Where the hell have you been loca? The making of a Twilight fan 16 years after the film’s release

Late one night last summer, I found myself scrolling through Hulu’s endless homepage, falling down rabbit holes of recommended content. Just when my indecision had reached the point of returning to a trusted sitcom, I came across a familiar title: Divergent. I remembered starting the Divergent books, but in the windfall of post-apocalyptic, YA fantasy novels that defined my adolescence, that story specifically had never fully grasped my attention. And so, at twenty-one, ten years later, I decided to give it another chance.

Least to say, I was enthralled. The film was silly, but entirely gripping and insanely entertaining. I gasped when (SPOILER ALERT) Four reached for Tris’ hand, revealing he was also Divergent. After finishing the movie at 2:00 AM on the high of pure adrenaline, I immediately began the following film in the series, Allegiant. After falling asleep maybe an hour into the second film in the Divergent universe, I must confess that I have yet to return to Tris' story. Waking up to my friends’ responses to my slightly rabid texts about why no one had ever told me Divergent was so good made me reflect on how comical the entire incident was. Ten years later, I was gushing about a cheesy, teen, action flick, grateful I hadn’t read the story in middle school because I would have been completely obsessed. As my friends and I laughed about my late bloomer status in terms of iconic teen films, I wondered what else I had missed out on.

Fast forward to a week ago, I attended a screening of Twilight. I was struck by the cult classic identity that the story holds, and how quotable it is for a subsect of the millennial and Gen Z population. I had seen Twilight once before, and laughed at the terrible VFX, hilariously outlandish storylines, and comically serious acting. However, being in a theater full of mostly twenty-something year old women who anticipated every iconic scene, shouted out lines of dialogue with the actors onscreen, and sang along to the piano theme I felt as though I had somehow completely avoided an element of popular culture crucial to my peers. While I could recognize the baseball scene between the Cullens with Supermassive Black Hole blasting in the background as an iconic cultural relic, and could quote Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black’s “Bella, where the hell have you been loca?” I felt a duty to continue my Twilight exploration. 

There’s a specific beauty in revisiting movies that had a significant impact on popular culture fifteen years after their peak popularity. Being able to track the actors’ careers enhances appreciation of the movie, in my opinion, particularly regarding how the actors either are embarrassed of the film or laugh at it in the case of Twilight specifically. Director Emerald Fennell said in an promotional interview for her 2023 film Saltburn, that the setting of 2007 was intentional for the film, because fifteen years prior is never seen as cool in terms of fashion, style, music, and beyond within the cultural zeitgeist. While I agree in certain aspects, I strongly disagree in others. The first movie in the Twilight saga was released in 2008, and already has a cult following as a classic, despite being released only sixteen years ago. Even though the Twilight films were popular upon their release, that popularity came from an exuberant fanbase of primarily teenage girls. The films and their actors were often met with sarcasm and mockery due to the fantastical themes of this kitschy romance. Perhaps the fifteen year cool cycle does not apply to things that were considered “uncool” at the time, as years pass and the embarrassing becomes the nostalgic.

Diving into New Moon, I found myself completely captivated for the whole 130 minutes of bliss the movie offers. What’s better than vampires? Oh yeah, vampires AND werewolves. And what’s better than vampires and werewolves? The answer is both of them fighting over the affection over one completely ordinary (and honestly boring) teenage girl in a love triangle for the ages. Throw in a trip to Italy, I’m sold! I laughed throughout the entire film, from the apparitions of Edward in thin air, to Bella’s cringeworthy new persona as an adrenaline junkie. I finished New Moon as the newest member of Team Jacob - an unpopular opinion according to my friend, which I’m told I’ll understand later.

Being a late bloomer to the world of popular 2000s-2010s teen dramas has given me a greater appreciation for these films, their fanbases, and their cultural significance. Reflecting on the effect a series like Twilight had from massively popular books everyone seemed to be reading at once, to then a film event released to theaters in five parts, seems rare in our current media landscape. Book adaptations seem to be picked up into television shows on streaming networks, which can capture the intricacies of a story in long formatting across many episodes, but also do not retain lasting hype. The cult movies of my adolescence represent a time where the fanfare surrounding films and books was larger than life, before audiences became drastically fragmented across different media content and platforms. I wonder what the next generation of cult teen films will look like during a time when adolescents are increasingly using social media rather than enjoying the same books and movies. Until then, I’ll continue on my Twilight journey… Eclipse next!