A "New Moon" Romance
Movie watchers everywhere have been gravitating to the latest vampire romance movie, based on the second novel in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series entitled New Moon. MSNBC reports the film “took in $72.7 million in its first day to break the single-day domestic box office record set by ‘The Dark Knight,’ which had a $67.2 million opening last year.”[1] Yet, New Moon has its alluring features, which takes audiences into the otherworld of vampires and werewolves filled with a hefty lace of romance and unresolved sexual tension bound together in a Romeo and Juliet type of storyline, albeit without the tragic ending.
The passion laden romance between Belle Swan (Kristen Stewart) and vampire lover Edward Cullan (Robert Pattinson) is tested in New Moon when the two are separated and she must come to grips with her emotions for another potential suitor—a werewolf the Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Complicating matters is Belle’s struggle over the fact that both suitors must reject her for sake of her own wellbeing, for when vampires, werewolves and humans mix, the latter is the victim. New Moon is certainly a blissful escape for those yearning for a good romance.
Many are pleased to the absence of profanity, and provocative sex in New Moon and the Twilight universe in general; however, all things about the this mythological universe are not wholly benign, and there are some things to consider.
Reflected in the Twilight stories is a convoluted perception that romantic love is the pinnacle of all that is love. The very elusive sense of finding the right connection, a “match,” a “soul mate,” or the “one,” preoccupies the hearts of romantics everywhere, but is in really very surrealistic quest.
Rob Whitley in his inquiry into romance observes that the restless yearning shared among romantics is tied into Saint Augustine’s “God-shaped void” in the human heart, thus to fulfill that void men and women are to discover the highest form of love. He explains, “C.S. Lewis labeled this holy love of God as agape (or caritas), a love that is overflowing despite many unlovable qualities in the object of love (e.g. mankind). When we allow such love to enter out hearts and fill our soul, we can better love our neighbor as ourselves, and better love a specific other as husband or wife.”[2]
The agape given by lover to beloved is a theme that permeates the Scripture. God’s love overflows to the beloved, which allows the objects of divine love to transcend into something better. For example, Hosea’s act of emancipating an adulteress woman from the Ancient Near East sex industry and marrying her prophetically illustrates God’s agape love in the act of redeeming the sinful nation of Israel (Hos. 3:1-5), which of course is ultimately realized in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Paul’s ultimate example of divine love—Christ giving of His own life to present His bride, the church, spotless and blameless before God—sets the bar for the kind of love husbands are to show their wives. This too is another example of an overflowing love that allows the objects of love to transcend into greatness.
Belle and Edward cannot live without each other, but is what they share really agape? Self-sacrificial love is impossible between Belle and Edward, for in New Moon neither can live without each other.
Neither can romance help them transcend into something greater. She can become a vampire; yet in doing that there is no resolution to her teenage angst, but an addition of vampire thirst, and there is no guarantee she would not give into the thirst and hurt someone whom she truly cares about like her father. Becoming a vampire is really enslavement not emancipation. Yes, Belle is given the “forbidden fruit,” she has choice—a working knowledge of good and evil—but her desire is not for ultimate good, but for the evil of thirsting after human blood. Thus, the lines of good and evil are smeared in Belle’s world.
Another issue is that the mythological world of Twilight, like all other works of fantasy, are creations wrought from the soul of an author.[3] This is true for Twilight, which was written by devout Mormon housewife Stephenie Meyer,[4] and astute readers can readily find parallels between the cult and fantasy story. For example, Bella’s progresses from human frailty to vampire immortality (She is turned in the book Breaking Dawn), and Edward’s mastery of his vampire appetites on moral grounds parallel Mormon beliefs in salvation thru hard work and the possibility that man can become gods, which are theological concepts antithetical to a biblical worldview.
There may also be something enticing and fascinating about the dark elements to New Moon and the rest of the Twilight series, which may lure influential minds into dabbling and entering into the real occult world of paganism and vampire culture. New Moon is well acted and produced romantic feature film and certainly deserving of positive Hollywood reviews; however, the movie’s views on faith, morality, and love are not wholly benign. [5]
[1] MSNBC.com, “Record bite for ‘New Moon’: $72.7 million,” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34067661/ns/entertainment-movies/
[2] Rob Whitley, “A Reconsideration of Romantic Love,” Christian Research Journal, 32, 3 [2009]:19
[3] Hence, C.S. Lewis’ the epic battles between good and evil in the Chronicles of Narnia parallel Christianity not because the author wanted to compose a “Christianized” fantasy story—he in fact did not—but because the stories reflected what he truly believed.
[4] cf. Lev Grossman, “Stephenie Meyer: A New J.K. Rowling,” Time, Thursday, April 24, 2008, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1734838,00.html
[5] Additional insights on Twilight can be found in Stephen Ross, “The Twilight Saga: A Classic Romance Too Mature for Teens,” Christian Research Journal, 31, 6 [2008]: 52-53.
The passion laden romance between Belle Swan (Kristen Stewart) and vampire lover Edward Cullan (Robert Pattinson) is tested in New Moon when the two are separated and she must come to grips with her emotions for another potential suitor—a werewolf the Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Complicating matters is Belle’s struggle over the fact that both suitors must reject her for sake of her own wellbeing, for when vampires, werewolves and humans mix, the latter is the victim. New Moon is certainly a blissful escape for those yearning for a good romance.
Many are pleased to the absence of profanity, and provocative sex in New Moon and the Twilight universe in general; however, all things about the this mythological universe are not wholly benign, and there are some things to consider.
Reflected in the Twilight stories is a convoluted perception that romantic love is the pinnacle of all that is love. The very elusive sense of finding the right connection, a “match,” a “soul mate,” or the “one,” preoccupies the hearts of romantics everywhere, but is in really very surrealistic quest.
Rob Whitley in his inquiry into romance observes that the restless yearning shared among romantics is tied into Saint Augustine’s “God-shaped void” in the human heart, thus to fulfill that void men and women are to discover the highest form of love. He explains, “C.S. Lewis labeled this holy love of God as agape (or caritas), a love that is overflowing despite many unlovable qualities in the object of love (e.g. mankind). When we allow such love to enter out hearts and fill our soul, we can better love our neighbor as ourselves, and better love a specific other as husband or wife.”[2]
The agape given by lover to beloved is a theme that permeates the Scripture. God’s love overflows to the beloved, which allows the objects of divine love to transcend into something better. For example, Hosea’s act of emancipating an adulteress woman from the Ancient Near East sex industry and marrying her prophetically illustrates God’s agape love in the act of redeeming the sinful nation of Israel (Hos. 3:1-5), which of course is ultimately realized in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Paul’s ultimate example of divine love—Christ giving of His own life to present His bride, the church, spotless and blameless before God—sets the bar for the kind of love husbands are to show their wives. This too is another example of an overflowing love that allows the objects of love to transcend into greatness.
Belle and Edward cannot live without each other, but is what they share really agape? Self-sacrificial love is impossible between Belle and Edward, for in New Moon neither can live without each other.
Neither can romance help them transcend into something greater. She can become a vampire; yet in doing that there is no resolution to her teenage angst, but an addition of vampire thirst, and there is no guarantee she would not give into the thirst and hurt someone whom she truly cares about like her father. Becoming a vampire is really enslavement not emancipation. Yes, Belle is given the “forbidden fruit,” she has choice—a working knowledge of good and evil—but her desire is not for ultimate good, but for the evil of thirsting after human blood. Thus, the lines of good and evil are smeared in Belle’s world.
Another issue is that the mythological world of Twilight, like all other works of fantasy, are creations wrought from the soul of an author.[3] This is true for Twilight, which was written by devout Mormon housewife Stephenie Meyer,[4] and astute readers can readily find parallels between the cult and fantasy story. For example, Bella’s progresses from human frailty to vampire immortality (She is turned in the book Breaking Dawn), and Edward’s mastery of his vampire appetites on moral grounds parallel Mormon beliefs in salvation thru hard work and the possibility that man can become gods, which are theological concepts antithetical to a biblical worldview.
There may also be something enticing and fascinating about the dark elements to New Moon and the rest of the Twilight series, which may lure influential minds into dabbling and entering into the real occult world of paganism and vampire culture. New Moon is well acted and produced romantic feature film and certainly deserving of positive Hollywood reviews; however, the movie’s views on faith, morality, and love are not wholly benign. [5]
[1] MSNBC.com, “Record bite for ‘New Moon’: $72.7 million,” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34067661/ns/entertainment-movies/
[2] Rob Whitley, “A Reconsideration of Romantic Love,” Christian Research Journal, 32, 3 [2009]:19
[3] Hence, C.S. Lewis’ the epic battles between good and evil in the Chronicles of Narnia parallel Christianity not because the author wanted to compose a “Christianized” fantasy story—he in fact did not—but because the stories reflected what he truly believed.
[4] cf. Lev Grossman, “Stephenie Meyer: A New J.K. Rowling,” Time, Thursday, April 24, 2008, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1734838,00.html
[5] Additional insights on Twilight can be found in Stephen Ross, “The Twilight Saga: A Classic Romance Too Mature for Teens,” Christian Research Journal, 31, 6 [2008]: 52-53.
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