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Friday, October 16, 2015

The Beginning of the End, the Twilight Adaptation

This is the saddest, most heart-wrenching opinion/review I have ever given.


Part I –
Seven years ago, I saw a movie trailer that enticed me to buy the book. The name was Twilight and my life changed dramatically.

If Twilight isn’t your cup of tea, if you scratch your head and wonder WTH anybody sees in it, I have one thing to say:


Pray God that you find something in your life that has as big an impact.



Twilight made me want to be a better person. But it also opened a door and exposed the realm of Writer, a place that I’d never dreamed of going.

Having set the stage...

Part II –

Stephen Meyer, author of The Twilight Saga, celebrated the tenth anniversary of the series by releasing an adaptation of Twilight called Life and Death.


I have no words to express my disappointment in this—her evident response to critics of Twilight. I never saw Bella as anything but a strong female figure. Edward was a seventeen-year-old boy not a creepy old man of ninety as some would say. I could go on and counter every criticism with my opinions. Especially regarding the strange vitriol people are comfortable throwing at the series. But I’ll stop there because evidently Ms Meyer let the naysayers into her head. 

She responded by re-writing Twilight and gender swapping the lead characters. As in, female vampire named Edythe and male human, Beau.

Not a bad idea...IF she’d created a completely new storyline with different character traits and idiosyncrasies. But she didn’t. She simply exchanged pronouns and names and left the meat of the conversations and scenes the same. I mean word for word.

Gaahhh.

What a treat it would have been if she’d created a new story. Or finished Midnight Sun, Edward’s POV. How magnificent that would have been. But she didn’t. 

I compare it to discovering the previous owners of our house painted over the nests of mud daubers ( a kind of wasp that make their nest from mud) rather than taking the time to start out with a fresh, clean surface.

To be fair, not every scene is the same and some folks might enjoy it. Maybe someday I will try it again. But not now.


Twilight made me want to be a better person. Being a writer was a bonus. But for me, Life and Death has warped my view of Twilight like no critic could do. 
And the loss I feel is profound.

2 comments:

Liz A. said...

I hadn't heard good things about this new book. It's too bad. Maybe if she's listening to the criticism, she'll rewrite this idea later.

mshatch said...

Or maybe she'll write something new and different and better. I liked the Twilight Books a lot. The movies...not so much.