Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Use Your Imagination: Twilight film is Hardwicke's viewpoint, not yours.


The movie, Twilight, was released in November 2008. The vampire craze was everywhere, but mostly in the minds of teenage girls across the globe. I have to admit that even though I'm past teenage years and believing in the fairytales of true love, I was anxious at the theatre when I purchased my ticket, bounced into the auditorium and fell head over heels for Edward Cullen all over again.
There have been many critics and Twilight lovers alike that have criticized this movie for lacking a good story line and being a terrible portrayal of the book. But, keep in mind that this movie was created FROM the book, it wasn't a storyline on its own.

Books will always give the audience more information, more emotion, and definitely more imaginatory theory to play around with. They have the ability to create a much more personal experience for the reader than a movie can because each character on every page is seen through the readers eyes. When we watch a film without reading a book, we are viewing the imagination of the director, it is their view of the story that brings everything to life. With books, this is much different, where each individual can be their own director and imagine a beautiful, mysterious vampire in their own way.

Critics of the Twilight film have no justification when criticizing the book as lacking anything because readers of the book understand what is happening. Readers are also able to pick up on cues that perhaps a non-reader would not pick up on. For instance, in the Twilight movie, Edward sees Bella for the first time and the look on his face is a cross between, "This girls scares the hell out of me" and "I think I need a bathroom break". What non-readers don't understand is that Edward is actually lusting over Bella's scent and is trying to control himself before he sucks her blood. Now, without reading the book, how would the audience know this? My point here is that the audience doesn't know, but every single Twilight reader sitting in that theatre knows exactly what is going on. So what's the lesson of my ranting? Read the book before you watch the movie...it makes the experience much more enjoyable.

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad you cleared that up, the awkward look Edward has. I'm planning to see the movie eventually, and I'd probably have found it as weird as others did. Heh, there are even some funny YouTube jokes about it. ;)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLnJFykb6G0&feature=related

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  2. Hey check out my "Love is in the air" post Jenna. I awarded you the Superior Scribbler Award! Congrats!

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