New Movie, New Moon, New Fans?

Victoria Sun
Staff Writer

If you haven’t yet heard of the Twilight saga, you must be living under a rock; the love ballad of every pre-teen girl and her mother, Twilight by Stephanie Meyer has received immense attention from the media – especially after Summit Entertainment began to produce the four-part series as movies. The second installment, New Moon, is due to hit theaters on November twentieth.
Kristin Stewart plays Isabella “Bella” Swan, a girl in love with a vampire who eats only animals, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). Near the beginning of New Moon, Edward decides that Bella isn’t safe with him around – he does, after all, lust after her blood – and makes the decision to leave her. Bella sinks into a depression, but is then buoyed by her close friend, Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Typical teenage love triangles ensue, complicated by the supernatural problems accompanying vampires and werewolves.
The Twilight saga now has an almost cult-like following made primarily of teen and pre-teen girls… and the occasional boy. Says one particular tenth grader, “the love shared between Edward and Bella is something I enjoyed reading about, and I hope to experience a love that powerful, someday.” However, the teenage population as a whole seems to take a very cautious approach to the series-turned-franchise; most of the interviewed students requested to be quoted only under the cover of anonymity. The Twilight saga has unwittingly acquired an almost taboo-like label: a subject that can’t be positively discussed in public, for fear of ridicule.
Moira Lavelle, a tenth grader, summarized the negative opinion of Meyer’s book – an opinion she shares openly: “The thing about Twilight is that while you’re reading it, you can’t stop. It’s absolutely enthralling, and you are completely consumed in the story. However, the moment you put the book down, you realize that the plot is excessively straightforward, the characters are simple caricatures with one or no redeeming qualities, and that any pre-existing vampire myths have been completely butchered.”
The movie Twilight was heavily criticized by professionals as well, receiving a rating of only 49% from the popular movie-reviewing website rottentomatoes.com. It may be surprising, therefore, to learn that Twilight earned over $7 million in ticket sales for midnight showings alone, and grossed $35.7 million on opening day. Its actors also won an impressive host of awards, including Best Female Performance (MTV Awards), Best Movie Villain and Best Actor and Actress for Drama (Teen Choice Awards), and Best Fantasy Actor and Actress (Scream Awards). “The movie was amazing,” tenth grade Shannon Scardecchio concedes, “but so was the book. The book was better than the movie.”
This theme was echoed throughout many of the interviews – of those who enjoyed reading the series, the movie just couldn’t measure up. Rachael Metz explains, “The books were extremely well-written and I mostly enjoyed reading them. The movie was extremely disappointing – I thought that Kristen Stewart did look the part, but she and Robert Pattinson both showed awful acting skills. It was just awkward with both of them on screen.”
There are actually many running jokes on the Internet about Stewart’s ‘awful’ facial acting, mostly about how her expression ‘never’ seems to change. There are also frequent comments circulating about Pattinson’s appearance, which is to be expected, as his character is described in the books as having an almost ‘god-like’ figure. “I thought the Twilight movie was extremely disappointing, and Robert Pattinson is not attractive at all,” complains tenth grader Jackie Milestone. “He looked like he was having a seizure when he was supposed to look like he was lusting after Bella’s blood!” Jackie eventually divulges that she is, indeed, planning on seeing the Twilight sequel in theaters: “I’m hoping that New Moon is going to be better because Robert Pattinson isn’t going to be in most of the movie, and it should be mostly Jacob.”
Most fans appear to be cautiously anticipating a movie that’s acceptable in the very least, especially after seeing the three trailers that have already been released. One student – the only male voice who could be persuaded to comment on the Twilight saga – voiced “the transformation of a human to a wolf is a pretty cool idea… The commercial looks pretty cool.”
So, will New Moon be able to keep its millions of fans, win some new ones, and finally please the critics? Catch next month’s issue of the Harriton Banner in the Arts & Entertainment section for my follow-up review of the movie. Yes, I’ll be seeing New Moon in theaters… and I’m not just saying that because of Taylor Lautner.