Thursday, March 26, 2009

Girl Talk Thursday: Twilight

What you should understand before you read my opinions about Twilight is that what I do for a living is critically analyze the way that writers have put together words and concepts, and then offer suggestions for improvement. This makes enjoying the Twilight series difficult for me, honestly, because the narrator thinks in purple prose and most of the characters act like 40-something Mormon ladies that have been forcibly stuffed into glittery/furry skins.

These aren't errors, per se, and I understand that being a slightly unromantic 26 year old, I'm not quite in the demographic that this sort of thing is meant to appeal to. But as an editor it kills me that no one ever found some chocolates and some tissues, took Meyer gently by the shoulders, and suggested that perhaps the series would read less like a self-indulgent personal fantasy and more like a real story if she just wrote it in the 3rd person.

I offer, as evidence, the Twilight movie! I'm not saying it's high-quality cinema -- I'd place it somewhere between Bring It On and Josie and the Pussycats on a list of films I probably wouldn't publicly admit to enjoying (nobody reads this blog, right?). But it's cute and sweet, and has genuinely intentionally funny moments, and the actors bring out Bella & Edward's desperate and stifled attraction. Not having to look at everything through Bella's mopey, self-deprecating head makes everything approximately 219% more realistic and sympathetic.

All that being said, yes I read all 4 books as quickly as I could get ahold of them, and talked to everyone including people who didn't care about what this and that character had said and done, and went and saw the movie on opening weekend with my best chick friend. Partially 'cause I wanted to know what all the fuss was about, partially 'cause I like keeping up with trends in youth lit and expressing righteous indignation about trends I dislike, and partially 'cause somehow, something about Meyer's story grabbed me by the ovaries and wouldn't let go. In a fun way, not in a creepy supernatural fetus way.


[I wrote about this for Mommy Melee's Girl Talk Thursday! From what I understand you can clicky the thing and read other ladies' opinions about this and other girl topics! And pass me a margarita while you're at it? Go Team Margarita Girl!]

5 comments:

Annette said...

Bahaha I love Bring It On. I even recorded the tv version (commercials) last time it was one because I wasn't going to be home to catch it.

I know we're supposed to be talking about Twilight...but hell, it's not like it's going anywhere, right? LOL

Lauren V. said...

I might secretly really enjoy a lot of movies about high schoolers who suddenly have to dance a lot. Especially when at least 3 actresses from Buffy are involved. (Hello, My Name Is Dork.)

Aaand yeah, haha, I'm pretty sure we are stuck with some Twilight. Girly supernatural romance fandom has the lifespan of the vampires it loves so hard.

Mimi the Bee said...

I just have to say....that baby with teeth freaked me out so much i couldn't sleep, and so did Jacob's imprinting on said baby. That kept me awake nights, too, but only because I'm convinced I'm meant to be with Jacob myself.

Lauren V. said...

The 4th book was so much worse than the other three, according to me. And that whole bit with the baby was way more gross than anything else I've read in a long time. I was in that series for the fluffy silly sparkly romance, not for spine-snapping infants!

Tina said...

I'm so glad that someone else feels this way about Twilight. Meyer is what I hope I won't turn out to be... A woman with a fabulous idea for a novel, who cannot execute her own idea to save her literary life. (Please, no!)

As you say, there aren't errors per se, but it's intensely painful to read in the first person when the person hasn't had an interesting thought in the past 50 pages. Never mind interesting - hasn't had a pertinent, relevant thought... ever. Egads.

P.S. I mucho love your blog.