First of all, let me say that I own all of the Twilight books and have read and re-read all of them. As many of you, I loved them...at first. I remember talking to friends, 20s-30s friends, and sharing our frustration, anger and happiness while reading the books. However, when the movies came out, I lost that feeling and started nit-picking the book and movies apart. The characters portrayed in the movie did not match the ones I'd built in my head and when the posters, t-shirts, lunch boxes, jewelry, etc. showed up, plus the fact that it turned into a pre-teen sensation, I gave up. I will try to write this post from the perspective of the 'book lover.' However, forgive me if some of my 'movie-madness' brews over and I'm sure it will.
Twilight, by Stephenie Meyers
Downside: It is written in first person. I can't stand first person. Authors please take note and stop this first person craze. (someone please explain the draw for first person..)
I'm sure I don't need to go into detail about the story since most have either read the book or seen the movie.
Questions I want answered or ideas to share:
1. Taking classic ideas about vampires and making them bogus.
Classic idea: Sunlight harms vampires.
Twilight idea: Sunlight does not harm vampires, but makes them sparkle.
Classic idea: Vampires can shape shift into bats.
Twilight idea: Not true.
You get the idea. Honestly, this never bothered me until the movie came out.
2. Bella Swan. I had such hope for this character. (I would like to plug in here that she was portrayed much better in the book then in the movie.) I see her as a typical teenage girl, still trying to find herself, who is thrown into this mystical love story.
My feelings about the movie are overshadowing my feelings about the book. Honestly, the two are now entwined together in my head to the point where I can't separate the two. I miss how I viewed the books before the movies came out.
Well, I am like you. I enjoyed the books at first. Then they announced the cast for the movie...and at first...I was okay with the choices. But as time has gone on, I must say that the characters for Edward and Bella have pretty much ruined my ideas for the book characters.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't understand why you don't like first person...I kinda do. :P
Smelloooooo Keri! I loved the books and was so excited when they made them into a movie...but alas, I'm like you and was sorely dissapointed. In the books I loved Edward and Bella so much, and had this big expectation for their characters in the movies.... It's like in the book, I was rooting for Bella and Edward...but in the movie, I really don't care. There's no pull towards their characters for me in the movie. But I do still enjoy the books...and first person *blushing* And I wish Stephenie Meyers would have finished the book from Edwards point of view.
ReplyDeleteI think it would have been brilliant to write it from Edward's point of view the whole time. Or even splice it from Edward to Bella and then back again. What is the draw for 1st person? Both of you like it? WHY? I don't know what it is, but 1st person gets to me. The other day, I was teaching 1st person, 2nd person, and 3rd person to my class and had to hold myself back from saying, "If you are writing a story, you should NOT use 1st person."
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