Eclipse
Last night I saw Eclipse at midnight! I am very tired this morning. The experience was amazing and unintentionally hilarious in that way that only Twilight can be at midnight when you're tired to the point of being vaguely delirious and surrounded by (what seemed to be) the entirety of Team Jacob. (My friends and I made obnoxious and kind of embarrassing Team Mike shirts for the first movie and now wearing them has become tradition). I spent a good part of the movie burying my face in my friend's shoulder and repeating some variation of "I'm so uncomfortable right now" but nonetheless I thoroughly enjoyed it. The consensus among my group was that it as the best of the Twilight movies to date, which is odd because Eclipse really is the book in which Nothing Happens.
They gave Bella this great monologue at the end where she's talking about why she wants to be a vampire and she says that it's not just about Edward, but it's about her and how she feels like she fits into his world. That it's the difference between who she *should* be and who she *is.* Which obviously is not in the book, but which really did work for me because I think it opens the door for some different interpretations. But then we get into the whole thing where I read Bella as a really repressed submissive. This is uncomfortable in its own right because of the way Twilight is drawerfic in a lot of ways and I feel like Bella reveals things about Stefenie Meyer that are uncomfortable! But ignoring that, I really find it hard to read her any other way. (I wrote about that some in my reactions to the fourth book here). It can be uncomfortable and kind of sad in the text as well, but I definitely never read her as completely lacking agency, which is the most common critique of her. We *always* know *exactly* what she wants. Maybe she wants things that are fucked up. Maybe (haha, OBVIOUSLY) her relationship with Edward is unhealthy (and Jacob is no less creepy, imo - six of one, half a dozen of the other), but there is NO point at which Bella's desires are unclear. Which is not to lay aside her self-esteem issues or the fucked-upness of her belief that Edward is so much more important than she is or to say that an alternative reading mitigates the very real issues in the series, but just to say that I think Bella can be a more interesting character than she's often given credit for. Though granted, the movies do mitigate some of the problematic aspects of the books and also, KStew sold it because she's awesome. Do not take this opportunity to bash her to me or I will eat your face. SHE IS NOT STILTED AND AWKWARD, BELLA IS STILTED AND AWKWARD. KSTEW IS GRATE AND THE CASTING IS PERFECT. HATERS TO THE LEFT.
The Edward/Bella/Jacob triangle was better done than it reads in the books, I felt, and the scene in the tent where Jacob and Bella huddle for warmth while Edward *watches* and then has an intense conversation with Jacob about their respective feelings while Bella sleeps was even better than I imagined it would be, and I imagined it would be AMAZING. Bella, bb, polyamory would solve ALL YOUR PROBLEMS. Or at least it would solve all your problems if your boyfriends weren't creepers. It probably wouldn't solve the creeper problem. I actually think there could be some really interesting stuff there about how she *does* love Jacob, but she loves Edward more (or differently) and how you can be in love with more than one person at a time and how to navigate that. Of course, there *isn't* that much interesting stuff there because the problem is removed when Jacob imprints on their baby ewwwwwwwww. But that's kind of one of the core problems I see with Twilight, actually, the fact that I do see potential for some really interesting stuff under the surface, but it is potential that is consistently squandered. Of course, it's worth saying that this is not a problem that is unique to Twilight as a text.
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They gave Bella this great monologue at the end where she's talking about why she wants to be a vampire and she says that it's not just about Edward, but it's about her and how she feels like she fits into his world. That it's the difference between who she *should* be and who she *is.* Which obviously is not in the book, but which really did work for me because I think it opens the door for some different interpretations. But then we get into the whole thing where I read Bella as a really repressed submissive. This is uncomfortable in its own right because of the way Twilight is drawerfic in a lot of ways and I feel like Bella reveals things about Stefenie Meyer that are uncomfortable! But ignoring that, I really find it hard to read her any other way. (I wrote about that some in my reactions to the fourth book here). It can be uncomfortable and kind of sad in the text as well, but I definitely never read her as completely lacking agency, which is the most common critique of her. We *always* know *exactly* what she wants. Maybe she wants things that are fucked up. Maybe (haha, OBVIOUSLY) her relationship with Edward is unhealthy (and Jacob is no less creepy, imo - six of one, half a dozen of the other), but there is NO point at which Bella's desires are unclear. Which is not to lay aside her self-esteem issues or the fucked-upness of her belief that Edward is so much more important than she is or to say that an alternative reading mitigates the very real issues in the series, but just to say that I think Bella can be a more interesting character than she's often given credit for. Though granted, the movies do mitigate some of the problematic aspects of the books and also, KStew sold it because she's awesome. Do not take this opportunity to bash her to me or I will eat your face. SHE IS NOT STILTED AND AWKWARD, BELLA IS STILTED AND AWKWARD. KSTEW IS GRATE AND THE CASTING IS PERFECT. HATERS TO THE LEFT.
The Edward/Bella/Jacob triangle was better done than it reads in the books, I felt, and the scene in the tent where Jacob and Bella huddle for warmth while Edward *watches* and then has an intense conversation with Jacob about their respective feelings while Bella sleeps was even better than I imagined it would be, and I imagined it would be AMAZING. Bella, bb, polyamory would solve ALL YOUR PROBLEMS. Or at least it would solve all your problems if your boyfriends weren't creepers. It probably wouldn't solve the creeper problem. I actually think there could be some really interesting stuff there about how she *does* love Jacob, but she loves Edward more (or differently) and how you can be in love with more than one person at a time and how to navigate that. Of course, there *isn't* that much interesting stuff there because the problem is removed when Jacob imprints on their baby ewwwwwwwww. But that's kind of one of the core problems I see with Twilight, actually, the fact that I do see potential for some really interesting stuff under the surface, but it is potential that is consistently squandered. Of course, it's worth saying that this is not a problem that is unique to Twilight as a text.
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