Oh yes...Twilight

The romance that has swept the nation. But what is it that really makes it so romantic? Why have millions of love-crazed females across the world gone completely gaga over a love story about a vampire? I've come to realize it has a lot to do with some of the topics we've discussed in class, and that cultural "I want that" reaction we seem to develop relating with the fantasy. The Twilight series fulfills many peoples longing for that one true, unbreakable, unachievable but in the end enduring, love that seems to no longer exist in this day in age. If I were to hear of a book about the tragic relationship between a teenage girl and a hundred some year old vampire my typical reaction would be..."wow that sounds dumb". But I have actually read the first book, and I must say I did enjoy it. The story has a lot of "romantic" aspects that lure in the reader, leaving them lusting for a vampire to fall in love with them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51naGuvMePQ&feature=fvsr

(Link describing a lot about Bella, the main female character, and introducing Edward)

A few aspects that make Edward and Bella's love so romantic drawn from this beginning clip/Setting leading up to first meet:

• The fact that Bella is just an average girl. She isn't the typical all American beauty. Nor is she completely outgoing, enthusiastic, or in any way overly confident. She is very reserved and border line introverted. This gives female readers the notion "hey, this could happen to anyone, maybe even someone like me". It breaks the social norms of what an extremely attractive and confident male would go for.
• The setting of the book. It takes place in a very rural, densely forested and cold town in the state of Washington. This gives the story a sort of hidden romantic feel. The characters are tucked away, surrounded by the natural world, disconnnected from most of societies typical reasoning. Many of the scenes in the story also take place in beautiful settings in a hidden meadow, thick forests, or on one of the many isolated misty beaches in Northern Washington. It adds to the overall romantic "feel" of the novel, and the idea that their (later)love is pure and above that of the "real" world.
• The two have completely different lifestyles (putting aside the whole vampire human aspect). Edward's "family" is very close, seemingly perfect in style and tastes, and appear above the "norm". Bella (an only child), on the other hand, is living with her father (divorced from mother) who she seems to have a distant and impersonal relationship with. They live in an average house, live off pretty average means, and are very... average. But this divide in lifestyle plays no hinder on their future feelings, setting up the readers for that "I wish this was me" sensation, and seeming much more attainable through Bella's ever so "average" character.

All of these romantic ideas work in a way that gives readers the typical romance story between two forbidden loves, but make it that much more alluring through the relatable characteristics the audience is able to draw to the main female of the story. It feeds our desires for forbidden love, conquering emotions, and beauty, while not completely severing our hopes that this could happen to anyone... because we all know vampires are so easy to come across these days ;)