Two 20-something males discuss "Twilight"
Ian Davis and Juan Cisneros
Issue date: 10/7/09 Section: The Edge
Ian Davis
Let's just start with … "Twilight" sucks.
Juan Cisneros
Hmm, well the movie does.
ID: I've heard the movie is pretty bad, but I've never seen it. The book is atrocious though.
JC: I can't really say. I haven't read it.
ID: It really is. Awkward and trite dialogue, there's no real "story" to speak of until the last quarter of the book. It's almost like reading a Harlequin romance with supernatural stuff thrown in.
JC: Well, you've read the book, and I've seen the movie. Let's compare.
JC: The base of the story is all right.
ID: It's silly. At its very core it's not necessarily bad, but the execution is so piss poor, and the devices used to move what little plot there is are so stupid that it's just bad.
JC: I suppose, but it sells well.
ID: Yeah, well, cigarettes sell well too, and they aren't any good for you.
JC: But you still have to admit,
it sells.
ID: Yeah, but like I said,
popularity is not equal to quality.
JC: Ha, true enough, let's break it down though. Let's see … girl moves into town, feels lost and unwelcomed. She meets
attractive and mysterious guy, he turns out to be a vampire, and a friendly one at that. Then they fall in love.
ID: Cue more than 200 pages of her describing how awesome his breath smells every 15 minutes.
Also, the things in the book are not vampires.
JC: How so?
ID: Vampires are classic supernatural creatures. Almost every culture has a version of them. They represent what humanity refuses to acknowledge in itself, things like greed and underhandedness, and so they are creatures of the night, parasites that kill the living so they may continue their existence. They are not human and shouldn't be characterized as such. Keep in mind, I'm all for innovation.
I actually did enjoy some of Anne Rice's vampires. They were angsty, but when it came down to it, they were vampires: cold, calculating and utterly alien. What Stephanie Meyer has done is take an idealized human, her ideal human and called it a "vampire."
Let's just start with … "Twilight" sucks.
Juan Cisneros
Hmm, well the movie does.
ID: I've heard the movie is pretty bad, but I've never seen it. The book is atrocious though.
JC: I can't really say. I haven't read it.
ID: It really is. Awkward and trite dialogue, there's no real "story" to speak of until the last quarter of the book. It's almost like reading a Harlequin romance with supernatural stuff thrown in.
JC: Well, you've read the book, and I've seen the movie. Let's compare.
JC: The base of the story is all right.
ID: It's silly. At its very core it's not necessarily bad, but the execution is so piss poor, and the devices used to move what little plot there is are so stupid that it's just bad.
JC: I suppose, but it sells well.
ID: Yeah, well, cigarettes sell well too, and they aren't any good for you.
JC: But you still have to admit,
it sells.
ID: Yeah, but like I said,
popularity is not equal to quality.
JC: Ha, true enough, let's break it down though. Let's see … girl moves into town, feels lost and unwelcomed. She meets
attractive and mysterious guy, he turns out to be a vampire, and a friendly one at that. Then they fall in love.
ID: Cue more than 200 pages of her describing how awesome his breath smells every 15 minutes.
Also, the things in the book are not vampires.
JC: How so?
ID: Vampires are classic supernatural creatures. Almost every culture has a version of them. They represent what humanity refuses to acknowledge in itself, things like greed and underhandedness, and so they are creatures of the night, parasites that kill the living so they may continue their existence. They are not human and shouldn't be characterized as such. Keep in mind, I'm all for innovation.
I actually did enjoy some of Anne Rice's vampires. They were angsty, but when it came down to it, they were vampires: cold, calculating and utterly alien. What Stephanie Meyer has done is take an idealized human, her ideal human and called it a "vampire."
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
MJ
posted 10/07/09 @ 2:07 PM CST
This was a great article. I hate Twilight and I'm glad that two people who both read the book and saw the movie found the same flaws that I did.
Cardiovascular Health
posted 10/28/09 @ 6:28 AM CST
The mystery of vampires has been around for decades. It incorporates the idea of eternal youth. No one wants to grow old, especially teen age girls.
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