After seeing Breaking Dawn part two on Monday night, I started to look back on the entire series. I was torn between feeling sad that it was over and feeling relieved.
THE BOOKS
When I first picked up the books, I was in the middle of my college years. My roommate Alison recommended them to me having just read them herself so I picked up the first two books and then the third (I think the 4th wasn’t out yet… Maybe it was.. Anyway – not that important!) and pretty much read them back to back to back (to back?) over that summer and the beginning of the school year. I was hooked! I remember going into Borders to go pick them up (which is now obsolete as well. Sigh) and I found Twilight on one of the endcaps but had to go searching for New Moon… I finally found it in the – dun dun dun – TEEN section! *gasp* I was 20 or 21 at the time – definitely too old to look like a teen – so pretending I was a teenager was out. I made a quick dash in and out of the section, too embarrassed to be seen buying a book for teenagers! That was then, of course. Now I really don’t care because obviously young adult books are our bread and butter (and they’re amazing) and I’m proud to promote YA!
I fell in love with Twilight, felt Bella’s pain in New Moon (although I thought she was losing her noodle), swooned for Jacob in Eclipse (yep, I like him better than Edward), and went from outraged to confused to curious in Breaking Dawn. Alison and I got our other roommate Leslie to start reading them (the 4th roommate was too cool for teen vampires. Psh) and Leslie was hooked in no time! We had a blast talking with her as she caught up with the books and we patiently (anxiously) awaited the movie!
THE MOVIES
We went to go see the midnight showing of Twilight when it came out into theaters at the dinky little campus theater when we were seniors in college. In retrospect, not the best idea purely for the fact that it was ridiculously crowded, and apparently from what ensued, it was mostly annoying teenage girls. It really wasn’t too bad, but people were constantly taking pictures of the screen and everyone screamed when Edward came on the screen for the first time. It was just a bit silly! The first Twilight movie was incredibly cheese-tastic but we all came home at 3 in the morning and stayed up until 4 replaying the movie and gushing about how much fun it was!
CASTING
I’m sure I’m not alone when I say how incredibly let down I was with almost everyone that was cast in these movies! Actually, once we got past the first movie, all of the new characters seemed to be okay, but I had huge problems with the main characters: Bella and the Cullens.
When I first heard Kristen Stewart was Bella I was like, “No no no no no!” Kristen Stewart is for characters with attitude, characters who are indifferent, or characters who have something in their eye. The Bella I pictured was petite, cute, and shy. Kristen Stewart was just all kinds of awkward and it seemed like she really stumbled her way through Twilight. Besides the fact that Robert Pattinson felt awkward in the movies too, it was especially noticeable when the two were doing scenes together. One of the things I was really upset about with Twilight was how the movie totally cut out all of the Q&A between Bella and Edward that really let the readers of the books see their relationship develop. Without that in the movie, I felt like their relationship turned from minor insta-love in the books to major insta-love in the movies.
I will say though that things finally started to feel natural in Breaking Dawn part two. I don’t know if it was because Bella was a vampire now and so she couldn’t be nervous and twitchy and awkward or if things just magically somehow worked themselves out. I still didn’t quite feel the chemistry between the two, but it was a hell of a lot better!
The Cullens: Casting for the Cullens was kind of a mixed bag for me. Prime example: I love Nikki Reed and she’s gorgeous, but she never should have been cast as an all-American blonde girl. Don’t know where they came up with that/ I’ve always been weirded out by several bad dye jobs and wigs (Carlisle? Jasper?). Sigh. Oh well!
THE END
Okay, I really didn’t mean to complain the whole time, I swear! These thoughts have just been on my mind for years so now they came spilling out.
SO. Breaking Dawn part two. Right? It took me a while to go see it (okay, so it was only a week and a half) so I heard there were plenty of spoilers and I was so confused why there were any spoilers at all! If you haven’t seen it yet, no worries, I won’t reveal ANYTHING because it will be so much better if you go see it! Trust me. I found out about one small thing (which would have been better if I didn’t know but there were still other surprises) and I was so confused how no one was upset with this big battle scene in the end. I figured maybe they’d made their peace with the change. Don’t worry, my friends. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed! I thought it was fantastic and it made the movie so much better (because let’s face it – the rest of it is a little too cheesy at times)!
I absolutely loved how they recapped the cast at the very end of the movie. I thought it was a nice song and I loved the screen caps from the actual books!
Farewell, Twilight. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride, but I’ve enjoyed it all the same! I will say that between Harry Potter and Twilight gaining rapid popularity and then the entire series being turned into a film franchise, it’s obvious that Young Adult fiction is on the rise as well as even more books being turned into movies. In fact, I saw the trailers for City of Bones, Beautiful Creatures (which I now need to read!), Oz the Great and Powerful, The Hobbit, and Les Miserables – Not all YA, but still. In some ways, I want to be like, “Come on! Be original!” But at the same time, I do love seeing the influence of literature as well as seeing my favorite books on the big screen. Anyway, that’s an entirely different discussion…
12 thoughts on “Saying ‘So Long’ to the Twilight Saga…”
“Kristen Stewart is for characters with attitude, characters who are indifferent, or characters who have something in their eye.” – Bahahahahaha – love that. I saw all the other ones in a theater, need to check out this last one cause it seems to be the best one eh? Great post!
I am hoping personally that at some point they redo the films and recast them because none of the actors save the one who played Alice worked for me! It’s too bad because the first book is wonderful!
Great post! I felt a lot the same way, and I definitely agree on Kristen Stewart being Bella. She is definitely no Bella in my mind, either. And Robert Pattinson kept making faces like he smelled something bad for a lot of scenes. Alice was my favorite actress pick! I can say that BD 2 was probably my favorite of the movies and I loved the way they did the ending. I thought my eyes were going to bug out of my head at one point. I think it is so great that HP and Twilight led to such a big YA boom and I hope it continues for YA. One of the great things about YA is how it gives you the first love warm and fuzzies 🙂 At least for me anyway! Seeing movies on the big screen is mixed emotions for me. Hollywood does need to get original, but at the same time, seeing our favorite books in theaters is awesome, but then again, what if they get it wrong or cut good parts out? That is why I watch then read preferably!
Vyki @ On The Shelf
I totally agree! I felt like everything changed in Breaking Dawn Part 2! The chemistry, the acting, the fight, the direction of the movie itself. I was blown away and I’d gone into the movie bad mouthing it. I was finally proud to be a fan of the Twilight Franchise. If only all the movies had been that good. And very true about the Cullen’s and the casting. I was super disappointed throughout but I loved what Taylor Lautner did with Jacob and I loved Ashley Greene as Alice (I’m also glad they finally got a nice wig for the ending).
Ahh, I’m so jealous you saw the City of Bones trailer. I was so hoping to see it when I went to see Breaking Dawn, but no such luck. I mean, I have seen the trailer online, but I so would have loved to see it on the big screen.
Anyway, I totally get your frustration with Kristin Stewart as Bella. I’m not dissing her, or her acting ability. She just didn’t seem to portray Bella as I saw her. First off, in appearance, I saw Bella as more soft looking. And Kristin isn’t soft looking. I mean, she practically has toothpicks for legs! But also, I hate Kristin’s voice for Bella.
I didn’t care much for Rob Pattinson in the earlier films, but he grew on me as Edward.
I think the popularity of Harry Potter, and the Twilight really helped grow the YA category! And that is awesome!
I wasn’t sad at all that this was the end, though, as I was with HP!
Oh I totally agree! I wanted Bella to be dainty and soft is the perfect word.
I agree with everything you said! The first movie was a disappointment because of the cheesiness of the first movie (Twilight) and the casting. However, I did get use to the characters after awhile (it did take some time).
The last movie was really good! The “surprise” at the end almost made my heart stop and I found myself getting angry lol but then it turned out okay. I really do like what they did and I’m glad they did it!
Sad to see it go but excited to see whats next!
Aw, yay! Twilight was my gateway into YA, and, despite the bad rep it’s starting to get, I totally fell in love with the books. I’m pretty sure I’ve read the series at least 3 times! Glad you had such a fun ride with Twilight and here’s to all the great movies that are coming out soon!
I keep getting disappointed that it gets such a bad rep. In my opinion there wasn’t a lot of YA buzz when it first came out so yeah, maybe it’s not the greatest story ever, but it was interesting enough that it create a huge fan base and a whole movie franchise! I know there are a lot of haters out there now but I’ll still say that i loved the books when they came out as well as the bonding experience I had with other people who have read them!
Ha! I was 25 when I read Twilight and started seeing the movies (I started my midnight showings with New Moon, since I didn’t read the series until 2009). Luckily, I got all my books on PBS. Oh, wait. I think I bought Breaking Dawn at Walmart. lol And it was on an end cap, so I didn’t have to worry about teen sections. Though, even at 28 now, I could still pass for a teenager.
Anyway, I agree with pretty much everything you said, other than Kristen Stewart. I’ve since watched Snow White and the Huntsman, and I just don’t think she’s a great actress period. I do think she fits the physical description of Bella very well. But the Cullens are creeptastic, which is sad because all of those actors/actresses are gorgeous in real life!
Regardless, Twilight was my first experience with being obsessive about a series and movie franchise and my first foray into midnight premieres of movies, so I am sad to see it go, even if I don’t love it quite as much as I did when I first read it.
Ahh, I love this post! I saw the movie at around the same time as you. That montage at the end had me bawling in the theatre. It was such a great way to end! I was never a big fan of the books, but I was VERY into the movies. I actually liked the casting, but I also saw the first movie before I read the book. Plus, I was one of those screaming teenage girls when Twilight came out, so I think I spent more of the movie staring at the hot guys then anything else haha.
Hahaha I love it! That’s really interesting – I haven’t heard anyone else seeing the movie before the book, mostly because we had all read the books at the same time – So that would make much more sense about the casting! It’s always easier for me to picture characters once I’ve seen the movie, as bad as that may sound to some people! But like with Harry Potter, the actors BECAME the characters for me. I think they may have for JK too…
Thanks for the feedback 🙂 The ending was so great! I loved that montage and how they acknowledged everyone from the whole series.