Twilight
March 28th, 2009
A: I heard a lot about this movie as it was in theaters, but I never did get out to see it. I pre-ordered it on Amazon because I knew I’d probably enjoy owning it. It showed up in my mailbox on its DVD release date, so I’ve finally checked it out. It wasn’t what I expected. It felt slow at first, but once Bella learned that Edward is a vampire, it kept me intrested. I liked it more and more as it progressed, and I ended up really digging a movie about a human-vampire relationship. Kinda felt like watching the most recent King Arthur movie, it retained some sensationalism but it had a very realistic undertone. Strangely enough, the thing I liked most about the movie was Bella’s relationship with her father. It was understated next to the Bella/Edward romance, but I thought it was cool how Bella was so much like her father. The scene where she told him off to protect him–that one was actually hard to watch! The dynamics of the scene were really moving, the fact that she had to tell him something opposite of the truth when the truth was so cool for both of them. I liked the progression of the film, and I liked it that Bella didn’t become a vampire. I figured that’d be the ending, and I liked that the movie wasn’t that predictable. There’ll obviously be a sequel. I didn’t read the books, and the movie didn’t really make me want to. But I will follow the movie…along with millions of teenagers who obviously are taken with this film like people that age were back when The Lost Boys came out. I guess each generation needs it’s own cult vampire movie, lol.
S: I finally watched the movie. I read the book a few years ago when it came out. I think I enjoyed the movie more, though Edward and his family are a bit more interesting in the book, however, Bella Swan is much more interesting and multi-dimensional in the movie version I’m thinking. The story is pretty much a teenage angst-romance, though with a twist since Edward is a vampire. However, more than that, she has a scent that makes her attractive to him and all of his vampire family as a major snack option. Because of this, he must show huge restraint when he is with her. In fact, though he loves her, his entire focus is on not turning her, or losing control when he is with her – therefore their love is chaste with only a few kisses. So the eternal vampire equation still stands sex=biting/death.
I agree with you, A, that every generation must have it’s vampire myth. Also, the vampire seems to be a mirror of what humans are currently suppressing. In the Victorian era – when Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel came to us, Victorian women were supposed to be non-sexual. It’s not that they didn’t have sex, they were expected to be very quiet about it. It’s like it was sex without the sexuality as they weren’t allowed to think or talk about it, and especially not enjoy it very much. Enter the vampire, who steals into the bedroom at night, bites his victim, all the while she writhes and moans like she is in a porno flick.
In Twilight, the vampire is still the one calling the shots, except here in the 21st century, girls and women are highly sexualized (check out the movie Thirteen sometime) and have grown accustomed to getting much more than a first kiss on a date. Here comes Edward the vampire, bringing abstinence to Bella and making it all look very desirable. In fact, maybe in this day and age, when we all expect to get whatever we want NOW, a story that is all about unmet desire has the same charm and attraction for younger women, that highly-sexed vampires did for the Victorian ladies in their day and age. All I know is, when I ain’t gettin any, I’d much rather watch the restrained lady in the cotton nighty GET HER SOME, than ride with Edward and Bella on the abstinence train.
I give it:
