forks.
New Moon
Edward and his family leave Forks because he believes he is endangering Bella's life. Bella goes into a depression until she develops a strong friendship with
Jacob Black
, who she discovers can shape-shift into a wolf. Jacob and the other wolves in his tribe must protect her from Victoria, a vampire seeking to avenge the death of her mate James. Due to a misunderstanding, Edward believes Bella is dead. Edward decides to commit suicide in
Volterra
,
Italy
, but is stopped by Bella, who is accompanied by Edward's sister, Alice. They meet with the
Volturi
, a powerful vampire coven, and are released only on the condition that Bella be turned into a vampire in the near future. Bella and Edward are reunited, and she and the Cullens return to Forks.
Eclipse
Victoria has created an army of "newborn" vampires to battle the Cullen family and murder Bella for revenge. Meanwhile, Bella is compelled to choose between her relationship with Edward and her friendship with Jacob. Edward's vampire family and Jacob's werewolf pack join forces to successfully destroy Victoria and her vampire army. In the end, Bella chooses Edward's love over Jacob's friendship and agrees to marry Edward.
Breaking Dawn
Bella and Edward are married, but their
honeymoon
is cut short when Bella discovers that she is pregnant. Her pregnancy progresses rapidly, severely weakening her. She nearly dies giving birth to her and Edward's daughter,
Renesmee
, a
dhampir
. Edward injects Bella with his venom to save her life and makes her a vampire. A vampire from another coven sees Renesmee and mistakes her for an "immortal child". She informs the
Volturi
, as the existence of such beings violates vampire law. The Cullens gather vampire witnesses who can verify that Renesmee is not an
immortal
child. After an intense confrontation, the Cullens and their witnesses convince the Volturi that the child poses no danger to vampires or their secret, and they are left in peace by the Volturi.
Life and Death
On October 6, 2015, Little, Brown and Company released the
Twilight Tenth Anniversary/Life and Death Dual Edition
, which includes a nearly-400 page reimagining of the novel with Edward and Bella gender-swapped as Edythe and Beau. The reimagined novel has a more conclusive ending, seemingly precluding its continuation through the remaining three
Twilight
novels.
[10]
Midnight Sun
Midnight Sun
is a 2020 companion
novel
to the 2005 book
Twilight
by author
Stephenie Meyer
. The work retells the events of
Twilight
from the perspective of
Edward Cullen
instead of that of the series' usual narrating character
Bella Swan
.
[11]
Meyer stated that
Twilight
was to be the only book from the series that she planned to rewrite from Edward's perspective.
[12]
To give them a better feel of Edward's character, Meyer allowed
Catherine Hardwicke
, the director of the film adaptation of
Twilight
, and
Robert Pattinson
, the actor playing Edward, to read some completed chapters of the novel while they shot the film.
[13]
[14]
[15]
It was released on August 4, 2020.
[16]
[17]
Future
In August 2020, Meyer revealed that she is working on two additional
Twilight
novels. The author intends to continue writing these stories, after completing an original book first.
[18]
Additional material
Graphic novels
On March 16, 2010,
Yen Press
released
Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 1
, by artist Young Kim based on the first book in the series.
[19]
In February 2011, the graphic novel won the 2010 Gem Awards Best Manga of the Year.
[20]
The sequel,
Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 2
was released on October 11, 2011,
[21]
and followed
Volume 1
in topping
The New York Times Best Seller list
for Hardcover Graphic Books in its first week.
[22]
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
In March 2010, Meyer revealed on her official website that she will be releasing a new novella in the series,
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
, which tells the story of a newborn vampire who appeared in
Eclipse
, on June 5, 2010.
[1]
An electronic version of the book was made available free from her web site, as well as in bookstores.
[23]
Illustrated Guide
In October 2010,
Little, Brown and Company
announced that
The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide
, a definitive encyclopedic reference for the saga including character profiles, outtakes, a conversation with Meyer, genealogical charts, maps and extensive cross-references with nearly 100 full color illustrations, was to be released on April 12, 2011, after many publication delays since 2008.
[24]
It debuted at #1 on
The New York Times Best Seller list
, where it stayed for three consecutive weeks,
[25]
[26]
[27]
and at #4 on the
USA Today
Best Seller list.
[28]
Main characters
- Bella Swan
: The protagonist of the series, teenager Bella is a perpetually clumsy "danger magnet" with dark brown hair and brown eyes. She is often portrayed as having low self-esteem and unable to comprehend Edward's love for her. She has an immunity to supernatural abilities involving the mind, such as Edward's mind-reading ability. After her transformation into a vampire in the saga's fourth installment, Bella acquires the ability to shield both herself and others from "mental harm" from other vampires.
- Edward Cullen
: Edward is a vampire who lives with a coven of like-minded vampires known as the Cullen family, who feed on animals rather than humans. Over the course of the
Twilight
series, Edward falls in love with, marries, and then has a child with Bella. At first, Edward feels a mutual hatred toward Jacob Black because of his love for Bella, but in
Breaking Dawn
, he comes to see Jacob as a brother and friend. Like some vampires, Edward has a supernatural ability: mind reading. It allows him to read anyone's thoughts within a few miles' radius. Bella is immune to his power as a human, but learns how to lower this "shield" after her transformation to a vampire.
- Jacob Black
: A minor character in the first novel, Jacob is introduced as a member of the
Quileute
tribe. He resurfaces in
New Moon
with a larger role as Bella's best friend as she struggles through her depression over losing Edward. Although he is in love with Bella, she initially sees him as just her best friend. He and other tribe members can shape-shift into wolves. In
Eclipse
Bella realizes that while she does love Jacob, her feelings for Edward Cullen are stronger. In
Breaking Dawn
, Jacob
imprinted
on Bella and Edward's baby daughter, Renesmee, ridding him of his heartache for Bella.
Setting
The story is set primarily in the town of
Forks, Washington
, where Bella and her father,
Charlie Swan
, live. Other cities in
Washington
briefly appear in the series or are mentioned, such as
Port Angeles
,
Olympia
,
Seattle
and
La Push
. Some events in
Twilight
take place in
Phoenix, Arizona
, where Bella was raised.
Volterra
,
Italy
, is featured in
New Moon
, when Edward travels there to commit suicide and Bella rushes to save him.
Jacksonville, Florida
, is mentioned first in
Twilight
and second in
Eclipse
, when Edward and Bella visit Bella's mother, who has moved there with her new husband.
Seattle, Washington
, is featured in
Breaking Dawn
when Jacob tries to escape his love for Bella, and when Bella tries to locate a man named J. Jenks. It is also the location of a series of murders committed by newborn vampires in
Eclipse
. In
Breaking Dawn
, Bella and Edward spend their honeymoon on a fictional "Isle Esme", purportedly off the coast of Brazil.
Structure and genre
The
Twilight
series falls under the genre of
young adult
,
fantasy
, and
romance
, though Meyer categorized her first book,
Twilight
, as "suspense romance horror comedy".
[29]
However, she states that she considers her books as "romance more than anything else".
[29]
The series explores the unorthodox romance between human Bella and vampire Edward, as well as the
love triangle
between Bella, Edward, and Jacob, a werewolf.
[30]
The books avoid delving into provocative sex, drugs, and harsh swearing because, according to Meyer, "I don't think teens need to read about gratuitous sex."
[31]
To some, Meyer's novels fall into the category of
gothic literature
as well. Meyer's use of monsters and the unsettling circumstances of Edward and Bella's relationship are key components to the gothic. Gothic literature allows readers to analyze abstract concepts through dark or disturbing analogies.
[32]
The disturbing nature of the gothic is a result of "repressed familiarity," according to
neurologist
Sigmund Freud
,
[33]
and we are meant to see ourselves in Meyer's monsters.
[32]
: 48?49
It is also interesting to note that dreams are an important theme in the gothic genre, and Meyer's main inspiration for
Twilight
came from a dream.
Mary Shelley
's
Frankenstein
,
a classic in gothic literature, was also inspired by a dream.
Twilight
moves away from the classical gothic however, through Bella's sympathy toward Edward. Rather than feeling disgust for the vampire, the dangerous intrigue she takes in him moves the plot forward.
[32]
: 49
The books are written in
first-person narrative
, primarily through Bella's eyes with the epilogue of the third book and a part of the fourth book being from Jacob's
point of view
. When asked about the structure of the novel, Meyer described her difficulty in pinpointing the premise of the novels to any specific category. The novels involve vampires, but they are not the typical tragic or bloodthirsty kind. The main characters are high schoolers, but according to some, that description also unfairly stereotypes the series.
[34]
The books are based on the vampire myth, but
Twilight
vampires differ in a number of particulars from the general vampire lore. For instance,
Twilight
vampires have strong piercing teeth rather than fangs; they glitter in sunlight rather than burn; and they can drink animal as well as human blood. Meyer comments that her vampire mythology differs from that of other authors because she wasn't informed about the canon vampires. She did not consider the way her vampires differed from established literature until
Twilight
was close to being published. By that time, it was too late make drastic changes and Meyer kept her vampires sans "fang and coffins and so forth" not as an act of separation from vampire canon, but as staying true to the way the characters appeared in her mind.
[35]
Inspiration and themes
According to the author, her books are "about life, not death" and "love, not lust".
[36]
Each book in the series was inspired by and loosely based on a different literary classic:
Twilight
on
Jane Austen
's 1813 novel
Pride and Prejudice
,
New Moon
on
William Shakespeare
's play
Romeo and Juliet
,
Eclipse
on
Emily Bronte
's 1847 novel
Wuthering Heights
, and
Breaking Dawn
on a second Shakespeare play,
A Midsummer Night's Dream
.
[37]
Meyer also states that
Orson Scott Card
and
L. M. Montgomery
's
Anne of Green Gables
series are a big influence on her writing.
[34]
The Cullens were inspired by Meyer's own family
[38]
as well as characters from the
X-Men
cartoon.
[39]
Other influences on the series which Meyer has acknowledged include the 1847 novel
Jane Eyre
by
Charlotte Bronte
,
HGTV
, and the films
Iron Man
(2008),
Somewhere in Time
(1980),
Stranger than Fiction
(2006), and
Baby Mama
(2008).
[39]
Other major themes of the series include choice and free will.
[34]
[40]
Meyer says that the books are centered around Bella's choice to choose her life on her own, and the Cullens' choices to abstain from killing rather than follow their temptations: "I really think that's the underlying metaphor of my vampires. It doesn't matter where you're stuck in life or what you think you have to do; you can always choose something else. There's always a different path."
[40]
Meyer, a
Mormon
, acknowledges that her faith has influenced her work. In particular, she says that her characters "tend to think more about where they came from, and where they are going, than might be typical."
[31]
The
Twilight
series analyzes the
Christian
moral dilemma of mortal temptation. As a vampire, Edward experiences strong carnal temptations that would result in the corruption of his sense of self. Overcoming these temptations illustrates a common Christian principles of "overcoming the natural man".
[41]
Mormon tenets of immortality and eternal life are also explored in the series. The vampires have perfected, immortal bodies, but the Cullens long for satisfying relationships. Bella achieves both immortality and the Mormon concept of eternal life by becoming a vampire alongside her husband and daughter.
[41]
Meyer also steers her work from subjects such as sex, despite the romantic nature of the novels. Meyer says that she does not consciously intend her novels to be Mormon-influenced, or to promote the virtues of sexual abstinence and spiritual purity, but admits that her writing is shaped by her values, saying, "I don't think my books are going to be really graphic or dark, because of who I am. There's always going to be a lot of light in my stories."
[42]
Origins and publishing history
Stephenie Meyer says that the idea for
Twilight
came to her in a dream on June 2, 2003. The dream was about a human girl, and a vampire who was in love with her but thirsted for her blood. Based on this dream, Meyer wrote the transcript of what is now chapter 13 of the book.
[43]
Despite having very little writing experience, in a matter of three months she had transformed that dream into a completed novel.
[40]
After writing and editing the novel, she signed a three-book deal with
Little, Brown and Company
for $750,000, an unusually high amount for a first time author.
[44]
Meyer's literary agent, Jodi Reamer of Writers House, discovered her only because the inexperienced assistant who received Meyer's original letter did not know that young adult books are supposed to be 40,000 to 60,000 words in length, not 130,000 words.
[45]
Megan Tingley, the Little, Brown editor who signed Meyer, said that halfway through the reading of the
Twilight
manuscript, she realized that she had a future bestseller in her hands.
[46]
The book was released in 2005.
Following the success of
Twilight
, Meyer expanded the story into a series with three more books:
New Moon
(2006),
Eclipse
(2007), and
Breaking Dawn
(2008). In its first week after publication, the first sequel,
New Moon
, debuted at #5 on the
New York Times
Best Seller List for Children's Chapter Books, and in its second week rose to the #1 position, where it remained for the next eleven weeks. In total, it spent over 50 weeks on the list.
[47]
After the release of
Eclipse
, the first three "Twilight" books spent a combined 143 weeks on the
New York Times
Best Seller List.
[40]
The fourth installment of the
Twilight
series,
Breaking Dawn
, was released with an initial print run of 3.7 million copies.
[48]
Over 1.3 million copies were sold on the first day alone, setting a record in first-day sales performance for the
Hachette Book Group USA
.
[49]
Upon the completion of the fourth entry in the series, Meyer indicated that
Breaking Dawn
would be the final novel to be told from
Bella Swan
's perspective.
[50]
In 2008 and 2009, the four books of the series claimed the top four spots on
USA Today
's year-end bestseller list, making Meyer the first author to ever achieve this feat.
[51]
[52]
The series then won the
2009 Kids' Choice Award
for Favorite Book, where it competed against the
Harry Potter
series
.
[5]
Reception
The response to
Twilight
has been mixed. While the books have become immensely popular, they have also generated much controversy.
Positive reception
Twilight
has gathered acclaim for its popularity with its target readers.
The Times
lauded it for capturing "perfectly the teenage feeling of sexual tension and alienation."
[53]
Other reviews described
Twilight
as an "exquisite fantasy",
[54]
and a "gripping blend of romance and horror".
[55]
Lev Grossman
of
Time
wrote that the books have a "pillowy quality distinctly reminiscent of Internet
fan fiction
", but still praised the series, comparing it to
The Lord of the Rings
and
Harry Potter
:
People do not want to just read Meyer's books; they want to climb inside them and live there... There's no literary term for the quality
Twilight
and
Harry Potter
(and
The Lord of the Rings
) share, but you know it when you see it: their worlds have a freestanding internal integrity that makes you feel as if you should be able to buy real estate there.
[40]
The
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
called the book a "hot new teen novel",
[56]
Entertainment Weekly
called Meyer "the world's most popular vampire novelist since Anne Rice",
[57]
The New York Times
described
Twilight
as a "literary phenomenon",
[58]
and Matt Arado of
Daily Herald
noted that the
Twilight
books have become the "hottest publishing phenomenon since a certain bespectacled wizard cast his spell on the world."
[59]
The large and diverse online fan community of the series are often noted, sometimes even being called "cult-like".
[60]
Despite this, the series is often considered to have a wider appeal; Crystal Mack of
Daily Herald
said, "While teenage girls are the main audience, young boys and adults of both genders have also been swept up in the phenomenon."
[61]
The author and the series' popularity are often compared with
J. K. Rowling
and
Harry Potter
.
[40]
[62]
Describing the fan following of the books, the
Phoenix New Times
wrote, "Meyer's fandom is reminiscent of
Harry Potter
mania."
[46]
The Daily Telegraph
described
Twilight
as the "spiritual successor to
Harry Potter
".
[63]
Rebekah Bradford of
The Post and Courier
stated that the series has a "huge crossover appeal much like the
Harry Potter
books before them."
[64]
According to the
Daily Telegraph
, "Stephenie Meyer, in particular, has achieved incredible success across all the English-speaking nations and Europe and many will say that her
Twilight
series has filled the hole left by
Harry Potter
."
[65]
Meyer has responded to such comparisons, saying, "It's terribly flattering to be compared to her, but there's never going to be another J. K. Rowling; that's a phenomenon that's not gonna happen again", however noting that "you can compare my fans to her fans more easily [than me to her]. I do think that we both have people who are just really really enthusiastic, and will come miles to see you and be involved, and everybody really cares about our characters."
[66]
Economically, the town of
Forks, Washington
, the setting for the
Twilight
series, has improved due to
tourism
from fans of the books.
[67]
Forks is visited by an average of 8,000 tourists per month,
[68]
and has been described as a "mecca for Twilighters".
[69]
In response to plans for the aging Forks High School to be renovated,
Twilight
fans have teamed up with Infinite Jewelry Co. and the West Olympic Peninsula Betterment Association to collect donations in an attempt to save the brick appearance or the building altogether.
[70]
On November 5, 2019, the
BBC News
listed
The Twilight Series
on its list of the
100 most influential novels
.
[71]
Negative reception
The series has garnered some notoriety both over its literary substance and over the type of relationship portrayed in the books.
Many have derided the series as poor writing. While comparing
Stephenie Meyer
to
J. K. Rowling
,
Stephen King
said, "the real difference [between Rowling and Meyer] is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer, and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good."
[72]
[73]
However, King understood the appeal of the series, adding, "People are attracted by the stories, by the pace and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it's very clear that she's writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It's exciting and it's thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because it's not overtly sexual."
[73]
A quote from Robin Browne (though frequently misattributed to King or Andrew Futral)
[74]
negatively compares the
Twilight
and
Harry Potter
book series: "
Harry Potter
is about confronting fears, finding inner strength and doing what is right in the face of adversity ...
Twilight
is about how important it is to have a boyfriend".
[75]
Laura Miller of
Salon.com
wrote that "the characters, such as they are, are stripped down to a minimum, lacking the texture and idiosyncrasies of actual people", and said that "
Twilight
would be a lot more persuasive as an argument that an 'amazing heart' counts for more than appearances if it didn't harp so incessantly on Edward's superficial splendors."
[76]
Elizabeth Hand of
The Washington Post
wrote, "Meyer's prose seldom rises above the serviceable, and the plotting is leaden."
[77]
The article, featured on the
Yahoo!
website Shine, also criticized the books and the author's final word on the series was, "Good books deal with themes of longing and loneliness, sexual passion and human frailty, alienation and fear just as the
Twilight
books do. But they do so by engaging us with complexities of feeling and subtleties of character, expressed in language that rises above banal mediocrity. Their reward is something more than just an escape into banal mediocrity. We deserve something better to get hooked on."
[78]
[79]
Controversy
The books have also been widely critiqued as promoting, normalizing, and idealizing an emotionally and physically abusive relationship. Sci-fi website
io9
noted that Bella and Edward's relationship meets all fifteen criteria set by the
National Domestic Violence Hotline
for being in an abusive relationship.
[80]
L. Lee Butler of
Young Adult Library Services Association
commented how he was unusually hesitant to stock the
Twilight
books in his library because he felt the books were "robbing [teen girls] of agency and normalizing stalking and abusive behavior."
[81]
Many female-oriented and feminist media outlets, like
Jezebel
,
[82]
The Frisky,
[83]
and
Salon.com
have decried
Twilight
as promoting an anti-woman message.
[84]
Bitch
magazine
stated the novels "had created a new, popular genre of "abstinence porn", concluding that, "In reality, the abstinence message?wrapped in the genre of abstinence porn?objectifies Bella in the same ways that 'real' porn might. The
Twilight
books conflate Bella losing her virginity with the loss of other things, including her sense of self and her very life. Such a high-stakes treatment of abstinence reinforces the idea that Bella is powerless, an object, a fact that is highlighted when we get to the sex scenes in
Breaking Dawn
."
[85]
Ms.
declared that
Twilight
promotes a physically abusive relationship and an
anti-abortion
message.
[86]
However, writer Angela Aleiss of
Religion News Service
said that contrary to popular opinion, Mormons do permit abortion when the mother's life is in danger. Bella's refusal to abort her fetus, along with her quick marriage and pregnancy, instead underscore the Mormon emphasis on family.
[87]
Various psychology experts have come out in agreement with the assessment of the relationship as abusive.
[88]
Melissa Henson, Director of communication and public education for the
Parents Television Council
, stated:
To impressionable teens, domestic violence is almost romanticized. We've made great strides in recent years in clearly communicating the message that is never okay to hit a woman...Today, the hidden message in the entertainment consumed by many impressionable teens is that if he hits you, it is out of love – which is absolutely wrong.
[89]
Many entertainment and media outlets have made similar comments on the abusive nature of Bella and Edward's relationship, including
Entertainment Weekly
,
[90]
Movieline
,
[91]
and
Mediabistro.com
.
[92]
Meyer has dismissed such criticisms, arguing both that the books center around Bella's choice, which she perceives as the foundation of modern
feminism
, and that Bella's
damsel in distress
persona is due only to her humanity.
[93]
Meyer also added, "Just because [Bella] doesn't do kung fu and she cooks for her father doesn't make her worthy of that criticism".
[94]
Shannon Simcox of
The Daily Collegian
has similarly dismissed the criticism surrounding Bella, commenting, "While Bella plays the perfect damsel in distress that gets herself into sticky situations, she is also very in control of herself. She chose to move to Forks and be in a new place; she constantly faces a bunch of people who want to suck the life right out of her, and she is constantly pleading to become a vampire, too, so she can take care of herself and Edward."
[95]
[96]
Legal issues
In December 2010, professional singer Matthew Smith, known as Matt Heart, sued
Summit Entertainment
in the case
Smith v. Summit Entertainment LLC
. Smith's song "Eternal Knight" was posted on several websites accompanied by cover art which Summit claimed used its "Twilight" typeface mark. Smith won four of the seven causes of action, including his right to continue distribution of his copyrighted song, under the terms that he remove any reference to "Twilight" or the "Twilight Saga".
[97]
Book challenges
The
Twilight
series made the number five spot on the
American Library Association
's (ALA) Top Ten List of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009, for being "Sexually Explicit", "Unsuited to Age Group", and having a "Religious Viewpoint".
[98]
Film adaptations
A screenplay for
Twilight
was written by
Melissa Rosenberg
and has been
adapted into a film
by
Summit Entertainment
. The film was directed by
Catherine Hardwicke
, with
Kristen Stewart
and
Robert Pattinson
in the leading roles of
Isabella Swan
and
Edward Cullen
, respectively. The movie was released in the United States on November 21, 2008.
[99]
Twilight: The Complete Illustrated Movie Companion
, written by
Mark Cotta Vaz
, was released October 28.
[100]
On November 22, 2008, following the box office success of
Twilight
,
Summit Entertainment
confirmed a sequel, called
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
, based on the second book in the series,
New Moon
.
[101]
The film was released on November 20, 2009.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 20, 2010, through midnight release parties.
[102]
That same day, Summit Entertainment released
Twilight in Forks
, a documentary about the primary setting of the
Twilight
series,
Forks, Washington
.
[103]
Topics Entertainment released its own documentary about Forks and the
Twilight
series on March 16, called
Forks: Bitten by Twilight
.
[104]
The third installment in the series,
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
, was released on June 30, 2010.
[105]
[106]
The fourth installment,
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
was released November 18, 2011. The fifth and last installment,
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2
was released November 16, 2012.
[107]
Impact
While the
Twilight
series has been a visible presence in many conventions such as
ComicCon
, there have also been many conventions whose main focus has been on the
Twilight
series (books and films). Some notable conventions have been
TwiCon
in 2009 and a series of "Official Twilight Conventions" that are being held by
Creation Entertainment
.
[108]
Forever Twilight in Forks Festival is held in
Forks, Washington
, every year around September 13, Bella Swan's birthday.
[
citation needed
]
Originally called Stephenie Meyer's Day, the festival was created by the Forks City Council, and has led to an increase in tourism to the town.
[
citation needed
]
The festival attracts fans to visit famous sites from the movies, including Forks High School, Bella's house, the Cullens' house, Newton hardware store, and La Push Beach.
[
citation needed
]
Fans often dress up as their favorite book characters.
[
citation needed
]
In popular culture
- In the 2010 vampire horror film
Lost Boys: The Thirst
, there was a not-so-good romantic vampire novel series, and a so-called copy of the
Twilight
novel series (titled
Eternity Kiss
) written by fictional character Gwen Lieber (played by
South African
actress
Tanit Phoenix
). Vampire hunter Edgar Frog (played by
Corey Feldman
) chastises Gwen for very poor reviews on her novels.
[109]
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External links