Twilight vs. Mormon Beliefs and Values

Last week, I attended a very interested lecture that was part of the Mormon Media Studies Symposium which talked about a lot of different topics. The lecture I attended was one that talked about a few topics, but the one I found most interesting was talking about a paper titled, "Twilight as a reflection of Latter-day Saint Beliefs and Values” given by Trudy L. Hanson. There have been an arguable amount of Mormon beliefs and values instilled in this series, and some of them discussed were the values of family and the important role that it plays in the lives of the twilight characters and also in the lives of Latter-day Saints. Another value is that of Agency and also restraint. The last main value mentioned in the lecture was the value of power and control in relationship. I have only seen a few of the Twilight movies, have never read the books, but the value I can see most is the value of family and the important role that it plays. As a Latter-day Saint, the importance of families is stressed, in my mind, more than any other principle. It is of vast importance. This can also be seen in the Twilight series in the characters of Bella and even Edward. They both have a strong tie to their families, with Bella’s family being divorced and Edward’s family being so close. They have different family relationships, but the idea is that family is stressed as being important.
I found this lecture fascinating and it really made me want to actually read the novels to get a better understanding of the values that it stresses and which of those values run right along with values of Latter-day Saints.

here is an actual news piece on the topic:

http://tinyurl.com/2cujryh
http://tinyurl.com/o35o6v