by Pauline

Created on: March 02, 2009

Translating books into films has always been a difficult task for any director or scriptwriter, especially for a book series such as Twilight which has a massive following. There is always a danger of disappointing fans that have taken each book by heart and have steep expectations once they see it played out on the big screen. Although some films such as the "Silence of the Lambs" have been a huge success, others have fallen short of their book counterparts.

Twilight is an example of such film, a weak imitation of the book which has captured the hearts of readers all over the world. Director Catherine Hardwicke failed to capture the essence of the entire franchise: an ill-fated love-affair between an ordinary girl and a vampire. The actors playing the main characters Isabella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) failed to breathe passion into their respective roles. Edward did not seem as though he was agonizing over his doomed love for a mortal, he merely looked constipated in the movie. Edward is supposed to resemble a Greek god carved from exquisite marble, yet in the movie he simply looked like the boy next door. Bella seemed lifeless and unappealing, such a weak contrast to the girl in the book who was swearing her undying love for her Edward. The other Cullen vampires fell short as well. Rosalie was very pretty, but she should have been a statuesque beauty; Jasper was weak and fragile-looking. On a positive note, the vampire villain James was portrayed with such menace and arrogance, striking fear into the hearts of the audience and making them scream for his death.

The entire film feels a bit rushed as it skipped to the more juicy parts and ignored various scenes which would have been crucial in establishing the entire franchise's theme. Edward is a man tormented by his deep desire for both Bella's blood and love. He is torn between wanting to be with Bella for the rest of his existence, but in doing so he will be subjecting his beloved to eternal damnation. The movie portrayed him as a love-sick boy guilt-ridden with just wanting to be with a girl. It lacked the passion that left girls all around the globe wanting to find not the usual prince charming, but a vampire who would go to the ends of the earth and back just to be with the love of his life.

However, this is not entirely the director's fault. As readers, we have set expectations of what each character is supposed to be like, which is not easy to translate on film. We have an idea of how passionate the characters must be like, yet when we see it played out on the big screen it still does not feel right. But for all its disappointments, the movie version was able to capture some delightful parts of the book. It is also interesting how Hardwicke was able to bring some comic relief into the book and the characters. Not all fans of the Twilight series would have loved the movie version, surely, but it helped breathe into life and color to the book, making it a bit more realistic than our lofty dreams. No one, no man or vampire, could be that breathlessly beautiful, but Robert Pattinson was still able to make hearts flutter. Bella in the movie was not as vulnerable or as love-stricken as we wanted her to be, but still every girl in the civilized world wanted to be her. The movie may not be all that we wanted it to be, but blame Stephenie Mayer for creating a world too beautiful, lofty and impossible to re-create elsewhere.

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