I did learn that Snarkier Than You and I have something very important in common - a severe dislike in the movie of deviations from the book. For me, this actually applies to every movie adaptation ever made (don't get me started on Contact - I am still livid and it's been more than a decade), but Twilight is no exception.
I really want this t-shirt
What bugs me most about Twilight (the movie) isn't necessarily the things they altered, but the things they left out completely (or mostly). My favorite parts from Twilight (the book) were: the meadow scene (duh - but in its entirety), their first night together, the question sessions, and then little things like when he convinces her she'll be safe right before the baseball game (hello, nose-running-up-throat action!), when he leaves the note in her truck telling her to Be Safe, and when they banter a little bit (the part at the prom where she asks if he wants her to barricade the door so he and the other Cullens - btw, where are the other Cullens in this scene?? - can feast on the unsuspecting townsfolk, or "breakfast time for the human" or any of those little moments). None of these made it into the movie. Why?? I think the plot was done a disservice by leaving them out. In the movie, I never get that vicarious falling-in-love feeling I get from reading the book, and, yes, I know it's a different medium and therefore the experience will not be the same, but I just feel that in the movie, the falling-in-love is pushed aside in favor of action. Do we need the Waylon plot? Couldn't we have fleshed out their feelings for each other (no pun intended, honestly) instead of that?
When TH watched the movie, he was baffled. To be fair, he was just being nice to me by watching it at all (thanks, honey!), but he gave it his full attention and came away with questions. Questions like, do these two even like each other? And I don't think Robsten lacks chemistry - that's one of the few things KStew has going for her in these movies (more on her another time) - I just think their plot was left out. In the book, Bella and Edward are playful and sweet, and in the movie they're all intense (Edward) and twitchy (take a wild guess). I just don't feel like they're falling in love - more like they're thrown together and put up with it.
The exception here, of course, is the kissing scene. That scene is HAWT, and although I like the kissing scenes in the book ("No one should look as tempting as you do right now"), and I'm sorry we only really get a taste in the movie, it is a damn good taste.
Be very still...
I have more technical issues, too (costumes, makeup, the fucking ridiculous "sparkle" effect), but I could have let all that go had the plot been respected. Honestly, I could have. Instead, it's a movie I love and hate simultaneously. I love it because it's the only one we're going to get, it's the characters come to life (pretty much), and it has some good moments (the kiss, the baseball scene, almost anything with Charlie). I hate it because it's the only one we're going to get, Catherine Hardwicke seems to have been a total FAIL (have you listened to the commentary? She doesn't even care that it sucks), and because almost all of my favorite book parts are left out. But it's what we have, so I embrace it - and that's what made Twitarded's movie party so fun: sharing the love/hate with everyone and bonding over it.
So be sure to mark your calendars whenever they schedule their New Moon watching! I know I'll be there!! Oh - and happy March!! Remember Me and the New Moon DVD and Eclipse trailers, oh my!!
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5 comments:
Totally agree. All the little things in the book that make their relationship so enduring are skipped. It is a mystery to me how people who just watch the movie could get the series at all.
Well, I first saw the movie, and then I read the books. In fact, when I saw the movie, I didn't even realize the books existed. I thought it was a very interesting film, different, with an indie feel, and it just wouldn't leave me alone. It planted the seed. Some months later, I finally read the books, and then I resorted to watching Twilight again, and like you, I was utterly disappointed this time. The whole "I need to show you what I look like in sunlight" is gawdawful.
But I loved the climbing of the trees (not the spider monkey bit, ugh), and stuff like that. However, I need to tell you that I hated New Moon more, because it was so Hollywood. Twilight at least some iconic, personal aesthetic, whereas NM was just another action packed Hollywood flick. Meh.
Hmm - I can see that point. I liked New Moon better because the story maintained most of its necessary elements and was truer to the books, but I totally get what you're saying. We'll have to see what Eclipse is like, since it will be edited by the same person who did Twilight!
It's so funny that you posted this because my #1 complaint about the movies is that we never see Edward smile or joke. And in the books he jokes A LOT at Bella's expense. They have this amazing banter that just didn't end up in the movies. It looks like they're always serious in Twilight - and how the hell do you fall in love with someone if you never enjoy each other?! Great post!
Thanks, SV! And thanks for reading through my archives - you've been busy with the comments today!!
One of my favorite things about Twilight and the B/E relationship is their banter and the fun they have together, because that's a good love story - TH and I joke and laugh a LOT, and I wouldn't have it any other way. And you get that a little from B/E in New Moon, bot nowhere near what the books were like, and nothing in Twilight (the movie), just about. I'm glad I'm not the only one who missed that!!
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