For Moms, 'Twilight' Saga Is a Romantic, Inspiring, Sexy Trip Down Memory Lane
We wrote an article for New York magazine this week about area moms who take a bite out of the big Twilight apple. You can read our "director's cut" of the piece, which includes more quotes and info, below:
Original, full-length draft of "'Twilight,' Take Me Away!" for New York Magazine:
To the uninitiated, the idea of a middle-aged mom swooning over the Twilight saga is unthinkably cheesy - or, if you live in New York, perhaps just unthinkable. "The only people obsessed with Twilight are teens and fat suburban moms from the Midwest," said an anonymous poster on UrbanBabyNewYork when we dared to pose the question. "In either case, this is not your target demographic." The unkind observer might say that a Twilight mom is the worst combination of predatory cougar and deluded teen fan. (Twilight film star Kellan Lutz said recently, "The moms are like, 'Oh, we need a picture for my daughter.' And I'm like, where is she? And she's like, 'Oh, uh, she's grounded this week.'") But, then, the unkind observer probably hasn't read the books.
Don't let the Y.A. label fool you: Author Stephanie Meyer, a mother herself, has said she didn't have a specific demographic in mind when she started writing. And it is an undisputed fact that a large percentage of the devoted Twilight fans in this country - yes, even in New York City - are moms. Smart, sophisticated, well-read moms. Search for "motherhood books" on Amazon and "Breaking Dawn" (the fourth and final book in the series) comes up as the number one seller. And the love story at the crux of it all is not a conventionally teenage one.
"Bella [Twilight's female lead] is a responsible caretaker: she cooks, she cleans, she takes care of her family. Those are maternal traits that a lot of moms can relate to," says Kirsten Starkweather, Media Director of TwilightMOMS.com, a fan site with more than 34,000 registered members. And while Edward, Bella's blood-sucking soul-mate, has the moony eyes of a 17 year old, he's actually 107. "His impeccable manners, his sense of morality, his way of speaking, they're all old-fashioned," says Starkweather. "More like a man in a 19th-century novel than a modern-day teenage boy." Plus, by the end of it all, [spoiler alert] Bella and Edward become incredibly dedicated parents.
But preternaturally wise protagonists take you only so far - the real appeal of this story is that Bella and Edward's relationship is pure, unadulterated puppy love - innocent and intense, overflowing with sexual tension and promise, and taken life-or-death seriously. Ask any mom-fan what she loves about the series, and she will invariably mention first love…her first love. "The books made me feel like a teenager again," says Eve Waltermaurer, professor of Sociology at the State University of New York in New Paltz, directory of the documentary FIRST about women's sexuality, and mother of two. "It's been a long time since I got to feel that complete adolescent abandonment over a guy. It's nice to remember that we were once able to fall so head over heels."
