What If the Twilight Saga Was a Tragedy?

By Jason Boog 

Most people think of Stephenie Meyer‘s Twilight series as a romantic story with paranormal elements. But one one reader shared a convincing re-reading of the book–what if Twilight was a tragedy?

The final installment of the Twilight series earned $141.1 million when it opened in the United States last weekend, a strong end for the popular series. Before the movie’s release, one Reddit reader reframed the entire series as “a powerful cautionary tale about accepting traditional gender roles and conforming to expected societal norms.”

We’ve linked to the SPOILER-FILLED argument below–what do you think?

Here’s an excerpt:

Let’s put problems with spelling, grammar, narrative flow, plot structure, etc. aside and just look at the story and, in particular, the character arc of Bella Swan. At the beginning of the story, she is moving from Arizona to Washington on her own volition – she has decided to give her mother and her step-father some time and space and to spend some time with her father. At this point in the story, she is, admittedly, a bit of a Mary Sue, but an endearing one. She is sensitive to the needs of others (moves to Alaska for her Mom’s sake, helps her Dad around the house, is understanding and tries to give the benefit of the doubt even when the other students are somewhat cruel to her when she first arrives), clumsy, out-of-sorts, and a little insecure.