By: Jai McDonald ‘27
In the mystical land of Forks, where the sun apparently never fully shines and vampires sparkle like they just rolled in the Michael’s glitter isle, the epic tale of Twilight unfolds. Picture this: a brooding vampire, a down-bad werewolf, and enough angst to fill a Hot Topic on Black Friday. Welcome to the world where vampires don’t just suck blood; they also suck at blending in. And then there’s Bella Swan, our hero with a knack for tripping on air. Forget about a love triangle; — her battle with gravity is the real drama. Bella somehow manages to attract both werewolves and vampires. Must be the allure of a potential emergency room visit. Despite the supernatural elements, the heart of Twilight really does lie in its love triangles and deeply emotional dialogue. Lines like “You are my life now” and “I like watching you sleep” are peak romance, right? Nothing says love like borderline stalking and a touch of possessiveness. Who needs healthy relationship dynamics when you can have brooding stares and cryptic conversations?
The sheer cultural impact of Twilight on our generation is undeniable. My friends back home and I still greet each other with, “Where the hell have you been, loca?” One thing that has hooked, and still hooks, people onto this movie is its central love triangle: Team Edward or Team Jacob? On November 1, 2023, the Pforzheimer Honors College put the fandoms to the test in a series of fun activities and games. Team Edward versus Team Jacob. (I joined Team Edward. Obviously.)
The night began with a quick round of Twilight bingo. This was one of the funniest games of bingo I have ever played. The cards were made by Ella Tommie (class of ‘27). She included various slots such as “R.I.P. random deer” and “weird blue filter” that we got to mark off as they appeared in the movie. And if you know anything about Twilight, then you know we got to a winner quickly. Once the winner was announced, it was revealed how the night would work. We would play two more rounds of team-based games to determine the better boy. And with bingo completed, Team Jacob took the first round.
The next activity was a pumpkin decorating contest, but with a twist. Each team member would decorate a pumpkin, each team would nominate two pumpkins, and then a judge would decide from the two entries from each team who gets the point. However, there was one more rule for each team to keep in mind. Team Jacob needed to make their pumpkins “fierce,” and Team Edward had to use glitter in some way. My idea was to draw Jasper in all his death-stare glory and cover the entire pumpkin in glitter. There were other Jaspers, along with a storyboard of Bella and Edwards relationship, and a were-pumpkin. Everyone’s pumpkins were all creative and extremely entertaining, but the love-storyboard and my Jasper gave Team Edward a point.
As a final tie breaker, we had a “Build-That-Boy” race. Each team was given about twenty sheets that were each piece of a life size print out of the respective team’s boy. Both groups had a quite different approach to putting up their boys. While Team Edward tried to build photo-by- photo, Team Jacob built their boy on the ground in chunks, then taped the entire piece together. Team Edward stood in shock when we realized Team Jacob had finished in thirty seconds. And with that, Team Jacob was crowned the winner of the Battle of the Boys.
Overall, this was an incredibly fun experience. The attention to detail in the games and decorations were sure to make any Twilight fan ecstatic. My favorite decoration had to be the inclusion of a screenshot of the scene where Bella walks past a fan and Edward reacts as if she smells like the trash on Nassau Street. Genuinely, cinema gold. Nicole Salazar (’27) had this to say about the night:
“The whole night was really fun, but the Build-A-Boy game was hilarious. It was a great event for Twilight lovers like me.”
For more fun, themed events like this to dig your teeth into, be sure to keep an eye out all Pace- related social media, the Corq app, and Settersync. Bye, locas.