Yes, this week the books up for discussion is the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. A series that people either really love or hate with just about everything they have. I understand those of you who dislike it, and it is okay to voice your opinion that you don't like it and say why, but please no comments that are just insulting. This site is about critiquing not condemning. With that said lets begin.
I avoided the Twilight series for quite sometime simply because the hype about it was crazy. I knew so many people completely obsessed with these books and with all the praise the books were getting I assumed they would not live up to expectations. Finally though I gave into peer pressure and figured I'd see what the big deal was. I ended up enjoying them and read them all. I thought they were good books especially for the age group they target. People say she is a bad writer, but she's not writing for adults so the writing will be more simple.
For those of you who don't know much about Twilight and try to avoid it because of the craziness it brings along with it, I'll give you a little summary. The story is about a girl, Bella, who moves to Forks, Washington a town known for very little sunlight throughout the whole year to live with her father. She ends up meeting and falling in love with a vampire, Edward, who has a very strong desire to drink her blood. However, he and his family only drink the blood of animals not humans. Obviously this relationship just from that brief note has problems and this series follows these two throughout their issues while they try to not let the gulf between them tear them apart.
The films seem to be getting better as they go along. The first film was definitely rough, a lot of things in the novel could have been really neat with special effects. The director, Catherine Hardwicke, likes to limit the amount of technology she uses to enhance a film though. Some major changes in the movie happen mostly during Bella's period of learning about Edward and his life. The movie completely changes when Bella find's out he is a vampire. The movie also rushes the issue of what happens when he goes into the sunlight, he does not grab her and dart up a mountain to show her that he sparkles. The movie also rushes the meeting of Jacob, Bella's best friend. Those are a couple of the major changes from the first novel.
The second two books, New Moon and Eclipse obviously have some changes as well but t get into all them would make this a very long post. Basically these novels like Harry Potter are very large so information comes across very quickly in the movies because they don't have an endless amount of time. The movies really do get better as they go along though, I'll give them that.
I completely understand why people hate these books though. Most of the fans are completely wild and off the wall obsessed with these fictional characters it honestly is ridiculous. I get annoyed with hearing about it and I actually like the story. So there it is my notes on Twilight.
Here are a few videos that are funny, Robert Pattinson (Edward) and his silly fan's request that they need him to bite them:
David Letterman Clip
Access Hollywood Clip
And Tyra
Enjoy!
(I take no credit for any of the videos or pictures in this post)
Ok so I have mixed feelings about Twilight just because I did read it in 2005 when it was released and no one had heard of it. Once I read it I got as many people as I could to read it because I thought it was awesome, but please keep in mind that I was a freshman in high school and did not know any better. I am actually really annoyed at all the hype because personally I think that the movies suck (haha vampire joke), but they really are awful. I will agree that they are getting better, but they still suck. Also, TwiMoms (yes that is their name) are more crazy than the teenagers so keep that in mind. I haft to say that I don't like any of the actors that they choose to play the characters in the movies. Also it annoys me that they pretty much had to dye everyone in the films hair the complete opposite color that it is naturally. Is it really hard to find a hot blonde chick to play Rosalie without taking a beautiful dark haired girl and just dying her hair blonde? I would think not. Ok, my rant is done now.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I expected so much more from the movies. Which all the people I know personally who enjoyed the books feel the same way.
ReplyDeleteNot for me, I read 80 plus pages of each book and each time I wanted to punch little kids. The only thing good to come out of the movies is a drinking game, everytime bella sighs you drink. So with in the first 30seconds Im riding the buzz. Thank god for beefeater gin.
ReplyDeleteI will admit that I liked the first book. I still haven't finished the second book because of my sanity. Sorry, that was a little bit of bashing. I will say that the book was much better than the movie, but I agree with you, the movies are getting better as they go.
ReplyDeleteThey aren't bad for being simplistically written, they're bad for being repetetively written, and without having a single likeable, three-dimensional character among any of them.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen Eclipse yet, but I will say the movies are better, because that way we don't have to listen to Bella's incessant inner whining constantly.
I haven't read the books and it seems I'm the only one on this planet who hasn't. I don't think I will ever read them either. I won't watch the movies either. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll seat on my chair and I will read a good book.
ReplyDeleteThat makes the two of us Felipe.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading everyone's opinion. :)
I'm ashamed to admit that I actually loved these books and was completely obsessed with them at one point. But now I just know how absolutely terrible they are. Now they're just entertaining crap to read when I'm really really bored.
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