Media Meditation #4 : Is Twilight Your Favorite Time of Day?

Mormon housewife Stephanie Meyer seemed to appear out of nowhere in 2005 when her first novel, Twilight, was published. It took Meyer three months to write the young-adult fiction novel about a teenager named Bella who falls in love with boy who goes to her new school, Edward. Twilight develops into a captivating love story with a twist. Edward has a secret; he’s a vampire who is over 100 years old, and Bella’s blood sings to him. The four books, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn cover their relationship as it goes from a simple crush to marriage, with struggles along the way, such as evil vampires who want Bella dead to Bella’s best friend being Edward’s enemy: a werewolf.

Twilight has been translated into 20 languages and has been praised by the New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, An American Library Association, U.S.A. Today’s, Wall Street Journal, Amazon, and even TIME Magazine. Twilight is ranked #8 on U.S.A. Today’s Best Sellers and has overall been on the charts for 156 weeks. But that isn’t the only book in the series that has a placement in the Top 15 of U.S.A. Today’s Best Sellers. New Moon currently is #3, most likely due to the new release of the movie, but has been on the list for 166 weeks straight. Eclipse is ranked #10 and been on the charts for 119 weeks, and Breaking Dawn is ranked #13, and has been on the list for 68 weeks. Each of these books held the #1 Best Seller position in some point of their release.

Although The Host is separate from the Twilight Saga, Meyer has proved that it wasn't just her vampire concept that captivated readers, but her writing style. This style has been compared to numerous authors, particularly J.K. Rowling. They both depict the contrasting life of mystical versus mortal and are for all ages. Even though both authors target young adults, others have read them. But is it fair for Rowling to be compared to Meyer?
I was introduced to the series through my friends, saying it was hard not to devour the book in one “bite”. Since then I would walk into my high school classes and see others, older and younger, male and female reading them. At college, almost every girl's dorm has at least one complete set of the books. I even got my grandmother to read them. Now I wouldn't say they aren't great books. I love them, and have read Twilight at least four times, but I disagree with Stephanie being similar to J.K. Rowling. Both quickly became cult classics, having followings. People debated who Bella would choose, just as much as people debated whether Snape was good or evil, both have loyal fans willing to dress up for book and movie releases, creating a personal shift in today's media culture, but Rowling used so much more imagination. For someone to sit down and create names for so many characters, and the types of animals and herbs, the names of spells, and the rules for Quidditch is amazing. Meyer's, though imaginative, doesn't show the same amount of creativity in her novels. Stephanie Meyer's novels are what I like to call beach books that I would pack on any vacation I go on. I don't have to think about what going on, instead my mind gets easily consumed by the simple sentence structures and comprehensive vocabulary. With the Harry Potter series, I tend to think a little more but still enjoy reading them. My point, I guess, would be my neocortex is more stimulated by Rowling's writing than Meyer's, although both are entertaining in their own ways.
The Twilight series not only is a great beach book but it incorporates many clever hooks to draw the readers in.One thing that Stephanie Meyer's did extraordinarily well would be her use of emotional transfer. The novels are filled with emotion-laden language, manipulating the reader into feeling angry when Jacob gets mad at Bella, defensive when she is threatened by vampires, and heartbroken when Edward leaves her. Throughout the series Meyer's uses almost every persuasive technique in the book. Each cover has it's own symbol that is of some significance later on in the novel, along with the Twilight of each installation of the quartet. Bella is a plain folk; she's a typical high school girl that any female can relate to. On the other hand, Edward is this beautiful person, this gorgeous guy that will date no one in the school, and isn't human. And that's what most women think, right? That how could this guy even be from the same planet, let alone go to my school? Everyone has those thoughts, be it a high school crush on the most popular guy in school, or a celebrity. Some of the powers the vampires have act in ways of flattery to make it easier to attract prey, and the big lie of the books is that The Cullens and the Quileute Tribe are normal people. We as a reader no this isn't true, that the Cullens are in fact vampires and the Quileute tribe is made of a bunch of werewolves, but the characters that are human believe that these gorgeous people in fact are one of them. To go more in depth, Jacob is constantly bribing Bella with his love, and that he is still part human to make her stay, and both the vampires and the werewolves blame the other as a scapegoat for all their problems. Also, in this sense they always talk down the other breed, using the persuasive technique of straw man. The final technique Meyer's uses is strength. Bella is a strong protagonist female who has her goal of becoming a vampire and will always be there for her man, but she isn't the only strong character. Although she is the only depicted as emotionally strong, the vampires and werewolves obviously have a physical strength that can't compare to anything, we as readers, can relate to.
Vampire fever has spread from writing on paper to parties and even movies. Borders across the nation held midnight parties for the release of Breaking Dawn beginning at 9:30 August 1st, and ending after midnight. One of the high school English teachers was the organizer for the events at the Bangor Borders, creating activities such as ‘Twilight Trivia’, a debate, getting your picture taken in a coffin, bobbing for doughnuts with vampire fangs, and a costume contest which Ms. LaPlante did not disappoint. Although she could not enter the contest, she could have easily placed with cape and fangs attire.

The movie Twilight was released on December 12th, 2008 with the lead roles played by actors Kristen Stewart, and Robert Pattinson (Cedric Digory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).Although there was much hype, the midnight release was just like the book release. All ages showed up to the showing awaiting to see how this best seller did with the conversion to 'the big screen." Their efforts meant well but often came across cheesy and unrealistic. I wasn't expecting anything real, I mean, it is about vampires, but many scenes were cut, and the word phrasing emphasized many points to make them appeal more to younger generations. I was more impressed last Saturday when I saw New Moon.



Both films had a great soundtrack keeping my limbic system entertained, but the fight scenes were way more intense in New Moon reinforcing the fight or flight method in my brain. I was skeptical going in to the film about how they would present the werewolves. I was shocked at how well they did. When the wolves phased from being human, my reptilian and neocortex were in awe. I thought it was so cool, and knew there was going to be a great fight. The one thing I noticed though was what they left out. Although filled with beautiful actors, many having appeared in other movies or tv shows, I was disappointed by the deletions. My brain wasn't occupied enough on how well the acting was, instead focused on what the movie left out from the books, or what they changed.
What else could come next from Stephanie Meyer? She's already made millions of dollars off of the books and movies, and is currently profiting from merchandise like clothing, jewelry, and posters. Her profit isn't stopping her from disappointing her fans. She plans to continue with the movies, already having the release date of Eclipse to be in June 2010, which I found very shocking. If they left out so much from the second novel and it took them a year between release dates, how much are they leaving out of Eclipse when it's released only seven months after New Moon?



Meyer's was also working on Midnight Sun, a reproduction of Twilight but from the perspective of Edward. Towards the end of 2008, it was announced that the book was completely halted due to an illegal publishing of her drafted manuscript. From a writer's standpoint, I understand where Stephanie is coming from. I would feel violated. Those were her words that she spent so much time, carefully writing, and to have someone print them before I had even drafted the book, without my permission, would be devastated. Many fans were annoyed with her choice. I remember walking down the halls at school hearing girls whisper how could she do this? but honestly, it was the right thing to do. Any writer would do it, and if you have to be a writer to understand this, then so be it. I respect her for her decision, and am excited for whatever is her next project. She did though publish her unfinished version of hopes of pleasing her fans. Although there will never be a hard bound copy, at least her fans can choose to read the unfinished manuscript on line. So far, nothing has been released as to what she is working on but I know she won't disappoint.

Media Meditation #4