Sometimes I am seriously ashamed to admit I'm a fan of Twilight. Not because it's a Young Adult book, not because most people who saw the movie were half my age (& let me take this second to state that 13 year olds being half my age makes me sad). Because Twilight fans have taken the root word of fan, being "fanatic", to the farthest limits of that definition.
While this whole David Slade slam is only the latest in what I personally consider "non-news", I'm going to start with it, because I can personally relate to it.
Keep in mind, I'm writing this from my opinions, which are formed on what the media gives me, not from any personal experience with any of these people. While I'm pretty sure they'd all just love me to death, me being as completely awesome as I am, I've never had the opportunity to meet any of the starts and/or bigwigs affiliated with Twilight. And while I am probably more intuitive than a large portion of the intended audience of those media blurbs, I never fully trust anything they put out there. People are misquoted, edited, and basically remixed into whatever light the media gods (or devils) currently prefer. So here's what we've got going on, supposedly, with Mr. David Slade.
David Slade, best known for directing Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night, was snagged to direct Eclipse, adapted from the third book in the Twilight series by the same name. Shortly after that news was released on the rabid hoards of Twihards, some "news" came to light.
(If you're a fanatic, brace yourself)
It would seem that at an earlier time, somewhere around the release of Twilight in theaters, that David let some personal opinions out on Twitter. While that page has since been deleted, the term I've most seen to describe them is "biting"...which is either the most horrible pun ever, or people just really are that dumb.
Either way, shortly after tweeting about his Twilight feelings, he was interviewed on a radio station in DC, and he talked about those infamous tweets.
"So, yesterday we were trying to find a movie to see, and we'd seen all the good ones," Slade recalled. "And ... having directed a vampire film and really gone for something completely different to the kind of romantic, you know, repressed-hormone teen-vampire movie, we really weren't interested in seeing 'Twilight,' but a lot of people said, 'Let's go.' "
In response to his friends' overwhelming desire to see Bella and Edward fall in love on the big screen, Slade said he Tweeted: " 'Twilight' drunk? No, not even drunk. 'Twilight' on acid? No, not even on acid. 'Twilight' at gunpoint? Just shoot me.'
"[That's like] a poem in a way," he said about the post. "At this point, it excites me, even though people think I'm a really violent and unpleasant person, I actually do have this romantic violent side to me. Maybe I should have seen 'Twilight.' "
Okaaaaay....
(Brutal honesty coming up here guys!)
If ANY 40-something year old man went to see this movie without being forced to take his teenage daughter and her gaggle of swooning girl friends, or was coersed into seeing by a wife who promised to repay his generosity with never-ending sexual favors, I WOULD BE WORRIED!
Let's see...based on Young Adult fiction, adolescent love story, fairly cheese-ball script (which is the fans fault, but that'll be discussed later), and the film patriarch is only in his 30's in real life...WHY WOULD ANY MIDDLE AGE MAN WANT TO SEE THIS?!?!?!?
Okay, I know I freaked out a little bit there, and I'm sorry. But do you kind of see where I'm coming from with one people? It really sounds like a great way to torture a man when you look at it from that perspective.
And another thing...do you think that Chris Weitz was in line at midnight to see the Twilight premiere? Do you think he watched it, even a moment of it, before he saw that it was a ridculously huge trend, and that it would be a smart career move to direct the next big thing with the next big cast? I kind of doubt it. I like to think he saw the potential that Twilight had, and figured he could do something pretty amazing with it. But that's just me.
While it is slightly unfortunate that David Slade would go on to direct Eclipse, it's obviously not affected his directoral opinion. I'm sure he does, in part, see this as a golden ticket, and it is. I imagine there is a long list of directors clammoring for the job. Lots of money, lots of recognition, good and bad, and who doesn't want a little of that?
But I also doubt, as someone who seems pretty talented at his job, that he would do a film he truly thought of as crap. Why waste the time? He has to look at it and see something, something that he can lend his own vision and touch to too take it to the next level; to build off another's foundations with the same bricks but his own style.
Considering what Eclipse is all about, I'm pretty excited to see what he does. I personally am enjoying that Twilight is being slightly removed from the ultra-sweet, overly cheesy genre into something a little darker, a little scarier, a little more real. Because that's really what it is, to me at least. It's not perfection, it's imperfection at it's most extreme, it's dark, and it's scary.
I can feel that this is taking me into the realm of why fans hurt as well as helped the Twilight movie, and that's going to be another long rant, so I'll leave it at this:
I'm pretty sure that everyone on the cast and crew of all the Twilight Saga films can appreciate that parts of Twilight are unintentionally hilarious, some are silly, and a few are downright cheeseball. They probably laugh with each other, and make snide remarks of their own. That's not a bad thing, it's reality. Just relax people, and enjoy it for what it is, mmmk?
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
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3 comments:
bravo. i love twilight and have also been made ashamed. my husband doesn't understand how i can throw myself into the same category of some of these fanatics, and i don't know how either, honestly. it's kind of disturbing, the heights that some people go to what with stalking actors(how do people have time?!), stalking the sets, and to take personal offense to anything negative that's been said? why? my husband watched twilight 3 times (unwillingly), still doesn't like it..and that's alright with me. so when this whole david slade thing came up, i was surprised that fanatics were surprised that he said something like that. i think even i said something similar to that before reading it. most people over the age of 20 aren't easily thrown into such fads, and go off fantasizing about characters very often i would think. anyway, enough of what i think, you laid out your point beautifully and i'm glad i found someone out there with some sense.
you are completely right. my husband is now quite hooked himself, but only after i forced him to watch the movie. it would not have been something he would have chosen on his own. people need to relax...maybe they could all use a little time with Jasper- i know i could ;)
Thanks gals, it's nice to know there are other "sane" Twilight fans out there ;)
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