Ever since the beginning of this blog, I have ripped pretty mercilessly and extensively into Twilight, and all things Twilight related. I consider it an angsty, manipulative piece of trash, a sparkly wasteland of terrible acting, nauseating dialogue and laughable direction. It's pornography for the tween crowd, only instead of lots of naked people, what we get is scene after scene of Robert-what's-his-face and Kristen she-can't-act-but-at-least-she's-hot staring longingly into each others eyes. And like so many people who clearly are not the demographic for this film, I dismissed it and ridiculed it's hysterical fan base time after time after time. There's just one problem: I've never actually seen it.
The much beloved (just not by me) cast of TwilightHere's the thing. I love movies. I love them. And from the very first Twilight trailer, I could tell that this was not going to be a good movie, at least in terms of structure, acting, script or direction. Nor was the dialogue going to be anything other than groan inducing, or the romance believable to anyone other than pre-pubescent girls and lonely housewives. Then the film hit theatres to massive commercial success, and I jumped pretty quickly on the "this is a pile of crap" band-wagon, because it seemed to me as though the only other option was the "OMG I love Edward he's so sexy he understands me" band-wagon. And that certainly wasn't where I wanted to be.
Another reason I dislike the very existence of the Twilight franchise is because I am a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the idea that literally hundreds of thousands of girls (and a few dozen guys) were choosing Twilight over Buffy frustrated the hell out of me. Because that show (on top of having it's fair share of teenage angst and romance) is also incredibly clever. It's funny and it's subversive, and Twilight is exactly the kind of property that it subverts. Consider, in Twilight, we have a female protagonist who is completely overwhelmed and helpless, whereas in Buffy, the ditzy blonde chick turns out to be a vampire slaying badass!
Another reason I dislike the very existence of the Twilight franchise is because I am a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the idea that literally hundreds of thousands of girls (and a few dozen guys) were choosing Twilight over Buffy frustrated the hell out of me. Because that show (on top of having it's fair share of teenage angst and romance) is also incredibly clever. It's funny and it's subversive, and Twilight is exactly the kind of property that it subverts. Consider, in Twilight, we have a female protagonist who is completely overwhelmed and helpless, whereas in Buffy, the ditzy blonde chick turns out to be a vampire slaying badass!
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy, a character who doesn't have any time for pale guys with too much product in their hair. Well, except for Angel...and Spike.
So for the past few months, I have shit-canned Twilight a) because of a slavish loyalty to Buffy, b) because of my annoyance at the enormous success of a clearly poorly made film and c) because, well, that's what guys do. We hate Twilight; it's kind of our thing. And the fact that I had never seen so much as a frame of the movie never stopped me.
But today, I had a change of heart, and here's why. I was linked (via Dave Chen's twitter account) to a video entitled "Fangirl flips over New Moon". For those of you who don't know, New Moon is the first of many sequels to Twilight (get excited...). The video, which is a nine minute long reaction clip to the recently released New Moon trailer, is embedded below. Don't bother watching all of it, just skip through it quickly and you'll get the idea.
But today, I had a change of heart, and here's why. I was linked (via Dave Chen's twitter account) to a video entitled "Fangirl flips over New Moon". For those of you who don't know, New Moon is the first of many sequels to Twilight (get excited...). The video, which is a nine minute long reaction clip to the recently released New Moon trailer, is embedded below. Don't bother watching all of it, just skip through it quickly and you'll get the idea.
Now my first thought after watching this video was about how much I was going to make fun of this girl on my blog. I mean, I was going to be vicious. Seriously cruel. But then I thought of something, and it made me reconsider my entire stance on the matter. I thought about my reaction, about 18 months ago, as I was sitting in the theatre and the following trailer rolled.
On top of being a devotee of Buffy, I am a massive Batman fanboy, particuarly of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Now my response on seeing this trailer wasn't quite as excessive as Mrs New Moons, but I was still irrationally excited. I mean, at least the New Moon trailer has scenes from the film; this thing only has a voice-over. Furthermore, you can bet your ass that when the trailer for Batman 3 eventually gets released, i'll be hyperventilating as much as she did!
Of course, there is the obvious argument that, from a cinematic perspective, The Dark Knight is an infinitely better movie. That is not a fanboy perspective; that is the general critical consensus. But, as much as I love what director Christopher Nolan did in The Dark Knight, with its psychologically complex characters and dark, gritty subject matter, my favourite part of the movie is still the bit where the freaking semi flips over! That shit is awesome! Even if Nolan had only done the bare, uninspired minimum with The Dark Knight (like what Catherine Hardwicke did with Twilight) I would still have at least liked the movie, because the fact of the matter is, Batman rocks! I am unashamedly a fanboy. And there's is nothing wrong with that.
Many people are just as in love with Ledger's Joker as they are with Pattinson's Edward Cullen. And that's OK
So as much as I suspect that Twilight really is as bad as I have made it out to be, and as much as I hate what it represents (the pandering to virginal tweens who dream of the bad boy vampire who's waited his entire life for them, and appreciates them for exactly who they are), I am no longer comfortable pre-judging. If I ever do see the film, I'm sure I'll return to my shameless bashing. But that probably will never happen, because I have no interest in seeing it. I watched the New Moon trailer and it just doesn't appeal. The special effects looked awful, the acting abysmal and the characters seemed utterly two dimensional. But, if you like Twilight, then you'll love it. And good for you.
Many people are just as in love with Ledger's Joker as they are with Pattinson's Edward Cullen. And that's OKSo as much as I suspect that Twilight really is as bad as I have made it out to be, and as much as I hate what it represents (the pandering to virginal tweens who dream of the bad boy vampire who's waited his entire life for them, and appreciates them for exactly who they are), I am no longer comfortable pre-judging. If I ever do see the film, I'm sure I'll return to my shameless bashing. But that probably will never happen, because I have no interest in seeing it. I watched the New Moon trailer and it just doesn't appeal. The special effects looked awful, the acting abysmal and the characters seemed utterly two dimensional. But, if you like Twilight, then you'll love it. And good for you.
As for Twilight's many wins at the MTV movie awards, all I want to say is that it when you think about it, the movie really deserves them. The MTV movie awards are designed for people who like mindless entertainment rather than thought-provoking cinema (last year Transformers won for Christ’s sake!) And, like Transformers, Twilight entertained a ton of people, who then went out and voted for it. This award ceremony belongs to the tweens - the MTV generation - so I say let them have it. I mean...do you really care? After all, it's the freaking MTV movie awards.
The film won five golden buckets of popcorn for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Breakthrough Male, Best Kiss and Best Fight
I guess that's all I have to say. I'm certainly not coming down on the side of this franchise, because I don't there's anything particularly good about it, other than it's ability to make a lot of girls scream (which is actually something I have in common with it ;D). Still, I'm going to try and stop bagging it from here on out.
Finally, in what is my official apology to Twilight fans everywhere, here is the pretty terrible (of course that's just one opinion) trailer for New Moon.
P.S. "Mrs New Moon", the creator of the reaction video, goes by the handle nuttymadam3575 and has a YouTube channel dedicated entirely to Twilight. And while I'm in no hurry to subscribe, I do admire her for putting herself out there (especially given the amount of ridicule she probably gets from people like...well, like me)
The film won five golden buckets of popcorn for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Breakthrough Male, Best Kiss and Best FightI guess that's all I have to say. I'm certainly not coming down on the side of this franchise, because I don't there's anything particularly good about it, other than it's ability to make a lot of girls scream (which is actually something I have in common with it ;D). Still, I'm going to try and stop bagging it from here on out.
Finally, in what is my official apology to Twilight fans everywhere, here is the pretty terrible (of course that's just one opinion) trailer for New Moon.
P.S. "Mrs New Moon", the creator of the reaction video, goes by the handle nuttymadam3575 and has a YouTube channel dedicated entirely to Twilight. And while I'm in no hurry to subscribe, I do admire her for putting herself out there (especially given the amount of ridicule she probably gets from people like...well, like me)
