(Note: This was a blog artikel I wrote last tahun just after seeing the movie in theaters)
I recently saw the movie version of Twilight. I’ve been a fan of the book series for quite a while, before it became quite the phenomenon it is currently, and found the movie enjoyable entertainment. So, I’ve found it kind of disappointing how militantly opposed some people on the Internet can be toward the franchise. I, of course, understand if some people can’t get into it (I can’t seem to get the appeal of Hannah Montana, myself, despite its popularity), but I find the hateful criticism that has been thrown at it to be largely unwarranted. The Twilight series has been targeted mainly for perceived sexism, an abusive boyfriend portrayed as desirable, pedophiles treated as good guys, promoting Mormonism, as well as just plain bad writing. Now, obviously I can’t convince people who don’t enjoy it to do so, but I feel as a fan that the attacks thrown out at Twilight should be defended.
First of all, the Twilight series, and Twilight in particular (as that’s the book that started it off), is very much a fantasi about having a vampire boyfriend. I have little doubt that the story was created as a way of expressing the author’s own romantic fantasies through the protagonist Bella’s interactions with cinta interest Edward, which is also supported oleh komentar on the official website about the story being based off of a dream. The story is written compellingly enough that a wide body of readers is able to fit into the persona of Bella and cinta Edward.
Edward himself is written as the most desirable guy on the face of the Earth. He has vampirically enhanced features that are model-perfect, even lebih so. It’s not just his handsome face that is described in worshipful detail, but the sound of his voice, the feel of his cold and marble-hard skin, and even the smell of his breath. Adding in the fact that he possesses super speed, super strength, immortality, and the ability to read the minds of almost everyone but Bella herself and he seems like a godly personification.
However, Edward does have his flaws. He is a vampire, which means he constantly feels the desire to eat people, Bella in particular. Bella smells like his favorit meal, like his “own personal brand of heroin,” prompting a fascination and stalker-ish obsession. At first, he avoids her and treats her with unwarranted anger for arousing his predatory instincts. Bella, however, continues to pursue him and he changes his mind, deciding to indulge his obsessive inclinations oleh sneaking into her room at night to watch her sleep and covertly following her around, eventually seeking out a proper relationship.
What is attractive about Edward as a predatory vampire is, I believe, the dangerous power associated with the character and its potential to be used maliciously. There’s something enthralling about imagining myself in the position of Bella, infatuated with this dark, beautiful, and powerful man and knowing he could kill her should he lose willpower for just an instant. He has a similar appeal as bad boy vampire Spike of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with the noted difference that Spike is essentially a sociopath and incapable of genuine empathy (I refer to Spike without a soul, as Spike with a soul loses much of his bad boy charm in my opinion). Unlike Spike, Edward has never killed the innocent and carries guilt of his time killing murderers, and struggles to maintain his “vegetarian diet” (i.e. he only eats animal blood). Edward has the bad boy appeal without actually being bad where it counts.
Edward: And the lion fell in cinta with the lamb.
Bella: What a stupid lamb.
Edward: What a sick, masochistic lion!
Apart from Edward, the major issue critics have with the buku is the supposedly pedophilic protagonist of Breaking Dawn, Jacob Black. Both Jacob and his friend Quil become infatuated with prepubescent children, the fast maturing baby Renesmee and three-year-old Claire respectively, as a result of imprinting. Imprinting is a condition affecting the Quileute shapeshifters in which they view a certain person as their soul mate and can only feel complete when they are with that person. Both of them honestly cinta the people on who they have imprinted, but it is not a sexual love.
ped•o•phil•i•a (pěd'ə-fĭl'ē-ə, pē'də-)
n. The act atau fantasi on the part of an adult of engaging in sexual activity with a child atau children.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Retrieved November 26, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: link
Jacob Black is not a pedophile and nor is Quil. What they feel is weird, yes, but I don’t see it as something on which it is inherently harmful to act. Jacob and Quil are not creepy pedophiles, but rather boys who feel the kind of cinta of an older family member feels toward their young imprintees. They’re like the model babysitters and preschool teachers who seriously cinta their kids and want to see them happy, albeit with their cinta situated on specific people. When the kids age to the point that the average adult would find them attractive, it can be assumed that the shapeshifters will want to pursue a romantic relationship, but at that point the playing field is pretty much level and age is no longer an issue.
In addition, Jacob’s cinta for Renesmee should only be worrisome, in my opinion, within the first weeks of her life. Renesmee is a half-vampire baby and has her own extraordinary abilities to give her a noted advantage in life. For one, she matures both physically and mentally at an accelerated rate. She was born into the world already aware and was drawn to her soul mate, Jacob. Her power of telepathically sending gambar and emotions into persons’ heads allowed her to communicate effectively while she was still nonverbal. Once she achieved the motor skills to walk and talk, I would imagine much of the concern that usually goes with adults seeking romantic relationships with prepubescent children to be irrelevant in light of the unique circumstances of this particular situation.
In response to the common complaint that Twilight is written poorly, I would have to say that the concept of good literature is highly subjective. I personally could barely get through the classic piece of literature Tarzan, which I view as cheesy pulp fiction without the kind of realistic drama that makes a story interesting to me. I recognize that Tarzan is a very populer story, however, and will accept that we people of Earth are different and different people will find different things entertaining. Personally, I can really get into the menulis style of Twilight, which reminds me of the beautiful sound of the wind on a rainy hari as the thunder booms in the distance. Ah, well, to each their own.
Finally, I have read numerous blog artikel criticizing penulis Stephenie Meyer’s decision to incorporate religious themes and messages into the book series. Stephenie Meyer is Mormon and as the kind of stuff she would find entertaining would naturally fit into her worldview, it makes sense for Twilight to have Mormon themes. That said, as an atheist who often cringes at the religious messages people put into their novels, Twilight really isn’t that bad. If anda don’t want to believe in the kind of philosophies illustrated in the Twilight novels, anda can reject it without feeling like you’re not welcome (in contrast to much of Orson Scott Card’s work).
In conclusion, I find most of the hate against Twilight running rampant on the Internet to be overblown. Surely, Twilight is not the kind of epic, involved, and progressive story like Harry Potter atau Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However, for what it is, which is an intimate fantastical romance story that can be appreciated oleh a large quantity of people, it is of high enough quality to achieve high popularity. This should be respected even if the story doesn’t appeal to everyone.
I recently saw the movie version of Twilight. I’ve been a fan of the book series for quite a while, before it became quite the phenomenon it is currently, and found the movie enjoyable entertainment. So, I’ve found it kind of disappointing how militantly opposed some people on the Internet can be toward the franchise. I, of course, understand if some people can’t get into it (I can’t seem to get the appeal of Hannah Montana, myself, despite its popularity), but I find the hateful criticism that has been thrown at it to be largely unwarranted. The Twilight series has been targeted mainly for perceived sexism, an abusive boyfriend portrayed as desirable, pedophiles treated as good guys, promoting Mormonism, as well as just plain bad writing. Now, obviously I can’t convince people who don’t enjoy it to do so, but I feel as a fan that the attacks thrown out at Twilight should be defended.
First of all, the Twilight series, and Twilight in particular (as that’s the book that started it off), is very much a fantasi about having a vampire boyfriend. I have little doubt that the story was created as a way of expressing the author’s own romantic fantasies through the protagonist Bella’s interactions with cinta interest Edward, which is also supported oleh komentar on the official website about the story being based off of a dream. The story is written compellingly enough that a wide body of readers is able to fit into the persona of Bella and cinta Edward.
Edward himself is written as the most desirable guy on the face of the Earth. He has vampirically enhanced features that are model-perfect, even lebih so. It’s not just his handsome face that is described in worshipful detail, but the sound of his voice, the feel of his cold and marble-hard skin, and even the smell of his breath. Adding in the fact that he possesses super speed, super strength, immortality, and the ability to read the minds of almost everyone but Bella herself and he seems like a godly personification.
However, Edward does have his flaws. He is a vampire, which means he constantly feels the desire to eat people, Bella in particular. Bella smells like his favorit meal, like his “own personal brand of heroin,” prompting a fascination and stalker-ish obsession. At first, he avoids her and treats her with unwarranted anger for arousing his predatory instincts. Bella, however, continues to pursue him and he changes his mind, deciding to indulge his obsessive inclinations oleh sneaking into her room at night to watch her sleep and covertly following her around, eventually seeking out a proper relationship.
What is attractive about Edward as a predatory vampire is, I believe, the dangerous power associated with the character and its potential to be used maliciously. There’s something enthralling about imagining myself in the position of Bella, infatuated with this dark, beautiful, and powerful man and knowing he could kill her should he lose willpower for just an instant. He has a similar appeal as bad boy vampire Spike of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with the noted difference that Spike is essentially a sociopath and incapable of genuine empathy (I refer to Spike without a soul, as Spike with a soul loses much of his bad boy charm in my opinion). Unlike Spike, Edward has never killed the innocent and carries guilt of his time killing murderers, and struggles to maintain his “vegetarian diet” (i.e. he only eats animal blood). Edward has the bad boy appeal without actually being bad where it counts.
Edward: And the lion fell in cinta with the lamb.
Bella: What a stupid lamb.
Edward: What a sick, masochistic lion!
Apart from Edward, the major issue critics have with the buku is the supposedly pedophilic protagonist of Breaking Dawn, Jacob Black. Both Jacob and his friend Quil become infatuated with prepubescent children, the fast maturing baby Renesmee and three-year-old Claire respectively, as a result of imprinting. Imprinting is a condition affecting the Quileute shapeshifters in which they view a certain person as their soul mate and can only feel complete when they are with that person. Both of them honestly cinta the people on who they have imprinted, but it is not a sexual love.
ped•o•phil•i•a (pěd'ə-fĭl'ē-ə, pē'də-)
n. The act atau fantasi on the part of an adult of engaging in sexual activity with a child atau children.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Retrieved November 26, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: link
Jacob Black is not a pedophile and nor is Quil. What they feel is weird, yes, but I don’t see it as something on which it is inherently harmful to act. Jacob and Quil are not creepy pedophiles, but rather boys who feel the kind of cinta of an older family member feels toward their young imprintees. They’re like the model babysitters and preschool teachers who seriously cinta their kids and want to see them happy, albeit with their cinta situated on specific people. When the kids age to the point that the average adult would find them attractive, it can be assumed that the shapeshifters will want to pursue a romantic relationship, but at that point the playing field is pretty much level and age is no longer an issue.
In addition, Jacob’s cinta for Renesmee should only be worrisome, in my opinion, within the first weeks of her life. Renesmee is a half-vampire baby and has her own extraordinary abilities to give her a noted advantage in life. For one, she matures both physically and mentally at an accelerated rate. She was born into the world already aware and was drawn to her soul mate, Jacob. Her power of telepathically sending gambar and emotions into persons’ heads allowed her to communicate effectively while she was still nonverbal. Once she achieved the motor skills to walk and talk, I would imagine much of the concern that usually goes with adults seeking romantic relationships with prepubescent children to be irrelevant in light of the unique circumstances of this particular situation.
In response to the common complaint that Twilight is written poorly, I would have to say that the concept of good literature is highly subjective. I personally could barely get through the classic piece of literature Tarzan, which I view as cheesy pulp fiction without the kind of realistic drama that makes a story interesting to me. I recognize that Tarzan is a very populer story, however, and will accept that we people of Earth are different and different people will find different things entertaining. Personally, I can really get into the menulis style of Twilight, which reminds me of the beautiful sound of the wind on a rainy hari as the thunder booms in the distance. Ah, well, to each their own.
Finally, I have read numerous blog artikel criticizing penulis Stephenie Meyer’s decision to incorporate religious themes and messages into the book series. Stephenie Meyer is Mormon and as the kind of stuff she would find entertaining would naturally fit into her worldview, it makes sense for Twilight to have Mormon themes. That said, as an atheist who often cringes at the religious messages people put into their novels, Twilight really isn’t that bad. If anda don’t want to believe in the kind of philosophies illustrated in the Twilight novels, anda can reject it without feeling like you’re not welcome (in contrast to much of Orson Scott Card’s work).
In conclusion, I find most of the hate against Twilight running rampant on the Internet to be overblown. Surely, Twilight is not the kind of epic, involved, and progressive story like Harry Potter atau Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However, for what it is, which is an intimate fantastical romance story that can be appreciated oleh a large quantity of people, it is of high enough quality to achieve high popularity. This should be respected even if the story doesn’t appeal to everyone.
I personal would like to just speak my mind. To all of anda don't want her to be Jane, I guess I understand. But, I like Dakota Fanning. She's a great actress and I think she'd be great. Here are some reasons why I want he to be Jane.
1. She's been in TONS of movies, so she has experience.
2. She looks the role (In my opinion.)
3. She in "Push" so I would think she has some experience with things like New Moon (and the rest).
4. She's always the good-girl. For once she should be bad.
Those are only some that I can think of at the moment.
If anda don't want her to be, I respect that. Also, if anda think that, leave a komentar saying why atau why not please!
Also, if anda actually read this:
Thanks!
1. She's been in TONS of movies, so she has experience.
2. She looks the role (In my opinion.)
3. She in "Push" so I would think she has some experience with things like New Moon (and the rest).
4. She's always the good-girl. For once she should be bad.
Those are only some that I can think of at the moment.
If anda don't want her to be, I respect that. Also, if anda think that, leave a komentar saying why atau why not please!
Also, if anda actually read this:
Thanks!
1. He tells her to stay away from him.
2. She says shes not afraid of him.
3. He lets her cry on his kemeja and ruin it.
4. He just wants her to be happy.
5. She trusts him.
6. He didn't kill her
7. When the car threatened to crush her all he could think was "Not her"
8. The lion fell in cinta with the lamb.
9. He left her only for her protection.
10. He won't end her life for her.
11. He took her to the prom because he did't want her to miss anything.
12. He feels very protective of her.
13. He risked blowing the family secret to save her.
14. He is her "Prisoner".
15. He dazzles her.
16. She doesn't care that he is a "Killer".
17. He sayed with her in the Hospital
18. He watches her sleep.
19. She always forgives him.
20. He merpati her halaman awal when she felt sick.
2. She says shes not afraid of him.
3. He lets her cry on his kemeja and ruin it.
4. He just wants her to be happy.
5. She trusts him.
6. He didn't kill her
7. When the car threatened to crush her all he could think was "Not her"
8. The lion fell in cinta with the lamb.
9. He left her only for her protection.
10. He won't end her life for her.
11. He took her to the prom because he did't want her to miss anything.
12. He feels very protective of her.
13. He risked blowing the family secret to save her.
14. He is her "Prisoner".
15. He dazzles her.
16. She doesn't care that he is a "Killer".
17. He sayed with her in the Hospital
18. He watches her sleep.
19. She always forgives him.
20. He merpati her halaman awal when she felt sick.
Distributor: Summit Entertainment Release Date: November 21, 2008
Genre: Romance Running Time: 2 hrs. 0 min.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 Production Budget: $37 million
TOTAL LIFETIME GROSSES
Domestic: $138,552,000 86.7%
+ Foreign: $21,325,749 13.3%
= Worldwide: $159,877,749
DOMESTIC SUMMARY
Opening Weekend: $69,637,740
(3,419 theaters, $20,368 average)
% of Total Gross: 50.3%
Widest Release: 3,620 theaters
In Release: 17 days / 2.4 weeks
link
I got into the house.I knew that it was worse than james I held my Drink.
Edward We need to be prepared.I could train with Jasper he wasin the army before he was turned. He could train us both me and Buffy .I held my menyeberang, salib bow "Hmm"I oiled it .
I saw that my tojo blades were getting rusty
I decided to Grab all my slaying stuff.
lebih avanced Sliver stakes but doesn't work as well as holy water and api filled Cross.
I ran down to the basement.I felt pain from another.It was Jazz.He was membaca "gone With The Wind".
Oh god why "jazz please stop i can feel your hurt."
huh?
It's one of my abilities now stop felling sorry for your self and help us didn't anda hear from edward theres a new evil in town!
Edward We need to be prepared.I could train with Jasper he wasin the army before he was turned. He could train us both me and Buffy .I held my menyeberang, salib bow "Hmm"I oiled it .
I saw that my tojo blades were getting rusty
I decided to Grab all my slaying stuff.
lebih avanced Sliver stakes but doesn't work as well as holy water and api filled Cross.
I ran down to the basement.I felt pain from another.It was Jazz.He was membaca "gone With The Wind".
Oh god why "jazz please stop i can feel your hurt."
huh?
It's one of my abilities now stop felling sorry for your self and help us didn't anda hear from edward theres a new evil in town!
Okay, this might be a big-old pointless rant, but i absolutely hate when people BASH on other character (i'm not saying any names) and i'm not just talking about Jacob-hating. If anda want to bash on Jacob atau any other character for that matter go the Jacob-Hating Spot, and if their isn't one, create one then!!!! I don't mind people sharing well-though out and intelligent opinions, it's just that i'm absolutley sick of all this hating on Jacob and Jacob lovers! I hate completely and utter idiocy komentar done on this spot for Twilight pasangan IN GENERAL like "Jacob f*** sucks!" and we've all seen it and heard of it, and i doubt this artikel will make any difference but i needed to get it out of my system. anda don't see me going aroung saying things like "Edward sucks, and Bella will ALWAYS belong to Jacob." because it would seriously piss of ALOT of people. My thoughts. That's all. Don't care if someone komentar on this just to somehow piss me off.
(End of pointless-rant)
(End of pointless-rant)
Kristen, 18, recently sat down with MSNBC and dished about the book series that has everyone talking. “(I) lived with the first book. For like three months atau however long that was, and I haven’t been able to pindah on.”
She says of co-star and on-screen cinta Robert Pattinson who plays Edward Cullen, “He was so different from everybody else that came in (to audition). He’s very responsive, he sees and he listens. And that’s very important, that you’re not akting in a scene oleh yourself.”