Can we finally admit that Edward and Jacob were both toxic for Bella?

Fifteen years after Twilight hit screens, whose team are you on? The answer should be neither.

It's been 15 years since the cultural phenomenon that was the first Twilight film hit cinemas, and parodies and throwback clips have peppered my feed with nostalgia. ICYMI (how?) the franchise follows mortal teenager Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) as she falls for vampiric love interest Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). But love is never easy and things get complicated when her werewolf BFF Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) also confesses his love for her. So while I, along with the rest of the bisexual community, also fancied Bella, the fandom was ablaze with the debate over which of the walking-red flag males to side with in the ultimate battle for her love: Team Edward or Team Jacob.

But can we finally address why our pop culture romance obsessions are deeply problematic? And why is it that we are so drawn to toxic characters? I loved the Twilight novels and adored watching the stories unfold in the films the New Moon soundtrack remains as iconic as Dakota Fanning's red eyes as vampire Jane Volturi-but the more I think about these books and blockbuster movies, the more uncomfortable I feel for Bella.

In the first Twilight story, she's soon caught up in a love triangle with two men who would literally die for her. But the intensity of their love is, at times, unsettling, and at others, extremely worrying. Yes, it is just entertainment', but how much have these teen movie narratives subconsciously shaped our ideals of what romantic love looks like? Often with unhealthy depictions of love bombing, toxic male rivalry, and emotional manipulation.