The book(s) are terrible (by which I mean poorly written, ridiculous and insipid) and yet they hold some strange stranglehold over both teenage girls and thirty-somethings like myself. I've heard people say it's because the teens love the drama and us oldsters are just trying to recapture it. I suppose that's possible, although for me, I found that so-called “drama” in the book really dull – it was all that teenage moaning and obsession I was very happy to leave behind.
Anywho, the four of us that attended that first inaugural book club went to see (complete with t-shirts!) the movie together, and I have to tell you, it was totally ZOMGWFTBBQSRSLYSCREAM!!! It was a fun movie to see in the theatre – it was us, and the expected audience (teenagers and thirty-somethings, throw in a few boyfriends) and we all enjoyed it in the spirit in which it was intended. It's corny and silly (I mean, it's about a girl who falls in love with a vampire) and hilarious, but it's also pretty damn sexy (I mean, it's about girl who falls in love with a vampire).
The vampire, Edward, is played by Robert Pattinson. Pattinson was Cedric Diggory in the last Harry Potter movie. I hate to tell you, I had a very pervy, come-to-momma crush on that kid back then, and he's like, 100 times hotter a few years older and a vampire. One of the best things about the movie was that 800 pages of angst got condensed into 122 minutes. Director Catherine Hardwicke (a lady director? Woot!) and the writer (not S. Meyer! Woot!) did a great job of finding the more dramatic bits and less of the mooning and kvetching. Even parts I thought might be lame, like when Edward saves Bella from getting hit by a run-away van and when he takes her out to dinner (after saving her [again!] from would-be rapists), were pretty cool – mostly because Dreamy McDreamerson was gazing so intently at our girl it could curl your toes.
As when I saw Sex In the City, the audience was laughing and hooting and shouting out encouragement (Take it all off! - wait, that was me...). We were all just having a ball laughing at dopey lines like, “Be quiet, stay behind me!” (uh, that's not exactly what I want to hear from my man). Like the book, I think it would have benefited from more sex (make that any sex at all) but all the books persist under some pretty heavy-handed no-sex-til-marriage ideology. The movie was silly, but I'd say actually a good story about teenage obsession, was ably acted and way more fun than it deserves to be. I'm sure all fans (ironic or otherwise) will love watching it.
11 comments:
"Nice picture of you!"
Yeah! Well, I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves. I thought it was pretty enjoyable myself. Did all the girls scream, hoot, and holler during the first kiss scene? They did in our theater and we just laughed. It was a good scene, but all the audience hooting distracted us. Edward was pretty dreamy and sparkly.
p.s. I'm finally getting around to reading Breaking Dawn. Can't put it down. Ahhhhh!
you're like, my own personal brand of heroin.
I know not a thing about Twilight except that my nieces think that Haley is still too young for it---would you agree? She's a precocious reader, 10 years old.
Even so, this was a really fun review and I'm glad you all had fun. Love the shirt, love the pic of you!
KBM---I'm trying to figure out when that baby is due...?
Hmm... I'm terrible at saying what kids should read - perhaps KMulder will weigh in. I bet it would be a fun book to read WITH her, because there's a lot to discuss.
KHM, for the record, I would not encourage a 10 year old to read Twilight, if for no other reason than its warped and anti-feminist. I don't, in fact, recommend it for impressionable adults! It requires a sense of humor and a seriously analytic eye. Not that your daughter doesn't have either of those, just that it's easy to get caught up in the story and forget that what you're reading is appalling. (yes, I devoured all 4 of them. Shame on me. :) )
oh, gawd, Kelly! Haley recently read this and insisted I do so...I think I'm giving up at just past the mid-point.
I remembered you had blogged about it so I dug up this post to recall what you'd said...I couldn't imagine you thought it was done well and its reassuring to see you didn't. I want to barf, throw the book away...but I keep reading. I really am becoming annoyed at the craptastic writing, though. Bleh. Gives me shivers just thinking of it...
I s'pose once I read the book I'll have to see the movie as well, won't I?
Hey---last thing: at this point in my reading, I'm getting a niggling twinge that there's strong Christian messaging playing out. Would you say so? I mean moreso than in most vampire myths (I mean, its about a girl who falls in love with a vampire... (: ).
no comment, just trying to get replies emailed to me...
Oh yes, there's definitely an agenda. S. Meyer is quite an interesting character, and you can waste many an hr analyzing the role her own supposedly devout Mormonism plays in the story.
KHM, if you've had enough now, the only thing I can tell you is ... they get much worse! Which does not mean that I won't be at the opening of New Moon next month.
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