Happy 16th birthday to the movie that changed lives

There is a divide in many a millennial’s life. The time before Twilight and the time after. Which is why we must honor the first film on this, it’s 16th birthday. Now, it can drive Bella Swan’s (Kristen Stewart) red truck!

On November 21, 2008, fans took to theaters to see Catherine Hardwick’s Twilight adaptation. The film brought Robert Pattinson to us as Edward Cullen, Bella’s vampire boyfriend who was too afraid of hurting her to really truly let himself love her. Honestly, maybe this is why all of us are hopeless romantics who have high expectations. Oh wait, just me? Nevermind.

Based on the Stephanie Meyers book series, this first movie really set the tone for one of the most unhinged franchises of all time. Look, I rewatched this entire franchise in one day and lost every sense of who I was so I have a soft spot for Twilight as a whole. But it really was a time to be alive when these movies were coming out.

The book series started in 2005 with Meyers sharing her love of vampires and Muse with young readers. (In the “no more sex scenes” conversations of today, these teens would have loved reading this series at the time meanwhile we all wanted Edward to get over it.) Will we ever recover from Edward calling Bella a “Spider monkey”? Probably not but most millennials have a deep love of Robert Pattinson for his work in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and then as Edward Cullen. May we never forget.

It’s fun to revisit!

Are these movies the top tier of cinema history? No. They’re fun. And that’s fine! I think we love watching Twilight and the franchise as a whole because it is a comfort. Do I still laugh every single time the song “Possibilities” plays in New Moon and months go by in one scene? Yes. But that’s coming from a deep place of love for this franchise. And look, that soundtrack is still great.

Whatever people said about Twilight when I was growing up, I just don’t care now. They make me happy and that’s all that matters. So many of us celebrate this franchise and the joy it brought us as teenagers reading it or seeing the films and that’s awesome. I’ll never forget where I was when we all thought Carlisle Cullen died for real at the end of Breaking Dawn: Part II and how the entire movie theater started screaming. Top movie going experience for me.

Where would we be without Twilight? We wouldn’t have Jacob (Taylor Lautner) saying “Bella, where you been, loca?” in New Moon and we wouldn’t have Paramore singing “Decode” on the soundtrack, that’s for sure. But I do think the love that still remains for these movies starts with Twilight and has spawned into all of us having an appreciation for them, even if Edward Cullen had to break a bed with his super strength while having sex with Bella Swan.