Twilight - A fangirl's utopia?

Unless you have literally been living under the biggest rock you could find, you will know about the money-making juggernaut that is Twilight. Most popular amongst teenage girls, it is bound to make a killing in the coming weeks as the movie hits screens worldwide with it's over-photoshopped posters of protagonists Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. It was only three years ago that the first book in the Twilight series was released, and now it is a major motion picture. The clearest comparison made is between Twilight and the Harry Potter series. The first Harry Potter movie was released four and a half years after the first book was released. At the time of writing, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has an IMDb rating of 7.2 and a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 78%. Twilight currently has an IMDb rating of 5.5 (though it goes up and down every hour) and a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 44% (again, changing all the time). Perhaps the extra year and a half has made the all-important difference.

I'm not going to come off as some kind of elitist intellectual here, however, the Twilight series is introducing many young people to a low quality of writing. Over-use of adjectives does not necessarily make a book good, just, descriptive. I'm not going to bash the book though, some people are genuinely besotted with the book, and I can respect that. However it is the Twilight fans who are your typical fangirl that I take issue with. I cite examples here from: http://www.movie-moron.com/ (my personal favourite movie website)


Author: Chelsea
Comment:
I am a HUGE Twilight fan, iv'e read all the books. I'm totally obsessed! You should all see all the three teaser twilight flims on Youtube. It's just fantastic that they could produce this book into a movie. It's so cool how so many people love it and i think, actually, know, that the cinemas will be PACKED with Twilight fans ready to see the movie. I plan to be one of those fans.

Yeah, WOW, how could they produce THIS book into a movie? Wow, this book was clearly never written with a movie adaptation in mind.


Author: lisa
Comment:
I think if you all did some research you would find that Stephenie Meyer is inlove with all the choices for actors in the movie, she has approved everything and is now picturing the actors when she thinks of Bella and Edward, she's working very closely with the director and so I feel like if she's happy then...I'm happy, afterall, it is HER vision!

Stephanie Meyer is NOT a genius. This is backed up by the fact that she now apparently pictures her original characters as two actors. That just shows how poor a writer she is, she can't even maintain her original image of the characters. Also, in the book, Edward has long bronze hair, not the short, dirty-blonde hair he has in the movie. So her new vision contradicts her original vision. Genius.


Author: XOXO LOVE ME OR NOT XOXO
Comment:
All of you idiots who keep posting naughty things about Twilight can go jump in a lake. Rachel [previous commenter], if you don't like Breaking Dawn that much, then don't read it. There are devoted fans out here who don't appreciate people like you trashing the effort of the actors and actrices who work so very hard on the movie, pointing out little flaws in the movie. If you think you're so good, why don't you just play the script? Oh, that's right...you're not good enough, and that's why you weren't cast. So shut up, please. And Ashlee [previous commenter], you can jack off. If you don't like Edward, then don't watch the movie/read the book. Just throw you're life away, because obviously it isin't worth anything if you're going to trash Edward like that.

Eternally Evil, XOXO LOVE ME OR NOT XOXO

Did you hear that? Anyone who trashes a fictional character doesn't deserve to have a life. This is just scratching the surface for some fans. These people really are lovely, I wish I could be as amazing as them and lead such a full life.


Maybe that will give you an idea as to my issue with Twilight. I have another small example here, from personal experience. Last Friday, I went to see Max Payne with my girlfriend. While I was waiting for her to turn up at the cinema, I saw a number of teenage girls walk in. One was wearing multi-coloured leg warmers, pleasantly combined with a multi-coloured tutu and a black top that was easily two sizes too small. She, and her three friends, screamed and ran straight over to a cardboard cut-out of the Twilight poster, and began taking pictures of them on their camera phones. I didn't understand this, they could get a higher quality version of it on the internet.

I digress. "Twilight is the new Harry Potter" (National Post). Oh joy, Harry Potter hasn't even gone away yet, and we already have a "new Harry Potter". This reminds me something of footballers being compared to past greats. Cristiano Ronaldo is "the new George Best", Lionel Messi is "the new Diego Maradona". However, if you notice, these claims are usually made after the past great is in the past-tense, i.e., after they've retired. You never really hear of a player being described of a "new" version of another player who is still playing football at a professional level. John Smith is "the new Cristiano Ronaldo". It sounds stupid, because Cristiano is in his prime now. Don't ask why I've used a football analogy, I can't explain it. Sorry.

One final issue, the main character of Edward Cullen is played by Robert Pattinson. Edward is supposed to 17 in the story, however he was born in 1901. He died as a human in 1918 and has lived as a 17 year-old vampire since. Robert Pattinson, however, was born May 13, 1986, making him 22. At the minute, he can get away portraying a 17 year old. Do you remember this issue whenever the Harry Potter movies were being made? Would the actors age faster than the characters due to the time it takes to make a movie. This was an issue with characters who actually aged, it's even more of a task with a vampire who stays 17 forever. There are currently four books in the Twilight series. Presuming they all get made into movies, Robert Pattinson could potentially be into his 30s by the time the fourth one is released. Of course, this is presuming that they don't rush these movies, which is quite a high possibility. Considering the Twilight movie seems rushed (according to some reviews), it is likely this would be the case of the rest of them. It's a simple money-making machine.

So, if you hadn't guessed, I won't be handing my money over to the clerk in the cinema for a ticket to see Twilight. Maybe I'm being petty, maybe I'm being practical as a student whose student loan is getting tight as it is nearly the end of the first semester.

By the way, I've heard great things from the Swedish movie "Let the Right One In", however have yet to see it. It is also a story about teenage vampire romance, however, this is apparently very good. It currently sits snug toward the bottom of IMDb's Top 250 list, above Rocky and In Bruges (which I consider one of the best movies of this year), and just below Network, one of my favourite movies ever.

So, if you want my advice. Save your £10 from going to the cinema and go out and buy a good book by a good author, or a few good, classic movies.

By the way, if you want my advice for good authors...

Haruki Murakami. That's all that needs to be said.

Oh and definitely Network in regards to movies. Watch Network. It's relevance grows exponentially each day.

Well, that's it for today kids.

Eat your milk and drink your vitamins.