The saga is composed of three principal characters. Bella Swan is a normal human girl whose principal quality is clumsiness. She describes herself as plain, but not ugly. In school, she hits the mark, but mostly because it's not really a challenge. I don't think the book ever mentions her taking AP classes or having any special interest in any extracurricular activities. She gets humor, but I personally don't think she's all that funny. She's modest, but with good reason. I would hope that any person as mediocre as her wouldn't let her ego get too inflated. She has girlfriends, but they aren't very close to describe her as a "girlfriend." She's also not catty. In short, Bella Swan is an extremely average girl.
Edward Cullen is the guy that's too cool for school, literally. His hands are freezing cold and when it's sunny, he and his adopted vampire siblings stay home from school in order not to glisten like diamonds in public. In order for Bella to meet Edward at school, it is necessary that he attend. So Stephanie Meyer, the author of the series, took some artistic license and did away with the part of traditional vampire lore that says vampires spontaneously combust in the sunlight. Instead, she claims vamps only glisten in the sun and placed her fictional vampire coven in a part of the US that is overcast most days.
Jacob Black is a Native American whose ancestors left him and some of his fellow tribe members the ability to morph into wolves whenever the tribe is in danger. This all happens subconsciously, so he doesn't really have a choice. When the Cullen's, or any other supernatural threat nears their reservation, the pubescent males of the tribe are activated as werewolves. They also don't really abide by traditional werewolf lore that involves the full moon, silver bullets, and infectious bites. Later all this gets explained when we find out they are shape shifters, not actual werewolves. But all this is beside the point. Jacob is the opposite of Edward. He is warm, literally. His temperature is constantly at 108-degrees. That's 10 whole degrees hotter than the boy band from the late 90's that brought us hotties like Nick Lachey.
The Twilight Saga brings Gothic traditions to the mainstream and entertains regular women. I'm not a sucker for fantastic beings. I'm not attracted to literature or movies with wizards, witches, vampires, talking lions, potions, et cetera. I prefer movies about the human experiences. Stephanie Meyer puts the two together and makes something entirely different. Her boldness has created something new. With Twilight you don't get a simple run of the mill love story, nor do you get some book that's mostly about fighting and killing vampires to save the human race. You get a story about lovers with some serious action scenes to really get your adrenaline running.
The real genius behind the saga is how it plays on two archetypes of female desire.
Jacob Black is warm, understanding, and wholesome. Of Bella's two principal suitors, he is the one her father approves of. He is the one that makes her feel comfortable. He treats Bella as a total equal. He not only lets her ride a motorcycle, he goes out of his way to fix one up for her. Their conversations are lighthearted and fun.
Edward Cullen is cool, exotic and dangerous. He's actually 100 years older than her, so there's the whole experienced older guy thing. It's comparable to a high schooler dating a college guy, but the whole situation is on steroids. He makes her feel excited. However, he treats Bella with a very paternal attitude. Since he smelled her, his whole purpose has been to protect her. All this feeds into the whole Prince Charming, knight in shining armor fantasy that relieves the lucky princess of any responsibility to fend for herself. Their conversations are quite often very intense. Also, he's filthy rich.
Stephanie Meyer does adhere to traditional vampire myth when it comes to sensuality. All the vampire couples feel very intensely for each other, and in the last book it is revealed that they can really bang a headboard against the wall. Edward Cullen, however is above all that "hit it and quit it" bullshit. As dangerous as he is, he insist that he and Bella stay chaste until they exchange vows. Of course this doesn't keep Bella from pressing him for some nooky.
Bella's female character is unique in that she is allowed to feel desire much like a man would. In other fiction women are either the Madonna or the Magdalene; they are oftentimes one of two male desire archetypes, neither one of which can have it both ways. Bella is not an object of desire she is the player, but she's not a whore. She loves both guys and both guys love her. Bella is like a window shopper that will end up with a really great buy whichever way she goes. She can be really turned on by Edward Cullen and he won't think any less of her for trying to get herself some premarital booty. He understands that she is a hotblooded woman and that his desire for abstinence is simply a personal preference that was instilled in him when he was a youngster in the early 20th century, and that her desire for passionate sex is a natural part of the human experience.
Jacob, in the meantime loves her unconditionally and patiently. He doesn't even care that she's also in love with his mortal enemy. He just wants a chance to win her heart, and if and when he does, he won't even care that she also had the hots for Edward at some point.
The book is great because there is finally a female that can have her cake and eat it too.
SPOILER ALERT: At the end of the last book the whole love triangle is resolved by introducing a new character whom Jacob falls completely in love with. So, Bella gets to keep her easy-going best friend, get it on with her passionate lover keep in touch with her family, and upon getting turned into a vampire, finally finds a place in the world where she fits in.
As far as the movies, I go just to see if the director's vision matched my own. So far I've been pretty disappointed, especially with the casting. Although Rob Patterson is alright looking, I find him too hairy for someone whose skin is constantly being described as marble. I also find his lips too thin for my taste. Bella is hard to cast since she's supposed to be girl-next-door-boring and inspirational at the same time. Kristen Stewart hit the mark on one of those. My biggest issue is with Rosalie. She is supposed to be a beyond-stunning blonde. She was already more than beautiful in her human life. Add to that the magic of being a vampire (a creature traditional seen as the epitome of sexuallity) and you should have a being that is too beautiful for words. In my mind, Rosalie was played by Estella Warren, who by now is probably too old to be playing a teenager. Scarlet Johansen might be able to pass, but she's out of Twilight's league. That brings me to Taylor Swift. Young. Blonde. Beautiful. Instead they cast a girl who is merely attractive.
I will still go watch Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn when they come out, which will hopefully be soon.
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