Samantha Howard Part 1 of 2 Since I am a Twilight fan I did go to the midnight showing at the theaters in North Haven, and I absolutely loved the movie. Obviously the movies keep getting better and better because of the growing budget, but in this one it really stuck to the book which I was happy about. I decided to interview girls ages 20-22, like myself, who are Twilight fans but not die-hard-Twi-hards. Basically I wanted to see if they were comfortable enough with themselves to admit that they loved Twilight, what they thought of the pre-teens obsessed with Twilight and whether most fans in their early 20s have read the books or are just interested in the movies. I interviewed Rose Schaeffer (21), Stephanie Reime (21), Jara Richards (21), Carissa Wilson (22), Rachel Durante (22), Tara Macula (21), Meghan Deneen (22) and myself (21). Meghan and Rose were unable to see the movie at midnight on Thursday, but saw it on Friday. Everyone else saw it on Thursday at midnight in North Haven. One of my questions was how they perceived the teens that dressed up as Twilight characters for the midnight showing of the movie. Everyone, except Rose Schaeffer, agreed that the teens that dress up as Twilight characters to go to the movies at midnight are embarrassing and lame. Oddly enough they all answered that while they think costumes aren’t okay, they see nothing wrong with someone wearing a Twilight t-shirt to the movie. Rose Schaeffer disagreed completely and said: “I think it’s really great to get into the movies… I’m an avid Harry Potter fan and go to all the movies dressed up at midnight so I respect those fans.” The question of team Edward or team Jacob gave little insight into my research questions but it was a fun one nonetheless. Stephanie, Rose, Jara, Meghan and myself are all team Edward. Rachel and Carissa are team Jacob. Tara stands alone in her own interesting category. She claims to be team Edward with the books, but team Jacob with the movies. I guess I did learn that they were comfortable enough with themselves to admit to being enough of a fan to be on a team.
Samantha Howard Part 2 of 2 I went to see the movie at midnight with Stephanie, Jara and Rachel. We didn’t dress up or wear t-shirts, but we weren’t afraid to bump into anyone we knew or to tell our other friends where we would be that night. Carissa and Meghan went with their boyfriends, Rose went with her mother and best friend, and Tara went with a big group of friends. Since everyone I interviewed went with either a group of familiar faces or their boyfriend I think it is safe to assume that they’re not ashamed and trying to hide the fact that they went to see Breaking Dawn at midnight. Nobody went to an out of the way theater, nobody lied to their friends about their whereabouts and nobody sounded uncomfortable telling me their plans to see Breaking Dawn. The most intriguing part of my research was the question of whether these girls simply liked the movies or if they had read all of the books as well. I saw the first movie then decided to read the books, so when I began reading I already had the characters engrained in my head. Stephanie, Jara, Rose, Tara and Carissa all read all four books before seeing any of the movies. Tara, Jara and myself actually re-read Breaking Dawn Parts I and II before going to see it. Meghan and Rachel both started the first book, Twilight, in high school, but never finished it. Rachel was very excited to see the movie, because despite the media surrounding it she still didn’t know what was going to happen. Through my research I learned that although girls in their early 20s are comfortable enough to admit to loving Twilight, they still have their boundaries on what they deem okay and not okay. To this group the list of okays is: wearing t-shirts, picking a team, going to see the midnight showing and reading the books. The shorter lit of not okays is: dressing up as Twilight characters for the midnight showing of the movie. I think the girls in their 20s that love Twilight seem to enjoy it but not take it as seriously as younger fans or the Twi-moms.
A little embarrassed to admit it, but I have already seen Breaking Dawn twice. I went to the midnight showing with friends in North Haven on Thursday night and then in South Dakota on Saturday with my sisters. In my opinion, this is the best Twilight movie because firstly, Kristen Stewart has emotions! Secondly, it is more intense with blood and fighting. What I did for my research was write out twenty hyperlinks on notecards leading people to my survey on Surveymonkey.com. On the back of the notecards, I mentioned it would take five minutes and would help me for my audience research. I handed ten out in North Haven, and ten in Sioux Falls, SD at my theater in town (only $6.50 for a movie here!). My three friends took the survey who went to the show with me, and then twelve out of the twenty random people from the theaters! I had a total of fifteen respondents, more than I had thought. I mainly handed them out to women ranging from 20-40. There were two Twi-moms at the midnight showing who were more than happy to help me with my survey. However, I did hand one notecard out to a group of men who looked about 30 years old, and did not respond on Surveymonkey.com because no males took my survey, no surprise there. What I learned from my research is how involved Twilight characters are in people’s lives. I asked the question, “Do you ever compare yourself, or your relationship, to that of Bella Swan?” Eight people answered yes, and seven people answered no. For yes, I asked for a response. The answers vary from, “Yes because my boyfriend is sexy, strong and pasty white like Edward,” to, “Bella is the complete equivalent of what girls should aspire to be like in a relationship.” Another example that stuck out was: “The fact she has had a lot of life changing moments in such a short period of time, a lot of people relate to that.” The rest of the comments for that certain question summed up that girls dream of having an “Edward” or that perfect relationship. Another question was, “Do you have a favorite Twilight movie? If so, what one?” Seven people said Breaking Dawn: Part 1, three people said Eclipse, and two people said Twilight. The other three respondents do not have a favorite movie. Breaking Dawn is number one according to my survey. My main question for my survey was, “What attracts you to Breaking Dawn: Part I? (May choose more than one).” “Interest in Twilight” was chosen ten times, “Media impacted me” was chosen six times, “Popcorn” was chosen five times, “Friends” and “Family” were chosen three times, while someone chose “Other” and wrote, “HUGE FAN!!” Which, I would think would go under “Interest in Twilight…”
The second main question was, “What do you think has made Twilight so popular with the audience?” My respondents either said because of the media, the actor’s looks and/or the love triangle. Some examples are: “The love between Bella and Edward<3333333,” “The plot and media hype about characters,” “Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner are hot. The story line is very interesting,” “The ultimate battle of true love,” “I wish it were the books, but I know it is about "who" plays the role.” I learned from reading these that media does impact the audience because more than one respondent mentioned the media hype and also, women love seeing the love triangle (especially when played by such an attractive cast). The majority saw Breaking Dawn with their friends. Twelve people have seen all the movies, while three have not seen them all. Eleven people have read all the books, two people have read two, and another two have not read any. Again, my survey included all females. The age ranges were from 15-39, while seven out of the fifteen participants were ages 16-20. There were some respondents with no high school degree and four respondents with a bachelor’s degree. The bulk of my respondents had some college but no degree. This research shed light on the Twilight phenomenon because it went in-depth with the real fans of Twilight; the fans that stood in line to see Part 1 of the final Twilight movie. Also, open-ended questions truly helped because these fans are definitely willing to talk about something they obviously care strongly for. That is why I believe they were willing to partake in my survey. Overall, whether it is a fifteen year old or a Twi-mom, I believe that a Twilight fan is a Twilight fan and they all love it for the same reason…the love battle and the fantasy of an “Edward relationship.”
In order to acquire realistic and valuable insight on the fans of Twilight: Breaking Dawn, I decided to utilize the media outlet, community, source and abundantly used social networking site, Facebook. It is arguable that the rise and dependence on social media has changed our social world. Individuals are now more apt and more able to share their ideas, likes, dislikes and comments. Indeed, almost any product, music group, book, restaurant, clothing line, etc can find endless ‘reviews’ by real consumers on Facebook. I used the official Facebook page for Twilight: Breaking Dawn as my database for fan research. This page made the process easier, as they do not allow followers to post random comments on its wall. Instead, the page asked questions and fan responded by commenting on the question. Therefore, the page reveals specific, categorized details about Twilight: Breaking Dawn fans. I looked at the page on November 22, 2011, after Twilight: Breaking Dawn had premiered. I only analyzed posts between the dates November 13th to November 21st. On Nov. 13th, the page began the one week countdown to the premier. From that date, until yesterday, there was a total of 4,921 “likes” on comments by Twilight: Breaking Dawn and 1,482 comments on the questions posed by the page. In addition, 35,924 people on Facebook “like” the page itself and 12,064 are “talking” about Twilight: Breaking Dawn on Facebook. These numbers alone attest to the fandom and anticipation of Twilight: Breaking Dawn. After going through many of the comments, it became clear that the vast majority of people who commented or “liked” the questions were female. It should also be noted that many of these individuals had a photo of a Twilight: Breaking Dawn character, as their default Facebook picture. The general age range of the fans was unclear based on names and Facebook defaults alone. However, based on the comments themselves, it was evident that some fans were middle school- high school age while others were past retirement. One fan divulged, “It was a great movie. My daughter and I saw it Friday matinee and I am past 70, so…” The comments also revealed that many of Twilight: Breaking Dawn fans are from foreign countries as they discussed the different release dates for various countries: “yah.. Bt sad to hear dat it wil release in India on 25th...” Another fan boasted, “I saw it already last night at 00.01 am in Holland!!” Two days prior to the premier, the Facebook page for Twilight: Breaking Dawn continued its countdown by posting: “48 hours…!!” One hundred and four fans responded with comments that ranged from excitement to obsession and anticipatory anxiety. One fan stated, “Cant wait very excited been waitin for months now it will be here two days lol im bout to cry so love the movies and books ill watch it over and over and over 1000X again and be surprised everytime :D energetically excited.”
After the premier of the movie, the page asked “So… Did it meet your expectations? Opinions please!!” This question certainly generated a research database for the continued commitment of Twilight: Breaking Dawn fans. These comments were much longer and more in-depth, showing the true dedication fans have to Twilight: Breaking Dawn. The phrase “I loved it,” was profusely used by fans to describe their infatuation with the film. Fans even admitted how emotionally moved they were by the film: “I cried when Jacob did..and I cried at the wedding....and I cried at the birthing scene.....and I cried when Edward yelled at Bella...I cried a lot!!! But it was the best movie ever....except my friends mom wouldn't shut up :p.” There were of course a few outliers who were disappointed with certain elements of the film; however, it should be noted that the overwhelming opinion of fans was one of adoration and anticipation for the release of Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part II. Based on my research on the fandom of Twilight: Breaking Dawn, it is clear that the fans are supportive, devoted and energetic about the film. The bulk of the fan base is female but definitely ranges in age. The research also reveals that the fans are enthusiastic and perhaps a tad bit crazy!
In another media course I am currently taking, we focus heavily on the role of fans. Today, series like the Twilight Saga or Harry Potter garner these cult followings that exceed the idea of someone just simply “enjoying” a media text. Now that we are nearing closer to the end of the Twilight series, the hype surrounding “Breaking Dawn” is even more intense. At this point, I personally don’t believe that the fans are concerned with the content of the film or with how it is made or presented. I think fans are so consumed with the Edward-Bella-Jacob triangle, that quality is not so much an issue as making sure that the romance is accurately portrayed. Thus, in order to conduct my research I quickly four women who saw the movie with me or during the same week. I interviewed my sister, Emily and her friend, Samantha, who both saw the midnight showing at a theater on Long Island. I interviewed my two friends, Erin and Gabriella, who saw the film with me the Saturday after its release. I also interviewed my mother, Phyllis, who has only seen the films when they have come out on DVD. She is the only one who hasn’t seen “Breaking Dawn.” The list of questions I asked is as follows: 1) Have you read the books? If so, did you read them before or after seeing the first film? Which do you prefer and why? 2) How would you describe your level of “fandom”? (check all that apply)
a. I just watch the films and/or read the books. b. I purchase memorabilia c. I participate in fan forums online and create “fan fiction” d. I am part of a fan club with others in my community 3) How often do you watch the films/have you seen each film prior to “Breaking Dawn?” 4) What are your reasons for continually watching the series? 5) How would you describe the audience in the theater when you saw the film? 6) What did you think of this film in comparison to the others?
Out of the five women who took my survey, only one participant had read the novels. This clearly justifies the idea that most viewers, females in this case, do not need to have any knowledge of the series to become intrigued by the movies. As my sister said, “Although I never read the books, and the concept of vampires is unrealistic, I still love the idea that the unreal could be real.” Being the only participant who had prior knowledge of the storyline, Erin claimed to only watch the movies to reinforce her enjoyment of the books: “Although the movies are never up to par with the books, it’s still interesting to see how the characters are portrayed by actors and actresses and to see if the movies play out the same way the plot did in your mind.”
Despite being fans of the series, not one woman admitted to purchasing memorabilia or participating in fan forums and fan clubs. All of the women, except one, admitted to re-watching the movies on DVD or television. Gabriella was the only real cynic of the group, who only saw the movie under the pressure of Erin and I: “I can’t sit through these films, because they are so drastically unrealistic. Bella and Edward’s relationship is not true to how romance is and should be. The fact that young girls aspire to a relationship like theirs makes me laugh. So you can bet this is the first and last time I watch ‘Breaking Dawn.’” My mother said, “I obviously feel too old to go to the movie theater to see the new films. I guess I can’t relate to the mothers who go see them when they first come out. But, I do enjoy them. They may not be the “best” films, but I can appreciate them. They serve the purpose of entertainment, so I’ll watch with my daughters.” My sister and her friend Samantha both saw the film at midnight, but didn’t expect the audience to be full of younger girls who had school in the morning: “It seemed strange that parents would allow their young daughters to be up so late for the sake of the movie, but these annoying little girls were just as, if not more, excited to see the film than we were. I can’t say I blame them.” When Erin, Gabriella and I went, the audience was much calmer and was full of older people. There were a number of “twi-moms,” brave boyfriends and older couples on group dates to see the film. As for the film itself, excluding my mother, none of us were exactly thrilled with the movie. Erin believed that the movie did not live up to her expectations of the book; Gabriella couldn’t get past the lack of reality in the film; Emily believed it didn’t live up to the hype; and Samantha preferred the last three films collectively over “Breaking Dawn.” As for me, and perhaps it’s because taking this class has made me realize the underlying themes of vampire media texts, I was not thrilled with the last film for a number of reasons. Since I never got the chance to finish the last novel, I did not expect what happened in the plot. Overall, I found it to be sexist at points. This film portrays Kristen Stewart as a sex-hungry newlywed, unhappy with Edward because he doesn’t want to physically hurt her during her sex. Once she gets pregnant, though, she becomes weak, emaciated and unstable. The idea that her baby has to be eaten out of her, and watching Edward bite her in multiple places on her body to inject the venom in her was almost sadomasochistic. I just think that with every film, Bella becomes a weaker and weaker female character. The film proved to me that not all Twilight fans are “twi-hards.” My subjects treated the film like any other, one that was critiqued based on their idea of the books and their own personal opinions and tastes. Like me, they didn’t think that just because it happened to be the second to last film, it was praise-worthy. Most of them didn’t like it as much as they thought they would, including myself—they weren’t completely interested in just the romantic factor. We are all fans, just not as active as others we might have seen. This raises a future research question, however: Why is it that married women and underage, adolescent teenagers are described as being the most devoted fans and obsessed with the romantic angle of the film?
As an avid fan of the Twilight Saga series I was pretty excited for the premiere of Breaking Dawn Pt. 1, though disappointed that they chose to split the book into two (clearly economically driven, and understandable, but disappointing). I saw the movie at midnight for its first showing, and surprisingly no crazy fans showed up in New Haven. The theater was packed, but I didn’t notice anyone dressed up or anything too ridiculous. However, it was one of the loudest movies I have ever been too – the entire time people were screaming, shrieking and clapping, clearly big time fans. I saw it with my friend who had never seen any of these films before and he could not believe that intensity of the people in the theater. For my research I made a survey monkey for people to take via Facebook only if they had seen the movie. In total there were 15 respondents, two male and twelve female, not surprisingly, who all thoroughly completed the nine-question survey. They ranged in age from 17 to 27, while most fell in the 20-24 demographic. I asked which of the books people had read and which movies they have seen – 93% of respondents have seen each of the four movies, which works perfectly for this research. When asked which movie was favored overall, 46% of people chose Breaking Dawn, and 37% picked Eclipse as a close second. The most telling question was an open-ended that asked for an honest reaction to their viewing of Breaking Dawn Pt. 1. The answers ranged from respondent 15 saying, “Lived up to the hype, better than expected, and went hand-in-hand with the book. BEST MOVIE YET!!!!!” to respondent 8 saying, “Too dragged out...the last movie shouldn't have been split in two. Not much happened in terms of the plot up until the last half hour. I was bored for most of the movie. It was very disappointing.” Others said it “didn’t live up to the hype,” and “wasn’t as good as the book.” Those who liked it said, “Thought it was the best one because it was more focused on the relationships between the characters. Also used some humor in it whereas in other ones, it was more dark,” and “So amazing; much better than the others.” Overall it seemed that there were very mixed reviews for the film. On a personal level I feel that it did not live up to the hype and the one subject plot had nothing to tie into, making a very dull story line. If it was combined into one movie there would be so much more to work with and it would have been able to hold my interest more effectively. Another topic I was interested in just for fun was Twi-Moms, so I figured I would throw the question on the survey (so glad I did). I asked, “In one word, describe Twi-Moms” – Here is the plethora of responses: “Crazy, creepy, weird/weirdos, romantics, funny, strange, hilarious, bizarre, wild, dreamers, sad, losers…” I would say that about sums it up. In terms of fandom and the phenomenon that is Twilight, Breaking Dawn part 1 only adds to the craze. According to boxofficemojo.com, opening weekend brought in $138,122,261, and as of November 27th, they estimate the movie has made $221,300,000 at the box office in the U.S. alone. Fan or not, the movie set out to do exactly as it planned – make money. It seems the two-part split has paid off. Summit knows their fan base and understands that people are going to see the next installment regardless if they are loyal to the series, which it seems Twi-Hards are. With this film The Twilight Saga only continues to soar and reach new heights in the media industry.
Part 1 of 2 When I was a senior in high school, I created my Facebook account. At the time, the bumper stickers features was extremely popular and extremely addicting. You could spend hours looking through the newly added stickers and sending them to your friends. Most of them were either cute quotes or funny movie quotes. I distinctly remember seeing bumper stickers all about Edward and Jacob and since I had never read a Twilight book before that, I had no idea who these people were or why people were so obsessed with them. If there were twelve stickers on a page, six of them had to Twilight. People were obsessed and I was confused.
That fall when I arrived to college, all my roommates were not only reading all the books, but were psyched for the first movie to come out. “You’ve never read Twilight?!” they would say to me like I had just admitted something shocking. It was the same shocking response I would get when I would tell people I had never read or seen a Harry Potter book or film; “Is this Harry Potter all over again”, I thought. Again, I was confused; how can a book about vampires be so amazing? During that winter break, I borrowed the first book from my roommate and decided to see what all the craze was about. I am not going to lie, I did love the first book. It was a fast read and I literally would read it for hours at a time and not even realize the time had passed. I was engulfed, but by no means obsessed. I let myself watch the first movie after I finished the first book. It wasn’t horrible, but I definitely liked the book better. After this Twilight taste, I was done. No more books or movies for me. Where my interest quickly fizzled, the rest of world exploded with Twilight craze.
Through the research I conducted on this topic, I really wanted to see what drew fans to this series. I also wanted to see if the fans were satisfied with the film adaptations. I chose to conduct interviews because I felt that the qualitative results of this method would provide me with detailed information to help shed some light on this obsession. I interviewed five of my Twi-obsessed friends because I figured they would have the strongest opinions about the series. Since I was not completely satisfied with the results of my interviews, I decided to do a minor content analysis on a Twilight discussion board on Yahoo Answers. The question posted asked people why they liked Twilight, so I thought it would be interesting to see what others had to say about the questions I put forth.
When I was a senior in high school, I created my Facebook account. At the time, the bumper stickers features was extremely popular and extremely addicting. You could spend hours looking through the newly added stickers and sending them to your friends. Most of them were either cute quotes or funny movie quotes. I distinctly remember seeing bumper stickers all about Edward and Jacob and since I had never read a Twilight book before that, I had no idea who these people were or why people were so obsessed with them. If there were twelve stickers on a page, six of them had to Twilight. People were obsessed and I was confused.
That fall when I arrived to college, all my roommates were not only reading all the books, but were psyched for the first movie to come out. “You’ve never read Twilight?!” they would say to me like I had just admitted something shocking. It was the same shocking response I would get when I would tell people I had never read or seen a Harry Potter book or film; “Is this Harry Potter all over again”, I thought. Again, I was confused; how can a book about vampires be so amazing? During that winter break, I borrowed the first book from my roommate and decided to see what all the craze was about. I am not going to lie, I did love the first book. It was a fast read and I literally would read it for hours at a time and not even realize the time had passed. I was engulfed, but by no means obsessed. I let myself watch the first movie after I finished the first book. It wasn’t horrible, but I definitely liked the book better. After this Twilight taste, I was done. No more books or movies for me. Where my interest quickly fizzled, the rest of world exploded with Twilight craze.
Through the research I conducted on this topic, I really wanted to see what drew fans to this series. I also wanted to see if the fans were satisfied with the film adaptations. I chose to conduct interviews because I felt that the qualitative results of this method would provide me with detailed information to help shed some light on this obsession. I interviewed five of my Twi-obsessed friends because I figured they would have the strongest opinions about the series. Since I was not completely satisfied with the results of my interviews, I decided to do a minor content analysis on a Twilight discussion board on Yahoo Answers. The question posted asked people why they liked Twilight, so I thought it would be interesting to see what others had to say about the questions I put forth.
I found a common theme that people looked at the Twilight saga as a form of escapism. One interviewee responded “I enjoy the twilight series because it is a break from everyday reality”. Another stated that “It really transports you to a different world where you can forget about anything you’re worried about and just enjoy the book”. It is easy to see how a book about falling in love with a vampire can be an escape from reality because as far as we know, vampires do not exist. People like to be entertained by things that are fictional or could never happen because it lets us as the audience live in a world that is unknown to us for a little while. Last week, I saw the movie “Like Crazy”; it is a independent film about two college kids that fall in love then get separated after graduation because of visa issues. I thought I was going to love it, however it was so brutally real that I didn’t get that happy feeling you should get from love stories. Sometimes movies that are too close to reality, like “Like Crazy”, it leaves the audience reminded of the issues and realities in their own lives. We want to go to the movies to escape, not be reminded.
Another common opinion I found in my research was that people were drawn to the idea of Bella and Edward’s relationship. One blogger wrote that fans “like to fantasize about a young romantic man sweeping them off their feet”. Most girls want to believe that Noah Calhoun from the Notebook is really out there; he may not be, but we watch movies like this with optimism. My research also showed that people were drawn to the negative parts of their relationships because they were relatable. One interviewee said that “being broken up with sucks so I guess every girl can relate to that feeling”. When I heard this, it made me realize there is a difference to audiences between a little reality and brutal reality. A little reality, like the Bella being sad when Edward leaves, is enough to make the story relatable but not depressing, like “Like Crazy”. Edward does eventually come back into the picture; in reality, a boyfriend or girlfriend may not.
When I read the first book, I thought people liked the stories because the characters themselves were relatable, however during my interviews all respondents said that they did not think they identified with any of the characters. One blogger brought up an interesting point that “People enjoy it because the characters lack personality. Because of their lack of character, anyone reading can place themselves in the situation”. I thought this was an interesting outlook because it makes me questions Stephanie Myers motives when writing the stories; did she make the characters hollow for this purpose or can it be merely the result of poor character development?
Book fans had similar opinions when it came to the film adaptations. Even though no one told me that they outright hated the films, people were overall disappointed. One interviewee told me that “everybody has their own imagination/interpretation of the book, so sometimes its a little disappointing” to see someone else’s interpretation. How a filmmaker sees and portrays a character, setting, or interaction is going to be completely different than the millions of readers out there. It is not possible to satisfy the imagination of all. I also found it interesting when one interviewee said that “the films put a little more emphasis on the violence” than the narrative itself. This does not surprise me because when I think of books becoming movies, I think of a director figuring out how to make a story a spectacle; what is going to make this movie a blockbuster? I also can’t help but wonder if it was absolutely necessary to split the last book into two films. Was this just a ploy to bring in double box office revenue? One interviewee had a strong opinion on this subject; she said “he final book should not be split into two movies. The beginning of the film was very slow and it did not pick up until half way through the movie because of scenes being made too long in order to fill space because they did not have enough material, and forced comedy. If the whole book was made into one movie they would not have had time to add all of the stupid extra content.”
It may be the escape from reality or the desire for true love. It might even just be the hot men in the leading roles. Whatever it is, people love Twilight. To be honest, I don’t think I will ever fully understand Twilight fandom, but at least this research alleviated some of my pure confusion.
I must admit, I am a proud, but closeted Twilight fan. I read the book first two books before the movies came out, and was annoyingly obsessed with the Saga in the beginning. I never finished reading Eclipse, however, I actually tried to sit down and read it (which wasn’t a difficult task as the writing is not the best) but always got stuck at the same part of the book and never continued. I do love the movies, and have seen them all in theatres. I am not associated AT ALL with the image of crazy twi-hards, but I do love the vampire love story just as much (or maybe a bit less…). You can say that I am an educated fan of the Saga; through my different media courses I have learned to be more critical of any media text, and I see all texts, including these, with a critical media eye. In the books, I am Team Edward, but in the movies, I am Team Jacob. That might be due to my indecisiveness in terms of picking out the better of two male lead representations, or due to the transition of the books to the big screen. I know I am not alone in my split favoritism, as Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner (and Kristen Stewart for that manner) portray their characters with both similarities and many many differences, in both the development and physical appearance of their characters. So I worked with these differences and structured my analysis on the opinions on the book-movie transition. I went to see Breaking Dawn on Saturday with my sister, her two girlfriends, and her friend who happened to be a straight male, and directed my findings on their opinions, before and after the showing. This wasn’t a difficult task as we were all playing the role of giddy love-struck girl fans, talking about our expectations and relations to the books and previous movies. I actually didn’t see many different trailers on the film, and I have yet to get through Eclipse to read Breaking Dawn, so I didn’t know what to expect. I was already aware of the weird vampire baby and Jacob’s imprinting, but because the film was broken into two parts, I really did not know what to expect. My sister, Gab, was along the same lines, although she didn’t want to talk about the film beforehand, and view it with fresh. She doesn’t read the books but is a huge fan of the movies. Her friend Martina, a Twilight expert, actually saw it the night before, the day of the premiere, and was already ready to see it again with us. To me, that was a great sign for how the movie would turn out, and she was able to answer any questions I had about where the film picks up after Ecplise, and other aspects (without spoiling!). Michelle was also in the same boat as me. And then there was Mike, a straight guy who just enjoyed the movie (and proud of it!) I prepared the following questions: 1) Which characters/plot lines/motifs of the text do you identify with most? 2) Were you an original fan of the Saga before the movie adaptations or did the movies and media frenzy pull you in? a. If so, books VS movies? 3) Is there any part of the books that the movies leave out, that you wish were included? 4) Did Breaking Dawn reach your expectations?
However, I didn’t stick to these questions, but through the casual conversation I was able to put together their answers. We all agreed that we identified with the plotline of a sappy, love story, which happened to have a vampire twist to keep up the suspense. Everyone hates Bella, with good reasoning (whether it be her terrible acting or her opportunity to fall in love with two beauties). Martina is a true Team Edward fan, but Michelle, Gab, and I preferred to watch a shirtless Taylor Lautner on screen. Mike didn’t have a preference, but enjoyed the movies for the primary plot line and the action sequences. We credited Mike for wanting to come but still a male (although his male peers were most likely laughing at him behind his back). But he made a great point, something that I didn’t realize—that these movies are a huge chick magnet, and it’s easy for a guy to meet a girl right after the premiere. Why is that so easy? Well first, it’s hard to find a guy who loves Twilight, or will put up with sitting through the movie, yet can still keep up a conversation about the films. And lastly, I know girls can agree with me that as much as I enjoy watching these films, it does put me in a post-Twilight-depressive state, and on the lookup for a male…friend to console me. What better way to pick up a desperate girl? After the movie, we were all in awe of the production, and luckily stayed throughout the credits to see the ‘exclusive sneak peak’ to part 2. (Thanks for the heads up, Martina!) We all loved how the film came out, except for my sister. She thought a bunch of huge chunks could be cut out of the film, and put in more action sequences. I tried to give her a media analysis point of view, and told her they needed to drag on the pregnancy to fill space in order to split the book up into two parts, and to keep the suspense until it came out, but she stuck to her opinion. For the rest of us, we all appreciated the low-key scenes. For me, I enjoyed those parts that my sister deemed unnecessary as I really wanted to understand the whole “vampire human baby” concept, and the heightened drama of the werewolves still kept me on my toes. And do not even get me started on the ending when Bella woke up with vampire eyes. The whole theatre was shocked, and I almost fell off my seat with that abrupt ending. But from what I’ve heard from my friends and others who went to see it, the ending provided a great climax to start looking forward to the next film. Although there are different aspects in the movie that is not included in the books (and vise versa), the content was well organized to tell the story for a big screen version. And I’m sure the film executives took into account that their following expands off of fans of the book, but consists of many many sole movie fans. I’ll leave off with noting that Kristen Stewart’s acting was not so appalling in this production, and she played a pregnant Bella very well, in my opinion.
To begin, I have yet to see Breaking Dawn Part I, however, I do plan on it. I also consider myself to be more of an interested observer when it comes to the Twilight Saga, rather than a fan. Breaking Dawn coverage has been plastered all over the entertainment world, and was (seemingly) one of the most anticipated movies of the year… and maybe to some, the decade. I would say that the anticipation for Bella and Edward’s wedding was comparable to that of the Royal Wedding. When it comes to audiences, Twilight fans are so dedicated, that this does not surprise me one bit. Not only was the wedding scene hyped up, but also the honeymoon scene, along with the birth scene. When analyzing audience opinions of the film, I decided to focus particularly on these three scenes as opposed to the entire movie. As previously mentioned, Breaking Dawn was literally all over the tabloids, television, and the Internet. I am an avid watcher of E! News, and every time I watched it for about two to three weeks before the premiere, there was something about the wedding, or the birth scene, or the sex scene. One episode they even brought up whether or not Jacob was going to bring a date to the wedding. I thought that focusing on these three scenes would be appropriate, and it proved to be quite interesting. I first looked at what the actors thought of the scenes, before looking to what audiences thought of the scenes, in order to compare opinions. Entertainment Weekly gave me the hook up. They mostly discussed the issue of the PG-13 rating, and the limits that that put on the film. Kristen Stewart commented that she could not play the birth scene out with as much enthusiasm/craziness that she had planned. Robert Pattinson said that shooting that scene was a great day, and Taylor Lautner agreed, saying that he still “loves the birth scene.” Stewart followed up with the same comment. However, Lautner did say how he was frustrated that some things weren’t in there. In regards to the love scene, the rating really affected what is actually seen on screen. Stewart explained that they didn’t actually “do” the scene, as it was very fragmented. No comments were made on the wedding; however, it was the general consensus that they were most disappointed that the birth and sex scenes got “trimmed.” To find how the fans/audience members felt about these scenes, I looked to friends, along with reviews on Rottontomatoes.com. First, let’s discuss the wedding scene. In one of the reviews (from Movie Juice), the writer was quite snarky about the whole thing, constantly commenting on Edward’s eyebrows, and saying that the “wedding went on for so long I felt guilty that I didn’t bring a gift.” (Ramsey) According to Robert Roeper, it took too long to get to the wedding scene, and that there were too many longing looks and musical montages. The sex scene comments might be my favorite. In a review from the New York Post, the writer explains how “Bella and Edwards’ long, long, long-awaited honeymoon sex scene is the most anticlimactic deflowering since Jennifer Jason Leigh’s in ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High.’” (Stewart) Similarly, a reviewer from New York Magazine agreed that it’s not “quite the orgy of blood and bodily fluids we’ve been anticipating.” (Edelstein)
The birth scene actually got the best comments, as the reviewer from New York Magazine commented that the audience could actually forget about some of the bad acting that occurred throughout the rest of the film. Although going through the movie reviews was fun and entertaining, the best review I got of the film was from my brutally honest roommate, who definitely considers herself a Twilight fanatic. I could listen to Twilight fans rave forever. Out of the people I spoke to, my roommate’s comments were easily my favorite. She said that the entire movie was absolutely incredible and that it was everything she had hoped for. The wedding was her favorite part, as she said it was so well done, and that you could really see how Bella was nervous about her new life. However, she did say that her performance could have been more convincing. She would not have changed a single thing about the entire scene. She also does not agree with the critics when they say there was too much “looking” during the ceremony. When she discussed the love scene, she also brought up the idea of the PG-13 rating, however, in the book; there is more description of the scene. She really liked how afterwards they showed the torn apart room and the bruises all over her body. That really added to the scene. Her only complaint was that the trailer led everyone to believe that the scene would be more sexual and more intense, yet it was not that significant in the film. I would definitely have to agree with her on that one. She really enjoyed the way that the birth scene turned out as well. It was just how she pictured it, along with the wedding. She added in that Bella looked absolutely disgusting. However, she expected the child to look older, somewhat like a 5 year-old, not like such a newborn. Her biggest critique really was how terrible Rosalie looked, however, that is what she is most upset about throughout the series. She expected her to look like more of a supermodel, and since she had to wear a wig in Breaking Dawn Part 1, it made it even worse. Overall, the opinions of all three scenes were pretty similar (of both actors, reviewers, and fans). The wedding was gorgeous, yet drawn out, the sex scene was missing pieces and was sort of anticlimactic, and the birth scene had the best acting of the whole film. I did realize that there was much more enthusiasm from the fans, as opposed to the critics. After reading and exploring the viewpoints of these three pivotal scenes, I am still very interested in seeing Breaking Dawn Part 1.
Me and Syed decided to make a video interviewing Twilight fans rather than doing a "traditional" blog post. So, watch, enjoy, and let us know what you think!
http://youtu.be/9O5LsM_Daww
Also, there will be a wrap party at T.G.I Friday's after class.
In order to understand what the entire craze was about I went to the movie theater the Friday that Break Dawn part 1 came out. This phenomenon has been going on since the first film came out when everyone gravitated towards it, mainly women and girls, but never the less some men have also hopped on board with it. Over the course of the semester Twilight has been a main focus and to be honest I hadn’t seen any of them until I watched parts of the first one on TV. It was not completely dreadful like I thought it would be but it still was not a film I would look for to watch. That’s my personal belief on them but many others have grown to really like the films as well as reading the books. While I stood in the lobby of the theater watching and listening to people as they entered, almost all of them were coming to see breaking dawn. For the most part it was mothers with their daughters because it was a matinee showing. The younger girls were excited and you could see that some mothers had some joy on their faces as if they were excited to go see it then their daughters. It was not until I left that I thought of the question of how many mother drag their younger kids to go see the movie just so if they see someone they know they can play it off as if their child was the one who wanted to go? Almost like a closet fan who doesn’t want to admit it. As I stood and watched the joy on people’s faces I saw some people I knew from high school who were walking in. Two of them were with their boyfriends while three others were just going to see it with friends. I asked them if they were seeing breaking dawn and of course all of them were. I then asked the boyfriends if they got dragged to go see it. One of them said he was and really had no desire to see it but was just being a good boyfriend, the other stated “I’ve actually seen all the previous ones and I don’t hate them to be honest.” I could tell he was a little embarrassed to say it since I just met the kid but as I explained to them what I was there for he knew I wasn’t judging him. When I asked all the girls I knew there fandom ranged from one being a very big wearing a t-shirt saying team Edward, to just believing they are good films and figured it would be fun to see with friends. I asked the diehard fan why she was so into the films and she said “how could you not be, the love, scandals, bad assness of them is like girls fantasies.” The other friends laughed at her for that one but then one of her friends said “I saw the first one and was kind of hooked so I have seen all of them since, and actually I am now reading the books.” This was very interesting in that she became a fan because of the films and now is interested to start reading the books. Makes me wonder how many fans have done it this way instead of the traditional way of reading the books and then going to see the films. I am still unsure as to why these films get so much publicity and why so many women and girls are head of heals to see them. I think they are a very unique and different type of film which could be why they are so popular but for guys, they just don’t appeal to us very much. There are the exceptions as I found out from my friends boyfriend but in general I would say most men who have seen the films were coaxed into by a girlfriend or a mother.
In researching the Twilight phenomenon I used Facebook to send a questionnaire to my friends. I also sought notes that I have taken in class, and my own observations of the opening weekend of Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I. I asked four women in their early twenties a series of seven questions about the Twilight craze. The questions entailed my own curiosities of Twilight as an individual who has only seen the first three movies and who has not read any of the Stephenie Myer books. From these results I, realized that there are degrees of Twilight fandom. I found that the producers of the Twilight Movie and Book have succeeded in creating a money making story by targeting a “niche” audience of women. They do this by harnessing the wants and needs of women. One of the women I researched, Caitlin, was definitely a “twi-hard” The other two women, Kaitlyn and Meline, were fans but not as intensely as Caitlin. They had no Twilight merchandise. The fourth woman, Ariel, had read all the books and seen all of the movies but interestingly enough, she expresses a sense of disappointment with anything Twilight. There are over twenty six million “likes” on the Twilight Saga, page on Facebook. The movie has grossed seven hundred ninety million dollars in the past with domestic box office ticket sales alone. In the opening weekend of the recent movie, it grossed over one hundred thirty nine million dollars. From the industry perspective, it is about making money. Even the fans know this. One of the questions I asked was why the women thought Twilight is so successful. Meline replied: “Twilight is successful because of the compelling story line, and it came out at the perfect time where vampires were becoming super popular. Also, Twilight has a fan base of children to young adults; those are the people that bring in all the money for them (the industry)”. However nothing is perfect and half of the women I questioned had complaints about the last movie. I asked the women what they would change about Twilight. Meline responded, “If I could change anything about Twilight, it would probably be the actors who were playing the characters; like Bella and Rosary.” In class I noticed that everyone had chimed in on their hatred for Kristen Stewart. One of my questions was, “Did the latest movie meet your expectations?” Ariel replied, “As a reader sure…As a theatre enthusiast NO absolutely not. Her wig didn’t fit her head and was moving the whole movie. The props were all ugly and the ring looked like it came out of a vending machine. The costumes kinda sucked too.” Furthermore she stated, “I have no idea why Twilight is successful. It seems rather silly to me”. With the “twi-hard” one of the questions I asked everyone was, “Besides reading the books and seeing the movies, are there any other ways in which you express that you’re a fan of Twilight?” Caitlin replied, “I have t-shirts, posters and other Twilight merchandise. I also engage in conversations/discussions about the books and movies. I encourage everyone to read the books.” Caitlin’s obsession has become a part of her identity. In engaging in discussions and telling people to read the books, some may say she is treating Twilight as a movement. Also, I noticed that that she only expresses that it is important to read the books, yet doesn’t “encourage” people to watch the movies. Reading the books I feel is the true differentiation between a fan of Twilight and someone who is not a fan. Kaitlyn wrote that the only complaint she had for the story is that she “… would make the books longer!” With over thirteen million “likes” on the Facebook, Twilight Books page, the bias for books over movies is massive. But what is the allure of the story?
Both Caitlin and Kaitlyn felt that the character, Bella was relatable. Bella would fit in the traditional female stereotype. Perhaps she is traditional because, Myer is a Mormon, and a mother of three. Women are seeking romance in the story. Caitlin wrote, “It’s a fantasy but yet so relatable. What girl doesn’t want to be the center of a guy’s life?! And it’s so easy to get lost in the story.” Thus Caitlin notices the need for passionate love is what women seek in Twilight. Additionally Kaitlyn answered, “I think Twilight is so successful because it is a great love story and Bella is such a relatable character to a lot of girls.” In class we have categorized Bella as a damsel, a “trouble magnet” and “owned”. Perhaps some girls have times when they may feel this way, but these are not great qualities to be. What I think is relatable about Bella is that she seems to be an outsider, brave, indecisive, stubborn and moody. The love between Edward and Bella is passionate, and ever-lasting. This is a romance that many women would like to obtain in the ideal world. In conclusion, from my research I found that there are many different types of fans within the Twilight phenomenon. It is an important element in being a true fan to have read all of the books, and most agree that the books are better than the movies. Overall fans are satisfied with the saga, but feel that the movies lack something. However this has not changed the industries drive to make money. They do so by targeting a female audience. The lures of Twilight are the relatable qualities of Bella and the epic love story between her and Edward.
Without question the Twilight Saga has become a prominent piece of media with a wide variety of cultural influence in our society. The Twilight phenomenon has become such a major part of our society it took over social media websites the days leading up to the films premiere, and the weekend following the release. On the popular social networking site Twitter; Breaking Dawn, and Team Jacob were trending topics the Friday of the premiere. There was a mixed variety of reactions from the fans on Twitter, not only were people expressing how they felt about the film but they were posting about how excited they were to see the film on opening weekend. Some were even mocking how they find it odd that their mothers are more excited to see the film than they are. Even Facebook had a group of people expressing their excitement about seeing the film in the days leading up to the film. Numerous people posted countdowns till the midnight premiere, they also posted that they were going to the film at midnight, and posting at 2 in the morning on Friday how they felt about the film. This shows how much of a social impact this series has had on our society. Not only did I analyze the impact of this series from our media’s standpoint, I actually went to the midnight premiere to see how the Twi-Hards reacted to the film. I was not surprised to see the film airing in multiple theaters, and a lot of fans wearing twilight apparel. And how could you forget about the fans that screamed in the theater when the leading male roles took off their shirts. I also was not surprised at all to see older women in the movie theater “Twi-Moms”. I also took the liberty of checking the Twilight Moms Twitter page. The fans had discussions about the scenes that made them cry the most, and sharing pictures of themselves at the premiere. The extent to which these women love this series is at times scary. After seeing the midnight premiere of Breaking Dawn I found myself disappointed. I had read all of the books, which I loved. Going into the film I was expecting to be disappointed since the films in the past had not lived up to my expectations except for Eclipse. I feel that although they mostly stuck to the book some scenes were dragged out to fill time so they could create two movies. The first half of the movie went so slow. I also found the added comedy to not do anything for the story. I was not going to the theater to laugh, I wanted to see the story depicted in the novel itself. I feel that if they had made the movie into one film I would have been less disappointed because they would have had to cut out all of the unnecessary fluff that was added to the film. I went with one of my friends and as soon as we got out of the theater we turned to each other and talked about how the comedy was stupid. To get an outside perspective on the fourth film I created a survey to see if others felt the same way I did.
From my survey I found that 11 out of the 21 people that I surveyed had read the twilight saga novels. From the survey many of my respondents said that they went to see the films because they had read the novels, and a few went because they heard the films were good. In a question I asked regarding the comparison of the novels to the films many of my respondents stated that they felt that the films did not suck you into it as much and there was a lack of detail and gives you an emotional connection to the characters like the novel has. When asking if the film lived up to their expectations I had very mixed reviews like I saw on social media websites. Some fans loved it, and others hated it. One of my respondents said, “It was slow and dragged a lot. Some parts were good but it definitely did not live up to my expectations.” From my research I have found that the majority of fans that were fans of the books find that the films are not true to the novels. Although the films can have parts that are true to the novels, the added content, or content skipped really disappoints the fans. Regardless of if you liked the movie or not people went to see it and fans would continue to go see it. Some of my respondents expressed that they are seeing the films because they feel obligated to since they read the books and saw the previous ones. This speaks for itself in showing how much this phenomenon has influenced our culture, we feel such a connection to the series that even though we know we may be disappointed by the film we will still go to see it.
Having read all the Twilight books, I was not excited for the Breaking Dawn movie at all. It was my least favorite book and I thought the movie would just remind me how much I didn’t like it. After going to see the movie I was pleasantly surprised and that seemed to be a popular reaction with all the people I interviewed. When doing this assignment my main goal was to get a critique of the movie from my interviewees. I decided to interview fans of the books and movies after they had seen Breaking Dawn. I wanted to find out the reasons behind why they liked the books or movies and what they thought of the new one. I interviewed 4 of my friends and my mom, who happens to love the books and movies. I then also went to the movie myself and observed the Twilight fans. I went to see Breaking Dawn with my mom and sister who I have gone to see all of them with. What I found interesting about this time I went was that literally everyone there was with their mom, or it was a group of middle-aged women. There was not one group of teenagers there and there was one boy. I just found this interesting because we discussed the Twi-Moms in class and they were definitely out and about. So after noticing this I asked my mom why she liked the series. She responded saying that “It’s a good romantic story, and it is the story everyone wants. Everyone wants to be treated like a princess and be the center of attention.” I think that this is why many of the Twi-Moms like the series because it is a great love story that everyone wished they had. After seeing Breaking Dawn I interviewed my friends who saw the movie. A popular theme I saw with them was that they thought this was one of the best ones. When I asked why one respondent said “I loved everything. I was so excited to see Bella get transformed, the baby, and the sex scene, and it all met my expectations.” Another respondent said “I really liked this one because it was different from the rest of the movies, and it kept me on the edge of my seat, I couldn’t wait to see what happened.” The other three people mostly said they really liked this one because it was the closest to the book. Maybe it was because the final book was split up into two movies, but I thought that was well. The book fans really like the movies better when they are true to the book. “This movie included every important part, not like the first one,” said one respondent, “and that’s why I think the first one was horrible.”Being a Twilight book fan I always hear how bad the movies are. After this movie I was expecting the same reaction, but most of the people I talked to really had a positive reaction towards it. Whether my friends who I interviewed had a positive or negative reaction to the movie they all went to see if for one reason, the romance. Every person I interviewed mentioned that one of the reasons they love the Twilight series is because of the romance between Bella and Edward. My mom said “When I first heard that the story was about vampires I did not want to read it, but when I started I couldn’t stop because of the romance story with Bella and Edward.” Another respondent said “I like the romance of Twilight. There isn’t that kind of love in the world, and it seems only fictional characters can have that love, and that is why I read the books.” Many of my friends seem to love Twilight because it is a great escape from reality. I think this is why most of the fans love the series and why it is such a popular one.
I went to see Breaking Dawn Wednesday the 23rd at 1:00 pm. The audience surprised me. I expected there to be a lot of teenage girls but there were a number of teenage boys and ‘twi-moms,’ with at least six sitting right in front of me with their teenage daughters. I got to the theater late and didn’t have much time to talk to the twi-moms, as I would’ve like to in order to see what they liked about the series and their expectations for the film. Instead, I talked to: Brittany, Alice, Joe, and Brian, all of whom are juniors in high school. They are all just friends. I was mainly interested in why Joe and Brian were seeing the movie since twilight tends to attract more of a female audience. Basically what I got from them was they were bored, the girls wanted to see it, and they found the previous films hilarious and thought they would get a good laugh from this one. I guess this is a typical reaction since I know other guys who have only seen the movies to make fun of them. Brittany and Alice were more enthusiastic about the film because they loved the story. I also learned they are both Team Edward. Brittany was particularly interested in seeing the honeymoon scene and also what Renesmee would look like, since some cgi would be used and not a real baby. Alice on the other hand is a huge fan of Alice Cullen, and yes, it is because they have the same name, so she just wanted to see all the Alice scenes and expressed how Alice needed to have more screen time. I didn’t get to ask more questions since the movie was starting and unfortunately was not able to ask this group any follow-up questions since they left the theater the second the film ended. I stayed behind to watch the scene in the credits. Interestingly, most of the audience members left the theater before this scene, either implying they were unaware of it or that they had seen Breaking Dawn before and didn’t need to see this scene again. It was funny because I told a twi-mom sitting next to me, who was preparing to leave, that there was one more scene and see immediately sat down with an extremely happy look on her face. I managed to ask her if liked the film and she simply said she loved it and wanted part 2 to be released already.
My aunt can be considered a twi-mom. I saw her on Thanksgiving and although she had yet to see Breaking Dawn she had every intention of doing so with a group of friends when they had free time. She didn’t start reading the books until after her divorce about two years ago and feel in love with them. She told me this was because she thought they were good books and liked the romance in them. In regards to the movies, she was not shy when she said she loved them because of the werewolf, or Taylor Lautner. It just so happened we were watching Ellen on Thanksgiving and the majority of the principle cast of Breaking Dawn were the guests. When Taylor Lautner came out my aunt stopped what she was doing and started watching the show, which she previously had no interest in. At least for my aunt, the appeal simply seems to come from the actors who she called “hot” in front of her nine and eleven year old sons. In general though she seemed shy about talking about the series too much and only hinted at her involvement with it. She did mention there are times when she got together with other moms, open a bottle of wine, and start watching a movie or two. This shows that the series has become a social event for her and her friends (roughly 35-40 years old). I have also read the books and seen the movies so often my aunt will talk about them with me and wants to know what I think, even though I am not a huge fan of the series. It seems to have become a part of her life and to a certain extent I feel that her divorce was a factor in her liking the books (and the werewolf) since it is a romance and, as she said, has hot guys. I think it would be interesting to actually see how she interacts with her group of friends while watching the films and their reactions to them.
It is no secret that eccentricity and hype often accompany Twilight fans, especially when a new film is on the verge of premiering. Twilight fans very quickly made a name for themselves and established a well known presence in the media world. I was therefore, not expecting to be all that surprised during this audience research assignment. I assumed that there would be a huge outpouring of fan responses and reactions to the film and I was sure that theatres would be very hectic. Since I didn’t actually view audiences at the theatre on premier night or in the days following the premiere, I do not have a first hand account of what I am sure was pure madness. I did however, witness the ways in which Twilight fandom reaches far beyond the big screen. For my audience research study I decided to take a look at the Breaking Dawn Page on Facebook. I was curious to see how the audience’s reactions and passion for the Twilight series transpired into the social media world. Upon looking at the site I realized that there were many different routes I could take and ways I could approach the research. There were several posts leading up to the premiere and following the premiere that generated a lot comments and attention from fans/ non-fans. For time’s sake I decided to only look at one. I chose the post, which stated “ Become part of the worldwide phenomenon and see Breaking Dawn at Midnight! Get your tickets without leaving Facebook by clicking 'play' below!” and essentially performed a very minor content analysis study on the response it received. Although the actual post was made on November 17 all the comments under it were about people’s reactions to the film or people expressing their plans to attend the premiere. Upon looking at this post on Saturday November 26, I first noticed that just this one post alone received 2, 733 likes and had 861 comments. I had originally planned on going through half of the posts but I ended up cutting some of them out of the study due to irrelevancies, repeats, and language barriers. Therefore, I viewed 342 comments. In viewing these comments I was most interested in finding out what people thought of the film. Did they love it or did they hate it? Were they satisfied with the production or did they have issues with how it was portrayed? I didn’t just want to focus on that though. I also wanted to see if the page attracted more females or males and I of course wanted to see whether fans supported Team Edward or Team Jacob. My findings showed that the majority of people loved the movie. Of the 342 comments I looked at 187 demonstrated love of the movie. Many of the comments were along the same line as this, “it was awesome I wanted to watch my 3rd time today but it was sold out again:(:(:(BUMMER”
Although I did not think to record the number of people that expressed disappointment in how long they have to wait for the second part to come out, I noticed that many of the fans that enjoyed the movie hated the fact that they have to wait a whole year for the next one. Posts that included these responses were similar to, “oh my gosh !!!!!!! i love part 1 . it really it sucks part 2 is coming out NEXT YEAR !!!! srry but i kinda think its retarded to have it next year cause we might not even remember part 1 when part 2 comes out . just saying”. Similar, to those that loved it, those that hated it were passionate about and open in expressing their disappointment. There were 30 comments that expressed disapproval of the movie. One viewer stated, “Everyone giving this horrible movie great reviews are either teenage girls or have horrible taste in films! That was awful and a waste of my money! I know I won't be spending any money on part 2. So so disappointed :(“ These findings did not surprise me all that much. I expected the “love” response to outweigh the “hate” however I wasn’t expecting it to be such an extreme difference. I thought it was very interesting that many of the comments considered Breaking Dawn to be the best of all the movies and that people were very pleased with how true it stayed to the book. Furthermore, I was not very surprised to see that the page received significantly more responses from females than males. According to my analysis 272 of the comments were posted by female profiles while only 56 were posted by men (there’s a slight miscalculation between that and the total number of posts that I looked at because some people would post several separate comments and so I did not include those in this calculation). Although I wasn’t surprised by these findings I was actually rather surprised to see that that many men took the time to post about this movie. This may be rather stereotypical of me but I assumed most guys had absolutely no interest in the movie. Last but not least, I did not come up with much in the Edward versus Jacob debate since people were more focused on talking about there opinions of the movie but I did fid that 9 people were for team Edward and 10 were for Team Jacob.
For the Twilight research, I decided to do an anonymous participation observation of tweets before and after the midnight showing of the newest movie. I looked at the categories of Team Edward versus the tweets of Team Jacob. One thing I was expecting was that both categories would be trending in the country. However, this wasn’t the case, which was really surprising. Perhaps people were too tired after the movie to tweet their thoughts about Edward and Jacob. I was looking for general reactions towards each character and if fans were still enthusiastic with Edward and Jacob after the latest film. I checked into Twitter a day before Breaking Dawn was being released just to gage what I would see as the time gets closer to the premier. There were a lot of people saying they just bought shirts and a marker and could not wait to start preparing for the next night. Most tweets did not have much to say other than “Let’s go Team Jacob” and “Can’t wait for Team Edward to be better than Team Jacob.” One thing I did learn was that people love just one of the characters and there is no middle ground there. It seemed that if you liked both Edward and Jacob that you were not a real fan. Twitter is a tougher place to have a forum because you are restricted in how many characters you can use. So there was rarely any back and forth banter unless people wrote that they were both Team Edward and Team Jacob. There were obviously more Twitter posts the day of the midnight release. I decided to look at Twitter again at 11 p.m. to see what the fans were tweeting about as they were waiting for the premiere. It was interesting to see the spectacle Twilight has become. Some theaters had a contest before the showing where they would ask questions about characters and plots from past movies and if you answered it right there would be a prize. People loved tweeting about this. Team Edward fans were saying they refused to answer any questions that involved Jacob. Talk about dedication. I was hoping for some pictures of people all dressed up but that was something that wasn’t tweeted. People were excited and there were a bunch of tweets that said “one hour to the midnight showing..time to put the phone away to focus on Team Edward!” It was weird seeing people stop tweeting so early before show time since this is such a phone and media-centric world. The amount of tweets after the movie were shockingly low. Maybe this was because everyone was exhausted from staying up late or waiting for this day for a long time. No one said anything like, “I used to be on Team Edward but now I am switching to Team Jacob.” The movie did not really change many opinions but the tweets were kept generic and not full of content at all. Most of the tweets were, “Great job Team Edward” or “Way to go Team Jacob.” These tweets were similar to the tweets hours before the premiere. No one gave a lot of insight, perhaps to not ruin the movie for those that have not seen it yet. Twitter was not the best way of finding out information on feelings towards the movies other then the obscure love they had for Edward and Jacob. I figured that even thought I was looking at just Team Edward and Team Jacob that I would get a little more insight then I did. Again I was shocked that those categories were not trending but it did end late and people were probably up all day for the anticipation. We always talk about how crazy Twilight fans are so maybe they were mentally drained after watching Breaking Dawn.
Liz, a senior in college, enjoys watching the twilight movies. She never read the books but has seen every movie in theaters. Even though, she is not a twihard, she does not go with the Edward or Jacob mold. She would rather choose Bella. She does not like Bella the character because she nods her head too much and pauses a lot, and the fact that she is really awkward. “She nods her head and keeps her mouth open….which makes things really awkward.” “I never really wanted to see the movies, until my sister convinced me to go with her. I wasn’t really into the whole vampire thing I thought it was really stupid. It didn’t grab my attention. But my sister made me go with her and then I wanted to see the other ones, and kept watching them on TV while they were on.” Well goes to show you don’t have to be a vampire fan to watch these movies. Your sister can just drag you to the show and then you are hooked forever. Since she didn’t see the movies I asked her what surprised her. “I knew she was going to get pregnant because my sister ruined that for me, and everyone else on the planet who read the books.”
Casey, a junior in college, she is a pretty big fan. “I’ve seen all the movies but I have not finished the last book, I like harry potter more.” When asked why wont you finish the last book she said “I went back to school so I haven’t had time to free read.” She enjoyed the last movie. She was going to see it on the day it came out but she had to work. So she did not see it till a week later. When asked if she was a Jacob or an Edward, she says it depends. I am a Jacob, but it depends who is nicer at the time. Which one is “better for Bella”. But it’s a hard decision for her to make. So I asked her whom she would have married if she were Bella. And she said Edward because Bella likes him more. Her favorite part of the movie was the honeymoon, but not the sex part. She liked this part for the same reason I did, Rio was absolutely beautiful, and we both would love to live in that house. She believed it was an accurate portrayal of the book even though they left out some parts. She forgot exactly what they missed, but she said they missed a lot in the beginning and just skipped around a lot. She also loved the nightmare wedding dress better than the actual one. The birth scene however, was really fucked up (wow the 16 year old sister of mine has a dirty mouth). What was up with Edward biting through Bella and ripping out the placenta? That was utterly disgusting. She hates Bella, not the character just Kristen Stewart, because she has no emotion and is really awkward. Even though Bella is supposed to be awkward, she is more clumsy rather than painful to watch.
Alex, a Quinnipiac student, dragged her boyfriend with her to the movie. He however did not seem so excited about it. She is a big twilight fan, not a twihard though.. She has read all the books and the twilight movies are the only ones she sees in theaters. She is most definitely an Edward fan. She does not compare her boyfriend to him however. She is not going to break up with him because he cannot sparkle, or buy her an island. She enjoied the movie very much but was horribly grossed out by the birth scene.
One thing I realized while seeing the movies is that twilight fans are DIE HARD. I had a group of twimoms behind me and they were sobbing and laughing and cat calling every time the boys came on screen. It was absolutely obnoxious. They were all wearing their team Edward and Jacob tshirts, and had the collectible breaking dawn soda cup. The worst twihard woman I encountered was in the bathroom after the show. I also had one of the collectible cups, but that’s not the topic. She saw my cup and asked where I got it. I said the concession stand. Then she proceeded to tell me that she saw the midnight premier the night before, was already back to see it again, and she already had tickets for tomorrow. Can you say obsessed? I say welcome to the twilight fandom.
Though I still have not seen Breaking Dawn; I do plan on it! This research has actually been kind of fun. Excuse my late post, I did my interviewing rather unorganized because I did them in different places over the break and prior (This was actually an excellent excuse to see some friends I haven’t seen in a really long time, so that was a plus!) While the psychological phenomenon of fan forums and twihards does freak me out a bit, the way I found my information would probably freak people out too. (Yes, I interviewed about 5 or 6 people that I had asked prior to them viewing the film…. Then I SECRETLY stalked them on Facebook to see what their statuses would say. Creepy yes! But I found out some information that I did not find out while interviewing.
In my research I interviewed 4 females and 1 male. While trying to stay in the college demographics of my interviewees I found valuable information about the audience through the people I interviewed. (Them telling me about their particular groups which told me more about the audience than me solely using twilight fans that I knew willing to participate)
To give you an idea I basically asked.. 1. What was the male to female ratio in your group when you saw the film. 2. Who invited whom? Did you get “talked” into go or did you want to go? 3. Did you embrace the midnight showing? Buy tickets prior to the viewing? 4. What was your favorite part? 5. Did you like the Breaking Dawn movie rather than the book? Why? 6. Are you team Jacob or Edward and did this film reinforce your teams? 7. If you could tell me one thing, or describe the movie to me in 2 sentences what would you say?
I’ll get right to it for you. Only two of the groups said that they did not purchase tickets ahead of time. Only one of my friends that I interviewed admitted she saw the movie twice. The first time being the midnight showing. Not one person that I interviewed said they had been talked into going. Even my friend brooke who took her brother, dad, husband with her plus her mom and two mom friends said even the boys wanted to go! (see the males want in on it too!!) The male that I interviewed said that he did go with two other girls, but that he also wanted to go.
When it comes to favorite parts, I found this part a little interesting and I think maybe it had to tie in with the factor that many people like the books better for their “accuracy” and “details”. It seemed to be quite common that Breaking Dawn was kind of corny and drawn out. The parts of the story from the book that were very important were also made into something smaller in the film than what I thought they should’ve been. I had one interviewee say I would say this is the best movie so far. They have a lot more funding, so there is a lot of detail. The colors, displays, sets, etc. are all so beautiful and easy on the eyes. I didn't want the movie to end.” With that said, I noticed most of the favorite parts were geared toward the ending of the moving with the wedding and Bella having the baby. I guess this is also where the werewolves were outside and the imprinting on the baby. Brooke my friend who said she loved it, said her favorite part was the wedding when the song from the first movie kicked in while they were kissing at the altar. (HELLO SHE JUST GOT MARRIED hahaha so I thought that was ironic.
Everyone, I mean everyone said that the movie rein enforced there teams! Some quoted “Edward all the way Edward in the books, Edward in the movies.” .”Team Jacob all day, the movie didn’t change my opinion at all.” …and “well i was team edward based on the books but then the movies kind of portrayed him as a jerk because you aren't inside bella's head. So I switched to team jacob after i saw the second movie.” (All of those were girls answers by the way.) My guy friend got a little akward when I asked him if he was team Jacob or team Edward…rightfully so! LOL
I’ll go into detail some more in class, but I had a lot of fun with this and was actually quite surprised. Its interesting because I know everyone of the people I interviewed that are my friends have all read the books so it funny to see the lover of the movie and haters. I have some pictures for you that will make you laugh!
Ok, so my facebook stalking… Alicia- Braving the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn. And there are people with wolf masks. #terrified
Ashley- November 18 th 12:07 am Countdown to Twilight town is about to begin. #breakingdawnpremier (She commented, Hey! I wore my team Jacob shirt tonight.)
I will see The Lorax!! Taylor swift is the lead female voice!!! #breakingdawnpremier. November 17th 11;57 pm
Brooke: So I thought I was pretty much over Twilight since Vampire Diaries has taken over my life, but I think it's safe to say that my love for The Twilight Saga has been awakened. Breaking Dawn was epic. Oh, but I'm still Team Damon!¡!¡!¡!¡
She quoted on facebook "A trip down memory lane would only be fitting this week:
"In what strange parallel dimension would I ever have gone to prom of my own free will? If you weren’t a thousand times stronger than me, I would never have let you get away with this."
Side note: Kind of funny that I actually dreaded the idea of prom in high school too...so many parallels.."
As Twilight: Breaking Dawn part 1 made its way into theaters in mid-November the die-hard fans where gearing up to see the film. I personally have never understood these films, but people seem thrive on these ridiculous of love that are presented in the films. Breaking Dawn is magnifying a love story that has been building for years. I interviewed four friends from home, who have all seen the film more than once already. In addition I spoke with one friend’s boyfriend to get his perspective on the idea of seeing the film more than once. My question to them was did they see it with the same person(s), and if so did it change their experience. My friend Janet went with both her sisters and boyfriend to the midnight showing. She said getting her boyfriend to go was difficult, and after all him complaining it just was not worth it. The second time she went with her mom, which she thought would be fun. She said she thought that because other moms were into the films that hers would be to. It turned out to be an extremely awkward experience where her mom seemed to be out of her element. It was also strange for her to watch a sex scene with her mom right next to her. I talked to Janet’s boyfriend, Brian who said he did not mind the film, because just like the other ones that he was dragged to he was able to get a laugh out of how ridiculous it was. Brian said “the people who have seen it more than once need to get back to the real world.” My friend Ellie first saw the film with our friend Katie who is a self-described fanatic. Katie talked to her through the entire film not allowing her to watch in peace. Ellie is a fan, but not the kind I would expect to see the film twice. As strange as it seems, she saw the film by herself the second time. She waited a few days before going again “to let the crazies get it out of their system.” After seeing Breaking Dawn again Ellie said she would have seen the film again, but most likely after it came out on dvd. It was not worth spending the $9.00 twice, just because it is a popular film. At talked to Katie at the same time as Ellie, and she seemed disappointed about Ellie feelings toward the Movie. Katie told me that they had seen the other films together and never knew that Ellie felt that way. For my friend Lindsey, there has never been a love for the Twilight films yet she has seen them all, including Breaking Dawn. For her these movies are nothing more than something she watches because everyone else is watching them. The two times she has seen the film were both with “true fans” who wanted to talk about the movie for hours on end. She says she is the only one who did not turn into a drooling idiot in the theater. She said that maybe going with someone who is a bit mellow would have put her at ease, so she would not have to feel her adrenaline pumping in the crowd of screaming fans. Whether they were afraid to admit it or I talked to the wrong people, I got the general sense that people that saw the film more than once got roped into it, not because they are huge fans. Either way there are those fans who will see the film several times while in theaters and leave just as happy as they did the last time they saw it.
I’ve never been into the whole Twilight movement and I never really understood how people could react in this crazy, obsessive way towards a movie. So to investigate why audiences and crazed fans have developed a fixation to this saga I decided to watch the movies for myself, starting from the beginning. I had a very busy Wednesday watching the first three movies from start to finish as I witnessed the formation of the love triangle between Bella, Edward and Jacob. I then interviewed a couple of friends and family members that have seen the movies and some that have also read the books. During Thanksgiving I talked with two of my cousins that are in their late twenties and asked them why they enjoy Twilight so much. The older of the two, Tori, introduced her slightly younger sister, Gene, to the series. After seeing the first movie, they both became hooked, seeing each of the following three movies at their midnight releases. But it was Tori that began reading the books faithfully to fully understand Stephenie Meyer’s story. She then showed me a copy of the first book, which was coverless and appeared to have been through heavy usage. I asked her how the book ended up in that condition and she explained the numerous amounts of times that she had read the novel and how many times it ended up on the floor after falling asleep reading it. Then I proceeded to ask the world-renowned question, “team Edward or team Jacob?” Gene answered team Edward due to the fact that she really likes the love story that he shares with Bella. She became fascinated by the story because of the love that is expressed throughout, “Everyone should be able to feel this kind of love.” Tori responded team Jacob because of the amount of times he is shirtless in the movies. I then asked my roommate, Vanessa, who I know is an avid fan of the story since she tried to make me watch the first movie our freshman year. In asking her about how her Twilight fascination began I learned that her mother started her on the books. I found this rather funny because of all of the “twi-mom” stories that have been told in class. Her mother became “hooked” on the stories and insisted that Vanessa and her siblings read and watch the tale. I found this rather interesting so I asked Vanessa about her mother’s love of the series, and it was deeper than I thought. I discovered that her mom has Twilight fan pages bookmarked on her computer that she ever so often checks but never writes on. She also read all of the books to make sure that the content was appropriate for her 11 year old. Vanessa mentioned that her mother began Twilight was because she was looking for something to fulfill her reading need since Harry Potter ended. Another friend of mine, Jillian, also mentioned the ending of the Harry Potter collection being her reason to turn to Twilight. “It was a fantasy novel directed towards our age group.” She treated the Twilight saga just as she had Harry Potter by reading the books prior to watching the movies. When I asked her why does she think the Twilight has turned into a phenomenon, she responded, “it’s a soap opera for our generation…it reflects everyones inner romance.” I agree that the movies seem a bit soap opera-like because of the way that the plot drags and the different circumstances that test Bella and Edward’s relationship. The love triangle is the main reason for this comparison, as the saga becomes a large tug-of war and the audience chooses sides.
I interviewed another friend who went to the midnight release of the movie. “It was one of the loudest and most crowded theaters that I’ve ever been in. The amount of clapping, crying and noises I heard were unbelievable” said Katerina. At the midnight release she was accompanied by six other friends, three of which were guys. She described the guys that went as “comfortable” since they were able to make fun of the fact that they were going to see the first showing of the movie in New Haven. She also was an avid Twilight follower; reading the books and seeing every movie. “I started reading the first book and didn’t put it down for 2 days until I finished it; I was obsessed. I had to keep reading until I got to the third book, it just annoyed me.” When I asked her what she thought kept people coming back for more, she responded, “The cliffhangers at the end of the movies keep me interested, I just want to know what’s going to happen next, even though I already know since I read the books.” The research that I found rather interesting from interviewing friends and family was that Twilight was a rebound from Harry Potter. They both produced cult followings, but it seems that Twilight has received a larger backing from the community aged 30 and over, which includes the twi-moms. I really couldn’t believe how much moms are into this phenomenon until my roommate’s mother admitted to search various fan pages just to read what other people think. The Stephenie Meyer books were also crucial in the answers I got from the interviews. The actual story itself is what kept interested and wanting to see the movies in order to see how accurate the film would be.
Despite being a Twilight fan I have not had the time to go see the film. I read first three books and watched the movies. I have to say I enjoyed the film interpretations despite the exaggerated acting by some of the main characters (this could discourage non-fans from watching any future adaptations of the books). Despite this I enjoy very much every movie. I considered myself a fan but nowhere near the fans that take things to another extreme. I feel that I have gained enough knowledge in all the media courses I have I have taken through my four years in college. I have learned to view different media texts with an opened mind. I have also learned to analyze media critically and view them from every perspective. The things I have learned in class have definitely influenced what I think of fans and the kind of fan I consider myself to be. In terms of picking sides of which team I belong to I have to say I don’t belong on any of the teams. However, if I had to pick a side I would go for team Edward because the on screen portrayal of Jacob totally ruined it the appeal for the ware team. In the book Myers does a good job with Jacob’s character and makes it hard for fans to choose. Personally, I made my decision of picking a team after I watched the movie, because I didn’t feel it necessary just by reading the book. In order to further look at the way other fans react to the Twilight phenomenon, I gathered a few of my friends who are fans of both the books and the movies and asked them a several questions in relation to the last installment of the series. My friends Ava, Gaby, Isabel, Vanessa, Oscar, Jessica, and Marissa all agreed to be interviewed by me. The interview took place at my friend Ava’s house on November 22, 2011 at 3:18pm. The reason I chose this group of friends as opposed to other friends is because three of them consider themselves big fans, three are somewhat fans, and one of them is not a fan.
I asked my friends what were they’re thoughts of the film? Ava, Jessica, and Marissa said they loved the film so much they watched it three times and are going to see it again. Analyzing these responses I deducted that they can be considered obsessed fans of the series. Gaby, Oscar, Isabel, and Vanessa said they liked and enjoyed the movie, but did not go see it a second time. This was very interesting because every participant liked the movie with the difference that a few of them did not feel the need of watching the movie more than once. I also asked if they were fans of the books? They all responded, “Yes” to this question. I asked them what they thought of the books? They said that the main reason the watched the movies was because the really like the books and wanted to see the love story on screen. I asked if they felt that the movie did the books justice? Five responded “yes” and the other two said the movies were missing a few elements from the books that could have made the movies better. I also asked every person when did they become Twilight fans? One said as soon as the first book came out, three said they became fan when they heard of a possible movie adaptation, the remaining said they became fans before the second movie adaptation was released. The reason for this was because they became curious of what the whole phenomenon was about. I was intrigued to find out their reaction to the latest installment of the series and asked them; what did they think of Breaking Dawn? They all responded that it was by far the movie relating to the series by far.
I asked on a scale of 1-10 how would they rate the movie. The average score was 9.5 among the participants. I also asked what was the best part of the movie to them? They couldn’t decide between the sex scene between Bella and Eduard, and the birth scene. They said they love the effects in the movie and how grotesque some of the scenes were. I asked them If there was anything they would change from the film and 6 of the participants said “no”, and the remaining said the movie went a little too fast and if some things weren’t left out the movie would have been better. I concluded my questionnaire by asking them how they felt about the Twilight phenomenon? They said the movies and the books deserve all the attention they received from the public and that they wished Myers would create come up another creation like this one. Finally, I came up with the conclusion after my findings is that regardless of how many books and movies are released there will be fan that will be on both extremes whether they are hard fans or they are just people who enjoy a love story without being obsessed.
In terms of Twilight fandom, I would regard myself as a distant admirer. Years ago, I read the Saga cover to cover and adored every word. Eventually, I jumped onto the movie bandwagon, but with less enthusiasm as another fan or “twi-hard” would, having never seen any of the films during a midnight release or in theatres at all. My relationship with Twilight has been quiet but consistent. Really, the relationship I have with the vampire love story is much like that of a secret lover that all your friends disapprove of. You try to sever ties, but just don’t have the heart to bring yourself to do it, so you further propel yourself down the rabbit hole. However, recently, I’ve learned more about this Saga that has shed some new light. Through a variety of academic readings, exercises and discussions, the romance of Bella and Edward, as well as the wild success of both the film and book versions of their story, has been opened up to reveal surprising themes, and has taught me to observe the Twilight phenomenon with a more critical perspective.
Recently, the latest installment of the Saga hit theatre, and it is no surprise that Breaking Dawn Part I was one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Excitement peaked to the point of die-hard fans in the Los Angeles area camped in tents for days prior to the showing in order to promise them a seat during the first show. This soon became known as a “movement” called Occupy Twilight. Quickly, this went viral on the social media circuit and became a top trend on Twitter, acquiring this spot with a simple hash tag (#occupytwilight). Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to observe the midnight showing, or take part in any of the pre-release chaos. However, I have seen most of Breaking Dawn Part I via a bootleg copy that I streamed online. Since I only have my partial observations, I looked to other’s opinions, fan comments and articles critiquing the film to gauge if others loved or loathed the latest Twilight film.
Overall, “twi-hards,” fans and critics agreed that Breaking Dawn broke the traditional Twilight mold in almost every way possible. Due to the previous film’s success, Breaking Dawn had a higher budget, and was able to transform set into a magical place. Everything with Break Dawn was more elaborate, from the wedding, to the wolves; fans agreed that it was far above par. Partially due to the improved acting within the core of the cast. Many stated and I agree that the cast has become much deeper emotionally, and their skills as acting professionals have turned them into awkward acting amateurs into vibrant and dynamic as their individual character and as part of the cast as a whole. Additionally; a general consensus was that the novel transcended the screen. Many who saw the movie during its initial release agreed that Breaking Dawn was the first of the films to successful follow the novel. This could be due to the split of the final installment of two parts. Not only was this financially wise, but also allowed the markers of the film to have more room for detail, something fans have been begging for sine the original Twilight movie hit the silver screen. Another major discussion point of the film was the rating, and the scenes that determined such. Originally, Breaking Dawn was going to hit theatres with an “R” rating. However, this would eliminate a good portion of Twilight’s demographic from seeing the film. In order to get a PG-13 rating, cuts to vital scenes were made. For example, the much anticipated sex scene between Edward and Bella during their honeymoon was less intense than many fans would have liked. Breaking Dawn did show the broken bed, and the room in disarray; however, even the actors are quoted as being disappointed with what made it into the final version of the film. Although the scene still proved the point it was making, the detail in the novel gave more detail, which fans favor. On the other hand, the scene of the birth of Edward and Bella’s daughter did satisfy fans. Although it was gory, and was edited in order to protect a mild rating, it translated the novel’s text to the screen in a manner that many fans appreciated. Several sources have said that it is one of their favorite scenes in the film as a whole, which makes me eager to finish the film and experience the scene for myself.
Breaking Dawn clearly set out to achieve a goal and did so. Across the board there has been more praise than attitude toward the film. This being considered, it isn’t shocking that Breaking Dawn still holds the #1 spot at box offices, and has raked in record breaking amounts of cash. The Twilight Saga has become a little more relevant and reputable with the addition of this film, and it is safe to say that the love for Twilight that many possess will live as long as both Edward and his new bride Bella.
I stood in line and glanced around at my surroundings. Men and women of all ages stood single file, awaiting to hand their tickets to the woman at the front of the line. I finally moved forward and proceeded to walk into the theatre. I glanced up at the escalating rows of seats where I saw a majority of women in the theatre however surprisingly a reasonable amount of men. I am at the second day showing of the newest film addition to the Twilight saga: Breaking Dawn. I expected to see more, for lack of a better word, “tweens”, although, once I realized we were at the 11:00 p.m. showing, it made more sense that the audience was mainly adults. The bookends between my 2 friends and me were 2 proud “Twi-moms” awaiting to see the film. One was with her husband, and one was with her friend. The most popular demographic for the Twilight films are the “tweens” and the mothers. As I watched the film, I began to wonder, why do women like these films over men? As the film continued, I began to ask myself, what is the attraction to these films? I also asked myself, why does everyone like Edward more than Jacob? These are all questions I decided to ask people after they watched the film Twilight: Breaking Dawn. Here are my findings: First, I interviewed two mothers who went to see the film. One, a “Twi-mom”, the other has seen the films but is not a fan of them. Similarly, they both said the film met their expectations and have seen the previous Twilight films. The non “Twi-mom” said her favorite element of the film was the character relationships but not for the most obvious reason. She said, “Jacob showed true love of Bella by not being selfish and taking her needs above his own. He said he would help Bella in any way he could even though he didn’t approve of her choices. Jacob was always trying to protect Bella and always put her first.” This non “Twi mom” and I agreed about being on “Team Jacob”. This made me realize that for people who are not really fans of Twilight films, nor have read the books, are usually drawn to Jacob. He is a relatable character, a loveable character, and a great suitor for Bella. However, if you were a fan of the Twilight films and/or book series, you seem to be “Team Edward”. Both a “Twi-mom” and a fan of the films (who has not read the book series) are “Team Edward” all the way! “I have been a Team Edward fan since day one. I love the connection he and Bella have.” “I just felt the connection between Edward and Bella. It’s a true love story between a human and a vampire.” After speaking with other Twilight fans, whether they read the book series or just saw the movies, all dedicated fans vote for Edward.
When trying to find people to interview who saw Breaking Dawn, I could not find one male that I knew that saw the film. I know men who have seen the films due to a Twi-fan girlfriend, however, none rushed to the theatres to see Breaking Dawn. Why was that? I decided to ask my Twi-moms and Twilight female fans if they thought Twilight is geared towards men or women and asked them why they thought that. Here were some of their responses: “The men in the movie are hot and good looking which makes it a very appealing movie for women. It is also a true romance between a vampire and a girl who feels she doesn’t fit into her human life but yet feels comfortable in a vampire world.” “Women-its simple. Edward and Jacob are beautiful. They both would do anything for Bella which is what makes this movie so romantic.” “Women. Because of the attractiveness of Jacob and Edward, because there are no female characters for the men to admire. Bella is too miserable, needy, and desperate. She comes off clingy. I don’t like her. She is not that attractive. She is not funny, cute, or beautiful. She is a plain high school girl obsessed with a guy from high school.” With responses like this, we see that women love the romantic element of the film over the vampire drama element. Romance, relationships, and good-looking guys are what drive fans to the theatres every time a new film to the series comes out. In conclusion, whether audiences liked the film or not, the film left them with a cliffhanger ending. An ending that leaves viewers wanting more and now awaiting the final film to this 5-part saga.
Samantha Howard Part 1 of 2
ReplyDeleteSince I am a Twilight fan I did go to the midnight showing at the theaters in North Haven, and I absolutely loved the movie. Obviously the movies keep getting better and better because of the growing budget, but in this one it really stuck to the book which I was happy about. I decided to interview girls ages 20-22, like myself, who are Twilight fans but not die-hard-Twi-hards. Basically I wanted to see if they were comfortable enough with themselves to admit that they loved Twilight, what they thought of the pre-teens obsessed with Twilight and whether most fans in their early 20s have read the books or are just interested in the movies.
I interviewed Rose Schaeffer (21), Stephanie Reime (21), Jara Richards (21), Carissa Wilson (22), Rachel Durante (22), Tara Macula (21), Meghan Deneen (22) and myself (21). Meghan and Rose were unable to see the movie at midnight on Thursday, but saw it on Friday. Everyone else saw it on Thursday at midnight in North Haven.
One of my questions was how they perceived the teens that dressed up as Twilight characters for the midnight showing of the movie. Everyone, except Rose Schaeffer, agreed that the teens that dress up as Twilight characters to go to the movies at midnight are embarrassing and lame. Oddly enough they all answered that while they think costumes aren’t okay, they see nothing wrong with someone wearing a Twilight t-shirt to the movie. Rose Schaeffer disagreed completely and said: “I think it’s really great to get into the movies… I’m an avid Harry Potter fan and go to all the movies dressed up at midnight so I respect those fans.”
The question of team Edward or team Jacob gave little insight into my research questions but it was a fun one nonetheless. Stephanie, Rose, Jara, Meghan and myself are all team Edward. Rachel and Carissa are team Jacob. Tara stands alone in her own interesting category. She claims to be team Edward with the books, but team Jacob with the movies. I guess I did learn that they were comfortable enough with themselves to admit to being enough of a fan to be on a team.
Samantha Howard Part 2 of 2
ReplyDeleteI went to see the movie at midnight with Stephanie, Jara and Rachel. We didn’t dress up or wear t-shirts, but we weren’t afraid to bump into anyone we knew or to tell our other friends where we would be that night. Carissa and Meghan went with their boyfriends, Rose went with her mother and best friend, and Tara went with a big group of friends. Since everyone I interviewed went with either a group of familiar faces or their boyfriend I think it is safe to assume that they’re not ashamed and trying to hide the fact that they went to see Breaking Dawn at midnight. Nobody went to an out of the way theater, nobody lied to their friends about their whereabouts and nobody sounded uncomfortable telling me their plans to see Breaking Dawn.
The most intriguing part of my research was the question of whether these girls simply liked the movies or if they had read all of the books as well. I saw the first movie then decided to read the books, so when I began reading I already had the characters engrained in my head. Stephanie, Jara, Rose, Tara and Carissa all read all four books before seeing any of the movies. Tara, Jara and myself actually re-read Breaking Dawn Parts I and II before going to see it. Meghan and Rachel both started the first book, Twilight, in high school, but never finished it. Rachel was very excited to see the movie, because despite the media surrounding it she still didn’t know what was going to happen.
Through my research I learned that although girls in their early 20s are comfortable enough to admit to loving Twilight, they still have their boundaries on what they deem okay and not okay. To this group the list of okays is: wearing t-shirts, picking a team, going to see the midnight showing and reading the books. The shorter lit of not okays is: dressing up as Twilight characters for the midnight showing of the movie. I think the girls in their 20s that love Twilight seem to enjoy it but not take it as seriously as younger fans or the Twi-moms.
Ashley Heiberger
ReplyDeletePart I
A little embarrassed to admit it, but I have already seen Breaking Dawn twice. I went to the midnight showing with friends in North Haven on Thursday night and then in South Dakota on Saturday with my sisters. In my opinion, this is the best Twilight movie because firstly, Kristen Stewart has emotions! Secondly, it is more intense with blood and fighting. What I did for my research was write out twenty hyperlinks on notecards leading people to my survey on Surveymonkey.com. On the back of the notecards, I mentioned it would take five minutes and would help me for my audience research. I handed ten out in North Haven, and ten in Sioux Falls, SD at my theater in town (only $6.50 for a movie here!). My three friends took the survey who went to the show with me, and then twelve out of the twenty random people from the theaters! I had a total of fifteen respondents, more than I had thought. I mainly handed them out to women ranging from 20-40. There were two Twi-moms at the midnight showing who were more than happy to help me with my survey. However, I did hand one notecard out to a group of men who looked about 30 years old, and did not respond on Surveymonkey.com because no males took my survey, no surprise there.
What I learned from my research is how involved Twilight characters are in people’s lives. I asked the question, “Do you ever compare yourself, or your relationship, to that of Bella Swan?” Eight people answered yes, and seven people answered no. For yes, I asked for a response. The answers vary from, “Yes because my boyfriend is sexy, strong and pasty white like Edward,” to, “Bella is the complete equivalent of what girls should aspire to be like in a relationship.” Another example that stuck out was: “The fact she has had a lot of life changing moments in such a short period of time, a lot of people relate to that.” The rest of the comments for that certain question summed up that girls dream of having an “Edward” or that perfect relationship.
Another question was, “Do you have a favorite Twilight movie? If so, what one?” Seven people said Breaking Dawn: Part 1, three people said Eclipse, and two people said Twilight. The other three respondents do not have a favorite movie. Breaking Dawn is number one according to my survey.
My main question for my survey was, “What attracts you to Breaking Dawn: Part I? (May choose more than one).” “Interest in Twilight” was chosen ten times, “Media impacted me” was chosen six times, “Popcorn” was chosen five times, “Friends” and “Family” were chosen three times, while someone chose “Other” and wrote, “HUGE FAN!!” Which, I would think would go under “Interest in Twilight…”
Ashley Heiberger
ReplyDeletePart II
The second main question was, “What do you think has made Twilight so popular with the audience?” My respondents either said because of the media, the actor’s looks and/or the love triangle. Some examples are: “The love between Bella and Edward<3333333,” “The plot and media hype about characters,” “Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner are hot. The story line is very interesting,” “The ultimate battle of true love,” “I wish it were the books, but I know it is about "who" plays the role.” I learned from reading these that media does impact the audience because more than one respondent mentioned the media hype and also, women love seeing the love triangle (especially when played by such an attractive cast).
The majority saw Breaking Dawn with their friends. Twelve people have seen all the movies, while three have not seen them all. Eleven people have read all the books, two people have read two, and another two have not read any. Again, my survey included all females. The age ranges were from 15-39, while seven out of the fifteen participants were ages 16-20. There were some respondents with no high school degree and four respondents with a bachelor’s degree. The bulk of my respondents had some college but no degree.
This research shed light on the Twilight phenomenon because it went in-depth with the real fans of Twilight; the fans that stood in line to see Part 1 of the final Twilight movie. Also, open-ended questions truly helped because these fans are definitely willing to talk about something they obviously care strongly for. That is why I believe they were willing to partake in my survey. Overall, whether it is a fifteen year old or a Twi-mom, I believe that a Twilight fan is a Twilight fan and they all love it for the same reason…the love battle and the fantasy of an “Edward relationship.”
In order to acquire realistic and valuable insight on the fans of Twilight: Breaking Dawn, I decided to utilize the media outlet, community, source and abundantly used social networking site, Facebook. It is arguable that the rise and dependence on social media has changed our social world. Individuals are now more apt and more able to share their ideas, likes, dislikes and comments. Indeed, almost any product, music group, book, restaurant, clothing line, etc can find endless ‘reviews’ by real consumers on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI used the official Facebook page for Twilight: Breaking Dawn as my database for fan research. This page made the process easier, as they do not allow followers to post random comments on its wall. Instead, the page asked questions and fan responded by commenting on the question. Therefore, the page reveals specific, categorized details about Twilight: Breaking Dawn fans.
I looked at the page on November 22, 2011, after Twilight: Breaking Dawn had premiered. I only analyzed posts between the dates November 13th to November 21st. On Nov. 13th, the page began the one week countdown to the premier. From that date, until yesterday, there was a total of 4,921 “likes” on comments by Twilight: Breaking Dawn and 1,482 comments on the questions posed by the page. In addition, 35,924 people on Facebook “like” the page itself and 12,064 are “talking” about Twilight: Breaking Dawn on Facebook. These numbers alone attest to the fandom and anticipation of Twilight: Breaking Dawn.
After going through many of the comments, it became clear that the vast majority of people who commented or “liked” the questions were female. It should also be noted that many of these individuals had a photo of a Twilight: Breaking Dawn character, as their default Facebook picture. The general age range of the fans was unclear based on names and Facebook defaults alone. However, based on the comments themselves, it was evident that some fans were middle school- high school age while others were past retirement. One fan divulged, “It was a great movie. My daughter and I saw it Friday matinee and I am past 70, so…”
The comments also revealed that many of Twilight: Breaking Dawn fans are from foreign countries as they discussed the different release dates for various countries: “yah.. Bt sad to hear dat it wil release in India on 25th...” Another fan boasted, “I saw it already last night at 00.01 am in Holland!!”
Two days prior to the premier, the Facebook page for Twilight: Breaking Dawn continued its countdown by posting: “48 hours…!!” One hundred and four fans responded with comments that ranged from excitement to obsession and anticipatory anxiety. One fan stated, “Cant wait very excited been waitin for months now it will be here two days lol im bout to cry so love the movies and books ill watch it over and over and over 1000X again and be surprised everytime :D energetically excited.”
After the premier of the movie, the page asked “So… Did it meet your expectations? Opinions please!!” This question certainly generated a research database for the continued commitment of Twilight: Breaking Dawn fans. These comments were much longer and more in-depth, showing the true dedication fans have to Twilight: Breaking Dawn. The phrase “I loved it,” was profusely used by fans to describe their infatuation with the film. Fans even admitted how emotionally moved they were by the film: “I cried when Jacob did..and I cried at the wedding....and I cried at the birthing scene.....and I cried when Edward yelled at Bella...I cried a lot!!! But it was the best movie ever....except my friends mom wouldn't shut up :p.” There were of course a few outliers who were disappointed with certain elements of the film; however, it should be noted that the overwhelming opinion of fans was one of adoration and anticipation for the release of Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part II.
ReplyDeleteBased on my research on the fandom of Twilight: Breaking Dawn, it is clear that the fans are supportive, devoted and energetic about the film. The bulk of the fan base is female but definitely ranges in age. The research also reveals that the fans are enthusiastic and perhaps a tad bit crazy!
In another media course I am currently taking, we focus heavily on the role of fans. Today, series like the Twilight Saga or Harry Potter garner these cult followings that exceed the idea of someone just simply “enjoying” a media text. Now that we are nearing closer to the end of the Twilight series, the hype surrounding “Breaking Dawn” is even more intense. At this point, I personally don’t believe that the fans are concerned with the content of the film or with how it is made or presented. I think fans are so consumed with the Edward-Bella-Jacob triangle, that quality is not so much an issue as making sure that the romance is accurately portrayed.
ReplyDeleteThus, in order to conduct my research I quickly four women who saw the movie with me or during the same week. I interviewed my sister, Emily and her friend, Samantha, who both saw the midnight showing at a theater on Long Island. I interviewed my two friends, Erin and Gabriella, who saw the film with me the Saturday after its release. I also interviewed my mother, Phyllis, who has only seen the films when they have come out on DVD. She is the only one who hasn’t seen “Breaking Dawn.” The list of questions I asked is as follows:
1) Have you read the books? If so, did you read them before or after seeing the first film? Which do you prefer and why?
2) How would you describe your level of “fandom”? (check all that apply)
a. I just watch the films and/or read the books.
b. I purchase memorabilia
c. I participate in fan forums online and create “fan fiction”
d. I am part of a fan club with others in my community
3) How often do you watch the films/have you seen each film prior to “Breaking Dawn?”
4) What are your reasons for continually watching the series?
5) How would you describe the audience in the theater when you saw the film?
6) What did you think of this film in comparison to the others?
Out of the five women who took my survey, only one participant had read the novels. This clearly justifies the idea that most viewers, females in this case, do not need to have any knowledge of the series to become intrigued by the movies. As my sister said, “Although I never read the books, and the concept of vampires is unrealistic, I still love the idea that the unreal could be real.” Being the only participant who had prior knowledge of the storyline, Erin claimed to only watch the movies to reinforce her enjoyment of the books: “Although the movies are never up to par with the books, it’s still interesting to see how the characters are portrayed by actors and actresses and to see if the movies play out the same way the plot did in your mind.”
Despite being fans of the series, not one woman admitted to purchasing memorabilia or participating in fan forums and fan clubs. All of the women, except one, admitted to re-watching the movies on DVD or television. Gabriella was the only real cynic of the group, who only saw the movie under the pressure of Erin and I: “I can’t sit through these films, because they are so drastically unrealistic. Bella and Edward’s relationship is not true to how romance is and should be. The fact that young girls aspire to a relationship like theirs makes me laugh. So you can bet this is the first and last time I watch ‘Breaking Dawn.’” My mother said, “I obviously feel too old to go to the movie theater to see the new films. I guess I can’t relate to the mothers who go see them when they first come out. But, I do enjoy them. They may not be the “best” films, but I can appreciate them. They serve the purpose of entertainment, so I’ll watch with my daughters.”
ReplyDeleteMy sister and her friend Samantha both saw the film at midnight, but didn’t expect the audience to be full of younger girls who had school in the morning: “It seemed strange that parents would allow their young daughters to be up so late for the sake of the movie, but these annoying little girls were just as, if not more, excited to see the film than we were. I can’t say I blame them.” When Erin, Gabriella and I went, the audience was much calmer and was full of older people. There were a number of “twi-moms,” brave boyfriends and older couples on group dates to see the film.
As for the film itself, excluding my mother, none of us were exactly thrilled with the movie. Erin believed that the movie did not live up to her expectations of the book; Gabriella couldn’t get past the lack of reality in the film; Emily believed it didn’t live up to the hype; and Samantha preferred the last three films collectively over “Breaking Dawn.” As for me, and perhaps it’s because taking this class has made me realize the underlying themes of vampire media texts, I was not thrilled with the last film for a number of reasons. Since I never got the chance to finish the last novel, I did not expect what happened in the plot. Overall, I found it to be sexist at points. This film portrays Kristen Stewart as a sex-hungry newlywed, unhappy with Edward because he doesn’t want to physically hurt her during her sex. Once she gets pregnant, though, she becomes weak, emaciated and unstable. The idea that her baby has to be eaten out of her, and watching Edward bite her in multiple places on her body to inject the venom in her was almost sadomasochistic. I just think that with every film, Bella becomes a weaker and weaker female character.
The film proved to me that not all Twilight fans are “twi-hards.” My subjects treated the film like any other, one that was critiqued based on their idea of the books and their own personal opinions and tastes. Like me, they didn’t think that just because it happened to be the second to last film, it was praise-worthy. Most of them didn’t like it as much as they thought they would, including myself—they weren’t completely interested in just the romantic factor. We are all fans, just not as active as others we might have seen. This raises a future research question, however: Why is it that married women and underage, adolescent teenagers are described as being the most devoted fans and obsessed with the romantic angle of the film?
As an avid fan of the Twilight Saga series I was pretty excited for the premiere of Breaking Dawn Pt. 1, though disappointed that they chose to split the book into two (clearly economically driven, and understandable, but disappointing). I saw the movie at midnight for its first showing, and surprisingly no crazy fans showed up in New Haven. The theater was packed, but I didn’t notice anyone dressed up or anything too ridiculous. However, it was one of the loudest movies I have ever been too – the entire time people were screaming, shrieking and clapping, clearly big time fans. I saw it with my friend who had never seen any of these films before and he could not believe that intensity of the people in the theater.
ReplyDeleteFor my research I made a survey monkey for people to take via Facebook only if they had seen the movie. In total there were 15 respondents, two male and twelve female, not surprisingly, who all thoroughly completed the nine-question survey. They ranged in age from 17 to 27, while most fell in the 20-24 demographic. I asked which of the books people had read and which movies they have seen – 93% of respondents have seen each of the four movies, which works perfectly for this research. When asked which movie was favored overall, 46% of people chose Breaking Dawn, and 37% picked Eclipse as a close second.
The most telling question was an open-ended that asked for an honest reaction to their viewing of Breaking Dawn Pt. 1. The answers ranged from respondent 15 saying, “Lived up to the hype, better than expected, and went hand-in-hand with the book. BEST MOVIE YET!!!!!” to respondent 8 saying, “Too dragged out...the last movie shouldn't have been split in two. Not much happened in terms of the plot up until the last half hour. I was bored for most of the movie. It was very disappointing.” Others said it “didn’t live up to the hype,” and “wasn’t as good as the book.” Those who liked it said, “Thought it was the best one because it was more focused on the relationships between the characters. Also used some humor in it whereas in other ones, it was more dark,” and “So amazing; much better than the others.” Overall it seemed that there were very mixed reviews for the film. On a personal level I feel that it did not live up to the hype and the one subject plot had nothing to tie into, making a very dull story line. If it was combined into one movie there would be so much more to work with and it would have been able to hold my interest more effectively.
Another topic I was interested in just for fun was Twi-Moms, so I figured I would throw the question on the survey (so glad I did). I asked, “In one word, describe Twi-Moms” – Here is the plethora of responses: “Crazy, creepy, weird/weirdos, romantics, funny, strange, hilarious, bizarre, wild, dreamers, sad, losers…” I would say that about sums it up.
In terms of fandom and the phenomenon that is Twilight, Breaking Dawn part 1 only adds to the craze. According to boxofficemojo.com, opening weekend brought in $138,122,261, and as of November 27th, they estimate the movie has made $221,300,000 at the box office in the U.S. alone. Fan or not, the movie set out to do exactly as it planned – make money. It seems the two-part split has paid off. Summit knows their fan base and understands that people are going to see the next installment regardless if they are loyal to the series, which it seems Twi-Hards are. With this film The Twilight Saga only continues to soar and reach new heights in the media industry.
Part 1 of 2
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a senior in high school, I created my Facebook account. At the time, the bumper stickers features was extremely popular and extremely addicting. You could spend hours looking through the newly added stickers and sending them to your friends. Most of them were either cute quotes or funny movie quotes. I distinctly remember seeing bumper stickers all about Edward and Jacob and since I had never read a Twilight book before that, I had no idea who these people were or why people were so obsessed with them. If there were twelve stickers on a page, six of them had to Twilight. People were obsessed and I was confused.
That fall when I arrived to college, all my roommates were not only reading all the books, but were psyched for the first movie to come out. “You’ve never read Twilight?!” they would say to me like I had just admitted something shocking. It was the same shocking response I would get when I would tell people I had never read or seen a Harry Potter book or film; “Is this Harry Potter all over again”, I thought. Again, I was confused; how can a book about vampires be so amazing? During that winter break, I borrowed the first book from my roommate and decided to see what all the craze was about. I am not going to lie, I did love the first book. It was a fast read and I literally would read it for hours at a time and not even realize the time had passed. I was engulfed, but by no means obsessed. I let myself watch the first movie after I finished the first book. It wasn’t horrible, but I definitely liked the book better. After this Twilight taste, I was done. No more books or movies for me. Where my interest quickly fizzled, the rest of world exploded with Twilight craze.
Through the research I conducted on this topic, I really wanted to see what drew fans to this series. I also wanted to see if the fans were satisfied with the film adaptations. I chose to conduct interviews because I felt that the qualitative results of this method would provide me with detailed information to help shed some light on this obsession. I interviewed five of my Twi-obsessed friends because I figured they would have the strongest opinions about the series. Since I was not completely satisfied with the results of my interviews, I decided to do a minor content analysis on a Twilight discussion board on Yahoo Answers. The question posted asked people why they liked Twilight, so I thought it would be interesting to see what others had to say about the questions I put forth.
When I was a senior in high school, I created my Facebook account. At the time, the bumper stickers features was extremely popular and extremely addicting. You could spend hours looking through the newly added stickers and sending them to your friends. Most of them were either cute quotes or funny movie quotes. I distinctly remember seeing bumper stickers all about Edward and Jacob and since I had never read a Twilight book before that, I had no idea who these people were or why people were so obsessed with them. If there were twelve stickers on a page, six of them had to Twilight. People were obsessed and I was confused.
ReplyDeleteThat fall when I arrived to college, all my roommates were not only reading all the books, but were psyched for the first movie to come out. “You’ve never read Twilight?!” they would say to me like I had just admitted something shocking. It was the same shocking response I would get when I would tell people I had never read or seen a Harry Potter book or film; “Is this Harry Potter all over again”, I thought. Again, I was confused; how can a book about vampires be so amazing? During that winter break, I borrowed the first book from my roommate and decided to see what all the craze was about. I am not going to lie, I did love the first book. It was a fast read and I literally would read it for hours at a time and not even realize the time had passed. I was engulfed, but by no means obsessed. I let myself watch the first movie after I finished the first book. It wasn’t horrible, but I definitely liked the book better. After this Twilight taste, I was done. No more books or movies for me. Where my interest quickly fizzled, the rest of world exploded with Twilight craze.
Through the research I conducted on this topic, I really wanted to see what drew fans to this series. I also wanted to see if the fans were satisfied with the film adaptations. I chose to conduct interviews because I felt that the qualitative results of this method would provide me with detailed information to help shed some light on this obsession. I interviewed five of my Twi-obsessed friends because I figured they would have the strongest opinions about the series. Since I was not completely satisfied with the results of my interviews, I decided to do a minor content analysis on a Twilight discussion board on Yahoo Answers. The question posted asked people why they liked Twilight, so I thought it would be interesting to see what others had to say about the questions I put forth.
I found a common theme that people looked at the Twilight saga as a form of escapism. One interviewee responded “I enjoy the twilight series because it is a break from everyday reality”. Another stated that “It really transports you to a different world where you can forget about anything you’re worried about and just enjoy the book”. It is easy to see how a book about falling in love with a vampire can be an escape from reality because as far as we know, vampires do not exist. People like to be entertained by things that are fictional or could never happen because it lets us as the audience live in a world that is unknown to us for a little while. Last week, I saw the movie “Like Crazy”; it is a independent film about two college kids that fall in love then get separated after graduation because of visa issues. I thought I was going to love it, however it was so brutally real that I didn’t get that happy feeling you should get from love stories. Sometimes movies that are too close to reality, like “Like Crazy”, it leaves the audience reminded of the issues and realities in their own lives. We want to go to the movies to escape, not be reminded.
ReplyDeleteAnother common opinion I found in my research was that people were drawn to the idea of Bella and Edward’s relationship. One blogger wrote that fans “like to fantasize about a young romantic man sweeping them off their feet”. Most girls want to believe that Noah Calhoun from the Notebook is really out there; he may not be, but we watch movies like this with optimism. My research also showed that people were drawn to the negative parts of their relationships because they were relatable. One interviewee said that “being broken up with sucks so I guess every girl can relate to that feeling”. When I heard this, it made me realize there is a difference to audiences between a little reality and brutal reality. A little reality, like the Bella being sad when Edward leaves, is enough to make the story relatable but not depressing, like “Like Crazy”. Edward does eventually come back into the picture; in reality, a boyfriend or girlfriend may not.
When I read the first book, I thought people liked the stories because the characters themselves were relatable, however during my interviews all respondents said that they did not think they identified with any of the characters. One blogger brought up an interesting point that “People enjoy it because the characters lack personality. Because of their lack of character, anyone reading can place themselves in the situation”. I thought this was an interesting outlook because it makes me questions Stephanie Myers motives when writing the stories; did she make the characters hollow for this purpose or can it be merely the result of poor character development?
Book fans had similar opinions when it came to the film adaptations. Even though no one told me that they outright hated the films, people were overall disappointed. One interviewee told me that “everybody has their own imagination/interpretation of the book, so sometimes its a little disappointing” to see someone else’s interpretation. How a filmmaker sees and portrays a character, setting, or interaction is going to be completely different than the millions of readers out there. It is not possible to satisfy the imagination of all. I also found it interesting when one interviewee said that “the films put a little more emphasis on the violence” than the narrative itself. This does not surprise me because when I think of books becoming movies, I think of a director figuring out how to make a story a spectacle; what is going to make this movie a blockbuster? I also can’t help but wonder if it was absolutely necessary to split the last book into two films. Was this just a ploy to bring in double box office revenue? One interviewee had a strong opinion on this subject; she said “he final book should not be split into two movies. The beginning of the film was very slow and it did not pick up until half way through the movie because of scenes being made too long in order to fill space because they did not have enough material, and forced comedy. If the whole book was made into one movie they would not have had time to add all of the stupid extra content.”
ReplyDeleteIt may be the escape from reality or the desire for true love. It might even just be the hot men in the leading roles. Whatever it is, people love Twilight. To be honest, I don’t think I will ever fully understand Twilight fandom, but at least this research alleviated some of my pure confusion.
I must admit, I am a proud, but closeted Twilight fan. I read the book first two books before the movies came out, and was annoyingly obsessed with the Saga in the beginning. I never finished reading Eclipse, however, I actually tried to sit down and read it (which wasn’t a difficult task as the writing is not the best) but always got stuck at the same part of the book and never continued. I do love the movies, and have seen them all in theatres. I am not associated AT ALL with the image of crazy twi-hards, but I do love the vampire love story just as much (or maybe a bit less…). You can say that I am an educated fan of the Saga; through my different media courses I have learned to be more critical of any media text, and I see all texts, including these, with a critical media eye. In the books, I am Team Edward, but in the movies, I am Team Jacob. That might be due to my indecisiveness in terms of picking out the better of two male lead representations, or due to the transition of the books to the big screen. I know I am not alone in my split favoritism, as Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner (and Kristen Stewart for that manner) portray their characters with both similarities and many many differences, in both the development and physical appearance of their characters. So I worked with these differences and structured my analysis on the opinions on the book-movie transition. I went to see Breaking Dawn on Saturday with my sister, her two girlfriends, and her friend who happened to be a straight male, and directed my findings on their opinions, before and after the showing. This wasn’t a difficult task as we were all playing the role of giddy love-struck girl fans, talking about our expectations and relations to the books and previous movies. I actually didn’t see many different trailers on the film, and I have yet to get through Eclipse to read Breaking Dawn, so I didn’t know what to expect. I was already aware of the weird vampire baby and Jacob’s imprinting, but because the film was broken into two parts, I really did not know what to expect. My sister, Gab, was along the same lines, although she didn’t want to talk about the film beforehand, and view it with fresh. She doesn’t read the books but is a huge fan of the movies. Her friend Martina, a Twilight expert, actually saw it the night before, the day of the premiere, and was already ready to see it again with us. To me, that was a great sign for how the movie would turn out, and she was able to answer any questions I had about where the film picks up after Ecplise, and other aspects (without spoiling!). Michelle was also in the same boat as me. And then there was Mike, a straight guy who just enjoyed the movie (and proud of it!) I prepared the following questions:
ReplyDelete1) Which characters/plot lines/motifs of the text do you identify with most?
2) Were you an original fan of the Saga before the movie adaptations or did the movies and media frenzy pull you in?
a. If so, books VS movies?
3) Is there any part of the books that the movies leave out, that you wish were included?
4) Did Breaking Dawn reach your expectations?
However, I didn’t stick to these questions, but through the casual conversation I was able to put together their answers. We all agreed that we identified with the plotline of a sappy, love story, which happened to have a vampire twist to keep up the suspense. Everyone hates Bella, with good reasoning (whether it be her terrible acting or her opportunity to fall in love with two beauties). Martina is a true Team Edward fan, but Michelle, Gab, and I preferred to watch a shirtless Taylor Lautner on screen. Mike didn’t have a preference, but enjoyed the movies for the primary plot line and the action sequences. We credited Mike for wanting to come but still a male (although his male peers were most likely laughing at him behind his back). But he made a great point, something that I didn’t realize—that these movies are a huge chick magnet, and it’s easy for a guy to meet a girl right after the premiere. Why is that so easy? Well first, it’s hard to find a guy who loves Twilight, or will put up with sitting through the movie, yet can still keep up a conversation about the films. And lastly, I know girls can agree with me that as much as I enjoy watching these films, it does put me in a post-Twilight-depressive state, and on the lookup for a male…friend to console me. What better way to pick up a desperate girl? After the movie, we were all in awe of the production, and luckily stayed throughout the credits to see the ‘exclusive sneak peak’ to part 2. (Thanks for the heads up, Martina!) We all loved how the film came out, except for my sister. She thought a bunch of huge chunks could be cut out of the film, and put in more action sequences. I tried to give her a media analysis point of view, and told her they needed to drag on the pregnancy to fill space in order to split the book up into two parts, and to keep the suspense until it came out, but she stuck to her opinion. For the rest of us, we all appreciated the low-key scenes. For me, I enjoyed those parts that my sister deemed unnecessary as I really wanted to understand the whole “vampire human baby” concept, and the heightened drama of the werewolves still kept me on my toes. And do not even get me started on the ending when Bella woke up with vampire eyes. The whole theatre was shocked, and I almost fell off my seat with that abrupt ending. But from what I’ve heard from my friends and others who went to see it, the ending provided a great climax to start looking forward to the next film. Although there are different aspects in the movie that is not included in the books (and vise versa), the content was well organized to tell the story for a big screen version. And I’m sure the film executives took into account that their following expands off of fans of the book, but consists of many many sole movie fans. I’ll leave off with noting that Kristen Stewart’s acting was not so appalling in this production, and she played a pregnant Bella very well, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteTo begin, I have yet to see Breaking Dawn Part I, however, I do plan on it. I also consider myself to be more of an interested observer when it comes to the Twilight Saga, rather than a fan. Breaking Dawn coverage has been plastered all over the entertainment world, and was (seemingly) one of the most anticipated movies of the year… and maybe to some, the decade. I would say that the anticipation for Bella and Edward’s wedding was comparable to that of the Royal Wedding. When it comes to audiences, Twilight fans are so dedicated, that this does not surprise me one bit. Not only was the wedding scene hyped up, but also the honeymoon scene, along with the birth scene.
ReplyDeleteWhen analyzing audience opinions of the film, I decided to focus particularly on these three scenes as opposed to the entire movie. As previously mentioned, Breaking Dawn was literally all over the tabloids, television, and the Internet. I am an avid watcher of E! News, and every time I watched it for about two to three weeks before the premiere, there was something about the wedding, or the birth scene, or the sex scene. One episode they even brought up whether or not Jacob was going to bring a date to the wedding. I thought that focusing on these three scenes would be appropriate, and it proved to be quite interesting.
I first looked at what the actors thought of the scenes, before looking to what audiences thought of the scenes, in order to compare opinions. Entertainment Weekly gave me the hook up. They mostly discussed the issue of the PG-13 rating, and the limits that that put on the film. Kristen Stewart commented that she could not play the birth scene out with as much enthusiasm/craziness that she had planned. Robert Pattinson said that shooting that scene was a great day, and Taylor Lautner agreed, saying that he still “loves the birth scene.” Stewart followed up with the same comment. However, Lautner did say how he was frustrated that some things weren’t in there. In regards to the love scene, the rating really affected what is actually seen on screen. Stewart explained that they didn’t actually “do” the scene, as it was very fragmented. No comments were made on the wedding; however, it was the general consensus that they were most disappointed that the birth and sex scenes got “trimmed.”
To find how the fans/audience members felt about these scenes, I looked to friends, along with reviews on Rottontomatoes.com. First, let’s discuss the wedding scene. In one of the reviews (from Movie Juice), the writer was quite snarky about the whole thing, constantly commenting on Edward’s eyebrows, and saying that the “wedding went on for so long I felt guilty that I didn’t bring a gift.” (Ramsey) According to Robert Roeper, it took too long to get to the wedding scene, and that there were too many longing looks and musical montages.
The sex scene comments might be my favorite. In a review from the New York Post, the writer explains how “Bella and Edwards’ long, long, long-awaited honeymoon sex scene is the most anticlimactic deflowering since Jennifer Jason Leigh’s in ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High.’” (Stewart) Similarly, a reviewer from New York Magazine agreed that it’s not “quite the orgy of blood and bodily fluids we’ve been anticipating.” (Edelstein)
The birth scene actually got the best comments, as the reviewer from New York Magazine commented that the audience could actually forget about some of the bad acting that occurred throughout the rest of the film.
ReplyDeleteAlthough going through the movie reviews was fun and entertaining, the best review I got of the film was from my brutally honest roommate, who definitely considers herself a Twilight fanatic. I could listen to Twilight fans rave forever. Out of the people I spoke to, my roommate’s comments were easily my favorite. She said that the entire movie was absolutely incredible and that it was everything she had hoped for. The wedding was her favorite part, as she said it was so well done, and that you could really see how Bella was nervous about her new life. However, she did say that her performance could have been more convincing. She would not have changed a single thing about the entire scene. She also does not agree with the critics when they say there was too much “looking” during the ceremony.
When she discussed the love scene, she also brought up the idea of the PG-13 rating, however, in the book; there is more description of the scene. She really liked how afterwards they showed the torn apart room and the bruises all over her body. That really added to the scene. Her only complaint was that the trailer led everyone to believe that the scene would be more sexual and more intense, yet it was not that significant in the film. I would definitely have to agree with her on that one.
She really enjoyed the way that the birth scene turned out as well. It was just how she pictured it, along with the wedding. She added in that Bella looked absolutely disgusting. However, she expected the child to look older, somewhat like a 5 year-old, not like such a newborn.
Her biggest critique really was how terrible Rosalie looked, however, that is what she is most upset about throughout the series. She expected her to look like more of a supermodel, and since she had to wear a wig in Breaking Dawn Part 1, it made it even worse.
Overall, the opinions of all three scenes were pretty similar (of both actors, reviewers, and fans). The wedding was gorgeous, yet drawn out, the sex scene was missing pieces and was sort of anticlimactic, and the birth scene had the best acting of the whole film. I did realize that there was much more enthusiasm from the fans, as opposed to the critics. After reading and exploring the viewpoints of these three pivotal scenes, I am still very interested in seeing Breaking Dawn Part 1.
Hey Guys,
ReplyDeleteMe and Syed decided to make a video interviewing Twilight fans rather than doing a "traditional" blog post. So, watch, enjoy, and let us know what you think!
http://youtu.be/9O5LsM_Daww
Also, there will be a wrap party at T.G.I Friday's after class.
In order to understand what the entire craze was about I went to the movie theater the Friday that Break Dawn part 1 came out. This phenomenon has been going on since the first film came out when everyone gravitated towards it, mainly women and girls, but never the less some men have also hopped on board with it. Over the course of the semester Twilight has been a main focus and to be honest I hadn’t seen any of them until I watched parts of the first one on TV. It was not completely dreadful like I thought it would be but it still was not a film I would look for to watch. That’s my personal belief on them but many others have grown to really like the films as well as reading the books.
ReplyDeleteWhile I stood in the lobby of the theater watching and listening to people as they entered, almost all of them were coming to see breaking dawn. For the most part it was mothers with their daughters because it was a matinee showing. The younger girls were excited and you could see that some mothers had some joy on their faces as if they were excited to go see it then their daughters. It was not until I left that I thought of the question of how many mother drag their younger kids to go see the movie just so if they see someone they know they can play it off as if their child was the one who wanted to go? Almost like a closet fan who doesn’t want to admit it. As I stood and watched the joy on people’s faces I saw some people I knew from high school who were walking in. Two of them were with their boyfriends while three others were just going to see it with friends. I asked them if they were seeing breaking dawn and of course all of them were. I then asked the boyfriends if they got dragged to go see it. One of them said he was and really had no desire to see it but was just being a good boyfriend, the other stated “I’ve actually seen all the previous ones and I don’t hate them to be honest.” I could tell he was a little embarrassed to say it since I just met the kid but as I explained to them what I was there for he knew I wasn’t judging him. When I asked all the girls I knew there fandom ranged from one being a very big wearing a t-shirt saying team Edward, to just believing they are good films and figured it would be fun to see with friends. I asked the diehard fan why she was so into the films and she said “how could you not be, the love, scandals, bad assness of them is like girls fantasies.” The other friends laughed at her for that one but then one of her friends said “I saw the first one and was kind of hooked so I have seen all of them since, and actually I am now reading the books.” This was very interesting in that she became a fan because of the films and now is interested to start reading the books. Makes me wonder how many fans have done it this way instead of the traditional way of reading the books and then going to see the films.
I am still unsure as to why these films get so much publicity and why so many women and girls are head of heals to see them. I think they are a very unique and different type of film which could be why they are so popular but for guys, they just don’t appeal to us very much. There are the exceptions as I found out from my friends boyfriend but in general I would say most men who have seen the films were coaxed into by a girlfriend or a mother.
In researching the Twilight phenomenon I used Facebook to send a questionnaire to my friends. I also sought notes that I have taken in class, and my own observations of the opening weekend of Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part I. I asked four women in their early twenties a series of seven questions about the Twilight craze. The questions entailed my own curiosities of Twilight as an individual who has only seen the first three movies and who has not read any of the Stephenie Myer books. From these results I, realized that there are degrees of Twilight fandom. I found that the producers of the Twilight Movie and Book have succeeded in creating a money making story by targeting a “niche” audience of women. They do this by harnessing the wants and needs of women. One of the women I researched, Caitlin, was definitely a “twi-hard” The other two women, Kaitlyn and Meline, were fans but not as intensely as Caitlin. They had no Twilight merchandise. The fourth woman, Ariel, had read all the books and seen all of the movies but interestingly enough, she expresses a sense of disappointment with anything Twilight.
ReplyDeleteThere are over twenty six million “likes” on the Twilight Saga, page on Facebook. The movie has grossed seven hundred ninety million dollars in the past with domestic box office ticket sales alone. In the opening weekend of the recent movie, it grossed over one hundred thirty nine million dollars. From the industry perspective, it is about making money. Even the fans know this. One of the questions I asked was why the women thought Twilight is so successful. Meline replied: “Twilight is successful because of the compelling story line, and it came out at the perfect time where vampires were becoming super popular. Also, Twilight has a fan base of children to young adults; those are the people that bring in all the money for them (the industry)”.
However nothing is perfect and half of the women I questioned had complaints about the last movie. I asked the women what they would change about Twilight. Meline responded, “If I could change anything about Twilight, it would probably be the actors who were playing the characters; like Bella and Rosary.” In class I noticed that everyone had chimed in on their hatred for Kristen Stewart. One of my questions was, “Did the latest movie meet your expectations?” Ariel replied, “As a reader sure…As a theatre enthusiast NO absolutely not. Her wig didn’t fit her head and was moving the whole movie. The props were all ugly and the ring looked like it came out of a vending machine. The costumes kinda sucked too.” Furthermore she stated, “I have no idea why Twilight is successful. It seems rather silly to me”.
With the “twi-hard” one of the questions I asked everyone was, “Besides reading the books and seeing the movies, are there any other ways in which you express that you’re a fan of Twilight?” Caitlin replied, “I have t-shirts, posters and other Twilight merchandise. I also engage in conversations/discussions about the books and movies. I encourage everyone to read the books.” Caitlin’s obsession has become a part of her identity. In engaging in discussions and telling people to read the books, some may say she is treating Twilight as a movement. Also, I noticed that that she only expresses that it is important to read the books, yet doesn’t “encourage” people to watch the movies. Reading the books I feel is the true differentiation between a fan of Twilight and someone who is not a fan. Kaitlyn wrote that the only complaint she had for the story is that she “… would make the books longer!” With over thirteen million “likes” on the Facebook, Twilight Books page, the bias for books over movies is massive. But what is the allure of the story?
Both Caitlin and Kaitlyn felt that the character, Bella was relatable. Bella would fit in the traditional female stereotype. Perhaps she is traditional because, Myer is a Mormon, and a mother of three. Women are seeking romance in the story. Caitlin wrote, “It’s a fantasy but yet so relatable. What girl doesn’t want to be the center of a guy’s life?! And it’s so easy to get lost in the story.” Thus Caitlin notices the need for passionate love is what women seek in Twilight. Additionally Kaitlyn answered, “I think Twilight is so successful because it is a great love story and Bella is such a relatable character to a lot of girls.” In class we have categorized Bella as a damsel, a “trouble magnet” and “owned”. Perhaps some girls have times when they may feel this way, but these are not great qualities to be. What I think is relatable about Bella is that she seems to be an outsider, brave, indecisive, stubborn and moody. The love between Edward and Bella is passionate, and ever-lasting. This is a romance that many women would like to obtain in the ideal world.
ReplyDeleteIn conclusion, from my research I found that there are many different types of fans within the Twilight phenomenon. It is an important element in being a true fan to have read all of the books, and most agree that the books are better than the movies. Overall fans are satisfied with the saga, but feel that the movies lack something. However this has not changed the industries drive to make money. They do so by targeting a female audience. The lures of Twilight are the relatable qualities of Bella and the epic love story between her and Edward.
Without question the Twilight Saga has become a prominent piece of media with a wide variety of cultural influence in our society. The Twilight phenomenon has become such a major part of our society it took over social media websites the days leading up to the films premiere, and the weekend following the release. On the popular social networking site Twitter; Breaking Dawn, and Team Jacob were trending topics the Friday of the premiere. There was a mixed variety of reactions from the fans on Twitter, not only were people expressing how they felt about the film but they were posting about how excited they were to see the film on opening weekend. Some were even mocking how they find it odd that their mothers are more excited to see the film than they are. Even Facebook had a group of people expressing their excitement about seeing the film in the days leading up to the film. Numerous people posted countdowns till the midnight premiere, they also posted that they were going to the film at midnight, and posting at 2 in the morning on Friday how they felt about the film. This shows how much of a social impact this series has had on our society.
ReplyDeleteNot only did I analyze the impact of this series from our media’s standpoint, I actually went to the midnight premiere to see how the Twi-Hards reacted to the film. I was not surprised to see the film airing in multiple theaters, and a lot of fans wearing twilight apparel. And how could you forget about the fans that screamed in the theater when the leading male roles took off their shirts. I also was not surprised at all to see older women in the movie theater “Twi-Moms”. I also took the liberty of checking the Twilight Moms Twitter page. The fans had discussions about the scenes that made them cry the most, and sharing pictures of themselves at the premiere. The extent to which these women love this series is at times scary.
After seeing the midnight premiere of Breaking Dawn I found myself disappointed. I had read all of the books, which I loved. Going into the film I was expecting to be disappointed since the films in the past had not lived up to my expectations except for Eclipse. I feel that although they mostly stuck to the book some scenes were dragged out to fill time so they could create two movies. The first half of the movie went so slow. I also found the added comedy to not do anything for the story. I was not going to the theater to laugh, I wanted to see the story depicted in the novel itself. I feel that if they had made the movie into one film I would have been less disappointed because they would have had to cut out all of the unnecessary fluff that was added to the film. I went with one of my friends and as soon as we got out of the theater we turned to each other and talked about how the comedy was stupid. To get an outside perspective on the fourth film I created a survey to see if others felt the same way I did.
From my survey I found that 11 out of the 21 people that I surveyed had read the twilight saga novels. From the survey many of my respondents said that they went to see the films because they had read the novels, and a few went because they heard the films were good. In a question I asked regarding the comparison of the novels to the films many of my respondents stated that they felt that the films did not suck you into it as much and there was a lack of detail and gives you an emotional connection to the characters like the novel has. When asking if the film lived up to their expectations I had very mixed reviews like I saw on social media websites. Some fans loved it, and others hated it. One of my respondents said, “It was slow and dragged a lot. Some parts were good but it definitely did not live up to my expectations.”
ReplyDeleteFrom my research I have found that the majority of fans that were fans of the books find that the films are not true to the novels. Although the films can have parts that are true to the novels, the added content, or content skipped really disappoints the fans. Regardless of if you liked the movie or not people went to see it and fans would continue to go see it. Some of my respondents expressed that they are seeing the films because they feel obligated to since they read the books and saw the previous ones. This speaks for itself in showing how much this phenomenon has influenced our culture, we feel such a connection to the series that even though we know we may be disappointed by the film we will still go to see it.
Having read all the Twilight books, I was not excited for the Breaking Dawn movie at all. It was my least favorite book and I thought the movie would just remind me how much I didn’t like it. After going to see the movie I was pleasantly surprised and that seemed to be a popular reaction with all the people I interviewed. When doing this assignment my main goal was to get a critique of the movie from my interviewees. I decided to interview fans of the books and movies after they had seen Breaking Dawn. I wanted to find out the reasons behind why they liked the books or movies and what they thought of the new one. I interviewed 4 of my friends and my mom, who happens to love the books and movies. I then also went to the movie myself and observed the Twilight fans.
ReplyDeleteI went to see Breaking Dawn with my mom and sister who I have gone to see all of them with. What I found interesting about this time I went was that literally everyone there was with their mom, or it was a group of middle-aged women. There was not one group of teenagers there and there was one boy. I just found this interesting because we discussed the Twi-Moms in class and they were definitely out and about. So after noticing this I asked my mom why she liked the series. She responded saying that “It’s a good romantic story, and it is the story everyone wants. Everyone wants to be treated like a princess and be the center of attention.” I think that this is why many of the Twi-Moms like the series because it is a great love story that everyone wished they had.
After seeing Breaking Dawn I interviewed my friends who saw the movie. A popular theme I saw with them was that they thought this was one of the best ones. When I asked why one respondent said “I loved everything. I was so excited to see Bella get transformed, the baby, and the sex scene, and it all met my expectations.” Another respondent said “I really liked this one because it was different from the rest of the movies, and it kept me on the edge of my seat, I couldn’t wait to see what happened.” The other three people mostly said they really liked this one because it was the closest to the book. Maybe it was because the final book was split up into two movies, but I thought that was well. The book fans really like the movies better when they are true to the book. “This movie included every important part, not like the first one,” said one respondent, “and that’s why I think the first one was horrible.”Being a Twilight book fan I always hear how bad the movies are. After this movie I was expecting the same reaction, but most of the people I talked to really had a positive reaction towards it.
Whether my friends who I interviewed had a positive or negative reaction to the movie they all went to see if for one reason, the romance. Every person I interviewed mentioned that one of the reasons they love the Twilight series is because of the romance between Bella and Edward. My mom said “When I first heard that the story was about vampires I did not want to read it, but when I started I couldn’t stop because of the romance story with Bella and Edward.” Another respondent said “I like the romance of Twilight. There isn’t that kind of love in the world, and it seems only fictional characters can have that love, and that is why I read the books.” Many of my friends seem to love Twilight because it is a great escape from reality. I think this is why most of the fans love the series and why it is such a popular one.
Part I
ReplyDeleteI went to see Breaking Dawn Wednesday the 23rd at 1:00 pm. The audience surprised me. I expected there to be a lot of teenage girls but there were a number of teenage boys and ‘twi-moms,’ with at least six sitting right in front of me with their teenage daughters. I got to the theater late and didn’t have much time to talk to the twi-moms, as I would’ve like to in order to see what they liked about the series and their expectations for the film. Instead, I talked to: Brittany, Alice, Joe, and Brian, all of whom are juniors in high school. They are all just friends. I was mainly interested in why Joe and Brian were seeing the movie since twilight tends to attract more of a female audience. Basically what I got from them was they were bored, the girls wanted to see it, and they found the previous films hilarious and thought they would get a good laugh from this one. I guess this is a typical reaction since I know other guys who have only seen the movies to make fun of them. Brittany and Alice were more enthusiastic about the film because they loved the story. I also learned they are both Team Edward. Brittany was particularly interested in seeing the honeymoon scene and also what Renesmee would look like, since some cgi would be used and not a real baby. Alice on the other hand is a huge fan of Alice Cullen, and yes, it is because they have the same name, so she just wanted to see all the Alice scenes and expressed how Alice needed to have more screen time.
I didn’t get to ask more questions since the movie was starting and unfortunately was not able to ask this group any follow-up questions since they left the theater the second the film ended. I stayed behind to watch the scene in the credits. Interestingly, most of the audience members left the theater before this scene, either implying they were unaware of it or that they had seen Breaking Dawn before and didn’t need to see this scene again. It was funny because I told a twi-mom sitting next to me, who was preparing to leave, that there was one more scene and see immediately sat down with an extremely happy look on her face. I managed to ask her if liked the film and she simply said she loved it and wanted part 2 to be released already.
Part II
ReplyDeleteMy aunt can be considered a twi-mom. I saw her on Thanksgiving and although she had yet to see Breaking Dawn she had every intention of doing so with a group of friends when they had free time. She didn’t start reading the books until after her divorce about two years ago and feel in love with them. She told me this was because she thought they were good books and liked the romance in them. In regards to the movies, she was not shy when she said she loved them because of the werewolf, or Taylor Lautner. It just so happened we were watching Ellen on Thanksgiving and the majority of the principle cast of Breaking Dawn were the guests. When Taylor Lautner came out my aunt stopped what she was doing and started watching the show, which she previously had no interest in. At least for my aunt, the appeal simply seems to come from the actors who she called “hot” in front of her nine and eleven year old sons.
In general though she seemed shy about talking about the series too much and only hinted at her involvement with it. She did mention there are times when she got together with other moms, open a bottle of wine, and start watching a movie or two. This shows that the series has become a social event for her and her friends (roughly 35-40 years old). I have also read the books and seen the movies so often my aunt will talk about them with me and wants to know what I think, even though I am not a huge fan of the series. It seems to have become a part of her life and to a certain extent I feel that her divorce was a factor in her liking the books (and the werewolf) since it is a romance and, as she said, has hot guys. I think it would be interesting to actually see how she interacts with her group of friends while watching the films and their reactions to them.
Lindsay Walker
ReplyDeleteIt is no secret that eccentricity and hype often accompany Twilight fans, especially when a new film is on the verge of premiering. Twilight fans very quickly made a name for themselves and established a well known presence in the media world. I was therefore, not expecting to be all that surprised during this audience research assignment. I assumed that there would be a huge outpouring of fan responses and reactions to the film and I was sure that theatres would be very hectic.
Since I didn’t actually view audiences at the theatre on premier night or in the days following the premiere, I do not have a first hand account of what I am sure was pure madness. I did however, witness the ways in which Twilight fandom reaches far beyond the big screen. For my audience research study I decided to take a look at the Breaking Dawn Page on Facebook. I was curious to see how the audience’s reactions and passion for the Twilight series transpired into the social media world. Upon looking at the site I realized that there were many different routes I could take and ways I could approach the research. There were several posts leading up to the premiere and following the premiere that generated a lot comments and attention from fans/ non-fans. For time’s sake I decided to only look at one. I chose the post, which stated “ Become part of the worldwide phenomenon and see Breaking Dawn at Midnight! Get your tickets without leaving Facebook by clicking 'play' below!” and essentially performed a very minor content analysis study on the response it received. Although the actual post was made on November 17 all the comments under it were about people’s reactions to the film or people expressing their plans to attend the premiere.
Upon looking at this post on Saturday November 26, I first noticed that just this one post alone received 2, 733 likes and had 861 comments. I had originally planned on going through half of the posts but I ended up cutting some of them out of the study due to irrelevancies, repeats, and language barriers. Therefore, I viewed 342 comments. In viewing these comments I was most interested in finding out what people thought of the film. Did they love it or did they hate it? Were they satisfied with the production or did they have issues with how it was portrayed? I didn’t just want to focus on that though. I also wanted to see if the page attracted more females or males and I of course wanted to see whether fans supported Team Edward or Team Jacob.
My findings showed that the majority of people loved the movie. Of the 342 comments I looked at 187 demonstrated love of the movie. Many of the comments were along the same line as this, “it was awesome I wanted to watch my 3rd time today but it was sold out again:(:(:(BUMMER”
Lindsay Walker
ReplyDeletePart 2
Although I did not think to record the number of people that expressed disappointment in how long they have to wait for the second part to come out, I noticed that many of the fans that enjoyed the movie hated the fact that they have to wait a whole year for the next one. Posts that included these responses were similar to, “oh my gosh !!!!!!! i love part 1 . it really it sucks part 2 is coming out NEXT YEAR !!!! srry but i kinda think its retarded to have it next year cause we might not even remember part 1 when part 2 comes out . just saying”. Similar, to those that loved it, those that hated it were passionate about and open in expressing their disappointment. There were 30 comments that expressed disapproval of the movie. One viewer stated, “Everyone giving this horrible movie great reviews are either teenage girls or have horrible taste in films! That was awful and a waste of my money! I know I won't be spending any money on part 2. So so disappointed :(“ These findings did not surprise me all that much. I expected the “love” response to outweigh the “hate” however I wasn’t expecting it to be such an extreme difference. I thought it was very interesting that many of the comments considered Breaking Dawn to be the best of all the movies and that people were very pleased with how true it stayed to the book.
Furthermore, I was not very surprised to see that the page received significantly more responses from females than males. According to my analysis 272 of the comments were posted by female profiles while only 56 were posted by men (there’s a slight miscalculation between that and the total number of posts that I looked at because some people would post several separate comments and so I did not include those in this calculation). Although I wasn’t surprised by these findings I was actually rather surprised to see that that many men took the time to post about this movie. This may be rather stereotypical of me but I assumed most guys had absolutely no interest in the movie.
Last but not least, I did not come up with much in the Edward versus Jacob debate since people were more focused on talking about there opinions of the movie but I did fid that 9 people were for team Edward and 10 were for Team Jacob.
For the Twilight research, I decided to do an anonymous participation observation of tweets before and after the midnight showing of the newest movie. I looked at the categories of Team Edward versus the tweets of Team Jacob. One thing I was expecting was that both categories would be trending in the country. However, this wasn’t the case, which was really surprising. Perhaps people were too tired after the movie to tweet their thoughts about Edward and Jacob. I was looking for general reactions towards each character and if fans were still enthusiastic with Edward and Jacob after the latest film.
ReplyDeleteI checked into Twitter a day before Breaking Dawn was being released just to gage what I would see as the time gets closer to the premier. There were a lot of people saying they just bought shirts and a marker and could not wait to start preparing for the next night. Most tweets did not have much to say other than “Let’s go Team Jacob” and “Can’t wait for Team Edward to be better than Team Jacob.” One thing I did learn was that people love just one of the characters and there is no middle ground there. It seemed that if you liked both Edward and Jacob that you were not a real fan. Twitter is a tougher place to have a forum because you are restricted in how many characters you can use. So there was rarely any back and forth banter unless people wrote that they were both Team Edward and Team Jacob. There were obviously more Twitter posts the day of the midnight release.
I decided to look at Twitter again at 11 p.m. to see what the fans were tweeting about as they were waiting for the premiere. It was interesting to see the spectacle Twilight has become. Some theaters had a contest before the showing where they would ask questions about characters and plots from past movies and if you answered it right there would be a prize. People loved tweeting about this. Team Edward fans were saying they refused to answer any questions that involved Jacob. Talk about dedication. I was hoping for some pictures of people all dressed up but that was something that wasn’t tweeted. People were excited and there were a bunch of tweets that said “one hour to the midnight showing..time to put the phone away to focus on Team Edward!” It was weird seeing people stop tweeting so early before show time since this is such a phone and media-centric world.
The amount of tweets after the movie were shockingly low. Maybe this was because everyone was exhausted from staying up late or waiting for this day for a long time. No one said anything like, “I used to be on Team Edward but now I am switching to Team Jacob.” The movie did not really change many opinions but the tweets were kept generic and not full of content at all. Most of the tweets were, “Great job Team Edward” or “Way to go Team Jacob.” These tweets were similar to the tweets hours before the premiere. No one gave a lot of insight, perhaps to not ruin the movie for those that have not seen it yet.
Twitter was not the best way of finding out information on feelings towards the movies other then the obscure love they had for Edward and Jacob. I figured that even thought I was looking at just Team Edward and Team Jacob that I would get a little more insight then I did. Again I was shocked that those categories were not trending but it did end late and people were probably up all day for the anticipation. We always talk about how crazy Twilight fans are so maybe they were mentally drained after watching Breaking Dawn.
Liz, a senior in college, enjoys watching the twilight movies. She never read the books but has seen every movie in theaters. Even though, she is not a twihard, she does not go with the Edward or Jacob mold. She would rather choose Bella. She does not like Bella the character because she nods her head too much and pauses a lot, and the fact that she is really awkward. “She nods her head and keeps her mouth open….which makes things really awkward.” “I never really wanted to see the movies, until my sister convinced me to go with her. I wasn’t really into the whole vampire thing I thought it was really stupid. It didn’t grab my attention. But my sister made me go with her and then I wanted to see the other ones, and kept watching them on TV while they were on.” Well goes to show you don’t have to be a vampire fan to watch these movies. Your sister can just drag you to the show and then you are hooked forever. Since she didn’t see the movies I asked her what surprised her. “I knew she was going to get pregnant because my sister ruined that for me, and everyone else on the planet who read the books.”
ReplyDeleteCasey, a junior in college, she is a pretty big fan. “I’ve seen all the movies but I have not finished the last book, I like harry potter more.” When asked why wont you finish the last book she said “I went back to school so I haven’t had time to free read.” She enjoyed the last movie. She was going to see it on the day it came out but she had to work. So she did not see it till a week later. When asked if she was a Jacob or an Edward, she says it depends. I am a Jacob, but it depends who is nicer at the time. Which one is “better for Bella”. But it’s a hard decision for her to make. So I asked her whom she would have married if she were Bella. And she said Edward because Bella likes him more. Her favorite part of the movie was the honeymoon, but not the sex part. She liked this part for the same reason I did, Rio was absolutely beautiful, and we both would love to live in that house. She believed it was an accurate portrayal of the book even though they left out some parts. She forgot exactly what they missed, but she said they missed a lot in the beginning and just skipped around a lot. She also loved the nightmare wedding dress better than the actual one. The birth scene however, was really fucked up (wow the 16 year old sister of mine has a dirty mouth). What was up with Edward biting through Bella and ripping out the placenta? That was utterly disgusting. She hates Bella, not the character just Kristen Stewart, because she has no emotion and is really awkward. Even though Bella is supposed to be awkward, she is more clumsy rather than painful to watch.
Alex, a Quinnipiac student, dragged her boyfriend with her to the movie. He however did not seem so excited about it. She is a big twilight fan, not a twihard though.. She has read all the books and the twilight movies are the only ones she sees in theaters. She is most definitely an Edward fan. She does not compare her boyfriend to him however. She is not going to break up with him because he cannot sparkle, or buy her an island. She enjoied the movie very much but was horribly grossed out by the birth scene.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I realized while seeing the movies is that twilight fans are DIE HARD. I had a group of twimoms behind me and they were sobbing and laughing and cat calling every time the boys came on screen. It was absolutely obnoxious. They were all wearing their team Edward and Jacob tshirts, and had the collectible breaking dawn soda cup. The worst twihard woman I encountered was in the bathroom after the show. I also had one of the collectible cups, but that’s not the topic. She saw my cup and asked where I got it. I said the concession stand. Then she proceeded to tell me that she saw the midnight premier the night before, was already back to see it again, and she already had tickets for tomorrow. Can you say obsessed? I say welcome to the twilight fandom.
Elisabeth Keasler said...
ReplyDeleteThough I still have not seen Breaking Dawn; I do plan on it! This research has actually been kind of fun. Excuse my late post, I did my interviewing rather unorganized because I did them in different places over the break and prior (This was actually an excellent excuse to see some friends I haven’t seen in a really long time, so that was a plus!) While the psychological phenomenon of fan forums and twihards does freak me out a bit, the way I found my information would probably freak people out too. (Yes, I interviewed about 5 or 6 people that I had asked prior to them viewing the film…. Then I SECRETLY stalked them on Facebook to see what their statuses would say. Creepy yes! But I found out some information that I did not find out while interviewing.
In my research I interviewed 4 females and 1 male. While trying to stay in the college demographics of my interviewees I found valuable information about the audience through the people I interviewed. (Them telling me about their particular groups which told me more about the audience than me solely using twilight fans that I knew willing to participate)
To give you an idea I basically asked..
1. What was the male to female ratio in your group when you saw the film.
2. Who invited whom? Did you get “talked” into go or did you want to go?
3. Did you embrace the midnight showing? Buy tickets prior to the viewing?
4. What was your favorite part?
5. Did you like the Breaking Dawn movie rather than the book? Why?
6. Are you team Jacob or Edward and did this film reinforce your teams?
7. If you could tell me one thing, or describe the movie to me in 2 sentences what would you say?
Elisabeth Keasler Part 2...
ReplyDeleteI’ll get right to it for you. Only two of the groups said that they did not purchase tickets ahead of time. Only one of my friends that I interviewed admitted she saw the movie twice. The first time being the midnight showing. Not one person that I interviewed said they had been talked into going. Even my friend brooke who took her brother, dad, husband with her plus her mom and two mom friends said even the boys wanted to go! (see the males want in on it too!!) The male that I interviewed said that he did go with two other girls, but that he also wanted to go.
When it comes to favorite parts, I found this part a little interesting and I think maybe it had to tie in with the factor that many people like the books better for their “accuracy” and “details”. It seemed to be quite common that Breaking Dawn was kind of corny and drawn out. The parts of the story from the book that were very important were also made into something smaller in the film than what I thought they should’ve been. I had one interviewee say I would say this is the best movie so far. They have a lot more funding, so there is a lot of detail. The colors, displays, sets, etc. are all so beautiful and easy on the eyes. I didn't want the movie to end.” With that said, I noticed most of the favorite parts were geared toward the ending of the moving with the wedding and Bella having the baby. I guess this is also where the werewolves were outside and the imprinting on the baby. Brooke my friend who said she loved it, said her favorite part was the wedding when the song from the first movie kicked in while they were kissing at the altar. (HELLO SHE JUST GOT MARRIED hahaha so I thought that was ironic.
Everyone, I mean everyone said that the movie rein enforced there teams! Some quoted “Edward all the way Edward in the books, Edward in the movies.” .”Team Jacob all day, the movie didn’t change my opinion at all.” …and “well i was team edward based on the books but then the movies kind of portrayed him as a jerk because you aren't inside bella's head. So I switched to team jacob after i saw the second movie.” (All of those were girls answers by the way.) My guy friend got a little akward when I asked him if he was team Jacob or team Edward…rightfully so! LOL
I’ll go into detail some more in class, but I had a lot of fun with this and was actually quite surprised. Its interesting because I know everyone of the people I interviewed that are my friends have all read the books so it funny to see the lover of the movie and haters. I have some pictures for you that will make you laugh!
Ok, so my facebook stalking…
Alicia- Braving the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn. And there are people with wolf masks. #terrified
Ashley- November 18 th 12:07 am Countdown to Twilight town is about to begin. #breakingdawnpremier (She commented, Hey! I wore my team Jacob shirt tonight.)
I will see The Lorax!! Taylor swift is the lead female voice!!! #breakingdawnpremier. November 17th 11;57 pm
Brooke: So I thought I was pretty much over Twilight since Vampire Diaries has taken over my life, but I think it's safe to say that my love for The Twilight Saga has been awakened. Breaking Dawn was epic. Oh, but I'm still Team Damon!¡!¡!¡!¡
Elisabeth Keasler Part 3...
ReplyDeleteI hope you can see this picture of my friend brooke! Its so funny- she's awesome!
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/381097_159388137493695_100002675295799_238878_1671464237_n.jpg
She quoted on facebook "A trip down memory lane would only be fitting this week:
"In what strange parallel dimension would I ever have gone to prom of my own free will? If you weren’t a thousand times stronger than me, I would never have let you get away with this."
Side note: Kind of funny that I actually dreaded the idea of prom in high school too...so many parallels.."
Geordie Geller
ReplyDeleteAs Twilight: Breaking Dawn part 1 made its way into theaters in mid-November the die-hard fans where gearing up to see the film. I personally have never understood these films, but people seem thrive on these ridiculous of love that are presented in the films. Breaking Dawn is magnifying a love story that has been building for years. I interviewed four friends from home, who have all seen the film more than once already. In addition I spoke with one friend’s boyfriend to get his perspective on the idea of seeing the film more than once. My question to them was did they see it with the same person(s), and if so did it change their experience.
My friend Janet went with both her sisters and boyfriend to the midnight showing. She said getting her boyfriend to go was difficult, and after all him complaining it just was not worth it. The second time she went with her mom, which she thought would be fun. She said she thought that because other moms were into the films that hers would be to. It turned out to be an extremely awkward experience where her mom seemed to be out of her element. It was also strange for her to watch a sex scene with her mom right next to her. I talked to Janet’s boyfriend, Brian who said he did not mind the film, because just like the other ones that he was dragged to he was able to get a laugh out of how ridiculous it was. Brian said “the people who have seen it more than once need to get back to the real world.”
My friend Ellie first saw the film with our friend Katie who is a self-described fanatic. Katie talked to her through the entire film not allowing her to watch in peace. Ellie is a fan, but not the kind I would expect to see the film twice. As strange as it seems, she saw the film by herself the second time. She waited a few days before going again “to let the crazies get it out of their system.” After seeing Breaking Dawn again Ellie said she would have seen the film again, but most likely after it came out on dvd. It was not worth spending the $9.00 twice, just because it is a popular film. At talked to Katie at the same time as Ellie, and she seemed disappointed about Ellie feelings toward the Movie. Katie told me that they had seen the other films together and never knew that Ellie felt that way.
For my friend Lindsey, there has never been a love for the Twilight films yet she has seen them all, including Breaking Dawn. For her these movies are nothing more than something she watches because everyone else is watching them. The two times she has seen the film were both with “true fans” who wanted to talk about the movie for hours on end. She says she is the only one who did not turn into a drooling idiot in the theater. She said that maybe going with someone who is a bit mellow would have put her at ease, so she would not have to feel her adrenaline pumping in the crowd of screaming fans.
Whether they were afraid to admit it or I talked to the wrong people, I got the general sense that people that saw the film more than once got roped into it, not because they are huge fans. Either way there are those fans who will see the film several times while in theaters and leave just as happy as they did the last time they saw it.
I’ve never been into the whole Twilight movement and I never really understood how people could react in this crazy, obsessive way towards a movie. So to investigate why audiences and crazed fans have developed a fixation to this saga I decided to watch the movies for myself, starting from the beginning. I had a very busy Wednesday watching the first three movies from start to finish as I witnessed the formation of the love triangle between Bella, Edward and Jacob.
ReplyDeleteI then interviewed a couple of friends and family members that have seen the movies and some that have also read the books. During Thanksgiving I talked with two of my cousins that are in their late twenties and asked them why they enjoy Twilight so much. The older of the two, Tori, introduced her slightly younger sister, Gene, to the series. After seeing the first movie, they both became hooked, seeing each of the following three movies at their midnight releases. But it was Tori that began reading the books faithfully to fully understand Stephenie Meyer’s story. She then showed me a copy of the first book, which was coverless and appeared to have been through heavy usage. I asked her how the book ended up in that condition and she explained the numerous amounts of times that she had read the novel and how many times it ended up on the floor after falling asleep reading it. Then I proceeded to ask the world-renowned question, “team Edward or team Jacob?” Gene answered team Edward due to the fact that she really likes the love story that he shares with Bella. She became fascinated by the story because of the love that is expressed throughout, “Everyone should be able to feel this kind of love.” Tori responded team Jacob because of the amount of times he is shirtless in the movies.
I then asked my roommate, Vanessa, who I know is an avid fan of the story since she tried to make me watch the first movie our freshman year. In asking her about how her Twilight fascination began I learned that her mother started her on the books. I found this rather funny because of all of the “twi-mom” stories that have been told in class. Her mother became “hooked” on the stories and insisted that Vanessa and her siblings read and watch the tale. I found this rather interesting so I asked Vanessa about her mother’s love of the series, and it was deeper than I thought. I discovered that her mom has Twilight fan pages bookmarked on her computer that she ever so often checks but never writes on. She also read all of the books to make sure that the content was appropriate for her 11 year old. Vanessa mentioned that her mother began Twilight was because she was looking for something to fulfill her reading need since Harry Potter ended.
Another friend of mine, Jillian, also mentioned the ending of the Harry Potter collection being her reason to turn to Twilight. “It was a fantasy novel directed towards our age group.” She treated the Twilight saga just as she had Harry Potter by reading the books prior to watching the movies. When I asked her why does she think the Twilight has turned into a phenomenon, she responded, “it’s a soap opera for our generation…it reflects everyones inner romance.” I agree that the movies seem a bit soap opera-like because of the way that the plot drags and the different circumstances that test Bella and Edward’s relationship. The love triangle is the main reason for this comparison, as the saga becomes a large tug-of war and the audience chooses sides.
I interviewed another friend who went to the midnight release of the movie. “It was one of the loudest and most crowded theaters that I’ve ever been in. The amount of clapping, crying and noises I heard were unbelievable” said Katerina. At the midnight release she was accompanied by six other friends, three of which were guys. She described the guys that went as “comfortable” since they were able to make fun of the fact that they were going to see the first showing of the movie in New Haven. She also was an avid Twilight follower; reading the books and seeing every movie. “I started reading the first book and didn’t put it down for 2 days until I finished it; I was obsessed. I had to keep reading until I got to the third book, it just annoyed me.” When I asked her what she thought kept people coming back for more, she responded, “The cliffhangers at the end of the movies keep me interested, I just want to know what’s going to happen next, even though I already know since I read the books.”
ReplyDeleteThe research that I found rather interesting from interviewing friends and family was that Twilight was a rebound from Harry Potter. They both produced cult followings, but it seems that Twilight has received a larger backing from the community aged 30 and over, which includes the twi-moms. I really couldn’t believe how much moms are into this phenomenon until my roommate’s mother admitted to search various fan pages just to read what other people think. The Stephenie Meyer books were also crucial in the answers I got from the interviews. The actual story itself is what kept interested and wanting to see the movies in order to see how accurate the film would be.
Despite being a Twilight fan I have not had the time to go see the film. I read first three books and watched the movies. I have to say I enjoyed the film interpretations despite the exaggerated acting by some of the main characters (this could discourage non-fans from watching any future adaptations of the books). Despite this I enjoy very much every movie. I considered myself a fan but nowhere near the fans that take things to another extreme. I feel that I have gained enough knowledge in all the media courses I have I have taken through my four years in college. I have learned to view different media texts with an opened mind. I have also learned to analyze media critically and view them from every perspective. The things I have learned in class have definitely influenced what I think of fans and the kind of fan I consider myself to be. In terms of picking sides of which team I belong to I have to say I don’t belong on any of the teams. However, if I had to pick a side I would go for team Edward because the on screen portrayal of Jacob totally ruined it the appeal for the ware team. In the book Myers does a good job with Jacob’s character and makes it hard for fans to choose. Personally, I made my decision of picking a team after I watched the movie, because I didn’t feel it necessary just by reading the book. In order to further look at the way other fans react to the Twilight phenomenon, I gathered a few of my friends who are fans of both the books and the movies and asked them a several questions in relation to the last installment of the series. My friends Ava, Gaby, Isabel, Vanessa, Oscar, Jessica, and Marissa all agreed to be interviewed by me. The interview took place at my friend Ava’s house on November 22, 2011 at 3:18pm. The reason I chose this group of friends as opposed to other friends is because three of them consider themselves big fans, three are somewhat fans, and one of them is not a fan.
ReplyDeleteI asked my friends what were they’re thoughts of the film? Ava, Jessica, and Marissa said they loved the film so much they watched it three times and are going to see it again. Analyzing these responses I deducted that they can be considered obsessed fans of the series. Gaby, Oscar, Isabel, and Vanessa said they liked and enjoyed the movie, but did not go see it a second time. This was very interesting because every participant liked the movie with the difference that a few of them did not feel the need of watching the movie more than once. I also asked if they were fans of the books? They all responded, “Yes” to this question. I asked them what they thought of the books? They said that the main reason the watched the movies was because the really like the books and wanted to see the love story on screen. I asked if they felt that the movie did the books justice? Five responded “yes” and the other two said the movies were missing a few elements from the books that could have made the movies better. I also asked every person when did they become Twilight fans? One said as soon as the first book came out, three said they became fan when they heard of a possible movie adaptation, the remaining said they became fans before the second movie adaptation was released. The reason for this was because they became curious of what the whole phenomenon was about. I was intrigued to find out their reaction to the latest installment of the series and asked them; what did they think of Breaking Dawn? They all responded that it was by far the movie relating to the series by far.
ReplyDeleteI asked on a scale of 1-10 how would they rate the movie. The average score was 9.5 among the participants. I also asked what was the best part of the movie to them? They couldn’t decide between the sex scene between Bella and Eduard, and the birth scene. They said they love the effects in the movie and how grotesque some of the scenes were. I asked them If there was anything they would change from the film and 6 of the participants said “no”, and the remaining said the movie went a little too fast and if some things weren’t left out the movie would have been better. I concluded my questionnaire by asking them how they felt about the Twilight phenomenon? They said the movies and the books deserve all the attention they received from the public and that they wished Myers would create come up another creation like this one. Finally, I came up with the conclusion after my findings is that regardless of how many books and movies are released there will be fan that will be on both extremes whether they are hard fans or they are just people who enjoy a love story without being obsessed.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of Twilight fandom, I would regard myself as a distant admirer. Years ago, I read the Saga cover to cover and adored every word. Eventually, I jumped onto the movie bandwagon, but with less enthusiasm as another fan or “twi-hard” would, having never seen any of the films during a midnight release or in theatres at all. My relationship with Twilight has been quiet but consistent. Really, the relationship I have with the vampire love story is much like that of a secret lover that all your friends disapprove of. You try to sever ties, but just don’t have the heart to bring yourself to do it, so you further propel yourself down the rabbit hole. However, recently, I’ve learned more about this Saga that has shed some new light. Through a variety of academic readings, exercises and discussions, the romance of Bella and Edward, as well as the wild success of both the film and book versions of their story, has been opened up to reveal surprising themes, and has taught me to observe the Twilight phenomenon with a more critical perspective.
ReplyDeleteRecently, the latest installment of the Saga hit theatre, and it is no surprise that Breaking Dawn Part I was one of the most anticipated movies of the year. Excitement peaked to the point of die-hard fans in the Los Angeles area camped in tents for days prior to the showing in order to promise them a seat during the first show. This soon became known as a “movement” called Occupy Twilight. Quickly, this went viral on the social media circuit and became a top trend on Twitter, acquiring this spot with a simple hash tag (#occupytwilight). Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to observe the midnight showing, or take part in any of the pre-release chaos. However, I have seen most of Breaking Dawn Part I via a bootleg copy that I streamed online. Since I only have my partial observations, I looked to other’s opinions, fan comments and articles critiquing the film to gauge if others loved or loathed the latest Twilight film.
Overall, “twi-hards,” fans and critics agreed that Breaking Dawn broke the traditional Twilight mold in almost every way possible. Due to the previous film’s success, Breaking Dawn had a higher budget, and was able to transform set into a magical place. Everything with Break Dawn was more elaborate, from the wedding, to the wolves; fans agreed that it was far above par. Partially due to the improved acting within the core of the cast. Many stated and I agree that the cast has become much deeper emotionally, and their skills as acting professionals have turned them into awkward acting amateurs into vibrant and dynamic as their individual character and as part of the cast as a whole. Additionally; a general consensus was that the novel transcended the screen. Many who saw the movie during its initial release agreed that Breaking Dawn was the first of the films to successful follow the novel. This could be due to the split of the final installment of two parts. Not only was this financially wise, but also allowed the markers of the film to have more room for detail, something fans have been begging for sine the original Twilight movie hit the silver screen. Another major discussion point of the film was the rating, and the scenes that determined such. Originally, Breaking Dawn was going to hit theatres with an “R” rating. However, this would eliminate a good portion of Twilight’s demographic from seeing the film. In order to get a PG-13 rating, cuts to vital scenes were made. For example, the much anticipated sex scene between Edward and Bella during their honeymoon was less intense than many fans would have liked. Breaking Dawn did show the broken bed, and the room in disarray; however, even the actors are quoted as being disappointed with what made it into the final version of the film. Although the scene still proved the point it was making, the detail in the novel gave more detail, which fans favor. On the other hand, the scene of the birth of Edward and Bella’s daughter did satisfy fans. Although it was gory, and was edited in order to protect a mild rating, it translated the novel’s text to the screen in a manner that many fans appreciated. Several sources have said that it is one of their favorite scenes in the film as a whole, which makes me eager to finish the film and experience the scene for myself.
ReplyDeleteBreaking Dawn clearly set out to achieve a goal and did so. Across the board there has been more praise than attitude toward the film. This being considered, it isn’t shocking that Breaking Dawn still holds the #1 spot at box offices, and has raked in record breaking amounts of cash. The Twilight Saga has become a little more relevant and reputable with the addition of this film, and it is safe to say that the love for Twilight that many possess will live as long as both Edward and his new bride Bella.
I stood in line and glanced around at my surroundings. Men and women of all ages stood single file, awaiting to hand their tickets to the woman at the front of the line. I finally moved forward and proceeded to walk into the theatre. I glanced up at the escalating rows of seats where I saw a majority of women in the theatre however surprisingly a reasonable amount of men. I am at the second day showing of the newest film addition to the Twilight saga: Breaking Dawn. I expected to see more, for lack of a better word, “tweens”, although, once I realized we were at the 11:00 p.m. showing, it made more sense that the audience was mainly adults. The bookends between my 2 friends and me were 2 proud “Twi-moms” awaiting to see the film. One was with her husband, and one was with her friend. The most popular demographic for the Twilight films are the “tweens” and the mothers. As I watched the film, I began to wonder, why do women like these films over men? As the film continued, I began to ask myself, what is the attraction to these films? I also asked myself, why does everyone like Edward more than Jacob? These are all questions I decided to ask people after they watched the film Twilight: Breaking Dawn. Here are my findings:
ReplyDeleteFirst, I interviewed two mothers who went to see the film. One, a “Twi-mom”, the other has seen the films but is not a fan of them. Similarly, they both said the film met their expectations and have seen the previous Twilight films. The non “Twi-mom” said her favorite element of the film was the character relationships but not for the most obvious reason. She said, “Jacob showed true love of Bella by not being selfish and taking her needs above his own. He said he would help Bella in any way he could even though he didn’t approve of her choices. Jacob was always trying to protect Bella and always put her first.” This non “Twi mom” and I agreed about being on “Team Jacob”. This made me realize that for people who are not really fans of Twilight films, nor have read the books, are usually drawn to Jacob. He is a relatable character, a loveable character, and a great suitor for Bella.
However, if you were a fan of the Twilight films and/or book series, you seem to be “Team Edward”. Both a “Twi-mom” and a fan of the films (who has not read the book series) are “Team Edward” all the way! “I have been a Team Edward fan since day one. I love the connection he and Bella have.” “I just felt the connection between Edward and Bella. It’s a true love story between a human and a vampire.” After speaking with other Twilight fans, whether they read the book series or just saw the movies, all dedicated fans vote for Edward.
When trying to find people to interview who saw Breaking Dawn, I could not find one male that I knew that saw the film. I know men who have seen the films due to a Twi-fan girlfriend, however, none rushed to the theatres to see Breaking Dawn. Why was that? I decided to ask my Twi-moms and Twilight female fans if they thought Twilight is geared towards men or women and asked them why they thought that. Here were some of their responses:
ReplyDelete“The men in the movie are hot and good looking which makes it a very appealing movie for women. It is also a true romance between a vampire and a girl who feels she doesn’t fit into her human life but yet feels comfortable in a vampire world.”
“Women-its simple. Edward and Jacob are beautiful. They both would do anything for Bella which is what makes this movie so romantic.”
“Women. Because of the attractiveness of Jacob and Edward, because there are no female characters for the men to admire. Bella is too miserable, needy, and desperate. She comes off clingy. I don’t like her. She is not that attractive. She is not funny, cute, or beautiful. She is a plain high school girl obsessed with a guy from high school.”
With responses like this, we see that women love the romantic element of the film over the vampire drama element. Romance, relationships, and good-looking guys are what drive fans to the theatres every time a new film to the series comes out.
In conclusion, whether audiences liked the film or not, the film left them with a cliffhanger ending. An ending that leaves viewers wanting more and now awaiting the final film to this 5-part saga.