This culmination of Twilight’s cultural coup has people of all ages breathlessly awaiting there chance in the theater. With the release date so close to Thanksgiving, I think the coming together around this movie will end up being an interesting pre-cursor to Thanksgiving. Many of us will be blushing over Edward Cullen while simultaneously planning our turkey dinners. Although I would probably have to rework my menu if the Cullens actually came to supper; they are vegetarians after all.
The morally driven family that compose “The Cullens” has been cast perfectly for their upcoming debut. Ashley Greene, as the dark-haired, prophetic, tinkerbell Alice, is the spitting image of Stephanie Meyer’s description. Kellen Lutz, who Meyer fought to have cast as Emmett, fits the construct created throughout the Twilight Saga perfectly. As the list goes on we have Jackson Rathbone as Jasper, whose beauty in this role forces me to squelch my own squeals when I think about it. Nikki Reed’s portrayal as Rosalie has slowly grown on me, and I’ve come to think her casting spot on as well. Carlisle and Esme, the vampire parents of the Cullen brood are as warm and loving in the movie clips as they are in written word. Finally, though, we have Robert Pattison as Edward Cullen. I will admit more than my fair share of gawking when it comes to him in character as the beloved Edward. Some fans were slow to see his devastatingly flawless transition from Harry Potter’s Cedric to Twilight’s Edward, but I was enamored from the start. Stephanie Meyer even allowed him inside access into her writing, so that his character could be as exact as possible.
As far as Bella Swan is concerned, the casting director took the illustration out of my mind and made it reality. Kristen Stewart’s face is the actual picture I saw as I read her heart-wrenching love story. The Mamapop review of Twilight describes her interpretation of Bella saying, “Stewart's Bella was [n]either wimp nor precocious teen; she was just as Meyer wrote her and was desperately in love without coming off as desperate “.
The one casting choice I have a problem with is that of Jacob Black. His character is the one I love the most in Meyer’s books, so his mis-casting hurts more than any of the others could have. When they opened up Jacob’s role for the movie, the itinerary suggested that a Native American would definitely fill the slot. The announcement that Solomon Trimble, a Native American from Oregon, would take on the part of Sam Uley was encouraging. Even so, the very young and very un-Native Taylor Lautner was chosen to play Jacob. My disappointment isn’t unfounded, there are many fans that still aren’t happy with his characterization. I don’t know what Meyer’s stance on Taylor’s ethnicity is, but he lacks the ingrained knowledge that growing up in those traditions gives someone like Solomon. It does, however, give me an opportunity to involve my boys in my obsession even further than their Halloween costumes (They were Edward and Jacob to my Bella), as I can explain the misrepresentation of the First Americans in the Thanksgiving story through a Twilight-colored lens.
Even though the Cullens can't actually celebrate Thanksgiving in the customary fashion, their sense of family is very much in tact. Their love for Bella, and subsequently her father, Charlie, is a wonderful example to us all in accepting people in our hearts who we don't expect to find a seat there. Alice and Bella's friendship is the deepest representation of this outside of Bella's relationship with Edward. It helps that Alice could "see" them becoming family before Bella even knew she existed, but their love for each other is healing in a world where women are expected to compete with each other in everything.
I’m hopeful the projected depiction of Bella’s relationship with her father, Charlie, will hold up to the books. Theirs is a slow-to-warm connection but the love between them in always evident, whether it be through Bella infamous gifted truck, or the dinners she tediously prepares for her single Dad. We are witness to the blossoming of a father/daughter relationship throughout Stephanie's books, at a time in a girl's life when paternal bonds are most often ignored or rebelled against. I can’t wait to see them this weekend.
I feel like part of my mind has been privy so someone else’s extended dream sequence. An entire space inside my skull has been overtaken by these books and movie. To quote Mrs. Meyer herself on the dream that started all of this, she says: “I woke up (on that June 2nd) from a very vivid dream. In my dream, two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods. One of these people was just your average girl. The other person was fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire.”. My husband, whose read three out of the four books, is taking me to see the film on Saturday. It’s an early Thanksgiving gift to each other; our second movie night in almost 4 years. I wish everyone would place an extra setting for Bella and Edward, and their love story at their feast this year. Just keep one live gobbler on hand for Edward to consume during your festivities.
P.S. This post would not have been possible without the incredibly clever members of the Twilight Saga Fans Group on Ravelry. They are the most witty and creative bunch you'll ever find on the internet. Thanks lovelies!!
P.S.S. An edited version of this is going up on CrabbyGoLightly this morning, I'll post the link as soon as it's available....
No comments:
Post a Comment