Twilight Allows for a Little Vision

I. A Parents Point of View.

My 14-year old daughter got turned on to Stefanie Meyer's gothic romance TWILIGHT about 8 months ago. The Italian-translated version of TWILIGHT hit stands in Italy shortly after TII: New Moon became a best-seller in the US. Lent to her by a friend, my daughter's capsule review was that, "...it's a romance about vampires..." My radar went up when I heard that one, and it was enough for my wife and I to read TWILIGHT as well because (a) I'm just not sure if the combination of my daughter and vampires are two elements that need to be mixed together and (b) I kind of want to know (and understand) what my kid is reading every now and then.

I've heard/read a wide range of opinions regarding TWILIGHT and certainly mine don't carry any more or less weight than anyone else's. But I can tell you that from this parent's point of view TWILIGHT was/is no big deal. Certainly it "reads" better than a lot of other drek that's been on television or in print the last few years. For what it's worth, I found TWILIGHT to have more suspense than violence and more romance than sex. Unfortunately on Italian television at least, my daughter can see plenty of both (that would be violence and sex) just by watching a TV commercial. So if the novel TWILIGHT -- a romance about vampires -- is going to get my daughter excited about reading than I'm all for it. The success of the novel TWILIGHT has spawned several follow-ups so far: New Moon, Eclipse , Breaking Dawn (and Midnight Sun still in the works) and my daughter and all her friends - pardon the pun -- are really digging their teeth into them.

My daughter enjoyed the book a lot more than the movie. Having read TWILIGHT I can see why. Substitute Bella and Edward for Romeo and Juliette or the star-crossed lovers in West Side Story and you have all the elements that make the hearts of teens go pitter-patter. I don't know if I'd go as far as saying TWILIGHT actually teaches morals. But on some level there's a sense of virture and wanting to belong and wanting to be loved. And with or without fangs -- those are powerful themes for young adults.

II. The Book That Begot the Movie.

Naturally the success of TWILIGHT the book was enough to generate interest in creating TWILIGHT the movie. And anyone with even a passing interest in film probably knows that in its first weekend, TWILIGHT the movie kicked some serious vampire butt to tune of 70 million dollars. Since then the movie has score mega box-office numbers overseas as well. Over here on this side of the Atlantic we caught the film on opening day. Maybe there were more parents that went to the 10pm show, but at the 8pm show I think it was just me, my wife and 420 0ther teens. As movies go, TWILIGHT was o-k. Teen angst has always done well at the box office and TWILIGHT- the movie is just another in a long line of stories that began with Rebel Without a Cause and evolved into The Outsiders, Dawson's Creek and everything else in between. The fact that TWILIGHT puts vampires in the mix has a lot less to do with psychology and more to do with marketing.

III. Vampires among us.

Reams of essays have been written as to why vampires get us all excited. Vampires supposedly represent the dark side of ourselves (the part of us that apparently wants to get bitten) I can almost buy off on that as an adult. But from a teen/tween marketing standpoint vampires are just an offshoot of any number of shows that pay homage to the genre. TWILIGHT is the offspring of Lost Boys, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vampire High and a dozen other shows on cable. To its credit, TWILIGHT the book and the movie manages to draw in the viewer with imagery not dependent on blood, gore and fangs. So in that respect -- this type of TWILIGHT allows for a little vision on the part of the movie-going and book-buying public.