15 years later, the cultural impact of ‘Twilight’ is still going strong

Romeo and Juliet. Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. Bella and Edward.

Comparing Bella and Edward to these couples from literary classics may seem like a plebeian folly. But with north of 160 million copies sold, the “Twilight” series crossed over from a YA fiction blip to a global phenomenon.

It’s been a little over two decades since Stephenie Meyer first dreamt the basis of the story and 15 years exactly since the first “Twilight” movie debuted.

The franchise (both books and movies) has endured no shortage of mocking, but as the 15th anniversary has approached, it’s reemerged in the cultural consciousness. Memes and trends related to it have gone viral on TikTok, amassing 28.2 billion cumulative views for #twilight alone.

And the “Twilight” franchise isn’t even over yet — reportedly there’s a new TV show on the horizon.

So, after 15 years, 160 million books and $3 billion in movie revenue, what does “Twilight” mean today? To answer that question, here’s a cultural history.

The origins of ‘Twilight’

On June 2, 2003, Meyer woke from a dream.

“In my dream, two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods. One of these people was just your average girl. The other person was fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire,” Meyer explains on her website.

The two were star-crossed lovers who couldn’t stay away from each other, but the vampire had to continually resist killing her (he liked the scent of her blood).

Meyer feverishly scribbled down the dream that eventually turned into a book. The Brigham Young University graduate and stay-at-home mother would write at night when her young children were asleep.

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What’s ‘Twilight’ about?

For those who need a little refresher on the premise of the series, it’s this: Bella Swan moves from sunny Arizona to rainy Forks, Washington. She considers herself plain but soon all the boys in town are smitten with her.

But she only has eyes for one: Edward Cullen, a recluse who she later finds out is a vampire who has been alive for more than a century. The first book in the series, “Twilight,” is followed by “New Moon,” “Eclipse” and “Breaking Dawn.”

There’s also “Midnight Sun,” written from Edward’s perspective; “The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner,” which is an “Eclipse” spin-off; and “Life and Death,” where Meyer reverses the genders of the characters (Beaufort Swan and Edythe Cullen).

The book that started the vampire craze

The first book released on Oct. 5, 2005. But it wasn’t an immediate success.

By 2008, “Twilight” and its sequel, “New Moon,” were 26th and 37th, respectively, on USA Today’s best-selling books of the last 15 years. Not bad book sales by any stretch of the imagination, but not “Harry Potter” numbers.

In 2009, Meyer revealed 12 things that influenced her as she wrote “Twilight.” The list, published by Entertainment Weekly, included “Jane Eyre,” “Anne of Green Gables,” “X-Men Cartoons,” the band Muse, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, HGTV and more.

If you have read “Twilight,” this list probably won’t surprise you. Interrupting the angsty love sequences and awkward small talk are both explicit and implicit references to “Wuthering Heights” and “Romeo and Juliet.”

Thus, the ‘Twilight’ films were born

The books grew in readership, and eventually, director and production designer Catherine Hardwicke chose to direct it. She told The Hollywood Reporter she thought Meyer “had really captured the moments of first love.”

Hardwicke then got to work on making it in a movie, but not with a big studio: It was an indie film. “No one thought it was going to successful,” she said.

With a budget of $37 million, per Forbes, and a couple of “indie kids,” actors Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, as the lead characters, Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, the “Twilight” fandom really showed up for the first movie. On its opening weekend, it earned $69 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

And a multibillion dollar franchise was born.

The strength of the ‘Twilight’ fandom

As the franchise grew in popularity, book sales went up and a dedicated fanbase developed, primarily consisting of female tweens and teens.

It wasn’t uncommon for teen girls to spend an afternoon debating if they were Team Edward or Team Jacob. As the franchise developed, The Guardian described it as “one of the most powerful new groups in Hollywood” because of how financially successful “Twilight” had become.

As Christopher Orr wrote about in a film review of “Twilight” for The Atlantic, the movie was filled “with a distinctly teenage sense of tragedy.”

The dialogue ranged from awkward (“You better hold tight, spider monkey” is often quoted even today), to angsty, to downright clunky. But to a teenage girl, the awkward, angsty and clunky dialogue resonated.

The female young adult fanbase not only drove sales, but also “unprecedented levels of hate,” Marianne Eloise wrote on Robert Ebert’s website. “Twilight” and its fanbase were often the target of ridicule, both online and in person.

The movie wasn’t enough for critics, but it was enough for the fandom. “It did exactly what it intended to: give teen girls someone to swoon over, a female lead to see themselves in, and a fantasy to get lost in that ultimately is safer than actually talking to a boy in real life.”

Fans who were really into it — called Twihards — launched a whole online phenomenon as well as tourism. Forks, Washington, where the books are set, has taken in a steady stream of tourists ever since.

Vampire fever, as The New York Times dubbed it, caught on.

The influence of “Twilight” extended beyond the fandom. The books, snubbed by famous authors, and the movies, panned by critics, spawned a whole phenomenon.

How ‘Twilight’ changed YA fiction and entertainment

After “Twilight” was released, vampire romance novels became all the rage.

This literature craze was less like the gothic “Dracula” by Bram Stoker and instead, leaned into the angsty romance. Books like “The Vampire Diaries” (2009 to 2017) and “Vampire Academy” came right as “Twilight” started to peak.

Instead of ugly vampires or particularly scary vampires, these kinds of vampires were attractive and the center of romance — not horror.

Soon, the vampire craze turned into a fascination with the supernatural.

“Variety noted in 2013 that ‘Warm Bodies,’ which is likely remembered as ‘that Nicholas Hoult zombie movie,’ tried to do for ‘flesh-eaters what ‘The Twilight Saga’ did for vampires,’” Sonia Rao reported for The Washington Post.

“The Hollywood Reporter referred to ‘The Mortal Instruments,’ which also was based on a supernatural book series, as a ‘desperate “Twilight” wannabe’ that same year.”

Then the parodies also flowed in.

The parody movie “Vampires Suck” in 2010 tells the story of Edward Sullen and Becca Crane. It was quickly followed by another parody, “Dark Moon.” Plus, “Saturday Night Live” did its own “Twilight” spoof.

The ‘Twilight’ renaissance of today

Has “Twilight” held up?

The criticisms of ‘Twilight’

As time has gone on, the series has faced criticism over the central relationship between Bella and Edward. “Edward was wildly controlling,” Raisa Bruner wrote for Time magazine.

“He hid in Bella’s bedroom at night to watch her sleep. He followed her out of town, infantilized her and stalked her when he worried about her health. He was creepy and domineering, and the couple’s dynamic was toxic,” Bruner continued.

Another criticism that has been voiced is the way the series approaches the Quileute Tribe.

There have been mixed responses in the community. “Some have enjoyed the newfound public interest in their culture, while others find the story and all the attention distasteful,” Dr. Deana Dartt-Netwon and Tasia Endo wrote on the Burke Museum website.

Two of the central criticisms with regards to the portrayal of the Quileute Tribe were the misrepresentation of the tribe itself and that the tribe didn’t receive any proceeds from the film, according to the Burke Museum.

‘Twilight’ paved the way for films about women

The film has received renewed attention on social media.

“Twilight” tourism never really stopped, but the source of renewed attention on the movie might be similar to why it became popular in the first place.

“‘Twilight’ is a source of nostalgia that transports us to a simpler time in our lives, most of us have fond memories of watching the ‘Twilight Saga’ on cable, with some of us even seeing the movies in theaters,” Emily Cao wrote in The Wellesley News. “At the time they were initially popular, media primarily aimed at teenage girls (like boy bands and yes, ‘Twilight’) was ridiculed and seen as frivolous.”

But now that’s not the case, Cao argues. Now there’s more willingness to embrace entertainment like “Twilight,” like the “Barbie” movie. Not only did Greta Gerwig manage to make a billion-dollar smash hit, but she made a movie where girls and women across generations dressed up in pink to see the movie together.

It was a moment of universal sisterhood not unlike those midnight premieres the “Twilight” saga thrived on. It didn’t just change culture, it may have even changed the entertainment industry itself.

“Patty (Jenkins) was able to do ‘Wonder Woman,’ and I’m sure part of the ammo was, ‘Okay, women came out for this one (‘Twilight’), so maybe they’ll come out for this.’ You need that when you’re going to pitch your movie,” Hardwicke told Entertainment Weekly.

“There had been film successes with women at the story’s heart, but the industry never built on these successes. ‘Twilight’ brought a female-voiced franchise into the international sphere,” Melissa Silverstein, founder of Women and Hollywood, told USA Today on the 10th anniversary of the movie.

Nowadays, if you want to watch “Twilight,” you can stream it on Amazon Prime, but there’s also a forthcoming TV series. Meyer told USA Today in 2020 that there would be two more “Twilight” books. So, it’s safe to say the phenomenon isn’t over yet.

The future of the books’ reception is uncertain, but it’s safe to say “Twilight” has carved out a small but significant part of cultural history. While we can’t say for certain, it might have even earned itself the status of a franchise that will be remembered forever.