Rose_x posted:

City Of Bones by Cassandra Clare completely owns the Twilight series in my opinion.

No chance. City of Bones was so dull. The only thing it has going for it is exciting cover art.

Suge posted:

Jesus, has EVERYONE heard about the fucking fountain story!!!???

Yes. Some of us were even there...

I don't understand how people get sucked into a series like this and Harry Potter; it's like the Britney Spears of the literature world. Is it just the bombardment of the books in our culture? Like, "Everybody else is talking about it, so I guess I should try it."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/13/2008 05:38PM by VigilX.

VigilX posted:

I don't understand how people get sucked into a series like this and Harry Potter; it's like the Britney Spears of the literature world. Is it just the bombardment of the books in our culture? Like, "Everybody else is talking about it, so I guess I should try it."

Have you even read these books? I used to be so anti Harry Potter, but then I watched the movies, they weren't bad, so I thought about checking out the books, and they're even better.
If you're comparing books like these to a stupid cunt like Britney Spears, you really are ignorant.

huh? lol

elphaba posted:

Have you even read these books? I used to be so anti Harry Potter, but then I watched the movies, they weren't bad, so I thought about checking out the books, and they're even better.

Just the first HP book.

elphaba posted:

If you're comparing books like these to a stupid cunt like Britney Spears, you really are ignorant.

I think it's a fair analogy since they're about as simple as each other (i.e., style, composition, language, innovation, simple themes/philosophy etc.) , but my question wasn't asked as a way to insult the books, I was just wondering why so many people end up reading them.

I can see why SOME people do, but the books seem to have a universal appeal. I know people that listen to NIN and watch art-house films that enjoy the books... it's just really strange since the equivalent of these things in other mediums would be avoided by the same people.

Ok, so now i cross over to enemy lines...

I honestly cannot stand the books.
I tried, i really did. I read all of them.

Stephanie Meyer killed the vampire.
The culture will sadly, never be the same.

And as for the movie...


The Casting director, needs to be shot.

sorry elphaba, im sure we agree on most other things but...

edward=fail

I've never read any of the books, and I am so sick of them.

heh...I'm old and I read them. And I thoroughly enjoyed them. Really liked HP, too! I love a good story that's told well; that's all that really matters. And I think they were, both things.

Tolkein wrote for his kids all the time, and those stories are wonderful to read...things like The Hobbit, Roverandum...some others I can't think of off-hand. Just because something's written for a younger audience doesn't automatically mean it's not worthy of an adult audience. And disliking something just because it's popular is just as bad as liking it only because it's popular. Did that, uh, make sense?? ...

no44 posted:

And as for the movie...


The Casting director, needs to be shot.

LOLOL Right there with you. He is just tragic - look at his profile - he has no nose!
And the little dude playing Jacob is not any better. There are so many pretty native am. men, I just don't know what happened there.

And just to show I'm not hating the movie completely, my daughter and I tried to think of other age appropriate Edwards, this was my photoshopped version of Edward.

elphaba posted:

melissah posted:

Darktenshi90 posted:

I can't bring myself to finish Breaking Dawn. I'm 100 pages away, but it's so... ugh.

Isn't Breaking Dawn just Twilight from Edward's point of view? Because that's lame. It's cheating.

Nope, that's Midnight Sun. But her rough draft of it got leaked online so she's not going to finish it It's up on her website though.

Darktenshi90, keep reading. it's hard at first, but it will get better trust me.

Hi I'm elphaba and I'm a Twilight-aholic

Snap.... from Hello Kitty to Twilight.... I am so looking forward to meeting you in Vegas!

Suge posted:

Miss_Anne_Thropy posted:

elphaba posted:

melissah posted:

Darktenshi90 posted:

I can't bring myself to finish Breaking Dawn. I'm 100 pages away, but it's so... ugh.

Isn't Breaking Dawn just Twilight from Edward's point of view? Because that's lame. It's cheating.

Nope, that's Midnight Sun. But her rough draft of it got leaked online so she's not going to finish it It's up on her website though.

Darktenshi90, keep reading. it's hard at first, but it will get better trust me.

Hi I'm elphaba and I'm a Twilight-aholic

Snap.... from Hello Kitty to Twilight.... I am so looking forward to meeting you in Vegas!

Just don't fall in any fountains. She'll never let you forget it...

DAMN RIGHT!

Thelema posted:

You all will like it. I enjoyed it very much, and I was expecting it to be awful. And there will be sequels apparently. BTW, that Edward guy looks even more like a pothead in person. And I think I'm deaf from all the tween screaming *shudder*.

Seriously...you have no idea how jealous I am I miss living near LA premieres

I really liked the first three books. I thought four was a bit pretentious. I liked the Host too.

sourfriday posted:

VigilX posted:

I can see why SOME people do, but the books seem to have a universal appeal. I know people that listen to NIN and watch art-house films that enjoy the books... it's just really strange since the equivalent of these things in other mediums would be avoided by the same people.

Yes, we call those close-minded pretentious assholes.

I'm finding the Twilight hate really ridiculous.
Of course the language of the book is fairly simple, it is a young adult novel as was pointed out several posts ago. One of the things I usually find interesting about YA novels is how verbose and obscure the language can be, and while on one hand that can be useful to help expand vocabularies, it is nice for younger readers to not have to crack open the fucking dictionary every six pages. The format in which this was written is totally accessible. The story is engaging, romantic, and exciting. The story appeals to young women because the protagonist is a fairly simple, unremarkable teenaged loner, who meets and falls for the ultimate unattainable young man. It appeals to them even more because this super hunk actually loves her back, thus making them feel strangely hopeful that someone out there might find them just as special, as they are.
I guess you could try to sit there and say "Oh well that is just stupid!", but it is essentially a modern day version of Jane Eyre, so if you think the story sucks, you are a bit of a retard. The main character Edward Cullen is actually named after Edward Rochester for god's sake.

I think that there seems to be some sort of mental disconnect with people who outright reject the popular culture. Some things are popular for a reason and are deserving of praise. It seems fairly absurd to me that certain people will pass judgement while refusing to see or read anything on whatever the subject of their rejection is. It has a name; arrogant ignorance. The irony is, I think of it as a very immature teenaged phase that most people grow out of. Clearly not everyone.

Well said! Thank you...you said what I was trying to.

I read the books and liked them as a guilty pleasure. They definitely, DEFINITELY pleased the obsessive 15-year-old in me. But I did not find Bella a pleasing character in the least--not an example of a strong or independent woman. She was modeled to be a self-insertion character, which to me is just pandering to fans. And she dreams of a prince charming with impossibly high expectations and Edward just so happens to meet them all. Just keep holding out for Mr. Right, ladies!

So much about the story and the characters bothered me, and I couldn't really put my finger on it until I found out she was Mormon. I mean, she can express her religious and spiritual views all she wants in her fiction, but I don't have to like what she implies. I also very quickly grew to be bothered by her treatment of the Quileutes and Jacob. Mystical and savage werewolves, huh? Way to perpetuate the stereotype. And Edward wins Bella, a marriage, great sex, and a successful pregnancy, and Jacob gets...a woman-child and puppy love? Well, those Injuns are just simple folk, right?

I only compare the Twilight Saga with the HP series in the final battle scenes. HP was handled so much differently because the characters had been developed for so long they kind of grew on you and you cared what happened, and I cried for hours through the tragedy that ensued; versus Twilight where I was annoyed by all the characters and didn't care what happened to them...and it turned out in the end that pretty much nothing did.

For youth I think it's a great way to get them to read. I wouldn't want to get my children to get confused with all the mythology surrounding purity that the book dances with and American audiences are so eager to perpetuate, but that's why I think the book makes a perfect exercise in analysis. I mean, it's basically a well-written fanfic (and the movie has even more fan service if that's even possible), but it doesn't have to be just that if you read more into it.