Break out the mushroom ravioli, Clair de Lune, and sensible rain gear: The entire Twilight saga is headed to Netflix this summer. The streaming giant announced June 21 that all five movies about “what if your boyfriend was a grumpy elderly man who wanted to drink your blood” will be available in the U.S. starting July 16. Is it dramatic to say I have died every day waiting for this?
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The first Twilight novel—in which a small-town high school became the backdrop of a lusty interspecies love story—recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. Author Stephenie Meyer, who'd never written professionally before this, spawned an entire industry as a result: the four best-selling Twilight novels, as well as subsequent spin-offs, the blockbuster movie franchise, plus a tourist boom in Forks, Washington, where the story is set.
For millennials and younger Gen X'ers, Twilight was somewhere between a movement and a madness. The books are about desiring and being desired, but they're also about denial, chastity, and violence. Yes, it's a love story that centered on a male partner who had a strong impulse to kill his female partner. But at the same time, Twilight resonated with so many because it takes a teenage girl's mind and perspective seriously. Now a whole new generation will be introduced to the idea that all great love stories start with a single sniff.
Previously, the Twilight movies had been a little hard to track down; they went on and off Amazon Prime and showed up on Roku. They've always been available to rent, but the Twilight saga isn't the kind of thing you rent. It's the kind of thing you watch without stopping for 12 hours after drinking bad wine and reading your middle school journals.
