Breaking Dawn

On November 18th, 2011, I am going to try to muster up enough courage to go see the 4th movie, Breaking Dawn in the Twilight series. When I say I must find courage, it's because I will be waddling into the theater, my 7 month pregnant self and sitting amongst teenagers. I won't have my teenage daughter to drag along to pretend that she wants to see the movie (she doesn't). Still, I have been waiting for forever for the movie to come out. Why?

It's complicated.

I went to see the first movie, Twilight, with M and her best friend, Bridget. Margie, Bridget's Mom, came with us. I had not idea that Twilight had a following or even that it was first a novel. The movie was a bit...um...I felt like I was eavesdropping on a bunch of teenagers. Dialogue was little as the actors seemed to rely more on facial expressions. The lighting was a muted green. I wasn't exactly sitting on the edge of my seat, but it had a nice plot. Girl moves back into area, reunites with Dad, meets boy, falls in love, has guy friend...um, I can't really remember the rest at the moment. After watching the movie, I forgot about it.

Then J went to Iraq and I suddenly had a bunch of free time on my hands at night so I began to read the Twilight series. I was really surprised by how exact the movie had followed the book. Up until reading this series, I had always felt frustrated when a movie went away from the book...then I found why movies go off from books. Treat the book like a springboard, not a script. It was shocking how so close the movie stayed to the book, almost down to those eye twitches where dialogue could have been.

I read all 4 books. The fourth book was more like a very long epilogue and I felt that Stephanie Meyer was trying to push through the last part of the story as fast as she could, as if she was bored or didn't want to bother with the meticulous details that she done in the previous 3 books.

Then I read reviews about the books. I was fascinated by how many people dumped on her ideas of romance, about how Edward, the main vampire, was violent and controlling. I found it interesting how many people clung to the idea that this was a Mormon who was writing this series. I especially found it interesting that no blogger, no reviewer dared touch the idea that without a heartbeat, how can a guy, um...have the ability to make a baby. Hellllooo??

The second movie, New Moon, came out. I dragged M, my teenage daughter, to watch the movie with me. I think I had to bribe her or something. True to the first movie, New Moon also followed its book exactly.

By now I was hooked. I wanted to see the 3rd movie, Eclipse. It wasn't so much to see if it followed the book to the "t", but I wanted to see the characters come alive on screen. I wanted to read the reviews. I wanted to read the bloggers. I watched the trailer several times, but when the movie came out, I don't remember what happened...but I missed seeing it in the theater. I was a little disappointed especially since I wanted to watch "Jacob" come running out towards us viewers, first as a man then with amazing computer graphics, transforms into a wolf. I thought it would be neat to see that on the big screen, but alas, I had to accept that my little t.v. screen would have to suffice.

In between waiting for the movies to come, I had blogs to read about the series. I also had YouTube! I loved the parodies that individuals created and literally laughed myself through the months while I waited for the 3rd movie to come to the big screen. I consoled myself with more parodies when I realized I had missed the big screen moment for the 3rd movie. Either I was having E or we were moving one of our four times in 9 months so I didn't make it.

Thankfully, the money making machines of Hollywood came up with the idea that the last movie should be split into two different movies. Harry Potter's money making factory did it so why not the Twilight series? So now, instead of being at the end of the Bella and Edwards love story, I will have to wait after this movie airs on November 18. Granted, why stop there? If I was Stephanie, I would run with this Twilight Empire and make another movie after Breaking Dawn Part 2. If she's been so creative to make 4 books into 5 movies, why can't she make another story after Breaking Dawn. If I was Stephanie, I would write another book (that then would be produced into a movie) about life after Bella becomes a vampire and a mother at the same time, but still being only 18 years old. Then you'd have the Twilight fans, all teenagers, mothers, and some creepy old men. That's like 3/4 of the United States. Mix this with some wannabe vampire young adults, some goth lovers, and lovers of anything American, and another movie could easily become a box office hit, especially if it's kept under wraps...no one would expect another movie to come out.

Besides, I hate it when a book starts to get really good with the story and then ends. Twilight time period is about 2 years, I think. I'm not really sure. Anyway, two years is a long time for a teenager, but for me that's just the beginning...that's when your kid is almost out of diapers and can feed themselves while maintaining a regular nightly schedule so you can have a more normal life again. That's when your old jeans finally fit and you can afford to buy new clothes because hopefully you won't have a yogurt covered hand print on your shoulder. You know all the Barney songs and all the Sesame Street characters, you can make pb&j with your eyes closed, and no longer are your arms full of baby...but now it's your hands that hold little fingers. I feel bad for Bella. Maybe she gets to live forever now that she's a vegetarian vampire, but she missed out on the two best years of her daughter's life.

As for the small addiction to Twilight, I suppose the answer is complicated. It's because I want to see what the director do next with the books. It's watching the relationship unfold. It's relieving a time when life is lived in seconds and everything feels like it's forever or never. It's the idea of having eternal life and your soul supposedly being doomed to hell. And finally, it's because I can't stop now. I would always wonder, what did each of the directors (who have changed from movie to movie) do differently? That alone drives me to watch the movies as that alone is the most interesting.