Saturday, April 18, 2009

You know the books are bad when...

Against our better judgment, we rented Twilight last night---largely because so many of our friends "love" the books and "just can't put them down" etc. So we thought, might as well find out what all the fuss is about. Let me preface what I am about to say with an acknowledgment that I know many "real" Twilight series fans that didn't like the movie because it "misrepresented the complexity of the book by leaving a ton out." But are you serious? There's *nothing* "complex" about the narrative or any of the characters---to say nothing about the dialogue. Unless the movie grossly misrepresented the book, which I doubt, then I have some serious questions for some of you---you know who you are. Let me add, that this would be Nicholas Sparks territory if Nicholas Sparks movies were bad, which they aren't generally, given what you know you're getting. By the way, we have Nights in Rodanthe on the cue, so that claim may be revoked soon enough. And, no, I don't know how these things got into my house, but I am not happy about it.

Add to my irritation that these books are set not far from where I grew up...why do the Northwest like that? And as Patty said, why are all the bad guys always hanging out where we're from? As if this was a place where such things (vampires, werewolves) were stockpiled.

I guess what I am saying is that I don't get the draw. It literally confuses me that such writers gain national and international success for rearticulated what seems to me a rather simple and predictable plot. I mean, 'love at first sight' --- "we can't be friends" --- 'moody brooding sexy vampire' falls in love with a commoner (Did anyone see Interview with the Vampire?) --- "I'm not afraid of you" --- "you're like heroine to me" --- 'good vampires who can restrain themselves vs. cunning, vengeful vampires who only want to kill" --- werewolves trying to protect their territory (and don't even get me started on the film's representation of native americans).

So, I will be expecting those of who are Twilight fans to explain this to me...

1 comment:

Devon said...

I couldn't agree with you more. I tried reading the first book because of the "buzz" around it and I'm into monster stories but I couldn't even finish the book. I haven't seen the film because I wasted enough time with the book but I can only imagine.

What bothered me about the story, besides the things you mentioned, was the portrayal of the vampires... they glitter, are you kidding me? Anyway, I've ranted numerous times about this to fans to no avail.