At the risk of sounding like this is a rehash or too late in the game, the subject of "Twilight" sprung to mind because I watched Dakota Fanning being interviewed on Jay Leno last week. The thought process? She is allegedly in negotiations to play Jane in “New Moon," the next installment in the "Twilight" quadrilogy. (Additionally, props to my friend Elena for bringing this up as well.)
It is indisputable that Stephenie Meyer’s books have created a culture unto their own. I’ve read all four books, each once. The “Twilight” series is a strange drug. I personally began with loving the first book to being gradually underwhelmed more and more by each successive installment. But at the same time, I couldn’t put them down. Maybe it’s just the completist in me demanding that I had to finish them. Or I am just resisting what every teenage girl and a myriad of adult women from 20 to 40 are whole-heartedly embracing?
I feel like I drank a glass of Twilight Kool-Aid and am still waiting for it to absorb into my system. Why exactly is Bella Swan so special and worthy of the most perfect man in the world anyway? You can't exactly classify her as an archetypal heroine. A quirky and clumsy girl gets chosen by a handsome, well-educated, rich, piano-playing Big Man On Campus who just happens to be a vampire. But perhaps that’s the point. Maria was a governess in “The Sound of Music” and got to marry Captain Von Trapp. The sociological dynamic of elevating one’s mate to their class level will happen for as long as people are looking for mates. But in today’s day and age, I would rather go back and watch Buffy and Angel. At least she could go patrolling while he was out feeding.
Loyalists will say that Bella is purposely written as nondescript so any woman can insert herself into her shoes and become rife with Edward's admiration. If that is the case, it seems to be working. But then I ask, If this is what they identify with, how come so many women aren't feeling extraordinary in the first place? So Bella’s self-worth is measured by whether or not Edward is around? This will certainly come up in “New Moon,” where she considers suicide once he leaves town “for her own good.” Bella just lives to be with her man. It reminds me of Nancy Reagan saying how her life didn't begin until she met "her Ronnie." So she was just biding her time for the first 30 years of her life? This all begs way larger and more complex questions than what I can fit into this column.
Don't get me wrong; really, I love chivalry as much as the next girl. I'm still a sucker for men that hold open doors for me. I do try to hold fast to my fondness of the first book. In it, Meyer was somehow able to capture on the page the yearning that one feels during a teenage crush, where the anticipation and the daydreams are almost better than the payoff. Once Bella and Edward profess their love for each other, a co-dependency rises to the surface that the majority of "Twilight" readers perhaps don’t realize (understandable if you're 14 years old), or simply choose to ignore. Is it just wonderfully protective of Edward that he's always looking out for her, or ridiculously controlling? Is it creepy that he lurks outside her window and watches her while she sleeps, or is he just a vigilant romantic?
Obviously, the film succeeded in pleasing its fan-base and then some. Even though I was glad it was directed by a female, my reaction to it was "Meh." I had my own casting ideals and certainly did not buy the casting of Robert Pattinson as Edward. Maybe that's where some of my resistance lies as well. Don’t tell that to my 20 year-old cousin, who thinks the casting of "R-Pat" was perfect and doesn’t care about his disregard for personal hygiene. Henry Cavill, best known for “The Tudors,” was much more who I had in mind; he was deemed too old.
We'll see what the advent of "New Moon" as a film brings, with new director Chris Weitz and a budget at least three times of the original. More likely than not, I will go see it. Maybe I should just go along for the ride and stick with the fantasy, which goes hand-in-hand with the Disney fairy tales that are the romantic gold standard of our culture. Then again, I never understood the allure of Heathcliff from "Wuthering Heights" either.
It is indisputable that Stephenie Meyer’s books have created a culture unto their own. I’ve read all four books, each once. The “Twilight” series is a strange drug. I personally began with loving the first book to being gradually underwhelmed more and more by each successive installment. But at the same time, I couldn’t put them down. Maybe it’s just the completist in me demanding that I had to finish them. Or I am just resisting what every teenage girl and a myriad of adult women from 20 to 40 are whole-heartedly embracing?
I feel like I drank a glass of Twilight Kool-Aid and am still waiting for it to absorb into my system. Why exactly is Bella Swan so special and worthy of the most perfect man in the world anyway? You can't exactly classify her as an archetypal heroine. A quirky and clumsy girl gets chosen by a handsome, well-educated, rich, piano-playing Big Man On Campus who just happens to be a vampire. But perhaps that’s the point. Maria was a governess in “The Sound of Music” and got to marry Captain Von Trapp. The sociological dynamic of elevating one’s mate to their class level will happen for as long as people are looking for mates. But in today’s day and age, I would rather go back and watch Buffy and Angel. At least she could go patrolling while he was out feeding.
Loyalists will say that Bella is purposely written as nondescript so any woman can insert herself into her shoes and become rife with Edward's admiration. If that is the case, it seems to be working. But then I ask, If this is what they identify with, how come so many women aren't feeling extraordinary in the first place? So Bella’s self-worth is measured by whether or not Edward is around? This will certainly come up in “New Moon,” where she considers suicide once he leaves town “for her own good.” Bella just lives to be with her man. It reminds me of Nancy Reagan saying how her life didn't begin until she met "her Ronnie." So she was just biding her time for the first 30 years of her life? This all begs way larger and more complex questions than what I can fit into this column.
Don't get me wrong; really, I love chivalry as much as the next girl. I'm still a sucker for men that hold open doors for me. I do try to hold fast to my fondness of the first book. In it, Meyer was somehow able to capture on the page the yearning that one feels during a teenage crush, where the anticipation and the daydreams are almost better than the payoff. Once Bella and Edward profess their love for each other, a co-dependency rises to the surface that the majority of "Twilight" readers perhaps don’t realize (understandable if you're 14 years old), or simply choose to ignore. Is it just wonderfully protective of Edward that he's always looking out for her, or ridiculously controlling? Is it creepy that he lurks outside her window and watches her while she sleeps, or is he just a vigilant romantic?
Obviously, the film succeeded in pleasing its fan-base and then some. Even though I was glad it was directed by a female, my reaction to it was "Meh." I had my own casting ideals and certainly did not buy the casting of Robert Pattinson as Edward. Maybe that's where some of my resistance lies as well. Don’t tell that to my 20 year-old cousin, who thinks the casting of "R-Pat" was perfect and doesn’t care about his disregard for personal hygiene. Henry Cavill, best known for “The Tudors,” was much more who I had in mind; he was deemed too old.
We'll see what the advent of "New Moon" as a film brings, with new director Chris Weitz and a budget at least three times of the original. More likely than not, I will go see it. Maybe I should just go along for the ride and stick with the fantasy, which goes hand-in-hand with the Disney fairy tales that are the romantic gold standard of our culture. Then again, I never understood the allure of Heathcliff from "Wuthering Heights" either.
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