Note: This post might have spoilers. Read at your own risk. Blah blah blah.
Edward Cullen (in his Twilight / New Moon incarnation) is not the type of guy that I would want to spend my life (or all of eternity) with.
No, it has nothing to do with his vampiric disposition. This is mostly due to the fact that he shares many relationship traits with a former boyfriend of mine, Josh. Firsthand, I learned the negativity and destruction that they can play/cause.
Edward is controlling: he makes all the decisions in the relationship, in many cases giving Bella no say. He believes he has her best interests at heart, but doesn’t stop to think that she may want differently. He decides when they can be together or not. While it is naturally in a woman’s nature to look for a guy who can take care of her, this is going too far. Girls, a guy doesn’t have to control you and think he knows better than you to take care of you. On the flip side, think of Jacob. In New Moon when Edward left, he took care of her. He also let her make her choices and decisions and either agreed or didn’t.
It goes into the Little Red Riding Hood theme. Girls traditionally go for the bad boys: the ones with a secret, a past, something that seems rough. These guys are charming. But, despite the risks involved, the girl is willing to risk it and ignore the negatives to try to figure out what it is about the guy… Then she realizes why he isn’t good for long term (either on her own as he grows tired of her, he gets boring, or he leaves) and she finds a guy that is good for long-term. Someone that can take care of her, but is also practical. Someone that isn’t hiding behind an image and someone she can actually grow close to. The wolf vs. prince charming.
Ironically, in the Twilight series, it is Jacob (the original good-guy) who turns wolf. But the longer he is a wolf, the more he develops these wolf-ish, bad boy traits. In Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, as he fights to keep Bella, he begins to disregard what is best for her. While Jacob does still want to let her have a choice, he purposely plays at her weaknesses to guilt-trip her and make her feel bad. If a guy makes you feel like shit for his own gain, he is shit.
At the same time that Jacob switches to bad-boy, Edward switches to prince charming. Please note that this rarely, if ever, happens in real life. If it does, it usually doesn’t happen in the same previous relationship. If a guy has control, why give it up? However, this is a story and Edward begins to give Bella her freedom. He now trusts her (he didn’t before, and trust is necessary) judgement.
While thinking this Twilight vs. Little Red Riding Hood thing out, I began to realize the similarities with my own life. The earlier Edward and the later Jacob (the bad boy roles) both have the same traits that Josh did. He was controlling, thought he knew best, didn’t give me a choice, didn’t trust me, etc. And he played up to the bad boy image. Thinking back, he only told me a few stories about his childhood. Only one wasn’t violent and I know it to be a lie. I highly doubt the violent ones (where he would beat some idiot up) were true either. He was the Edward: the bad boy with a soft side. As Bella told Edward, she believed the tough-guy stuff was a mask to keep people away. He told me other stories as well (that I won’t repeat here) that I know to be lies that played into it even more so. It’s a wonder he wasn’t a model for the early Edward.
Michael, on the other hand, is my prince charming. And while prince charming gets the image of being boring, or lack-luster, he isn’t. He may not be rough, but there is so much more to him. A bad boy is flat and one-dimensional. Michael is multi-demensional. Not being a bad boy doesn’t take away from other things, either; there’s still that passion (that was either lacking or fake with Josh). He has my best interests at heart, he treats me as an equal, he doesn’t have a mask he has to worry about keeping up, we can be honest and open, I can learn about him and his past, I’m comfortable enough to be me and open up about my past, he can take care of me (mentally, physically, etc.), he’s practical (which really is really really nice), etc., etc., etc. And because we are so close and know each other so well, we have so much fun just being together.
Prince Charming beats the Wolf any day.
Recent Comments