Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 Parent Guide

Like the school kids in Harry Potter, the characters in the Twilight franchise are growing up. And with that maturity comes more complex storylines and adult themes that are not always suitable for younger viewers.

In what is possibly the most anticipated fictional wedding of the year, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) exchange marriage vows before a group of humans, werewolves and vampires. But only the bloodsuckers and those with the ability to phase know about the mixed company. During the ceremony Bella pledges to love and honor Edward, but she doesn’t promise to give up her attachment to Jacob (Taylor Lautner). And when the lone wolf makes a late appearance at the wedding party, she momentarily abandons her new husband to share an intimate dance with him.

However after maintaining their virginity before marriage, Edward and his bride anticipate consummating their relationship on their honeymoon. While the sparse dialogue exchanged in the bedroom seems almost cryptic, the depiction of this act is more explicit than many parents may anticipate and more graphic than anything from the previous Twilight films.

Then only days after their marriage, Bella discovers she is expecting. Unlike a normal human pregnancy, her baby belly blossoms in only a fraction of the time. Ravaged by the entity growing inside her, Bella soon looks like a severe anorexic (thanks to digital enhancement). In order to save her life, she resorts to drinking blood. But the depiction of blood through a straw seems almost inconsequential compared to the numerous times characters are drenched in the red stuff as the result of injury, vampire attack or childbirth.

In many ways, the film feels like an extended teaser for Part Two of the Saga slated to release in 2012. And while three main events - the wedding, the consummation and the birth - set the stage for this series’ conclusion, many parents may choose to delay sharing the more intimate details of these activities with their children who aren’t growing up as quickly as the characters.

About author

Kerry Bennett

Kerry Bennett is interested in media from both a journalist and parent perspective. Along with authoring articles for several family-oriented publications, she has written for Parent Previews for over 15 years. As a parent herself, she believes parents play a powerful role in teaching media literacy in their homes.