DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
Members' Mausoleum => Calendar Events / Announcements Archive => Calendar Events / Announcements '24 I => Calendar Events / Announcements '09 II => Topic started by: Mysterious Benefactor on August 09, 2009, 03:39:14 AM
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Though I won't say someone who's 51 is "old." [ghost_wink]
But anyway, check out: Twilight Not so Cool for This Old Woman (http://darike.com/?p=1640)
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51-year-olds are probably the core DS audience.
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I'm 53 so not the core demographic for sure. I watched "Twilight" last night on a $2.99 special DirecTV was running. My problem with it was that the vampires seemed to be presented as superheroes, not conflicted and tormented creatures of the dark. While I have no problem with watching a superhero movie such as Superman or Spiderman, and indeed, I enjoy them, I have no desire to have my vampires lumped in with that already crowded genre. The vampires were not "dark" enough. The "good" vampires drank animal blood instead of needing human blood. They can walk in the sunlight, thus no need for spending the day in a coffin. And they "sparkle" in the sunlight! [ghost_tongue]
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While I'm no particular fan of Roger Ebert, his negative review of TWILIGHT, I thought, was very perceptive in explaining why teens and grandmothers would fall for it, while mothers would not. Very perceptive, and it solidly lays out the subtext, I thought. Worth a read on his site, if you're interested in this topic.
And I enjoy TWILIGHT as well, the books I've read in the series and the film.
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I have not read the books but I agree that the movie wasn't dark enough. The baseball game was extremely bad. But if you go back to the original vampire classic, Dracula could be in the daylight.
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I know of at least two mothers who love Twilight, but their tween daughters hate it. Go figure. But there are always exceptions to the supposed rules. [ghost_wink]
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I read the first book and couldn't take any more. And there so much "talk" about how virginal and supportive of chastity the books are. And I wonder, ok, blood-sucking vampires are better message than teenage sex? WTF?
Perhaps I am being too simplistic. [ghost_shocked]
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LOL on not being able to take any more Julia99. Your reaction mirrors that of friends whose tastes in reading usually mirror mine. Thus, I've never tried the books. Too many books out there that I KNOW I would enjoy to waste time on something that would probably annoy me.
The whole thing sounds very Mary Sue wish fulfillment to me. That doesn't seem to be a minority opinion either, as I received a graphic from a friend of mine in the target age for the Twilight books. The graphic is one thats been floating freely around the net: a pic of Edward and a cutout where Bella should go, caption says your useless face here.
Jeannie (back from the Fest and hoping to catch up with Watching Project REAL SOON)
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Well, methinks too much good and bad is often uttered about Twilight.
For one thing, while Edward and his family are very nice people overall, the vampires themselves are ferociously dangerous. Wooden stakes, silver bullets, even sunlight or crosses have zero effect. If a Twilight vampire bites you, that vampire is driven into a blood frenzy while the venom injected during the bite paralyzes with all-consuming agony. The point is made over and over again how during the process of becoming undead, the newborn keeps screaming and begging for death. And that doesn't even include the sadistic pleasure most vampires (like James or Victoria or Jane) get in wielding their power to torture and kill.
Unlike Dark Shadows, the vampires created by Stephanie Myers are simply predators. That delicate balance between desire and danger is still there--but geared towards a different kind of audience, a (generally) less sophisticated and more naive one. Really, the whole tension of the first book almost evaporates without the fact that Edward finds the smell of Bella mouthwateringly tempting, so much so that (as we learn in the unfinished version of that book from Edward's POV) after meeting her Edward had to expend enormous effort to (unsuccessfully) stop thinking about ways to kill all witnesses so he could devour her right at that moment.
Methinks this deserves more credit than many of its detractors allow--just as it deserves plenty more criticism than its avid fans might willingly consider.
Barnabas and Edward are, IMHO (and with forgiveness begged for the pun) in the same "vein" of character archetypes. Both see themselves as monsters, have rigid senses of honor, are drama queens of the first order, etc. Barnabas is a more classic vampire, with far more of the "props" we've come to expect from the gothic-style vampire. Yet he and the other undead of Dark Shadows actually bear little resemblance to the vampires of legend. Folklore says nothing about crosses, about bats or about sunlight, much less silver bullets. Nothing at all. Yet their whole milieu literally wraps itself in gothic sensibilities--the candles, the fog, the winds whispering over Widow's Hill, the secret passages in the two old mansions above the tiny New England town, the howling of the dogs, etc.
Hammer eat your heart out.
Me, I have my criticisms of all, but I don't begrudge anyone their faves. I even forgive people for liking Moonlight (which says a lot about how much I dislike that show, btw--a guilt-ridden vampire WITH NOTHING TO BE GUILTY ABOUT! Edward at least had killed people and wanted to kill more. Barnabas destroyed whole lives, often through his own stubbornness and foolishness as well as his bloodlust. But that guy on Moonlight felt wracked with guilt because he didn't tell a girl he was a vampire ON THE FIRST DATE! Jeez!).
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Well, methinks too much good and bad is often uttered about Twilight.
2.Barnabas destroyed whole lives, often through his own stubbornness and foolishness as well as his bloodlust. But that guy on Moonlight felt wracked with guilt because he didn't tell a girl he was a vampire ON THE FIRST DATE! Jeez!).
1. I agree. A friend showed me the film last night, and I was surprised that I liked it, despite the teen romance element. Even that worked. I was relieved at the lack of light jokiness, and references to supernatural cliches, which hopelessly undermine the gravity unless handled very carefully.
Apart from saying it was a nice vampire movie, I fail to see why it's worth spending further time on. We all have our fandom obsessions, worlds where we like to spend mental time, but not a lot there to chew over or talk about. A good vampire movie. I'm glad I saw it. That's all. DS on the other hand, there's enough there to chew over for a lifetime.
2. Good point!
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The Twililght vampires had no fangs -- arrgghhh!!!! That ruined the whole movie for me (although I was already bored -- LOL!)!
I LOVED Moonlight!!! [ghost_grin]
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No fangs? How did they do it, then?
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Ya got me! Extra strong regular teeth? LOL! They had one biting scene and no fangs -- how can you have a vampire bite anybody without fangs -- aarrgghhhh!!!!
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No fangs? How did they do it, then?
They didn't, in more than one way, or in no ways rather, not Edward Cullens as I call him and Bella, who should really look into why she was named for a vampire actor before even reaching Forks WA.
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I read The Strain a few weeks ago. You should see how the vampires bite their victims in that one. Fangs would be a blessing.
Gerard
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Vampires in Twilight have very sharp teeth. That is all.
Yeah, The Strain is way creepy. I wrote a review n my blog. </shameless plug>
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Alright, I read the review and other posts.
Sorry, what is LDS? I know what LSD is,but not LDS....
Thanks,
Patti
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Sorry, what is LDS? I know what LSD is,but not LDS....
Shorthand for Latter-Day Saints, as in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, aka Mormon.
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As far as Twilight goes, I guess I would be concidered the target age range for the books.
I tried to like it, I really did.
I'm not going to say that they are completely poorly written, though I think the author lacks creativity and the characters lack dynamics.
They are sappy at best, and completely dull at worst. The author decided to describe every moment of Bella's dull day from taking a shower to writing an email ( not kidding. )
Edward probably is the best character she has in the book, though that's not saying much.
Each vampire has a special power and his happens to be mind reading-- though, get this: he can't read Bella's mind!!
Oooh! Perhaps this is because she is such a bland person she has no thought?
Wasn't impressed with the series. Read the first two and started the third. Couldn't bring myself to continue it.
The movie is a slight step up- though fans didn't like it, even though it's exactly like the boring books with a few of Bella's frequent fainting fits removed.
Extremists argued that Bella's truck was the wrong kind of Ford.
To compare this series to Harry Potter is laughable. As Harry Potter actually has a plot and realistic well-rounded characters.
The papers from the Twilight book would be better used as burning material if you needed a fire, because to me, about 500 of the pages are completely useless to plot or character developing.
Fail.