Let me start by saying that I have not read any of the Twilight books. I have, however, seen both of the movies, thanks to the fact that I have a 15-year-old daughter.
I wasn’t going to write about it at all, but after posting every day for 30 days straight, I somehow have nothing left to say and I didn’t want to break my streak. So, Twilight it is.
I’m not impressed. Period. End of story.
I mean, I get why teenyboppers enjoy it. It’s meant for them. Stephanie Meyer hit the mark.
What I don’t get is the women my age and older (and even some younger because, let’s face it, I’m no longer a spring chicken) who are obsessed with the books, the movies and the male characters. The teenage male characters. Who look like 
teenagers. I mean, I wasn’t into 16 and 17-year-old boys when I was 16 and 17.
OK. OK. Edward is technically 109, but still …
And Robert Pattinson, well, in the movies, he’s just not good-looking. He’s gross, even. He has watery, bloody eyes. He has no color to his skin. His hair stands straight up. And his acting is wooden, to boot! Now, during the New Moon previews, I saw Pattinson has another movie coming out in which he plays a human and looks normal. He’s kinda cute. But as Edward? Um … not so much.
Now on to the movies. First, I’ll tackle Twilight. It’s been more than a year since I saw it and I barely remember the details, but I do know I didn’t like it. Not a bit. I couldn’t wait for it to get over. It was silly and just plain bad. It did not make me want to read the books any more than I already wanted to read the books, which is not at all. For a teenybopper romance novel, it was nice. All wrapped up in a perfect little package where the hero saves the damsel in distress and then they go to prom. Yay.
Even people who loved the book weren’t impressed with that movie, so when New Moon received lots of praise from fans of the books, I thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad and agreed to take Emma to see it last Friday.
First of all, i
f you haven’t read the book, you’re going to be extremely lost. There was very little explanation of who certain characters were or why they were doing some of the things they were doing. I constantly had to whisper to Emma to explain things to me just so I could follow the movie. That should never happen. While most books are far better than their celluloid counterparts, at least a person can follow the movie without having read the book. The writers, directors and producers don’t usually assume everyone in the audience knows the story already.
Second, the acting was awful, the dialogue made me cringe and nothing that happened was actually believable.
Not that I believe in werewolves and vampires, but I’m willing to suspend my disbelief.
I can’t help but compare the Twilight saga to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the TV show, not the movie) and its spinoff, Angel. What made those shows great was not that they were about heroes and damsels or romance. It wasn’t the supernatural aspect of the story. It was the story itself. The shows were well-acted, amazingly written, fantastically directed. Despite the subject matter, they were relatable.
Both Twilight and Buffy have star-crossed, tortured lovers with obstacles in the way of their happiness. But Buffy is 
not a passive, whiny victim. She doesn’t treat people like toys to toss aside after use. She’s clear about who she loves and what she’s willing to do for that person/vampire.
She doesn’t fall apart because Angel leaves. Bella from Twilight is almost an insult to women in her weakness.
For a while, I considered reading the books. I still might. Probably not.
I don’t particularly care for Stephen King as a person, due to some remarks he’s made recently. But I respect him as a writer. He’s one of the great ones. He has an amazing gift. Because of his ability, I trust his assessment of others in the business. What he says about Stephanie Meyer’s writing means a lot to me. He’s not especially flattering in his comments. Between King’s remarks and the movies, I think I’ll pass on this one.
An Unexplored Wilderness 