If you keep up with pop culture, you're fully aware that today was the opening day of the 4th installment of the Twilight Saga movie Breaking Dawn. The movie, rightly so, is very accurate in terms of portraying the novel it represents, which includes the consummation of a human-vampire marriage, the conception of a human-vampire child, and the birth of that child.
I recently read an article that reflects upon the film's anti-life, pro-abortion agenda and message; the movie encourages violent sex, it portrays abortion as highly recommended, and that it skews the portrayal of a human child in utero.
How about we all just take a beat and calm down, kids.
After I read this article, my immediate thought was, "Okay, this writer obviously hasn't read any of the novels and doesn't know what's next."
What does the movie most likely leave out of all of this? The female character (mother) Bella's thoughts on her pregnancy. The novel portrays this situation in as "normal" of a way as it can be: Bella is initially shocked. After all, based on Stephenie Meyers' writings on vampires, a vampire's body is essentially "frozen," assuming that a male vampire cannot impregnate his spouse. However, a vampire man and human woman have never been known to have sex. This is why the Bella/Edward relationship is so unique: Edward loves Bella so much that he switches off his "violent" instincts when he sleeps with Bella for the first time as her husband. The sex scene in the book is more humorous than violent, and the morning after they have sex, Edward's remorseful character is wracked with guilt because he is afraid he hurt his wife, to which Bella laughs it off because she was too distracted by "other things."
When Bella does discover she is pregnant, after the shock wears off, she feels an immediate connection to her (spoiler alert) daughter, and is committed to seeing the pregnancy through.
Do you sense a pro-abortion message? The only time that becomes apparent is when Edward wants Bella to "take care" of the pregnancy because he doesn't know what is happening to her. However, he does eventually develop a connection with his unborn daughter. If anything, the connection forged between the parents and child is pro life, not pro death.
Bear in mind that, number one, this is an impossible situation, hence the novels' supernatural genre. Number two, Edward & Bella's child is half-vampire, so the birth scene is, yes, very violent. But it does have a happy ending: the little girl survives, and her mother is saved by vampirism.
Before you judge the message of a film, check out the novel it portrays. To each his own in terms of opinions on the film's "message," but I enjoyed the books and the film. Even if creative liberties are taken on the abortion front, the book does not portray that message as strongly as a certain blogger would like to think.
Not everything has a hidden agenda one way or another, which is not a common concept. Sometimes films and books are created to simply serve the public through entertainment.
That's my 2 cents. If you have not read the books, I highly encourage you to do so. They are an easy read (I finished all four books in three days).
Major point alert: Breaking Dawn: Part 1 is just that: the first half of the last book. Don't jump to conclusions on the fate of the child & mother if you haven't read the books.
I have very strong pro-life views that I am not afraid to voice or defend. However, I do recognize that not every pop culture creation is laced with an anti-life message. Sometimes things are created for us to enjoy.
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