I think I would enjoy it more, in the way that you enjoy Twilight movies, a lot more the second time, because I was so tense through the whole thing, wondering how embarrassing it was going to get. Like, the whole second half hour is honeymoon shenanigans, but it was drastically sanitized from the leaked footage I saw, so it wasn't as awful a shared viewing experience as I was fearing. Keep in mind, people have reported some inappropriate behavior in theaters before. I'm sitting there going, please, Jesus, don't let this be the Twihard equivalent of porn, I'm begging You. I mean, I'm sure for some fans it was, but it was stylized enough with lots of closeups and they cut back and forth and it wasn't, like, In Real Time. Thank God. Pretty much once we were past that, there was nothing I was afraid of. I knew the birth would be squicky, but... it's written that way, it's not like you don't know what's coming if you've read it and you are aware of the absolute fidelity of the movie.
Just keep repeating to yourself: IT'S JUST STRAWBERRY JAM AND CREAM CHEESE. Seriously, that's what they said it was. Maybe raspberry, I can't remember. Pick whichever one you never plan on eating ever again.
Given that 1) the book is what it is and 2) the filmmakers have always been under order to be scrupulously faithful to it, it's... it just is, okay? It is a filmed experience of the book, which says pretty much everything you need to know about it.
It kind of pisses me off that of all books, TWILIGHT is the one that gets a "scrupulously faithful" adaptation. Where was this mentality when Frodo was telling Sam to go home in ROTK?
Also Cleolinda, are you aware of tumblr artist gingerhaze? (She's probably most well-known for The Broship of the Ring.) Because when you said "SPARKLE OUT" all I could think of was this:
"It kind of pisses me off that of all books, TWILIGHT is the one that gets a "scrupulously faithful" adaptation. Where was this mentality when Frodo was telling Sam to go home in ROTK?"
Probably because Stephenie Meyer keeps insisting on reading the script and complaining if stuff is changed. She did the same thing with the graphic novel, which is probably why the pacing was so terrible.
I BET IT WAS BECAUSE THEY'RE BOTH VEGETARIANS. OH WAIT AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO REMEMBERED THAT WEIRD CHARACTER TRAIT? Because they clearly totally dropped it when Bella was nomming on the chicken before it was vomit-city.
Hey, it's her self-insert fantasy being acted out with a massive budge. Of course she'd want to witness it first hand in the most unsubtle manner possible.
While I have no intention of watching the films (saw the final 10 minutes of this on YouTube and that was awkward enough), I've mostly been entertained by the media reaction to this all. There's definitely been less than the previous films, or at least I've seen less, and there's a noticeable divide - people are still being heavily critical but now Entertainment Weekly have essentially thrown off the shackles of the bandwagon oppression and gone crazy! They're letting out a lot of pent up hatred for the series and after years of essentially being the biggest sparkly cheerleaders in the mainstream media, it's pretty amazing to watch. There's also the flip-side like the AV Club now telling us all we should stop criticising the films/books because bashing is so 2010 or something, I don't know, it was a really terrible article. Still, I eagerly await your thoughts and all the gifs this movie's going to create.
What's really funny is that I've seen at least three or four backlash-backlash articles about how we should all just live and let live now. I feel kind of fortunate that I've staked out a place in the middle--which I hadn't intended, but I got referred to as "Twilight fan Cleolinda Jones" and asked, "So... how do you actually feel about Twilight?" enough that apparently that's how people see me.
Of course, EW is throwing off the shackles the same week they put out a big Twilight issue. I think they're trying to have it both ways for the page views.
I think that's the cycle of pop culture - hype, backlash, backlash to the backlash, ad nauseum until we find something new. I will continue to maintain that "It's just for kids/teens" is a BS argument though.
Oh yeah, EW want those sales. You can see them trying to stake the middle ground with their review - Lisa Schwarzbaum's review was pretty brutal and certainly would have been more accurate to grade as a D- or even an F instead of a C-. I'm guessing that was an editorial choice though.
Oh, it's definitely a bullshit argument, because that's basically saying that it doesn't matter what kids read. I think you and I discussed this on the podcast that one time, but sometimes people are like "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!," like they can't be allowed to read anything, or "YA needs to be dark sometimes because what kids read is important and #YAsaves!" And other times, it's like, "Eh, don't worry about it, it's just kids/YA, they're not actually going to take it seriously." Well, which one is it? I mean, I think both--it's important / it's not really a big deal--are true at different times, with different books. But I think that also means we have to look at Twilight through the ambiguity of that lens as well. Yeah, it's fluff for some people, it's harmless for some teens, but that doesn't mean we should all just clam up about the problematic elements, either. There's got to be a balance
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STEPHENIE, YOU WROTE IT. He broke the bed somehow!
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It kind of pisses me off that of all books, TWILIGHT is the one that gets a "scrupulously faithful" adaptation. Where was this mentality when Frodo was telling Sam to go home in ROTK?
Also Cleolinda, are you aware of tumblr artist gingerhaze? (She's probably most well-known for The Broship of the Ring.) Because when you said "SPARKLE OUT" all I could think of was this:
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Probably because Stephenie Meyer keeps insisting on reading the script and complaining if stuff is changed. She did the same thing with the graphic novel, which is probably why the pacing was so terrible.
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Of course, EW is throwing off the shackles the same week they put out a big Twilight issue. I think they're trying to have it both ways for the page views.
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Oh yeah, EW want those sales. You can see them trying to stake the middle ground with their review - Lisa Schwarzbaum's review was pretty brutal and certainly would have been more accurate to grade as a D- or even an F instead of a C-. I'm guessing that was an editorial choice though.
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