The 2020s are seeing a resurgence for supernatural media, very reminiscent of the late 2000s trends. Whether it was YA books, TV series, or film franchises, at that time the inclusion of anything mystical instantly garnered more interest – especially if they contained vampires, werewolves, or, ideally, both.
Two epitomes of this trope’s success were Stephenie Meyer’s books-to-screen series The Twilight Saga and CW’s TV show, The Vampire Diaries. Despite their many differences, the two series shared the same foundational elements at their core, with The Vampire Diaries’ pilot episode containing much overlap with the first Twilight film.
Angsty Monologue
Since Twilight was a film adaptation of Meyer’s first book, a lot of Bella Swan’s inner monologue was incorporated into the film’s narration. Beginning with the first scene, viewers got a look into her angsty teen mind as she starts the film by musing about death in the place of a loved one.
The Vampire Diaries pilot shares a similar brooding narration, split between the voices of Stefan and Elena. In a fashion similar to Bella’s, both narrate their own struggles with grief, current events, and the future as they detail their lives in their separate diaries.
New Parenting Roles
Although becoming one of Twilight‘s best characters, Charlie Swan started out as an awkward man not yet accustomed to being a full-time dad. From their small talk to quiet dinners, Charlie is shown as still adjusting to his new responsibility. While he is glad to have Bella back, he is not yet accustomed to sharing his life with someone.
Like Bella, Elena and Jeremy also find themselves under new guardianship. After the death of their parents, they are placed under the care of their aunt Jenna, who faces trouble navigating this new relationship. Like Charlie, despite the challenges, Jenna too is glad to be there for the teens and is doing her best to fit this role.
Small Town Setting
Forks is shown to have a very small population, a change from Bella’s previous life in Phoenix. With much of the community already knowing one another, it’s depicted as a very close-knit town which makes the vampire attacks that much more harrowing to the townspeople as they lose their neighbors and friends.
Mystic Falls is The Vampire Diaries’ Forks. The townspeople are also shown to be very well-connected amongst its residents, with a lot of the families having been established there for many decades. The students too all grew up together, which made Stefan’s arrival all the more intriguing.
Popular New Student
When Bella transfers to her new high school, she immediately becomes the center of attention. Having lived with the same people for years, the high schoolers are interested to see who this new girl from out of town is. Jessica Stanley even likens this attention to Bella being the “shiny new toy.”
Stefan’s transfer is portrayed as no different. As soon as he is noticed, he becomes the talk of the high school, with everyone obsessing over this mysterious new guy, including Elena and her friends. Being the rare new entries, Bella and Stefan become the focal points of conversation as soon as they enter their new schools.
Intense Classroom Glances
One of Twilight‘s trademark scenes is the intense looks shared between Bella and Edward in Biology. While their first interaction is one of Edward and Bella’s most cringe-worthy moments, their second meeting shows the two curious and heavily attracted to one another, as witnessed by the camerawork focusing on their eyes.
Stefan and Elena share many intense looks too, albeit in History class instead of Biology. Stefan and Elena’s glances are shown to be very flirtatious and soft-natured right from the beginning, with others like Bonnie even noticing the “hawt-e staring” back at Elena constantly.
Love Triangles
Much of Bella’s unwanted first-day attention came from high school boys seeing another potential love interest. While most of these crushes faded away by the end of Twilight, the strongest was Mike Newton’s, who openly shared his disdain towards Bella’s interest in Edward.
A similar love triangle is shown in The Vampire Diaries pilot. Having recently been broken up with, Matt is not impressed with Elena’s interest in Stefan. Both Mike and Matt are left disappointed as the female leads ditch the human boys for the brooding vampires with nicer hair.
Frenemies
Jessica Stanley is envious of Bella Swan from her first introduction, with her jealousy stemming from Mike’s obvious interest in her over Jessica. Despite this, Jessica still tells Bella about the Cullens, has lunch with her, and is even worried about her in Portland – a classic frenemy. Caroline Forbes fulfills a similar relationship with Elena.
Despite being childhood friends, Caroline is shown to be jealous of Elena, voicing her grievances to Bonnie about Stefan choosing Elena over her, just like everyone else. While Caroline and Elena become one of TVD‘s best friendships, the pilot posits her as a similar frenemy to the protagonist.
Vampires Moving Back
While Jessica tells Bella the Cullens are relatively new to the town, Jacob tells her something else at La Push beach, instead hinting that they just recently moved back. He is right to assume so, as eventually revealed. While the Cullens have not been to Forks in many years, this is not their first time settling here.
The same goes for Stefan. While the town believes him to be new to the town, it is revealed that he and his brother are really just revisiting Mystic Falls after many decades. Both the Cullens and the Salvatores are shown to be drawn back to their former small towns of residence.
Psychic Visions
Bella finds herself not only in the presence of vampires but gifted ones at that. Along with Edward’s telepathy, Alice Cullen is shown as having the gift of psychic visions. These visions play a big role in the fate of Bella’s journey in Twilight, as they ultimately lead her to James.
Psychic visions are also mentioned in The Vampire Diaries, albeit more subtlety. While Elena’s best friend, Bonnie, hasn’t quite realized her powers yet, in the pilot she has an ominous vision of a crow at Caroline’s party. Both Alice and Bonnie are shown to have a gift that can predict and help mitigate upcoming dangers.
Good vs. Bad Vampires
Bella learns in Twilight that the Cullens are different from other vampires, choosing to feed off of animals rather than humans. This distinction is especially important since other vampires have been rampantly feeding off of townspeople, and it establishes the Cullens as morally good in comparison.
The pilot episode of The Vampire Diaries reveals Stefan to be on the same diet. Meanwhile, Damon is shown to be recklessly attacking local residents in the same manner as Victoria, James, and Laurent, painting him as a corrupt vampire in comparison to Stefan.
