The Twilight Movies’ Creepiest Storyline Wouldn’t Fly Today (& How The TV Reboot Can Fix It)
The Twilight TV reboot has the opportunity to fix the movies’ most disturbing storyline, either making changes to it or removing one key element.
The Twilight Saga has many flaws and storylines that wouldn’t be welcomed today, but the TV reboot can now fix one of the movies’ creepiest storylines. Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight novels became a cultural phenomenon in the early 2000s and offered a different look at the tragic figure of vampires. Twilight introduced readers to Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen, who began a complicated romance despite the dangers that came with a human getting involved with a vampire. The success of the Twilight novels led to their adaptation to the big screen, starting in 2008 and ending in 2012 with Breaking Dawn – Part 2.
The Twilight Saga boosted the careers of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, who led the saga as Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. Despite its many flaws and controversies, The Twilight Saga was a huge success, and it continues to have a very loyal fanbase. Now, over a decade after the end of the Twilight Saga, the world of Edward and Bella is being rebooted with a TV series, but if it wants to succeed, it has to learn from the movies’ mistakes, among them a very creepy storyline that the TV show can now easily fix.
The Twilight Movies’ Creepiest Storyline Would Be Even Worse Today
Jacob was at the front & center of Twilight’s worst storyline
The success of the Twilight Saga wasn’t enough to make the audience ignore the story’s biggest problems, and it was as controversial as it was successful. There has been a lot of debate and analysis over Bella and Edward’s toxic relationship, but as problematic as their romance was, there was one that was even worse: Jacob’s imprinting on Bella’s newborn baby, Renesmee. In order for Bella to become a vampire, Edward set the condition that they had to get married, which happened in Breaking Dawn – Part 1, but Bella’s transformation was rushed as she got pregnant during her honeymoon, and carrying a human/vampire hybrid was killing her.
Bella was transformed in order to save her after giving birth to a girl, but Jacob wasn’t handling Bella’s death and “resurrection” as a vampire well. Jacob was ready to kill newborn Renesmee when he realized he had imprinted on her, meaning that she was now his soulmate. Imprinting is, arguably, the most controversial concept in Meyer’s Twilight novels, and it’s exclusive to werewolves. Imprinting is an involuntary mechanism in which a werewolf becomes unconditionally bound to a specific girl or woman for the rest of his life. Jacob believed he was meant to imprint on Bella, but as it turns out, he was only attracted to Bella because of Renesmee.
The Twilight movies adapt this creepy part of Breaking Dawn as it was in the books, and of course, it was weird and disturbing. A teenager imprinting on a newborn is too much even for a world like Twilight’s, and the way Breaking Dawn – Part 2 tried to “make it better” by showing them going from a brother/sister dynamic to being married only made it worse. Jacob and Renesmee’s romantic storyline wouldn’t be welcomed nowadays, but the TV reboot has a couple of ways to avoid it.
The Twilight Reboot Needs To Remove The Romantic Subplot Between Jacob & Renesmee
Jacob & Renesmee are Twilight’s most unnecessary romance
If the Twilight TV reboot wants/needs to keep the concept of imprinting, the details about this process should be changed so Jacob and Renesmee’s romantic subplot can be removed. Instead, imprinting can be a familial bond rather than a romantic connection and devotion, which would also allow Jacob to remain close to Renesmee but without the creepiness of a teenager realizing a newborn human/vampire is his soulmate. This also lets both Jacob and Renesmee find someone more suitable for them to end up with, and in Jacob’s case, it can be someone unrelated to Bella, putting an end to that toxic cycle he had with Bella throughout the Twilight Saga.
Twilight’s TV Reboot Would Be Better Off Without The Imprinting Plot Altogether
Removing imprinting wouldn’t affect the Twilight universe
As mentioned above, imprinting is the most controversial concept in the Twilight universe, but it’s also one that this universe can live without. Imprinting was more of a device to try to explain Jacob’s obsession with Bella and keep him close to her and her family at the end of the novels and movies, and its absence wouldn’t affect Jacob’s story. Removing imprinting can be beneficial to Jacob’s story as the writers would have to develop his character a lot more in order to explain his connection to Bella, without making it creepy. The Twilight TV reboot is the best chance to fix the movies’ mistakes, and the Jacob/Renesmee romantic plot should be a priority.
