It’s been 15 years since Stephenie Meyer released the first installment in her Twilight Saga. And finally, I can relive my late high school/early collegiate years and disappear into the world of Edward Cullen with Midnight Sun.
Midnight Sun is the same story as Twilight, (the first in the series), but from Edward’s point-of-view rather than Bella’s. In what should be a seemingly simple and redundant story, we actually get extensive insight into Edward’s struggles, desires, and emotions, as tortured as they may be.
I was surprised to find that I prefer Edward’s point-of-view ten times over and have found myself wishing I could read the other books from his POV, as well. Although a lot of the phrases reiterate the same emotions from Edward, Meyer has unexpectedly found a way to change the language used nearly every time.
Plain and simple? Edward is tortured. And who doesn’t love the good guy who thinks he’s the bad guy, but doesn’t want to be? I mean, that’s textbook.
When I read the original books, I had a certain picture in my mind of what the characters looked like and how they behaved and moved. A few of them in the films were dead on, pardon the pun. Alice and Carlisle always seemed like the perfect picks for their characters. Not to say that the others were wrong–not at all–but they stood out as most like their characters in the novels, save one: Edward. I know Robert Pattinson isn’t too keen on his Twilight years, but he is the exact image of what I pictured Edward to be in the books. I remember seeing a behind-the-scenes clip about Twilight when it first came out, and the reason Stephenie Meyer loved him so much for Edward was because of how tortured he played the part. And she was right.
While reading Midnight Sun, I expected to picture all of the actors from the films as I imagined the scenes I was reading. At this point the films have been around a while and we’ve all gotten a blockbuster view of what these characters supposedly look like. From then on, we tend to picture those faces when we reference those characters. But I found that while I was reading, the only actor I actually pictured was Robert Pattinson as Edward. And I couldn’t help but feeling that that was a bit of a testament to his embodiment of the character.
Don’t get me wrong, I am fully aware of what Twilight is and the overall level of quality–books or films. But if you enjoy something, then there’s no reason to be ashamed of it. I’ve never been under the delusion that Twilight was Shakespeare. I love Shakespeare. But I can also love Twilight. The writing may not be Olympic gold, but hey, I’ve never written a novel. Who’s to say I could do any different? And do we only love standard gold medalists? Or have you never heard of an underdog story?
This is how I feel about Twilight. I love the story. I started reading these books in my late teens when they first came out. I enjoyed them then, and I still enjoy them now. You don’t have to outgrow everything.
The other thing I love about these stories is that they’re set in the PNW. Living in Portland again, I find I love that element of the stories even more this time around. Nature is the Pacific Northwest is unreal, and adds such a magical element to these stories. Meyer takes something that is “dead” and cold and unnatural: vampires; and aligns them with something living and thriving and beautiful: nature. At first it would seem that nature and vampires are opposites, but we find that they are quite similar in the end. It’s a subtle aspect of the books, but one that I choose to lean into, as I’m a sucker for nature. (More puns, I’m sorry, but not really!)
I watched New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn Part 1 & 2, after finishing reading Midnight Sun. I have always preferred these books to the movies. The movies told the story, but I never felt they truly captured the books. Still, they are a quicker way to relive the story than settling in to three more lengthy novels. I was craving the rest of the story after reading Edward’s perspective. And I’m still wishing I could have those other books from his POV. But since I don’t, I watched the films paying even greater attention to Edward this time around. (That is, while I wasn’t curating photos for this post!)
I expect, one day, they’ll remake the Twilight Saga. Everything seems to get a reboot at some point these days. And I won’t deny I think it would be really interesting if we had all the novels from a different perspective by then. I’d be very curious to see what they do different. In all honesty, reading Midnight Sun made me want to rewrite the first screenplay altogether. It’s always great when other works spark creativity in oneself. And that’s what I found this time around. Still, even if new movies do get made, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to fully accept another Edward Cullen.
