Ten years ago, the tween-McDreamy vampire, Edward Cullen, made his first appearance. When the Twilight books first came out, young fans, mostly girls, were sucked into the fantastic world of the mysterious, strong, and sexy Cullen family. Readers were captivated by the idea that maybe one day a handsome, brooding vampire would fall irrevocably in love with them.
Now, a decade later, Twilight seems like old news. The hype burned out just as quickly as it was ignited and even vampire-lit connoisseurs find themselves craving something more original. Perhaps a gender-bending rendition of the classic story is exactly the fix these junkies crave.
In honor of the 10th anniversary of Twilight, author Stephanie Meyer has produced a new version of the book and, this time, beloved Edward is now Edythe. Having been highly criticized for painting Bella as a “damsel in distress,” Meyer chose to prove the point that the tale could be told from either gender’s perspective. Bella, thus, is now Beau. The new book was also intended to reduce the notion that Bella’s character was, “too consumed with her love interest, as if that’s somehow just a girl thing” and prove, possibly, that even boys feel puppy-love.
The gender-swap does reflect some of the politically correct attitudes permeating pop culture, but it fails to appease many subcultures within. While feminists might be thrilled that a lady is in charge (and, of course, gets the cool mind-reading powers), LGBTQ+ folks might have wished for a less-heteronormative relationship than that of girl-meets-boy or boy-meets-girl.
Meyer didn’t stop the gender-swapping at her protagonists; all of the book’s characters have new genders and new names. Additionally, Meyer describes Beau as “more OCD” than Bella, a statement which certainly would not be acceptable to those who actually suffer from the compulsive disorder. The 442-page reimagined novel is sure to spark some unrest from fans, some of which has already been voiced on Twitter: “Having released a gender-swapped version of Twilight, Stephanie Meyers plans to rewrite the book using Peanuts characters,” wrote @MrWordsWorth, while @waitwait noted that “Stephanie Meyer just announced a gender-swapped rewrite of Twilight, finally proving that boys can also be flat, one-dimensional characters.”
While much of the backlash seems to stem from disappointment that her long-postponed novel from Edward’s point of view still has yet to be released, public opinion on Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined remains mixed. Meyer’s attempts at transferring power onto the female character seem flimsy and forced, much like the rest of her writing. As Twitter user @JordanRap aptly noted: “‘Author Really Enjoys Money, Dislikes Work’ feels like a more appropriate headline for this ‘Twilight’ news.”