One of the most persistent plot holes in Twilight is the Cullen’s wealth, but the series does actually explain how the vampires hide their riches
The Twilight franchise features a lot of plot holes throughout its five movies, but the series does actually offer an answer as to how the Cullens manage to hide their extravagant wealth. Starting with Lords of Dogtown director Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight in 2008, the Twilight saga was a series of blockbuster romance movies that adapted the paranormal young adult publishing sensation of the same name to the big screen to the delight of young fans and the horror of many critics .
Frequently derided by reviewers (and even by series star Robert Pattinson himself), Twilight was nevertheless a massive hit with its target audience. The story of Bella Swan, a small-town girl who falls for brooding teenage vampire Edward Cullen, the Twilight saga soon broadened its scope to include endless byzantine backstories for its characters, some added werewolf lore, and questionable representations of the real-life Quileute tribe. tribe.
However, as popular as the Twilight movies were, the series and its source novels were nevertheless plagued by problematic plot holes from time to time. Some were easier for fans to ignore, such as the question of how the Cullens managed to never be outed as vampires despite not always avoiding the sun (in fairness to Meyer, she did at least research which part of the continental US receives the least natural sunlight). But the question of the Cullen clan’s vast wealth, and more importantly how they hide it, only has a satisfactory answer for viewers who are willing to delve into Twilight lore not included in the movie adaptations. The Cullens are as rich as most fictional vampires, but despite adding to the wish-fulfillment appeal of Twilight’s escapism, this story element does derail some of the franchise’s narrative. There’s an answer to how Twilight’s vampire family hides their riches, but it’s not one featured anywhere in the movie adaptations.
The Cullen’s Wealth & Mansion Explained
The real-life town where Twilight is set, Forks, is not a well-off area, something that its depiction in the Twilight movies makes clear. So, how are the Cullens able to hide their outsized affluence so easily in a small community with few McMansions like their palatial home? With a mansion outside the town, it’s clear that the Cullen family are incredibly well-off to anyone visiting, and even though the family attempts to avoid sparking new friendships to keep their secrets from being exposed, the existence of their house alone is something of an obvious tell. However, while readers of the Twilight saga may know that Alice’s visions allow her to manipulate the stock market for financial gain (which is a whole other Twilight plot hole of its own), but as far as the external world knows, Carlisle and Esme are the only employed Cullens. Carlisle and his wife Esme are the only family members working, and his job as a local doctor and she work as an architect occasionally can’t possibly account for all the wealth required to put five children through school and still own a lavish abode. And that’s without even getting into some of the more expensive belongings of the family and the antics of its member.
Alice Cullen’s New Moon Bribe
Late in the action of Twilight’s first sequel New Moon, there’s a throwaway moment where Alice bribes an Italian police officer, and despite the scene being a minor inclusion, its action speaks volumes to the franchise’s strange attitudes toward the riches of the Cullen clan. Alice Cullen pays off a police officer with a thousand dollar bill and without a second thought, but the problem with this New Moon moment is that bill itself is a now-rare piece of currency that hasn’t been in circulation for decades even in the US. Wouldn’t this decision draw more attention to her criminal activities? Where does the cop hope to cash this money without arousing suspicion? Why does Alice carry around money that isn’t in circulation when she can’t buy anything with it at home?
The Cullen’s Cars
The Cullens own a private island, but the remoteness of this extravagance means it could conceivably be hidden from the prying eyes of neighbors (if not the IRS). But the clearest indicators of the family’s immense wealth is their collection of sports cars, a string of purchases that would look suspiciously excessive for a movie star or Hall of Fame athlete and seem impossible for a small-town doctor like Carlisle Cullen to cover up. There’s a Porsche Turbo for Alice, an Aston Martin V12 for Edward, Carlisle’s own Mercedes AMG, and a BMW 3 for Rosalie — which equates to somewhere between half a million and a million dollars spent on cars alone in a small-town small family during the worst financial crisis in living memory (as the Twilight movies begin in 2008 and end in 2012).
