Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?

When talking Twilight it seems to me that the opinions on these movies based on Stephenie Meyer’s series of books run the gamut. There are those that hate the books and movies, there are those that love the books and movies, and then there are those that are simply, “Meh.”  No matter your opinion, one cannot argue that this wildly successful franchise is raking in the big bucks. So I thought I’d give you my 3 reasons why Twilight is so popular.

Reason 1

It’s a pretty basic formula. It’s a Romeo and Juliet story with a supernatural twist. Who doesn’t love vampires and werewolves? What teenage (or older) gal doesn’t fantasize about being the object of affection for both of those paranormal creatures? Who doesn’t love Romeo and Juliet with a happily ever after ending?

Reason 2

The winning element called a love triangle. This is a story that makes the statement “3′s a crowd” the understatement of the year. The angst these characters feel because they are inexplicably linked is excruciating, and what teenage (or older) gal doesn’t find the thought of having two severely attractive dudes vying for the right to establish their status as the other half of the relationship intriguing?

Reason 3

The most obvious and probably the most important reason why these books and movies are so wildly popular is because of all the vampires and werewolves. The element of fantasy is so front and center and all encompassing that escape is easy.  The excitement of being privy to such a secret is enough to make any teenage (or older) gal’s head explode.

So, my big question for you is…

Curious minds want to know: are you Team Edward or Team Jacob, or are you just “Meh.”? Why do you think Twilight is so popular?

The Twilight Saga_New Moon_Bella and Edward and the Cullens

This movie is not a disappointment and I thoroughly enjoyed it. That being said, unless you GET the books and loved them, meaning — you are just one of the millions of salivating and swooning Twilight fans — you may not be down with the darkly agonizing tone of New Moon, its length, or its drawn out two thirds, then fast and furious end. I watched the film with a more mature audience (though I may have felt right at home amongst a gaggle of salivating, swooning, squealing teenagers since I was completely indulging my own inner teenager — which is something I love to do, I might add! ), so I found the other movie goers a jaded lot who laughed at inopportune moments. ie. intense emotional sequences and a glimpse of Bella’s highly anticipated fanged future.

The film opens with Bella in the idyllic mountain clearing with Edward, staring across the divide at an aged woman she thinks is her grandmother. But lo, it is Bella herself, wrinkled and old, while beside her Edward is still, as always heartbreakingly beautiful and murmuring, “Happy Birthday, Bella.” You can imagine Bella’s horror, and she does indeed awaken from her nightmare to her dreaded birthday.

Now, we’ve all seen the birthday bash disaster scene and we know Edward is going to crush her heart when he oh, so very coldly breaks up with her, and he and his entire family leave Forks. I was left cold, and Kristen Stewart actually looks like she is going to quite literally die from a broken heart and lack of oxygen. And despite my best, stoic efforts not to shed a tear, Edward’s leave taking undid me somewhat, because I, like so many other fans, have read the book and I know what’s coming. Chris Weitz shows Bella’s descent into the dark abyss of depression with a slow spinning of the camera which mirrors Bella’s downward spiral, and will leave you feeling a wee bit off kilter.

New Moon_The Wolfpack

Enter Jacob, Bella’s own personal sun, who really does brighten the mood of the film and even Bella’s devastated heart to a certain degree. Jacob is tolerant of Bella’s budding kamikaze ways— the only way she knows how to trigger visions of her beloved Edward — repairing dirt bikes and reveling in the time he gets to spend with her, determined to show Bella that he can make her forget about him. But it is time that is short lived as Jacob’s happy disposition is taken over by loyalty to and the responsibilities of the pack, and he, too, leaves Bella in his desire to protect her. Yet he, unlike Edward, can’t stay away from Bella, and luckily for her, Jacob’s around to save her from a disastrous cliff dive into frigid waters.

But really, between lurking Laurent who’s off his animal diet, vicious Victoria who has a score to settle, and Bella’s knack for endangering herself, how can any of these suitors think Bella will be safe alone? It isn’t long before Bella knows the whole truth, that vampires and werewolves are not a thing of myth and legend. They exist, and Bella realizes she can’t live without either of them, but she must make a choice because lines have been drawn.

After Bella’s near fatal cliff dive, a near encounter with Victoria in the turbulent waters of the ocean, and a nick of time rescue by Jacob, Alice shows up unexpectedly at Bella’s house, much to Jacob’s disgust. After getting in a bit of a spat with Alice, Jacob shares a moment with Bella, which nearly ends in a kiss (that unlike the book, never happens on screen, which is a bit of a disappointment), but is disrupted by a phone call from Edward. That fateful call is what revs up the action of the film, sending Alice and Bella to Italy on a desperate race against time to save Edward from destroying himself, because he thinks Bella is dead and he can’t live in a world where she doesn’t exist.

New Moon_The Volturi

Bella and Edward’s reunion is everything one could have ever hoped for and cements the realization that these two are hopelessly inlove, and refuse to live without each other. But their heart stopping reunion is regrettably brief, though intense, and enter the Volturi. The Volturi are convincingly and satisfyingly corrupt. Michael Sheen‘s Aro is decadent and chilling, Jane is played to perfection by Dakota Fanning, and Aro’s cat and mouse games effectively put the fear of God in you if the rest of the Volturi henchman do not. Top it off with an awesome fight sequence in the Volturi audience room between Edward and Felix, and Bella’s heroism and selfless love for Edward, and there you have it! And of course we know that love conquers all…for now.

New Moon is peppered with shirtless werewolves, a shirtless Edward (I had to mention this to get it out of my system!), werewolf fights and chases, humor and struggle. It is a movie about love, loss, tough choices, pain and unrequited love. It’s as different from Twilight as werewolves are from vampires, but no less filled with longing and conflict. It stays as true to the book as it can, and I must admit you really have to read the books to truly understand and enjoy the movie. I think Twilight fans fell inlove with the novels, inlove with the story, with Edward, Bella and Jacob — all secretly dreaming that someday they would see the world of Twilight on film. That’s it. Dream come true. So I give New Moon a thumbs up because I loved the books, I loved the characters, and I love literature that moves me (and my inner teenager) on film.

Eclipse At Amazon

New Moon is a movie breaking box office records already, yet is getting mixed reviews from critics who just need to remember, this isn’t a movie meant to stand alone. It is just the second part of a beautiful and unforgettable love story.

The Twilight Saga will continue with Eclipse in June 2010. Let the countdown begin!

~P.S.~ Doesn’t Bella kinda sorta remind you of a young and fictional Stephenie Meyer? I’m just sayin’.

Stephenie Meyer_New Moon Movie_Org

OOOH! Before I forget! This weekend in Forks, September 12th and 13th to be exact, they will be celebrating Stephenie Meyer Day 2009! Of course we know that she made the small town famous with her “little” vampire saga (little! hehe!), and in her novels, September 13th is fictional character

Bella Swan_The Twilight Saga Fansite

Bella Swan’s birthday.  Why not take a jaunt down to Forks, Washington and join in the vampy fun! Forks is even inviting Arizonians — or is it Arizonites? You may even catch a glimpse of Stephenie Meyer herself, if she opts to surprise fans with an appearance, and get those hardcovers I know you Twihards will be lugging around with you autographed maybe! (It is rumored Stephenie will not be making an appearance in New Moon like she did in Twilight — BOO! News on the street is that director Chris Weitz forgot! How embarrassing, as Stephenie Meyer was actually on set during the shooting of New Moon!)

~Quickbite!~ The Vampire Diaries premiered last night. I wonder how it measured up, because you know it will be compared to Twilight. (It even echoed the mother of all vampire tales, Bram Stoker’s Dracula!) It’s been called a Twilight/Trueblood hybrid — Truelight! ™ — how will it stack up against these two vampire empire giants? I wonder if they’ll play the heck out of it like they are Melrose Place 2.0?

~MAJOR P.S.!~ I did not know this! L.J. Smith wrote The Vampire Diaries series which was first published in 1991! That’s like 18 years ago! Way long before Twilight. Stephenie Meyer would have been 18 years old at the time. Interesting. But as we all know, every great story has it’s kernels from something great that has gone before. It is inevitable. I wonder how big the books were with fans back then? I wonder why Twilight took such a stranglehold on fans in this era of fantasy and lore literature? Maybe we’re just ready for stuff like this now?