On Thursday afternoon I went to the employee screening of New Moon. I’m not really going to get into an actual movie review right now- I need more time to think on that a bit, because in general, my opinions on Twilight are… unusual for a fan, and utterly incomprehensible for someone who finds the entire thing ridiculous- both of which describe me.
No, what I’m more interested in talking about right now is the character of Bella Swan herself.
I have widely publicized my affinity for Team Jacob. I just like him better (for many and varied reasons) than Edward. But this isn’t really about either of the Teams.
I hate Bella Swan. Not for the reason that many fans give: Oh, she has Edward! I want Edward! My reason is more complex than that.
I can’t abide her treatment of Jacob. He’s a good kid, and he absolutely adores her. Beyond all reason, he loves her. This is a valid feeling that he has.
Bella is not interested. I can’t blame her for that. Sometimes in life there are people who really like you, people who you care about, but who you just aren’t interested in romantically. It happens. This is also a valid feeling.
The problem is that she won’t let go of Jake. She seems to think that telling him, “I love you. I can’t live without you. Without your friendship I’m nothing.” isn’t leading him on. The boy is 16. He’s hormonal and in love for the first time. Telling him all those things and then saying, “But I’m going to choose Edward.” sounds a lot like “Try harder, genius.”
I would be more forgiving if Bella said, “Jake, I care about you as a friend, but I love Edward and want to spend the rest of my undead life with him.” and then left Jacob alone for the time he needed to work past that. Instead, she actively tried to convince him to see her, hang out with her, spend time alone with her, and told him repeatedly that she loved him, cared for him, couldn’t picture her life without him.
It’s not in the slightest bit fair to Jacob. In fact, I would call it cruel.
Once upon a time, there was a nice guy, a friend of the family, who was interested in me. I just wasn’t interested back, so after telling him so, I didn’t accept invitations to hang out (unless it was a group thing and other members of my family were involved), and when asked out, I would remind him again that no, I was not interested. I did my best to not indicate in any way that there was a chance I could be convinced otherwise (granted, I couldn’t control what others said, but I, personally, was as clear as I could be), and I did what I could to make sure there was the space needed to realize that it wasn’t going to happen.
And he moved on.
Bella doesn’t give Jake the chance to move on. She gives him every reason to believe that he could convince her to ditch Edward for him, and gets upset when he persists in trying to woo her.
She even uses the feelings that he has for her as a lever- if you really care about me, you’ll just be my friend, without realizing that the corollary to that is- since I care about you as a friend, I will do my best to not cause you pain.
He loves Bella, and she doesn’t love him back. His heartbreak is understandable and sad. It’s horrifyingly manipulative of Bella to use that against him, heedless of the fact that it will only hurt him more in the long run.