Everyone wants a vampire lover… it’s not just me. With a movie coming out following the hit book series of Twilight, I thought I could fill you in on the obsessive trend I’m depressingly a part of. The release of the final book, Breaking Dawn, brought hundreds of thousands of women to bookstore release parties and long lines within the first 24 hours of the release, which also seemed to bring huge publicity to Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga, which includes three other books- Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse.
The first book of the Twilight saga, titled Twilight (go figure), is about a seventeen year old girl, Bella Swan, who makes the daring move from Phoenix, Arizona to the small town of Forks, Washington to live with her father in sympathy of her mother’s burden of taking care of her. Her father, Charlie, is a well-known cop in the small city of Forks. Until the move, the only time Bella saw her dad was for a month every summer until she was 14 years old.
Anyways, as you may assume, this girl had issues with the move and her negative attitude didn’t help. Many guys liked her and girls were jealous of her since her first day of school, but the pessimistic Bella wanted nothing to do with anyone, until Edward came along. Edward was mysterious, stunning, and seemed to have some awkward interest in Bella. After Edward saves Bella’s life for the first time, the love story begins. Bella learns that Edward is a vampire and their mingling is forbidden, but the incredible force of true love is more than enough to keep them together. In the midst of this love story, you find controversy, common high school issues, and edge-of-your-seat action which make the series so appealing to female teens and young adults. The epic love story is also admired by fans, many claiming to want a “vampire love story” of their own.
Stephenie Meyer, the author of the Twilight series, is a married mother and Mormon that writes about vampires and sex (woohoo!). She has officially made her mark in the history of fictional novels- her books are known as “Harry Potter for women.” But Stephenie didn’t come up with this story all by herself. Many of the places, characters, and situations in her books came from her life, loves, and interests. Stephenie named characters in her books after her five siblings: Seth, Paul, Emily, Jacob, and Heidi. Arizona, a significant area in the book, is where Stephenie Meyer and her family currently reside. Stephenie Meyer notes her musical inspirations in the acknowledgements listed at the end of most of her books. She also has a “playlist” of songs that were the biggest influences in each book she has written. You can find many of these songs on her website: www.stepheniemeyer.com. These musical inspirations of hers also happen to make up the soundtrack to the Twilight movie.
This soundtrack includes songs from Paramore, Linkin Park, Mute Math, and many others in Stephenie’s “playlist.” The soundtrack also includes a song by Robert Pattinson, the actor who plays the main vampire Edward. The most talked about songs of the album include Muse’s “Supermassive Blackhole” and “Bella’s Lullaby” by Carter Burwell. Stephenie Meyer raves about her love of Muse in two of her books. They seem to be a HUGE inspiration of hers, which, as they are one of my favorite bands as well, seems to make sense. “Supermassive Blackhole” only seemed appropriate for the badass vampire action scenes. When listening to this song, especially while walking, I feel on top of the world. I only recommend that you add this song to your iPod and try it out for yourself!
Carter Burwell’s “Bella’s Lullaby” is a song every young Edward fan is dying to hear. This song is noted many times in her series as a romantic song Edward wrote and played for Bella, which explains why this song will be on every young girl’s MySpace profile for the next three months.
As much as I’m in love with the Twilight saga and as excited I am to see the movie in theaters, I’m not expecting too much from the movie. Like most book-based movies, I really don’t think the film will compare to the detail and the ability to capture the audience like the novel does. However, as far as the actors chosen for the characters, I am very satisfied. I was initially wary of the people chosen to play Bella and Edward- Kristen Stewart doesn’t come off as quirky enough, while Robert Pattinson (who also has claim to fame in another fantasy flick- as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) doesn’t seem like the dark, vampire-type. After reviewing some of Kristen’s past work, such as In the Land of Women and Into the Wild, I found that she may be able to pull off the Bella’s awkwardness. Plus, after staring at Robert’s picture long enough, I’ve decided he is gorgeous in that pale, yet dark type of way that makes me want to marry him. As far as the rest of the characters, I don’t want to ruin their important role for any of you “non-Twilight” readers, but I do believe that they did a magnificent job when casting for this film.
It will be interesting to see how they continue the saga in movies. Even though our modern day special effects seem to be limitless, I can only expect a struggle for future films. Want to know what I’m talking about? READ THE BOOKS! I highly recommend it. There is no way you will get the full Twilight experience if you don’t pick up the first book.
-Damara Kautz