Before Night

16+ (I do not wish twilight upon you if you're below 16) Please be aware that there are swears in these posts. if you don't like to read swear words then ask yourself why. just some ramblings about how I feel about the books/movies. bigotry is highly discouraged here. Happy pride! check the pinned post

[before-night]

Greetings, younglings

welcome to this cursed twilight side blog that was created almost a decade after the fandom died. it started off as a joke how did I end up like this

we do not glamorize or condemn the series, we look at it and make theories. that's what we want, that's what we do and that's what it is

also, CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO GET A BETTER QUALITY. The images, especially pictures of the books, might seem blurred but just click on them and they'll have better quality

we usually have a good time here but to make the experience more bearable

here's a playlist for when you're scrolling through this blog

Besides that, asks and reblogs are appreciated, bigotry is not

Also all characters are queer and if you disagree, please leave

And check out this cool thing

[starofhisheart]

Happy pride to those 5 seconds where Charlie Swan thought Jacob was coming out to him in the most insane way possible

[panlight]

Something I think about a lot is how carefully SM tried to make it so that Bella couldn't really be 'blamed' for anything. I'm not sure I'm articulating that right. But it came up the other day with the ask about the top five things that don't make sense and the tent scene.

It seems to me that SM found herself surprisingly interested in the Jacob/Bella dynamic. That was never part of her original plan; remember, she wrote Twilight and then Forever Dawn (which was basically had all the same plot points as Breaking Dawn eventually did). She had already written E/B's wedding, birth of Renesmee, Bella being a vampire. Jacob was just a family friend with a minor crush. But it's pretty clear he took on a life of his own in the middle books that SM had not originally planned for and my theory has always been that SM liked the idea of Jacob/Bella but not as much as the Edward/Bella endgame she had literally already written. So what to do? She wants them to kiss, so she makes Jacob force himself on Bella so that Bella is blameless. She wants them to snuggle, so she puts them in a cold tent where Bella literally needs Jacob's body heat so Bella is blameless. She wants them to kiss again, so Jacob threatens getting himself killed, so Bella is blameless.

And none of the Cullens seem at all bothered by whatever is going on with her and Jacob, and they don't have the details because Alice can't see him. It would be natural for some of them to be like, "uhhhhh, what? Is she cheating on Edward?" but no! She is innocent and blameless and they all (except Rosalie) adore her! Part of the family already! Don't even worry about it! Alice even says something like "wow it must be hard to have two good options" like she is a neutral observer and one of the options isn't her brother. They aren't even bothered by her making Edward, the only mind-reader and the only one who can communicate with the wolves when they are in wolf form, sit out the fight to the death that their relationship caused. They're cool with it. Because no one can resent Bella for anything, and if they do, they're bad.

And then we have Breaking Dawn. Bella's been begging for vampirism for awhile now, but maybe wanting immortality and power and beauty might be selfish? Can't have that. She's dying in childbirth. Now it's not just an emergency transformation to save her life, she's sacrificing herself for someone else. She's absolved, and so is Edward.

Even with silly stuff, like the clothes and parities. It might be selfish of Bella to want those things, so she doesn't, but Alice just gives them to her anyway.

It's okay for your protagonist to be selfish sometimes! It's okay for them to be blamed for stuff! Let Bella be messy and take the blame! It's okay.

[hoahoahoahoahoa]

@edwardsvirtue correct as always

[volturialice]

I've been calling this "the Mormon Ravishment Fantasy" because it's basically a (mostly) PG-rated version of a rape fantasy (the tl;dr of which is that people who like to read noncon often like it because the removal of a character's agency means they can't be blamed or shamed for having something they ~secretly want~ forced on them.) Only instead of rape, here in our Clean Mormon YA Novels we get "passionately kissing jacob while engaged to edward" (he's gonna kill himself if she doesn't! it's a selfless act!) and "attending fancy graduation party thrown in my honor" (which she HATES because she's not a shallow materialistic wh*re who would ever dare enjoy the attention of her family and friends or the celebration of her accomplishments.)

and of course there's even more going on here with the sheer level of contrivance @panlight pointed out above. and @edwardsvirtue's tags hit the nail on the head re: it's a particularly egregious way to write a series that purports to be about choice and agency.

I think these Blamelessness Contrivances are where a lot of the Smeyer vs. Reader dissonance comes from, too—why she's like "what do you MEAN my writing is misogynistic? no it isn't, I'm a feminist" while we're all standing around going

[teratodentata]

I joined a book club and we’re starting off with Twilight which, while it’s not my thing, is the single most dramatic thing I’ve ever read. Have some Bella-falling-down-in-the-woods-and-just-lying-there

[breakingisabella]

not great thanks for asking lucy

[great-and-small]

I am constantly thinking about this

[great-and-small]

This mild Wikipedia sentence is like the understatement of all time

Here are some crazy grasshopper mouse facts for those who are not familiar with the most badass mouse species on the planet

- They are fully carnivorous, and their diet is made up of not only bugs but also snakes, lizards and other mice.

- They hunt like true predators, slowly stalking and creeping up on their prey before ambushing them. They will sometimes let out a screech as they attack.

- Like wolves, they howl to establish territory and have a specially developed throat to produce louder vocalizations. They will stand up on their hind legs and throw their head back to howl- a sound that can be heard from 100 meters away!

- Grasshopper mouse behavior is linked to lunar cycles and they are more active during a full moon.

- These mice have been hunting bark scorpions and evolving alongside them for so long that they’ve evolved a mutation where scorpion venom that is lethal to other animals is converted into a painkiller in the grasshopper mouse’s body.

[the-golden-onion]

bella seducing edward on isle esme in her khaki lingerie

[cerayanay]

“How would you feed if you were a vampire” reveals a lot about people

“Steal blood donations from hospitals and blood banks” = my personal favorite. They assume the process for this is simpler than dealing with eating people, clearly the most ethical.

“Stealing blood bags is more unethical than eating people” = surprisingly common take. Perhaps they hold the belief some people deserve life saving care over others. If stealing blood people donate anonymously that would keep both you and potential victims alive, then how is it unethical? Most likely, they read this take online and never really thought about it too hard just agreed because everyone else did. Very telling.

“I’d only feed off of volunteers”= has a deep set faith in a sense of community. Not only people that you trust to keep your secret but would put themselves in danger for you. That’s beautiful. Probably gay.

“I’d feed off of strangers but knock them out first, I’d just take a little” = the belief this is more ethical than stealing blood donations is fascinating

“I’d only eat bad people” = MASSIVE can of worms, requiring its own post. who do you believe deserve to die, how would you be sure of that, and how is this more ethical? This conversation is now about who you would murder if you could get away with it

[vertyblog]

[passion-of-l0vers]

vampires are cool cuz they have a lot of strengths and enhanced abilities but they also have sooooo many weaknesses. evens the playing field a lot. vamps are like "oohhhh i could kill u so easy" like. leave a window open and ur dust buddy. few drops of holy water send u shrieking. oh u want to come into my house? ur gonna try to get to me in my sleep? good luck with that u need a silly little invitation whereas humans have this really cool ability called breaking and entering. oh look my exposed neck, too bad u cant get a drink cuz im wearing a rosary and ur so so scared. its okay, i will take it off and put it in my pocket and i will hold your hand while walking u through the graveyard back to your mausoleum and tuck you in so sweetly into your coffin. youll get em next time champ now get some sleep the suns rising soon. i love vampires

[teamjacobthot]

that lil moment in new moon where bella threw a slice of pizza at jake and it turned into a wrench that he caught while turned around................where is their oscar

[embry-call-fan-club]

Whenever Bella left the Forks area code she got into so much avoidable nonsense

[ghostofmarlowe]

[alivingfire]

at a tribal finance conference listening to a quileute tribal council member talk about how companies have bought every house in forks, wa because it’s a tourist destination so they can’t hire people to work for the tribe

anyway fuck stephenie meyer for profiting so intensely off of racist stereotypes of quilteutes and all native people while never contributing a dime to help them solve the problems she caused!

if you have the ability, you can donate to their move to higher ground fund here: https://mthg.org

[alivingfire]

important context, thank you @fiercestpurpose

did not expect my rage post to reach this level so to add to my nearly incoherent screed, sustainable housing was mentioned as the most immediate issue now that the school has been moved. if you ask any tribal elder, council member, or leader, they will say that one of the most important growth factors for tribes is the ability to send their kids out for education and experience, and for those members to come back to help their people when they can. quileute tribal members actively want to move back to la push, but nearly all housing is either exorbitantly priced or is owned and operated as airb&bs/tourism rentals. by fundraising for and building their own housing developments, they can build in long-term capital as well as bring in talented, educated tribal members to help their people.

[thewackypegasus]

[ID: the first image depicts spongebob sitting, apparently calmly, in a desk chair while a translucent spongebob placed over the image screams.

the second image is a screenshot of tags which read: "#i was like 'i thought they met their goal years ago' and they did! #they successfully relocated the school which was their top priority #however they are hoping to relocate several other services as well #which is what they are currently fundraising for #you can find more information at the link." end ID.]

[passion-of-l0vers]

imagine having a vampire lover who’s pet name for you is “my sunshine”

[passion-of-l0vers]

“you are my sunshine” from an average guy: you are the light of my life, one of the essential parts of living, you bring me warmth and the certainty of day. to live without you would be misery, slowly eating away at myself. i want to bask in your presence

“you are my sunshine” from a vampire: in becoming vampiric i was forced to give up not only pleasures of living but also necessities. the sun, once crucial to my survival, is now barred from me; a forbidden warmth and light. i would be cursed to suffer a dark existence, a world of eternal night, were it not for you. your presence in my life fills the void that the lack of sun has left on me. you are the means by which i can break from this eternal winter and let the humanity within me stir and start to sprout again. your sunlight allows the flowers of life to bloom in my chest once more. your love, which isn’t so harsh as to burn when you lay it on me, is the closest i can get to the old days when the sun was a source of life and not destruction. sunlight, while no longer vital to my being, and once lost to me, has been restored through you, and in having tasted the bitterness of its absence, i have found a deep appreciation and even dependence on its return. if you were to leave me as the sun sets, plunging me back into night, my existence would return to the state of deprivation that my transformation originally brought. you must rise again, and bathe me in your light, or all hope is lost to me. i cannot turn to the actual sun for its shine, im solely dependent on you to be my sunshine, my light, my life. you beam comfort and love to the depths of my soul, or whatever is left of it, and i treasure your rays above any other pleasure in the world. please never set on me my love

[passion-of-l0vers]

what if you were a vampire and you were killing some victim and they fucking bit you and sucked your blood. all you wanted was a snack and now you got this fuckass fledgling

[passion-of-l0vers]

more vampire stories should play with the idea of the vampire’s blood being sucked against their will. the violation that is usually caused by the vampire being turned on it. or the violation that created it being repeated in undeath. some vampire fanatic tracking down a vampire and drinking its blood to become a vampire themself. awesome awesome awesome

[passion-of-l0vers]

vampire who is of the tortured, self-loathing variety and thinks of vampirism as a curse. vampire obsessed freak who becomes infatuated with it and wants nothing more than to be turned and live out the centuries together. you could get really freaky with it

the human kidnapping the vampire, locking it up and starving it so that when they slice their wrist and shove the wound into the vampire’s mouth it can’t help but drink. the sick satisfaction of the human and the horror and repulsion of the vampire. even better if it’s a vampire who avoids human blood.

and once the vampire has been forced to suck the blood, just as it was forced to suck its sire’s blood way back when it was turned, then the human cuts into the vampire’s chest and the vampire is victim once again.

besides the physical violation, can you imagine the mental and emotional toll? the vampire, who had done so well not to hurt anyone, not to spread its horrid disease, has created this thing. a thing that reminds the vampire constantly that it created it.

“i put my wrist in your mouth, but you’re the one who kept it there. you drank from me with pleasure. it’s in your nature. it’s in our nature. everything you are, so now am i. your blood flows within me. we are one, and will live together for eternity. you wanted this. you wanted me.”

just. think about this with me. a vampire, a creature who has been victim before and never wants to hurt anyone in that way, not only reliving the violation of having the blood sucked from its body, but also having to face the fact that it has begotten another creature of darkness into the world

[hoahoahoahoahoa]

Part of what makes Bella x Edward super crunchy and satisfying is how they're simultaneously freak4freak and two of the most vanilla characters in fiction.

Like. Once you agree to the genre's Terms & Conditions (vampire romances have age gaps, they have stalking, they will be a lil fucked up and toxic), you're left with two teenagers who... fall in love pretty hard and fast, but otherwise? Not much that's crazy or kinky or whatever. They don't even open-mouth kiss in the first book; Bella nearly faints from a closed-mouth kiss.

And I think that duality might be the source of a lot of tension/the outcry from the public. Edward has a little bit more going on as a vampire, but as a person his wants and interests are tame: music, running, his girlfriend. Then there's Bella: she's pretty plain. That's by design. She's an Austen girly, had to mature too fast because her parents need help fending for themselves in various ways... she's not a vampire enthusiast, has no interest in occult anything until vampires just happen to her. The characterization we get for Bella is "reasonable", "responsible". A lot of Twilight's charm is that its universe feels so real, so lived in. The teenagers talk and act like teenagers and do and say relatable things; Bella thinks a lot of relatable thoughts.

And yet.

When she figures out Edward's a vampire, she decides "it doesn't matter". When Edward tells her he's been breaking into her room and watching her sleep, she's only upset at the possibility that he heard her say something embarrassing while sleep-talking. By the end of the book she's decided that this supernatural world is cool enough that she'd enthusiastically join it to be with Edward— this guy she's known for weeks? a couple months— forever.

I read this as "oh cool, a girl who had to grow up too fast gets her turn to be a wily teenager in a torrid romance". A lot of the anti's of the series harped on the "bad example" Bella sets, but she never started as a particularly righteous figure. I don't think smeyer ever even attempted to frame her as heroic. She's just... getting by, living life. We don't know much about her preseries life because she wasn't up to much. It's clear that the student body of the new school is fascinated by the novelty of her, not who she is. There are venerable qualities in her that Edward points about because he loves her; but she's just as readily told that this bravery and selflessness of hers is going to get her killed, and horribly so.

I know a lot of the vitriol and garment-wrending over the series comes from garden-variety misogyny and gender contamination, but I think the level of the hate was maybe compounded by how "normal"/vanilla the characters act otherwise. Bella doesn't do the audience the favor of starting as even a little weird, despite her little soliloquy about never feeling like she completely fit in; they're vanilla bitches who are a little too accepting of weirdness. I think a lot about the, idk, uncanniness of it all.

[the-golden-onion]

bella seducing edward on isle esme in her khaki lingerie

[twilightheritageposts]

Twilight Heritage Post