10 Ways Bella Swan's Character Could (& Should) Be Different In Twilight's TV Remake

Stephenie Meyer’s young adult book series Twilight is getting its own Twilight animated TV show, and it is time to consider which parts of the original story could use refining. Suggesting that protagonist Bella Swan could use improvement could be seen as blasphemy for many Twilight fans, but some would agree that even minor tweaks could turn her from a great protagonist to an amazing one. Swan may remain an entirely suitable lead for the young adult audience that Meyer targeted, but Twilight blew up beyond all imagining, and now must please more than just young adults.

Whether or not this is fair to Meyer, Stewart, or Twilight fans, the reality is this – this animated Twilight TV series will bring The Twilight Saga stories to a wider audience and allow the franchise more future opportunities. Books, movies, merchandise, and even theater shows are enabled by franchise growth. Most importantly, it isn’t following a narrative to the letter that makes an adaptation faithful, it is correctly portraying its message, mood, theme, and spirit. So, tweaking Bella’s character in the TV show can actually help to tell the story of this romance.

10 Fans Should Know Bella Swan’s Favorite Food

Bella Swan Liked Mexican And Italian

Bella Swan liked cooking enchiladas, lasagna, and steak in the Twilight books, but the Twilight movies sold Bella’s cooking a little short, depicting her eating at a diner with her dad, Charlie. The animated TV show should choose quality, not quantity, when it comes to painting in more detail around Bella. Focusing on one favorite food would say far more than giving Bella a generic ability to cook. Perhaps Bella Swan likes Italian food because it reminds her of somewhere she went, or of somewhere she wants to go.

Bella can have many dimensions added to her through this simple choice alone, which would be easy to explore in quieter moments in the TV show. Fruit and desserts often carry huge sexual and romantic symbolism, making them great details to add to a romance. Fleshing out Bella’s relationship with food also allows an entry point to a discussion of disordered eating, if this is something that the show wants to explore, considering how Bella went off food at certain points in the story.

9 Bella Should Push Back Against Edward’s Break-ins

Bella Should Question Edward’s Behavior

Edward watching Bella sleep while he killed spiders was one of the most polarizing aspects of Twilight and for good reason, which the show can address. Edward exhibited stalkerish behavior in contemplating killing Bella and trying to resist, then breaking into her house to watch her sleep. The show would be remiss not to tackle this.

The show could change Edward’s behavior so that Bella doesn’t have to address it. However, if keeping Edward’s behavior as is, Bella should demonstrate the value of consent in the show by questioning him. If Edward is going to remain as threatening in the show as he was in the books and movies, Bella’s character must be made much grittier to present a match for it, and she must be someone able to challenge it and withstand it.

8 Bella’s Cooking Hobby Should Explore Wider Themes

Bella Could Show Passion And Creativity Through Cooking

Bella Swan cooked for her dad throughout Meyer’s books, but there’s a whole world of richness to be grown from a cooking hobby that the TV show could exploit. Bella was caring and hardworking – not everyone cooks enchiladas and lasagna at her age. Fleshing out details about food could evoke Bella’s childhood, personality, dreams, and goals. The sensuality and history of food has the potential to be hugely evocative. Bella’s mother was an experimental chef, and the show could use food to explore Bella’s ambivalent relationship with motherhood and her own mother.

Bella should be seen cooking her favorite dish while angry, only for the show to subvert the initial view of Bella cooking only out of obligation – Bella should soften and start talking about where the ingredients were sourced and what was sacrificed to obtain them. This would show passion, creativity, and that she actually cooks as therapy. A later episode could reveal that Bella’s mother made this for her, tying Bella’s fixation on provenance to “mummy issues.” This can come full circle when Bella becomes a mother.

7 The TV Show Should Work On Bella’s Attitude To Jacob

Jacob Should Make Bella Seem Stronger

Bella’s loneliness in New Moon resulted in her relationship with Jacob blossoming, which the TV show should complicate. There is a good story in Bella’s conflict between her love for Edward and her love for Jacob, and the TV show should highlight the complexities of jealousy and friendship. Bella sometimes seemed either very oblivious or lacking in the friendship department when it came to Jacob, bearing in mind her enduring love for Edward.

It wasn’t Bella’s fault that Jacob fell in love with her, but Bella’s lack of emotional intelligence was a major source of difficulty for her throughout the source material, and this could have been better addressed in her arc with Jacob. Bella showing more accountability for her own emotions was the only extra kindness she really needed to show Jacob. A moment of Bella acknowledging her truth and flaws could make Jacob’s issues stand out in greater relief, and it would be interesting for the show to hold him accountable for his aggressive tendencies.

6 The TV Show Needs To Explore Depression More

Bella Swan Was Totally Depressed

Where Bella Swan may have attained the most loyalty was her foundering mental health, although the depiction of this in both the books and movies received criticism. Lots of Twilight readers related to Meyer’s depiction of Bella’s heartbreak and exhibiting symptoms of major depression. This was a pertinent theme for the target age group and for these times. The TV show should keep this aspect of the Twilight story. Twilight book fans got to know Bella Swan a lot more in her depression, as she mourned Edward’s presence in her life.

The TV show should honor the subject matter in this regard but go even further, keeping the show relevant. The show should exploit its animation format to show fantasy sequences that illustrate Bella’s state of mind poignantly and show more graphic detail of Bella’s thoughts. The blank pages used in the books to show Bella’s depression spoke volumes, but it is time to put words on these pages and break more hearts than ever before with a bold, frank examination of the reality of depression.

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5 Bella Swan Should Confront Her Self-Destructive Tendencies

Bella’s Obsession With Edward Wasn’t Healthy

Bella repeatedly risked her own life just to hallucinate Edward, which is a fascinating element of her character that could make her seem so much more powerful than it did in the movies. Bella’s self-destruction was a toxic aspect of her relationship with Edward, and the TV show should explore how this makes her stronger, rather than just how it makes her weaker. To do this, the show must confirm what Bella learns from these experiences and how they change her for the better, or increase her self-preservation.

Bella could be seen at some point, nearer the end of her story embracing activities she used to carry out self-destructively for creative or meditative purposes. Bella getting into extreme sport or cliff jumping may not be a terrible thing, and could show how far she came since being a reckless girl flirting with death. A stronger, more triumphant Bella by the end of the TV show reboot could acknowledge Bella’s self-loathing, and start to heal some of her more toxic approaches in her relationship with Edward.

4 Bella Must Face Her Fear Of Losing Edward To Seem Truly Brave

Losing Edward Is Bella’s Biggest Fear

Bella Swan’s constant pining over Edward, and particularly her inability to cope with losing him portrayed her obsession with Edward well, but an opportunity was actually missed in not showing her defeating this a bit more. Bella Swan was said to be brave, and she showed that she was prepared to do whatever it took to protect her loved ones. However, Bella’s deepest, darkest fear was losing Edward, with Renesmee added by extension. And this fear was most triggered after Edward left her and before Alice visited her, when she was alone with her thoughts.

After Edward left Bella, she dissolved completely. This started an important storyline, but showing a truly brave character necessitates them tackling their deepest, darkest fear. Charlie, Jacob, and Alice helped pull Bella out of her depression, but realistically, Bella would have had to decide for herself to start recovering and decide for herself to live every day. This could have come through a lot more in The Twilight Saga, and the TV show must display Bella’s own agency in her recovery and survival of depression if it wants Bella to be truly strong.

3 The TV Show Can Lean Into Bella’s Flaws

Bella’s Flaws Made Her Interesting

The TV show shouldn’t clean up or sanitize Bella’s flaws, but it should refine them to create a consistent portrait of Bella. Bella’s obsessive nature, intensity, and outsider status made her interesting but sometimes obscured her protagonist arc. Protagonist flaws are really meant to set up a greater respect for a character when they finally overcome their flaw in some way.

If no closure on the protagonist’s flaws is offered, their protagonist status is diminished. This occasionally happened with Bella. Some of Bella’s flaws weren’t sufficiently resolved in Twilight, reducing the impact of her character. The TV show has the opportunity to explore Bella’s occasional self-absorption and recklessness in-depth, showing how she works to overcome these. Bella could only ever emerge as a stronger hero at the end of this.

2 The TV Show Must Depict Small Victories During Depression

God Is In The Details Of Character-Driven Drama

Proving Bella as brave can come in small details in the animated Twilight reboot. The show has multiple episodes to tell its story, so it can take the time needed to tell what is, in theory, a profound and conflicting psychological portrait. Twilight was always character-driven, but the TV show should push this to a new level. Ironically, some action-adventure sequences of Bella facing down horrors made her look more naive than brave, lacking in self-preservation. It is in mundane, quiet moments, faced with losing Edward, that she could seem the strongest, and her most heroic.

The show can invent a mundane scenario during Bella’s depression whereby Bella is facing the same task as friends or classmates – perhaps even colleagues if she takes up a job in the show – and no one turns up except Bella, who is the most ill, and socially anxious to boot. Small acts of heroism like this realistically do happen every day, so the show should throw a couple into Bella’s sea of misery. Bella can’t complain or ask for thanks. Bella’s depression presents the show’s most powerful opportunity to prove Bella’s strength and selflessness.

1 Bella Has To Love Herself Before She Can Love Anyone Else

Bella’s Self-Esteem Must Be Priority

Bella faced insecurity and low self-esteem throughout Meyer’s novels and also during the Summit Entertainment movies, and while she underwent character development, this must be front and center in the TV show. If Twilight ever had any one flaw, it would be downplaying Bella’s self-worth. Bella’s romance with Edward must be shown as nothing more than a vessel through which Bella can start to fully love and understand herself.

Any romance held up to the harsh light of a full TV show will fall flat if it seems anything but, courting codependence connotations. Centering on Bella’s self-worth as the main theme of this TV show is how to make it relevant and fix the crux of its problem – the show must demonstrate that the reason Bella chooses so resolutely and consistently to stand beside Edward is because he teaches her how to stand by herself. This is the nature of true romance, which Twilight can prove it understands in the TV show.

Twilight

Twilight is a TV show reboot of the popular vampire film series that was based on Stephenie Meyer’s young-adult novels.