I found an opinion!

I have officially written for every section of The Pendulum. My final section, and in my opinion the most terrifying, was opinions. But this week, Morgan Little, the opinions editor, convinced me to find an opinion and write my first column. So, here it is...I found an opinion on "Twilight":

When 'Twilight' loses its sparkle

There he stood like the Greek Adonis. There she stood several feet away, tortured by the desire to approach him and weave her fingers through his tousled bronze hair and stare into his molten gold eyes. When his gravitational pull inevitably draws her close enough to touch him, realization hits. He's too good to be true. He does not actually exist. She crumbles on the spot.

The "Twilight" series didn't invent the concept of women existing solely to find the men to marry and begin a family with. The series just perpetuates a theme that has survived in popular culture for decades. Author Stephenie Meyer even references the classic love stories of "Wuthering Heights" and "Romeo and Juliet" in her own story.

The readership of "Twilight" is the same general audience for Disney stories where the damsel in distress spends the entire tale seeking her Prince Charming. Young girls, who have never been in love before, are reading these books and gaining a false idea of what first love is like. Edward and his ilk set a high bar for men. Who wouldn't want the mysterious man with a classically tortured soul? He's beautiful, polite, refined, listens to classical music and sparkles in the sun. Any young girl would want that.

According to Box Office Mojo, "‘New Moon' distributor Summit Entertainment's exit polling indicated that 80 percent of the audience was female and 50 percent was under 21 years old." No matter how appealing the "Twilight" series is, and regardless of how many times girls devour the books and watch the movies, the negative connotations the themes have regarding gender roles in the context of romantic relationships cannot be avoided.

Women in popular culture are often portrayed as weak. Bella Swan "wins" in the end by getting the guy, but what she teaches her young female audience along the way lacks empowerment. When Edward leaves her, she falls apart and loses her will to live. Because of her full devotion to Edward, she has no friends to turn to in her time of need.

From the very beginning of the "Twilight" series, it's apparent that Bella's only goal is to be with Edward forever. She doesn't want college, she doesn't want a job and she doesn't even want children.

But it's not Edward's fault. Everything that drives Bella is about him. Edward pushes her to experience all those human things she would rather not have.

Any cultural production reflects the populace as a whole, and the themes in turn influence society. In the same way, it also reinforces how we perceive gender, said Lynn Huber, assistant professor of religious studies and the women's/gender studies program coordinator at Elon.

A practicing Mormon, Meyer is writing from a particular perspective with very clear thoughts on religion and sex. Beyond the theme of abstinence, Religion Dispatches cites the Mormon values of eternal marriage and family life as the strongest themes in "Twilight."

Rebecca Pope-Ruark, assistant professor of English at Elon, taught a vampire literature Winter Term class that included "Twilight." She said one has to take Bella for who she is: a 17-year-old girl who is bound to grow unhealthily attached to her first love. If Bella had been 25 years old, then she would be considered supremely weak. Like Bella, when someone we love leaves us, we seek validation elsewhere. When Edward left, Bella ran to Jacob Blake for safety and to seek that validation.

It's a puzzle as to why popular culture is ridden with weak female characters. When it comes to the best sellers and blockbusters, a damsel in distress sells.

"New Moon" brought in a $143 million opening weekend. Women today aren't weak, but for some reason, we relate to the weak characters in popular culture. Maybe our nurturing tendencies lend themselves to pitying characters like Bella. Or maybe those weak characters help us find that fulfillment we've been seeking in knowing we are stronger than them.

The "Twilight" series won't be the last to present its female protagonist as powerless. The themes of eternal love and finding a soul mate ring true because of what we've been taught: to be attracted to the mythical male savior figure. We want someone to take care of us and protect us while we, in turn, can take care of them. It's become so culturally ingrained that it's nearly impossible to step out of it.