, either. Author Stephenie Meyer makes it clear from the outset that drinking human blood is akin to giving into temptation, which is something every good-hearted vampire would be keen to avoid. Of course, temptation includes other activities, like going beyond kissing. Eternally-17-year-old vampire Edward Cullen tells his mortal girlfriend Bella in the newest film in the series, Eclipse – so far the only movie in the saga with a pulse – that he would rather die all over again than squander her soul. When Bella tries to reassure Edward that the notion of abstinence as soul-destroying is “ancient,” the vampire goes on about the Victorian values that were all the rage back when he had a heartbeat (“We would have taken chaperoned strolls and had iced tea on the porch”), leading some to believe that girls read Twilight because they don’t have the patience to read some real English classics from centuries past.5e:{"position":2,"content":"$5f"} 60:{"position":3,"content":"AMERICAN GIRLS drifting away from typical teenage boys and cardboard-cutout Disney princess stories, and opting for mysterious 100-year-old outcasts (but only if they look 17) is actually a positive development."} 61:{"position":4,"content":"What’s surprising is that these girls are embracing puritanical values with such unprecedented fervor, that they aren’t insulted by the often-absurd moralizing that lies rather transparently behind the vampire love story. Even though the entire backstory is surreal, one cannot help but grimace at the awkwardness of certain scenes. In the Eclipse film, for example, Bella’s police-chief father Charlie tries to have a birds-and-bees talk with her after she asks him why he did not find another partner after his divorce from her mother."} 62:{"position":5,"content":"“Marriage has value ... you definitely don’t want to have to get married because you weren’t careful,” says Charlie. “There’s things to th

Analysis: The ‘Twilight’ zone

Children ditching Disney is a positive move.