Thursday, November 27, 2008

Twilight - The Movie and Novel Series



I read about Twilight the movie which opens in Singapore on 18 December 2008 and also the novels on "The Sunday Times", 23 November 2008 edition and has been quite curious and tempted to read the novels and watch the movie when it starts showing in Singapore. I usually skip horror movies or novels but the reviews on the newspaper seems to suggest that "Twilight" is not scary at all and tells a Romeo and Juliet-like tale of pretty but awkward 17 year old Bella who moves to a small town and falls in love with Edward, an astonishingly beautiful vampire. Both enter into a passionate yet dangerous relationship, where Edward agonises constantly over his urge to suck the life out of Bella. Watching the movie or reading the novels would make you rethink all the vampire myths as Stephenie Meyer's bloodsuckers can appear in sunlight, and garlic and crosses have no effect on them and they don't have fangs either.





The plot seems interesting and i tried looking for the book in the library but it is so popular among readers that i can't find a single book in the series. I found out online that the book has sold over 50 million copies worldwide since 2005. I guess i would have to either reserve the books or buy from the bookstore after i finish reading my existing library books. Twilight has been adapted into a film and it was directed by Catherine Hardwicke and stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson (acted as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2005) as protagonists Isabella Swan and Edward Cullen, respectively.





Twilight is a young adult vampire romance novel written by author Stephenie Meyer and seems to be quite popular in Singapore but strangely i have never heard about the novel before reading the article. It was originally published in hardcover in 2005 and is the first book of the Twilight series. The novel is followed by New Moon, Eclipse,and the final book in the series, Breaking Dawn which follows the adventures and love story of Bella and Edward.




When Bella sits next to Edward Cullen in class on her first day of school, Edward seems utterly repulsed by her. He even attempts to change his schedule to avoid her, leaving Bella completely puzzled about his attitude towards her. After tricking a family friend, Jacob Black, into telling her the local tribal legends, Bella concludes that Edward and his family are vampires. Although she was inexplicably attracted to him even when she thought Edward drank human blood, she is much relieved to learn that the Cullens choose to abstain from drinking human blood, and drink animal blood instead. Edward reveals that he initially avoided Bella because the scent of her blood was so desirable. Over time, Edward and Bella fall in love.

The seemingly perfect state of their relationship is thrown into chaos when another vampire coven sweeps into Forks, and James, a tracker vampire, decides that he wants to hunt Bella for sport. The Cullens plan to distract the tracker by splitting up Bella and Edward, and Bella is sent to hide in a hotel in Phoenix. Bella then gets a phone call from James in which he says that he has her mother, and Bella must give herself up to James at her old dance studio, to save her. She does so, and while at the dance studio, James attacks her. Edward, along with the rest of the Cullen family, rescue Bella before James can kill her. Once they realize that James has bitten Bella's hand, Edward sucks the venom out of her system before it can spread and change her into a vampire. Upon returning to Forks, Bella and Edward attend their prom and Bella expresses her desire to become a vampire, which Edward refuses to let happen.




(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_(novel)
(Source: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight_movie.html)
(Source: FiRST Magazine Singapore, November 2008 edition)

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