In anticipation of the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Time Out Chicago’s Hank Sartin and Time Out New York’s Joshua Rothkopf will be exchanging emails discussing and debating the cultural phenomenon that is Twilight. Here are the opening salvos from both sides.
To: Joshua Rothkopf
From: Hank Sartin
We’re a week away from the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and as I recall you came out as more of a supporter of the first film than I was. So I watched Twilight again, and I stand by my first take; I like the new-girl-in-town stuff the best. Now if we could just get rid of those dye-job vamps. And, though I know this is heresy, I don’t get the hype around Pattinson. He’s got dead eyes that aren’t an acting choice, just a lack of any interesting spark. And the last act of Twilight just doesn’t work at all—a sudden jump into Perils of Pauline action that feels rushed and messy.
My resentment of Twilight has actually grown over the last year, because the damn thing has been so unavoidable. Everywhere I turn, I have to read about Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s romance and Taylor Lautner’s abs (Taylor himself? Who cares. But if his abs did interviews on their own, journos would line up). It all feels contrived, like fake grassroots to me.
But enough of my hate. What are you thinking, now that we’ve got a little distance on the first film, if not on the hype around the whole Twilight phenomenon? Does the first movie hold up for you? Is all my ranting about anti-feminism and knee-jerk reactionary values in Twilight credible to you?
Bring it on, pal.
To: Hank Sartin
From: Joshua Rothkopf
Such a meanie you are, Hank. Getting crotchety over the Twilight phenomenon is like getting angry over the omnipresence of air. This is the stuff we breathe as moviegoers. As long as there are teenage girls with allowances, there will be dreamy Robert Pattinsons—just as there was a dreamy Leo DiCaprio in Titanic. As for the specific virtues or faults of the first film, I remember being charmed by the gothy pout of it all, kind of how I remember teen crushes to be. It felt like a Cure song (boy, am I dating myself). Returning to it recently, I think Hardwicke brings more personality to the quiet moments than she gets credit for. Some girls in my audience screamed at Pattinson’s on-screen appearances. Do you actually deny what they’re feeling? Of course, this is a Hollywood fabrication. That’s sort of why the town was invented.
As for the older women reading Stephenie Meyer on the subway, this is way more interesting to me—and again, not a bad thing. (I’ve never read any of the books.) I think the connection to Edward is a projection of romantic frustration, and thus, precisely what escapist fiction is for. You’re simply not going to persuade me that ANY literary phenomenon is evil, unless you mean reading cat calendars. You forget, my friend, that we played with Star Wars action figures. Meanwhile, by the time this younger generation turns 16, they will have devoured over 10,000 pages of fiction between Meyer and the Harry Potter tomes. They have us totally beaten.
Thank you Joshua for a good review of a movie that has touched so many girls, women and a few men. I didn’t think it was possible for a fair review to exist.
Hank Sartin, keep writing about how awful Twilight is and how it reinforces sexism and gender roles. I, as a female in her early twenties (who was a part of the target audience when the books arrived on the shelves) salute you, good sir.