"Twilight" fans wax lyrical on a cultural phenomenon

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By McKay Allen, Guest Contributor
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July 6, 2010 — It's nothing short of a cultural phenomenon.

The books have sold more than 110 million copies. The first two "Twilight" movies - "Twilight" and "New Moon" - made more than $1 billion worldwide. (That's billion, with a b.) The third movie in the series - the just released "Eclipse" - has already made more than $150 million.

The movie's stars can't walk across a street without security because of mobs of screaming fans. At a press appearance in Brazil police had to call that nation's equivalent of the National Guard because a crowd of around 4,000 had broken down barricades and were storming the hotel where the stars were staying.

If you don't know the story, here's a synopsis. A high school girl named Bella Swan moves to the rainy, dreary Forks, WA. to live with her father. In Forks, she meets two suitors. The first a dreamy, but pale vegetarian vampire (meaning he avoids drinking human blood, but kills animals instead) named Edward Cullen. The second is a burly werewolf named Jacob. Naturally she falls in love with both of them. And naturally no one but her is aware of their true identities as a vampire and a werewolf. The story takes off from there.

There are elements in "Twilight" of supernatural thrillers, horror, action and drama-but mostly it's a story about teenage love and the plotlines that follow. And it's sweeping the world.

Complete with custom t-shirts, Sarah (back row, second from left) and a group of around 20 friends attended the midnight premier of Eclipse on the night of June 29. Contributed Photo.

And this vampire invasion is led by an unlikely group - Mormon women.

"Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer is herself Mormon. Before "Twilight" she was a typical Mormon housewife. The BYU grad lived in Arizona with her husband and their small children when she got an idea for a book, from a dream, she says.

The plot has definite Mormon overtones, and has huge armies of Mormon fans. In recent surveys the highest percentage of women who classified themselves 'obsessed' with "Twilight" lived in Utah. For each movie in the series, the top two grossing theaters in America were both in Utah.

And Spokane's Mormon women are no different in their "Twilight" hysteria.

Sarah Moss lives in the Belle Terre Ward in the Spokane Valley East Stake. She has a loving husband and four children. Sarah is a typical Mormon mom - and a "Twilight" fan.

"It's sort of funny, but it took me only eight days to read the whole series," Sarah says laughing. "One morning my husband woke up at 4:15 a.m. and I was still reading, frantically flipping the pages. I had to know how it ended."

Sarah has read each book four times. She saw the first "Twilight" movie seven times and the second a half-a-dozen times in the theater.

The latest "Twilight" movie, "Eclipse," just came out Wednesday - but Sarah's already seen it twice.

"I will see it a few more times in the theater," she says.

Sarah goes to the midnight openings of the movies. Before each movie is released Sarah and a group 20 or so friends gather for a "Twilight" party. They wear matching "Twilight" shirts. They have food and play games. Approximately 75 percent of the women in the group are LDS.

So why is "Twilight" so popular with Mormon women?

"It starts with the fact that it's an LDS author," Sarah says.

But there are other reasons.

"It's a story about true, eternal love," April Anderson, of the Five Mile Praire Ward in the Spokane North Stake says. "It's the type of love story you hope you have, and you hope your kids have when they get married."

And without question "Twilight" is an escape for these Mormon moms.

"It's nice as an LDS mom, in my 30's with four kids, to get completely lost and immersed in a story," Sarah says. "It's romantic. It's fun to get lost and re-experience first love."

Other LDS women agree.

Christine West and Liz Huisman at the midnight premier. Contributed Photo.

"It's great to step out of reality for a few hours of reading or a couple of hours watching a movie and leave real-world issues behind," Emily Starley, a mom of two boys in the Spokane North Stake says. "The story just consumes you when you read it or watch it."

"I think it's because the world "Twilight" creates is so foreign," April Anderson says.

Sarah said that, despite the fictional story lines, there are worthwhile messages in each book.

"I think Mormon women love it because the story is not about the Church or church members but there are Mormon themes," Sarah says. "The couple never physically acts on their attraction until after they're married. I think women love that, that there's someone so infatuated with you, but they don't consummate their relationship until they're married. That's appealing to Mormon women." In the books there is no drinking or smoking. The young couples spend huge amounts of time with each other's families. LDS morals are woven into the story-without being preachy.

Most "Twilight" fans say they've been made fun of a little bit. Some people mock adult LDS women for being so obsessed with books and movies.

"But, an LDS family life is stressful," Sarah said. "Escaping into a book or a movie is perfectly acceptable."

So, while some may view "Twilight" as a silly obsession, Sarah and her "Twilight" sisterhood disagree.

"Twilight's brought being a virgin till marriage back in a positive light," she said. "This is a story that millions of teenage girls are obsessed with where the hero and the heroine wait till they're married. That's a wonderful thing."

Comments

7/6/2010 4:59:43 PM | Ted said:

I agree....silly obsession, but no worse than Harry Potter.

7/6/2010 5:09:43 PM | Liz said:

I think it's worth noting that Spokane Valley's (Evergreen Ward) Michael Gordon (currently serving in the West Indies Mission) was an extra in the first movie. We just visited Forks, WA for fun. It appears it was a sleepy little town until Twilight woke it up.

7/6/2010 11:28:03 PM | tanya said:

Fun article. Loved the t-shirts girls :)

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