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Was theTwilight novel better than the movie?
Results so far:
| Yes | 73% | 1499 votes | Total: 2044 votes | |
| No | 27% | 545 votes |
Yes
by Kate Flaxx
Created on: June 02, 2010
Imagine it’s your birthday. Your daughter hands you a small gift, a neatly wrapped, solid rectangle.
You know exactly what it is because you dropped a few subtle hints here and there in the lead up. Your daughter (and everyone you know) knows what a vampire fanatic you are.
It’s exciting to hold it in your hands. You don’t just rip it open; you tear the paper slowly uncovering……an eye, a blazingly brown eye surrounded by whiteness, skin? Yes; A cheek. Opening it slowly, not ripping it too much………..a‘t’ ……. Yes! Twilight!
You dedicate around nine hours to reading the book and finally finish at about 3am. Of course there’s life that we have to lead in between so everything is done at double speed to get to read that book.
Seven months after that after knowing that the book is harmless, you decide to buy the DVD for your daughters’ birthday.
Everyone sits in silence and when it comes to the end of the movie you cry out ‘That is not how the book ended!’
Twilight – the novel had intensity to it that the movie didn’t get across well and the actors didn’t capture. It was so easy to fall in love with Edward and start wishing that you were the person that moved to Forks.
On the other hand, when you watch the movie, on-screen Edward looks more like a bum / homeless person rather than the suave, distinguished gorgeous vampire in the book.
Bella was different too in that she seemed to have more attitude in the novel than the movie, watching her got a little boring after a while because she was portrayed as a little whiny and helpless.
There was a scene in particular at the start of the movie where Edward is sitting at a desk in class and Bella is allocated a seat next to him. The novel tells of the reaction that Edward has to Bella to begin with. This draws you in until you have to know why he has that reaction.
Then you find out it’s because Bella has had such an effect on him, an effect that he can’t control when she is near him, it’s a really lovely concept for a love story.
In the movie though, when Bella sits next to him, Edward covers his mouth like his going to let out a huge belch and his face crinkles up like he needs to make a quick dash to the toilet.
Without reading the book, some of the movie would have been really hard to follow.
The other characters in the book were explained a little bit more and became more familiar as the book was read further.
It would have been great to know the characters a little bit more while watching the movie except for Carlisle, the vampire dad and local doctor. He was great in both the book and movie.
There was one other thing that they kept both in the book and the movie and that was the pace, they kept the fast movement, moving from one topic to another.
Book versus the big screen; Book wins.
Learn more about this author, Kate Flaxx.
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No
by V Alexander
Created on: October 25, 2009
The film adaptation of the Twilight novel smoothed out the ruffles in the book's pacing. It was as If the book was a first draft and the movie was the finished product. The beginning and the end of the story had excellent pacing that kept the story moving. The middle of the book was slow.
The problem is the novel feels like it was edited by two people. The original editor worked on the beginning and end of the story and the middle was passed off to an intern with a passion for As the World Turns. They could not bare to cut out any of Bella and Edward's repeated, "I love you but I want to leave you for your own safety," moments. Cut out about forty percent of the middle of the book and you still have the same story but with less annoyed fans who just want to get on with it already.
The movie didn't lose the charm of the novel. You get the same characterization as the novel with the nuances of the characters personalities. Bella is still a klutz, her dad is still an awkward small town man, and the town is still rainy and depressing. The movie, in fact, gives you a bonus. The bonus is the middle of the story, Bella and Edward's romance, is sped up. The novel's slow middle was lost and we didn't lose the essence of the novel's intricate beginning and end.
The most common complaint I hear about the movie is that the pacing was too fast. In comparison to the book it was speedy. It's a good thing. The concept that Bella and Edward didn't have enough time to realistically fall in love in the movie doesn't seem plausible in comparison to the book. The movie follows the same time line of: they meet, they have a series of misunderstandings, Edward saves her life and that changes the nature of their interactions. The only part that is shortened in comparison to the book is the middle where they profess their love over and over. The movie used more visual keys to express the depth of their relationship. Edward and Bella in the meadow scene is the most striking example of this. The scene lasts for a few minutes. By slowing down the pacing the movie has slowed down time and it gives the viewer time to breath and take in the relationship that has formed. It symbolizes and feels like the relationship has time and depth to it.
Learn more about this author, V Alexander.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
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