Breaking Dawn, the latest chapter of the Twilight series comes out tonight at midnight. I’m sure there will be thousands of people on line waiting to get in. But as I have a Y chromosome I won’t be there. I don’t do vampires that sparkle.
But I’ve done a little reading and it seems to me that “Breaking Dawn” might be one of the most pro-life movies to come out of Hollywood in recent years. Yeah, sure there’s the whole brooding undead and werewolves with no shirts but in this movie, Bella, the heroine of the movies gets married and gets pregnant. (Yes, they waited until marriage to have sex.) And when she gets pregnant with some kind of half vampire/half human hybrid baby, the girl is told by a few people that she could die if she carries this baby to term.
But here’s the thing – Bella decided to keep the baby even knowing the risk. That’s pretty cool. And yeah, there’s probably lots of things wrong in the movie but that’s a pretty good message for young people. So before you roll your eyes at all things Twilight, know that all those girls lining up to see the film are going to see a very pro-life message come out of a mainstream movie.
November 17, 2011 at 7:27 pm
For a good full review of these movies I suggest reading here: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/parents-beware-twilight-breaking-dawn-features-disturbing-treatment-of-abor
Be sure to read to the end. It is very informative. No one should allow their children to see these movies. They have no redemptive quality.
November 17, 2011 at 7:34 pm
anonymous- I was going to post that same link!
November 17, 2011 at 7:35 pm
Isn't chastity more than just postponing sex until marriage? Bella and Edward's relationship was never chaste
November 17, 2011 at 8:06 pm
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November 17, 2011 at 8:07 pm
Priest's wife-AMEN to the last comment. Not at all. And teenage girls should not be reading those books. They are awful.
November 17, 2011 at 8:49 pm
I read these books on the recommendation of a friend of mine who runs a crisis pregnancy center. She told me that they carried a strong chastity message, and she was right. They also carry a strong pro-life message. Give the audience some credit, I think they know the difference between a human baby and a part-vampire baby. The whole context of these books is that humans and vampires are not compatible; Bella and Edward overcomes that incompatibility through their love for each other and his strength and self-control. (Bella would be something of a tramp given half a chance.) The stories may not be perfect, but they are a huge improvement over typical teen fare these days.
November 17, 2011 at 8:58 pm
Dude. Darla kept her baby too. It only matters if the baby is human. You saw what happened with Connor.
November 17, 2011 at 9:20 pm
Geek!
November 17, 2011 at 10:42 pm
I wish the Vatican would make an official statement on vampire babies. Something with real teeth.
November 18, 2011 at 2:12 am
Can we all just get past this nationwide obsession with vampires and/or zombies already? Please?
November 18, 2011 at 10:05 am
@Matt: Who's geekier, the geek who makes the reference, or the geek who gets the reference? 🙂
November 18, 2011 at 12:25 pm
@MATT great writing hmmm Mary De Voe
November 18, 2011 at 12:26 pm
@Blackrep: The Vatican has made a statement: The Vatican has an exorcist.
November 18, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Um, doesn't the baby kill Bella? She then loses her humanity and becomes a vampire? I don't know if that is a positive message, but I'm leaning more to the creepy.
November 18, 2011 at 6:41 pm
Yeah, Swaim, but Darla's baby had to be nourished by the blood of children. This one just grows really fast, rips its way out of Bella (who becomes undead) and gets engaged as an infant to a werewolf.
I take it that it's SORT of a pro-life message, at least as pro-life as you get in that sort of novel. The baby is alive, even if its parents aren't. Don't knock it — people find God all kinds of places. Now they may find the Mormon God in these books, but that's another story…
Gail F
November 18, 2011 at 7:01 pm
How does a dead being procreate? This is one of the problems I have with all vampire lit that portrays them as sexed up beings. They would probably have absolutely no sex drive since they wouldn't (or shouldn't) be able to procreate, nor would they have any particular need to.
And yes, I am way overthinking this.
November 18, 2011 at 7:11 pm
Well Paul, most vampires don't procreate. That's kinda new really. Twilight has vampires as these demi-gods that are a step forward and transcend humanity rather than the twisted caricature of life that they have traditionally been.
As to the sexed up, that trend can be seen to follow the separation of fertility and sex in modern culture.
November 18, 2011 at 9:02 pm
Two words:
Vampire c-section.
No thanks, man. Alas, I read the books at the behest of my SIL-who insisted they were great until I started complaining and then she just insisted it would all pay off in the end….it didn't. Lots of disturbing behavior and, frankly, terrible writing and story telling (if you can call it that).
Whatever modestly pro-life/chastity message that's sent in these books is negated entirely by the rest of it all. And when you see the litany of sex-related Twilight-themed products available for sale, I'm guessing the pro-life/chastity thing was missed by a sizable portion of Twilight fandom.
November 19, 2011 at 1:41 pm
What is not dealt with in this story is the immortal soul of the person. Where does the victim's soul go, being as the victim is innocent and does not consent to become a vampire? Is it like heresy and pornography subduing the victim's soul and feeding on the innocence and virginity of the human being? EVIL. WHO wants to be EVIL. Here is the question to be answered. If the vampire did not consent to be become a vampire, doesn't this contradict free will of the human person making of all these characters figments of somebody's really ignorant imagination, but not God's?
November 21, 2011 at 10:12 am
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