Reasons To Watch: Twilight

ann hale bucks the popular trend and tells the world why the Twilight movies are worth watching …

I was introduced to Twilight a little more than two years ago when I visited my best friend, Krystal, in Texas. I had read Slaughterhouse Five in its entirety on the flight there and had nothing to read for the flight back. Krystal had been reading the Twilight books and randomly calling me for months to tell me how much Bella reminded her of me and how I needed to read the books, so she gave me Twilight and New Moon to read on the plane. I was instantly sucked in, destroying Twilight on the flight back and finishing New Moon within the week. Soon I had bought Eclipse and Breaking Dawn and sped through those as well. The only thing left to do was to see the movies.

I bought the first movie while in Oklahoma for my brother’s wedding. I had this massive hotel room with a giant flat screen TV and I had been smart enough to pack my Xbox 360, but dumb enough to forget movies. Luckily there was a Target down the street with a horrible selection of films, helping narrow down my choice. I think I watched that movie every single day I was there. Since then, I have bought and read every book, gone to see every movie in the theater and purchased each release on Blu-ray.

A lot of people find Twilight to be lame. I understand that, I do. I grew up a Buffy fan and the idea of vampires that sparkle in the sun instead of bursting into a flash of dust just seemed idiotic to me. I’ll even admit that Edward saying that his sparkling skin was “the skin of a killer” did make me laugh hysterically out loud, but there are a lot of reasons that I can really appreciate the Twilight movies and why, maybe, you should too.

One: Eye Candy
The movies are filled with it! Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner are not exactly what you would call my type but millions of women and girls (and men) out there find them attractive, and so I must assume they are. Other male stars include Kellan Lutz and Jackson Rathbone as Emmet and Jasper, the Cullen vampire sons and Peter Facinelli as Carlisle. Female cast hotties include Kristen Stewart as Bella, our heroine, and Ashley Greene and Nikki Reed as Alice and Rosalie, the Cullen vampire daughters. Meow.

Two: The Actors
Yes, I realize that the acting isn’t always Oscar-worthy, but that’s not to say that the actors themselves are bad. Sure, some are plain awful and obviously got the job because of a burst of puberty and the growth of muscles, but some really are good actors with a bad script to read. Kristen Stewart in Welcome To The Riley’s was actually really impressive. Robert Pattinson was fantastic as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. Peter Facinelli is hysterical in Nurse Jackie, playing Dr. Fitch Cooper, the doctor who uncontrollably grabs boobs when he’s nervous. And who didn’t enjoy Nikki Reed as drug addicted bitch, Evie Zamora, in Thirteen? Sometimes bad scripts happen to good actors, but the movie can still be enjoyable. You don’t believe me? Watch Big Trouble In Little China.

Three: Effects and Cinematography
I know several of you giggled at me when you read that I bought the films on Blu-ray. I don’t make a habit of buying love story films on Blu-ray, mostly because it’s pointless and I’m not willing to spend extra money just to see Kate Hudson be adorably clumsy and chase after a guy that doesn’t wear deodorant in HD. Alright, I wouldn’t spend any money to see that, but you get my point. Bu-ray is really for action and horror movies where you want to see high definition action with blood and explosions and that is why I buy Twilight that way.

The transformations of the shape-shifting wolves are pretty awesome and the fight scenes are great. I think it’s cool how the vampire’s bodies become stone-like where a limb is ripped off or how their heads explode into dust when hit hard enough. I’m excited to see how they pull off Bella’s birth scene in Breaking Dawn. If you read the book, it’s going to be a nasty one.

The cinematography is beautiful. The first movie, not so much, but we can blame that on the bad direction of Catherine Hardwicke. New Moon‘s director, Chris Weitz, did a much better job. There is a beautiful scene where Bella is sitting in a chair in her room, after being dumped by Edward and the camera just rotates around her while you see the seasons change outside the window and the colors when Bella goes to Volterra, Italy to save Edward … gorgeous. I could go on, but you would be reading for a while.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VS9GUJTQjU

Four: Soundtracks
Whether you like the movies or not, you have to admit that the soundtracks have some great songs on them. Twilight, my favorite of the soundtracks, has “Supermassive Black Hole” by Muse, “Decode” by Paramore, “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” by Iron aAd Wine, and, though not on the official soundtrack, “15 Step” by Radiohead. The New Moon soundtrack features: Lykke Li, Thom Yorke, Death Cab For Cutie and Muse. Eclipse has Metric, Florence + The Machine, Cee Lo Green, Vampire Weekend, and, once again, Muse. And the new film, Breaking Dawn Part 1 will have Christina Perry, Iron and Wine, Bruno Mars, and The Joy Formidable. If you like any of these bands, you might want to check out these soundtracks on Amazon or iTunes.

Five: The Love Story
This is the most important reason why I, and you should, enjoy the Twilight movies. If you know anything about women at all, we don’t exactly have the highest of self-esteem sometimes. High school was probably the worst time for us in that way. We were just becoming adults, learning responsibilities, growing very important boobs, finding our first loves … that’s where Twilight hits home for many women. In high school, everything seems important and you’re determined that every crush is love, despite the fact that your boyfriend is really an immature jerk who just wants to cop a feel on your new boobs. Bella represents every high school girl — awkward, conflicted, not knowing her true beauty. Then she gets these two guys fighting over her, one is a rich and beautiful immortal vampire and one is a beautiful and muscular shape shifter. Both are willing to do anything to have and protect her, including dying themselves. What girl didn’t want that? What woman still doesn’t? Our first love is always the most powerful and we didn’t all get that Edward/Bella till death love, despite how much we wanted it. Their love is exciting and intense and forbidden and I think we all live vicariously through Bella to experience it. The idea of finding that perfect someone and being able to spend an eternity with them is beyond attractive to the romantic in us all. Twilight looks deep into our insecurities and our fantasies and feeds us up a piping hot plate of excitement. Never have we felt a love so strong since the forbidden love of Montague and Capulet forced Romeo and Juliet to commit suicide just to be with one another.

In conclusion, eye candy + big name actors + effects/cinematography + great soundtracks + catchy love story = one dangerous combination and more than $2 billion made and growing. You have to admit, that is impressive. I, personally, cannot wait to see Breaking Dawn and will be sad when it’s all over. Men, you have a lot to live up to now, and I’d find a way to romance the hell out of your women, or you will continue to lose them to the likes of Edward Cullen and Jacob Black.