assorted thoughts
- Went to see New Moon at the weekend, drunk and desiring lulz; it didn't disappoint. It is, in many respects, a laughable film; you can laugh at the acting, the script, the narrative, the characters, and like probably about half the internet, galvani and I did, muchly.
BUT. That said, the films are...not irredeemable for me. Tbh, what I read of the first book wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. It wasn't aimed at me, at a queer, unromantic woman with an unhealthy and probably kind of snobbish degree of investment and academic interest in the vampire as fictional device and cultural force - it wasn't aimed at me, and so the characters and the relationship didn't engage me, and so having already seen the film and finding SMeyer's writing style less than compelling, I just didn't have any interest in finishing it.
Something about translating it into film, though, produces a couple of things that actually catch my attention. The silence of the camera, Kristen Stewart and RPattz's (whether intentional or not) halting, awkward, portentous yet always eventually anticlimactic delivery, gives space for reading what's going on as an exploration of teenage intensity, lack of perspective, and inarticulateness (which is about the only reading of Edward and Bella's relationship that doesn't make me :/) that the book doesn't. And terrible actors they may be, but one thing the pair of them can manage to get across in an impressively non-cheesy way is all that barely suppressed wanting to fuck.
Also, film!Alice = yes please (and the idea of Alice turning Bella? VERY YES PLEASE).
So I'm not always LOLing, and I'm not always bored or alienated by Twilight...but at the end of the day, I am always frustrated and annoyed. The kind of behaviour being held up by these books as ~*so romantic*~ is still a huge fucking world of do not want for me, from the way Bella treats her non-Cullen friends and her dad (I may have an irrational degree of (entirely non-sexual) affection for Bella's dad, though), to Edward deciding to chat about his death wish with her (OH EDWARD CULLEN NO, you are bringing out my angry eyes >:( ), to Jacob's weird Nice Guy-ness, to the general sex-negativeness (however much great UST it makes possible) and glorification of obsession and everything else that's been said a million times before by a million other critics.
Still, though, I do wonder why it is that the Twilight series has received the degree of vitriol and mockery that it has. There are worse-written books; there are worse-made films, and ultimately, there are more or at least equally problematic representations of heterosexual relationships out there. Thoughts, or comment, or links to thoughts or comment, would be welcome, as right now I'm just feeling cranky and mistrustful about it.
- Visiting Oxford at the weekend was for once unqualifiedly lovely. Well, apart from the fairly massive qualification of me suffering from some form of unspecified Dreaded Lurgy that is still shredding my throat and filling me with phlegm, also the SURPRISE (well over a week early, cheers for that, body) BLEEDING, but none of that is Oxford's fault. I think a shift is finally happening in my brain, and Oxford is becoming "the place I go to visit my sister and my best friend", rather than "the place that fucked me up a litle bit for three years". Plus, how can I hate anywhere that provides me with a cocktail of vodka, strawberry puree, basil and black pepper for £3.25? Om nom nom.
- Thesis Chapter Three is finally getting going, as World's Busiest Term draws to an end. Mostly, however, what has emerged from the initial stages of my research is that I am going to need to become familiar with Avatar: The Last Airbender. This will be a fun way to spend the holidays, Y/N?
- I am more excited about Christmas than I have ever been, because for the first time in my life I get to buy and decorate my own tree!
BUT. That said, the films are...not irredeemable for me. Tbh, what I read of the first book wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. It wasn't aimed at me, at a queer, unromantic woman with an unhealthy and probably kind of snobbish degree of investment and academic interest in the vampire as fictional device and cultural force - it wasn't aimed at me, and so the characters and the relationship didn't engage me, and so having already seen the film and finding SMeyer's writing style less than compelling, I just didn't have any interest in finishing it.
Something about translating it into film, though, produces a couple of things that actually catch my attention. The silence of the camera, Kristen Stewart and RPattz's (whether intentional or not) halting, awkward, portentous yet always eventually anticlimactic delivery, gives space for reading what's going on as an exploration of teenage intensity, lack of perspective, and inarticulateness (which is about the only reading of Edward and Bella's relationship that doesn't make me :/) that the book doesn't. And terrible actors they may be, but one thing the pair of them can manage to get across in an impressively non-cheesy way is all that barely suppressed wanting to fuck.
Also, film!Alice = yes please (and the idea of Alice turning Bella? VERY YES PLEASE).
So I'm not always LOLing, and I'm not always bored or alienated by Twilight...but at the end of the day, I am always frustrated and annoyed. The kind of behaviour being held up by these books as ~*so romantic*~ is still a huge fucking world of do not want for me, from the way Bella treats her non-Cullen friends and her dad (I may have an irrational degree of (entirely non-sexual) affection for Bella's dad, though), to Edward deciding to chat about his death wish with her (OH EDWARD CULLEN NO, you are bringing out my angry eyes >:( ), to Jacob's weird Nice Guy-ness, to the general sex-negativeness (however much great UST it makes possible) and glorification of obsession and everything else that's been said a million times before by a million other critics.
Still, though, I do wonder why it is that the Twilight series has received the degree of vitriol and mockery that it has. There are worse-written books; there are worse-made films, and ultimately, there are more or at least equally problematic representations of heterosexual relationships out there. Thoughts, or comment, or links to thoughts or comment, would be welcome, as right now I'm just feeling cranky and mistrustful about it.
- Visiting Oxford at the weekend was for once unqualifiedly lovely. Well, apart from the fairly massive qualification of me suffering from some form of unspecified Dreaded Lurgy that is still shredding my throat and filling me with phlegm, also the SURPRISE (well over a week early, cheers for that, body) BLEEDING, but none of that is Oxford's fault. I think a shift is finally happening in my brain, and Oxford is becoming "the place I go to visit my sister and my best friend", rather than "the place that fucked me up a litle bit for three years". Plus, how can I hate anywhere that provides me with a cocktail of vodka, strawberry puree, basil and black pepper for £3.25? Om nom nom.
- Thesis Chapter Three is finally getting going, as World's Busiest Term draws to an end. Mostly, however, what has emerged from the initial stages of my research is that I am going to need to become familiar with Avatar: The Last Airbender. This will be a fun way to spend the holidays, Y/N?
- I am more excited about Christmas than I have ever been, because for the first time in my life I get to buy and decorate my own tree!