With the "Twilight Saga" finally coming to its conclusion when "Breaking Dawn Part 2" opens in theaters, hearts will be breaking all over the world—including my own Twiheart.
About one thing I'm absolutely positive: I am an unashamed "Twilight" fan. I have read all the books, can recite much of the key dialogue, and I've seen each film more times than I care to share including multiple times in theaters. From the moment I audibly gasped when Edward and Bella first kissed on her purple bed, I knew I was a goner.
My mom even gave me Edward and Bella plastic dolls one year for Christmas as a joke. Friends always ask if they're supposed to be my husband and me -- nope, just my favorite movie dolls! (Did I mention that I am in my thirties?)
Though as the final installment approaches, I find myself surprisingly ready to say goodbye to Bella and Edward. If Kristen Stewart, who owes her entire career to author Stephenie Meyer, has admitted that she's "relieved" that "Twilight" is over, maybe we should be as well.
Vampires aren't supposed to age, but unfortunately actors do.
The teens in the "Twilight Saga" are supposed to remain teens, even when the actors who play them are well into their twenties. 26-year-old Robert Pattinson was supposed to be 17-year-old Edward across all five films. But despite some hair issues (Pattinson's famous spikes consistently varied in length and Stewart sported a hideous wig in "Eclipse"), the main three stars did a decent job of maintaining a similar look throughout.
The same can't be said for some of the supporting cast. With their dramatically altered hair styles, Ashley Greene and Jackson Rathbone looked as if they were different people in every film, while Peter Facinelli seemed as if he's aged at least 20 years since the first movie (and don't get me started on his perpetually-changing accent). So for the sake of the aging actors and their constant need for change, four years was probably long enough to stay the same.
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Real-life love stories get messy.
It was almost too good to be true when Pattinson and Stewart got together on the set of "Twilight" in 2008. Twihards across the country were practically swooning at the news. But after Stewart was caught allegedly cheating this summer with her "Snow White and the Huntsman" director, Rupert Sanders, and she and Pattinson split as a result, it's hard to keep the fantasy of their perfect onscreen/offscreen relationship alive for the final film.
While they reunited publicly just in time for Monday's L.A. premiere of "Breaking Dawn," how can we separate Edward and Bella's relationship from Rob and Kristen's when they are so deeply intertwined? Or as costar Dakota Fanning so aptly said, maybe we shouldn't judge at all: "It's like, 'Why do you think you think you are the authority to judge people's experiences?'" Perhaps it's time to let this couple grow up—and possibly apart—outside of the movies.
The Thrill of the chase is over.
They tied the knot. They had sex. They had a kid. Dare we say that Bella and Edward are venturing dangerously close to "traditional" territory? Well not really, but many of us waited for three movies just to see the couple finally seal the dangerously sexy deal. But now that Bella has successfully bedded Edward and all that sexual tension is gone, what's there to hold our breath for? Not to mention the fact they are parents now. We know their kid is magical and stuff, but it's still no fun to see our favorite vamp lover become a teen mom.
Renesmee.
How many times can these actors say the name Renesmee (pronounced Ruh-nez-may) with a straight face? Even Meyer, who conceived this name from an awkward mixture of Bella and Edward's mothers (Renée and Esme), admits it's painful. “I’ve taken my heckling! I totally get it.," she told EW, adding that when she created the name she "was lost in fantasy land. I’m someone who strongly believes in reality with real children’s names. You don’t monkey around with people’s names. Whether they become a stripper or a lawyer in large part has to do with the name you give them. ... I would never name a real child Renesmee.” And with that name, Meyer's all but killed the chance of a spinoff (I don't care how cute actress Mackenzie Foy is).
Don't get me wrong, though, I will absolutely be camping out with my fellow Twihards come the film's release. But I'll also be okay that this will be the last time.
Lesley Savage is a freelance entertainment writer whose work has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Elle and The New York Times.
