Elizabeth “Eth” Hyman
Staff Writer
Ahhhh yes. Kristen Stewart. Robert Pattinson. Taylor Lautner. The three most important figures in the life of any angsty teenager. When I was 15, I got the box set of “The Twilight Saga” on blu-ray, and that thing became my holy grail. Let me explain…
I don’t know what it is, but something about these movies is more important to 21st Century history than the iPhone. These movies have carried numerous middle and high schoolers through their days, myself included, and whether it is cringey or not (it totally is, but I’m past the point of caring), the films themselves, ESPECIALLY THE FIRST ONE, have created a cultural currency among us all.
(By the way, as I type this, guess what I’m watching…yea.)
When I was a freshman in high school, I didn’t know anything about myself. All I knew was that I wanted vampire powers and that pretending like my life was a movie would make high school more bearable. So, every night, without fail, I was watching one of the “Twilight” films. I remember the night of Homecoming, my first school dance with a date: I watched “New Moon” as I brushed out my hair and put pajamas on, thinking, “Oh, it was so lovely, I must be the main character, maybe I’ll find out if [ex’s name] has the chemistry that Edward and Bella have. They ARE mysterious…” and so on and so on. Every simple moment of my life, down to what I ate for lunch (don’t worry, it wasn’t blood), became a MOVIE MOMENT.
Though I love “Twilight,” I do not recommend living through a movie.
Here I am now, six years down the road, looking back thinking, “Damn girl, you really needed to get out more.” I guess it’s universal for high school to be embarrassing, that’s common knowledge, but between “Twilight” and “The Craft,” I was living my life like I was the pop icon of the year. The goth girl who wasn’t actually a goth girl, and just wanted to constantly be perceived as whatever the word “different” meant.
Ay yi yi!
Embarrassing or not, “Twilight” brought me peace for sure. I wanted to live in Forks and have it rain all the time, so every time it rained in Greensboro, I made the most of it. Listening to the soundtrack and walking around with long sleeves on with the thumbs in them, you would’ve thought I was Kristen Stewart’s stunt double. When I got back into the real world, I actually started being myself, which never really happened until just last year, but the art of bad writing and blue-gray undertones in every single “Twilight” movie still brings me a smile, and, if nothing else, I can do one HELL of a Bella impression. All you gotta do is bite your bottom lip and count to five in between each word you say. Oh, and don’t forget to hold your forehead, just pretend you have a migraine…then you’re golden.
THE CAROLINIAN 
I remember watching these when they first came out and taking my teenager out with her friends to see them at the theatre. I became obsessed with the saga. I think I could lip-sync the entire series. Team Edward all the way. LOL!!!!
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