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| Yes | 80% | 90 votes | Total: 112 votes | |
| No | 20% | 22 votes |
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Add to FavoritesIs the movie of a novel ever better than the novel itself? As is always the disappointment when a terrific book is recreated and squeezed into a movie, details, feelings, and favorite parts are left on the cutting floor. Any reader will bemoan this tragedy. We would rather watch a seven hour long drama of our novels than to see details left behind.
I will say that the Twilight movie has a few advantages over the Twilight book. First, it is exciting to see faces put to names that had only yet been in your imagination. Seeing Jasper's tightened mouth as he walked past human teenagers in the lunchroom, watching the special effects of vampire baseball, touring the Cullen's airy mansion- these are all things we desire to see come off of the page. The villains are more than readers could have hoped for in the movie rendition. James is obsessive and frightening; Victoria sultry and earthy; and Laurent is sophisticated to the point that you can't quite picture him as evil. Lastly, the soundtrack is incredible.
The downside to the movie was this: Edward and Bella's relationship is written in personal thoughts and feelings, and it is nearly impossible to feel the turmoil going on in each of them when you watch the movie. To see it acted out, without reading pages and pages of Bella's confusion and longing for Edward- you miss the falling in love. In the movie, Edward is mysterious, he acts like he hates Bella, then saves her life, then shows her he is a vampire, and then all of a sudden they are in love and will never leave each other. In the movie, there is no opportunity or reason for the viewer to fall in love with Edward Cullen. The book takes it's time drawing you in, hoping that everything will work out, that Edward will change Bella into a vampire. However, in the movie, I can't quite understand why Bella does fall in love with Edward. One day they hate each other; the next they don't have time for anyone else. The relationship in the Twilight novel is much more intense and dramatic. Quite more like a heady teenage love. Because Edward and Bella are both quiet, kept to themselves characters, you almost need the written page to decently explain and describe their relationship. The brooding, the gazing looks, and the claims of undying love seem ill timed in the movie version, and for that, I believe the novel is superior. Their love in the movie just does not quite measure up to the heat in the novel.
Learn more about this author, T. Lucas.
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No
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.
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