So the Lion Fell in Love with the Lamb (Again):Reclaiming Girlhood via Nostalgia
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For better or worse, we are in the midst of a Twilight renaissance. Once a lightning rod of public humiliation, The Twilight Saga has now been adopted by a new wave of fans who are discovering the franchise for the first time. Gen Z are dressing in “Bella Swan core” outfits (think layered long sleeve tops and skinny jeans), pressing play on thrifted Paramore CDs and reciting lines from the Twilight books as if they were quoting a Shakespearean tragedy.
My misery at the idea of a film released in 2008 now being considered vintage aside, I must admit that it is amusing and somewhat fulfilling to see a new generation of teens appreciate the many wonders of Stephenie Meyer’s ridiculous love story.
When the first Twilight film released in 2008, it was decidedly uncool to be a fan of the franchise. Fans of the series - almost all female - were deemed childish and idiotic for caring about whether Jacob or Edward won Bella’s heart. With every new release, you could practically hear the excitement of grown men preparing to mock teenage girls over their movie preferences. It’s no coincidence then, that this reappraisal of Twilight coincides with lead star Robert Pattinson’s turn as broody billionaire Bruce Wayne in Matt Reeves’ The Batman (2022).
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In the decade since Twilight first released, Pattinson has distanced himself from the franchise with obscure indie movies like The Lighthouse and Good Time and is now a respected name amongst filmgoers, allowing for his previous filmography to be reassessed in a new light. During the press tour for The Batman, Pattinson himself noted that only recently did it become acceptable to be a fan of Twilight, highlighting the ridicule that the cast and fans alike initially endured.
In this revival of a beloved piece of 2000s culture, young women are able to indulge in teen frivolity without the feelings of shame that were originally attached. Though girliness (read: femininity) is encouraged in childhood, there’s a shift that happens when girls enter their teens; suddenly, expressing emotions is unacceptable and what was once excitement is now ‘hysteria’; passion now ‘melodrama’. Young adults are tempered and wrought to fit within the confines of what is socially expected of womanhood, taught to mute their feelings and punished for any displays of ‘unacceptable’ emotion. Girls are publicly humiliated and made to be the subjects of documentaries that treat them as odd for obsessing over topics in a way that boys who are obsessed with sports teams are not. For Black women in particular, anger is translated as violence and can lead to penalisation in the workplace for actions that are permitted among their male counterparts.
“In the case of the emo revival, we can see how revisiting the trends of our youth allows us to return to a time where our passions were understood and shared by like-minded peers, and where distinctions between ‘respectable’ older male fans and ‘fickle’ teenage girl fans weren’t so readily made.”
Squealing over an actor you fancy is embarrassing, and crying when your favourite band breaks up is childish. If a piece of media incites strong emotion out of a largely teen girl fanbase, as Twilight did, then it is not to be taken seriously. Dismissing anything associated with young women is an age-old misogynistic practice with the express intent to silence young girls.
It’s only in later years, when women are at an age where they no longer feel shame for their interests, that they begin to reclaim positive feelings around aspects of girlhood. Hobbies that were deemed childish in their youth are now celebrated en masse: Making friendship bracelets and fawning over fictional vampires (and werewolves) is a cherished pastime where one can reminisce about life before employment and bills.
Nostalgia is essential in the process of reclaiming youth, and the rush of endorphins that comes with revisiting a beloved token of your teen years is a feeling that can’t be replicated elsewhere. When you press play on that film or that record, everything else falls away and suddenly you’re a kid once more, free of the burdens of adulthood.
This feeling was perhaps best captured when rock band My Chemical Romance announced a reunion tour in 2020, causing grown adults to dig out their darkest eyeliner and flock to reminisce about the joys of their emo years. In the case of the emo revival, we can see how revisiting the trends of our youth allows us to return to a time where our passions were understood and shared by like-minded peers, and where distinctions between ‘respectable’ older male fans and ‘fickle’ teenage girl fans weren’t so readily made.
When I rewatch Twilight, I’m reminded of being 13-years-old and giggling over the Cullens with my friends. It reminds me of printing the sheet music for Bella’s Lullaby in the school library and then sneaking into one of the music rooms to practise it on the old piano during lunchtime. It harks back to a less complicated time when all that mattered in life was school and my friends. The simplistic joy of just enjoying something without outside influence and for its own sake is rediscovered through nostalgia.
The feeling is increased tenfold for women who are able to return to the things they loved as teenagers without any socially imposed embarrassment. After being raised with the notion that “girls mature faster than boys”, and with scientists even going so far as to conduct studies to prove this, it is freeing to indulge in activities that we were once forced to grow out of. Where men are permitted to continue their childhood obsessions into adulthood, women are instilled with a sense of shame for doing the same. It is affirming, then, to remember why you loved something with so much passion in your youth and to embrace that love wholeheartedly without shame. This isn’t just a practice in frivolity, but an act of rehabilitation – in returning to the media that we were once mocked for liking, we are able to reclaim positive feelings around youth and girlhood.
Words: Nadira Begum