'New Moon': Why it's girl-driven success is good for the future of movies
by Owen Gleiberman
Offhand, it would be hard to think of a pop phenomenon as rapturously beloved as the Twilight saga that is also as vociferously hated. My God, the hate! If swoony-gauzy teen-bloodsucker romanticism with a golden-eyed indie-rock James Dean as love object isn’t your cup of passion, then fine — so be it. But why the frothing torrents of resentment? I was seriously shocked, for instance, reading some of the comments on Lisa’s recent post, to see that this much stone-pelting hostility could be directed at an actress as lovely and expressive as Kristen Stewart. What is her crime? Having a personality moody and brainy and distinctive enough that it carries over, maybe a bit too much, from one role to the next? It makes me wonder what, deep down, is getting the haters so flea-bitten scratchy under the collar.Frankly, I think it’s this: The ascendance of the Twilight saga represents an essential paradigm shift in youth-gender control of the pop marketplace. For the better part of two decades, teenage boys, and overgrown teenage boys, have essentially held sway over Hollywood, dictating, to a gargantuan degree, the varieties of movies that get made. Explosive truck-smashing action and grisly machete-wielding horror, inflated superhero fantasy and knockabout road-trip comedy: It has been, at heart, a boys’ pig-out, a playpen of testosterone at the megaplex. Sure, we have “chick flicks,” but that (demeaning) term implies that they’re an exception, a side course in the great popcorn smorgasboard.
No more. With New Moon, the Twilight series is now officially as sweeping a juggernaut on the big screen as it ever was between book covers. And that gives the core audience it represents — teenage girls — a new power and prevalence. Inevitably, such evolutions in clout are accompanied by a resentful counter-reaction. For if power is gained, then somewhere else (hello, young men!) it must be lost. Yet such is the populist magic of Hollywood that these movies can’t simply be written off as some overblown high-school vampire version of a Miley Cyrus concert. Or, more to the point, they can be (hello, haters!), but that completely misses what’s going on in them.
I went into New Moon having not read the book, and so I didn’t really experience the movie as an adaptation, or watch it as any sort of Twilight die-hard. Leaving aside a few leaping boy-to-wolf transformations (which could, at this point, have come out of any routine horror film), what I saw, in essence, was a moody romantic melodrama from the 1950s, a movie that told its story, more than anything else, with faces. For two hours, they loomed up there — Stewart, with her pale crystalline severity, her ability to communicate desire and distress at the same moment; Robert Pattinson, with his sweet-but-not-too-safe, hurtin’-eyed, chalky-skinned delinquent chivalry; and Taylor Lautner, with those naturally wolfy features, as the group’s Troy Donahue, a friendly, quick-grinned stud-muffin who’s just buff enough to divert the heroine without threatening to capsize her devotion to her true love.
The key to New Moon’s appeal, of course, is that a lack of consummation is built into the movie’s very premise, and so the sexiness, as it was in the ’50s, has to emerge almost entirely from the atmosphere, and from the interplay of those faces. And that, more than anything, is what makes this a picture dominated, in spirit, by a new kind of girl power. Mock me all you want (and from the haters, I expect nothing less), but the reason I believe that the big-screen success of the Twilight saga bodes well for the future of Hollywood movies is that the teenage girls who are lining up to see New Moon are asserting, in an almost innocent way, their allegiance to a much older form of pop moviemaking: the narcotic potency of mood, story, and romantic suggestion over the constant visual wham-pow! of action, effects, and packaged sensation. It’s not that New Moon has none of that stuff. It’s that the movie uses fantasy to liberate, rather than to steamroll, its emotions. That’s what makes it a new-style, feminine-driven brand of popcorn, one that’s more than welcome at a moment when the other kind — the boys’ kind — has grown more than a bit stale.
Even though I do not completely agree with all of the statements this article makes, I do hope that his ultimate prediction is correct. It was not until I had come across this article that I was fully aware of why New Moon seems to be so different from other movies filmed today. I've always believed that the characters and the plot were special and made the story stand out from others, but I was not aware of how the camera work and what is not said are so elemental to the film that they completely change the experience.
Faces, as he said, do truly tell this story. Could that not also be said of our everyday life experiences? It is how we live our lives, they say eyes are the windows to the soul for a reason. I would personally be thrilled if his description of an older form of moviemaking would become the rule rather than the exception: "the narcotic potency of mood, story, and romantic suggestion over the constant visual wham-pow! of action, effects, and packaged sensation. It’s not that New Moon has none of that stuff. It’s that the movie uses fantasy to liberate, rather than to steamroll, its emotions."
As we move to the comments, I want to first say that most of what is said doesn't have so much to do with this article but more of what people have decided to either attack or defend concerning the Twilight Saga in general.
Here are some (just some) of the comments found under the article at Ew.com.
1st String
1. - Mallory - Thu 11/26/09 11:50 AM
Bella is a terrible female lead, her life is so dependent on men it is laughable. She has no personality, no goals or ambition of her own, just an infatuation (not love) with a good looking guy. She should get a life and figure out what her interests are before she devotes her life at such a young age to one guy. Honestly what deep connection can any man have with her when there is nothing there. Guys would like her b/c she is young and attractive, after she peaks (around 21 for most women) physically, he will just go looking for the next young girl who finds him to be a “man of the world”
2 - Cat - Thu 11/26/09 3:31 PM
Can you please define love for me then? Hmm, what did Juliet have with Romeo? Are you calling that an infatuation because Twilight goes more into it than even that. Not everybody has a distinct personality, I happened to be compared to Bella ALOT, so people can in fact have a personality like that, obviously she has personality enough for people to say she’s a terrible female lead and hate her. And Edward probably has seen so many average girls he said he finds Bella interesting, Bella does in fact have a very distinct personality.
3 - same - Thu 11/26/09 4:27 PM
I get tired of hearing about Bella not being a strong feminine character. She knows what she wants and she goes after it. She knows her own heart and follows it despite people telling her she’s too young to know what she wants. I admire that type of courage and conviction, because I wimped out. I didn’t do what I most wanted to at 17-18 and have regretted it ever since. Just because what she wants is a family instead of an olympic gold medal or an internet start up doesn’t mean she’s weak.
4 - Annie - Thu 11/26/09 4:41 PM
I mean she’s weak because she is removed from the action around her. People, like the Cullens, make decisions for her, especially in regards for the Volturri (spelling?).
What solidified my dislike for her character was when I was reading New Moon and she just lost herself because Edward left. I know they are “meant to be”/ true love, but there are months of nothing. She cannot even find her way out of the woods- her own self-survival instinct is gone. And what helps her out of her stupor? Another man. I don’t consider her weak because she doesn’t want to be a doctor or whatever, but how she lets the men in her life shape how she lives her own.
5 - Claire - Fri 11/27/09 3:29 PM
This story is not adored by so many becasue it’s an epic infatuation. or even a story about lust. these characters express and display unconditional love, which is so rarely seen in this world that most people won’t even know what i’m referring to. here is a quote straight from eclipse (3rd book of the series), it’s right there in black and white, so i don’t know how you can argue with it but i’m sure someone will find a way – jake and bella are having a conversation on what it is that makes bella love edward so much
“Is that what this comes down to? Good looks?”
“Don’t be stupid, Jacob.”
“Is it money, then.”
“That’s nice, I’m flattered you think so much of me.”
“I’m serious! I’m trying to understand here, and I’m coming up blank.”
“I love him. Not because he’s beautiful or because he’s rich! I’d much rather he weren’t either one. It would even out the gap between us just a little bit — because he’d still be the most loving and unselfish and brilliant and decent person I’ve ever met. Of course I love him. How hard is that to understand.”
So there you have it, and I must say that I don’t think Edward is perfect, he has his flaws just like everyone else but because the stories are from Bella’s point of view of course it would seem, if you’re not paying attention, as if that’s what the author is trying to say. alright, tell me why i’m wrong.
oh, and i just want to say thank you to the author of this article, really enjoyed it – except for the part about teenage girls being the driving force, it surprises me that people still don’t understand that this story appeals to women of all ages, and men too, the ones who give it a chance.
6 - Cat - Fri 11/27/09 4:45 PM
Claire: Thank you, that pretty much sums my entire feelings in regards to this mess. People who just want to disagree, just are doing it for argument’s sake, the proof is right there!
7 - Lydia - Fri 11/27/09 5:28 PM
Um…you all know that this is a story right? Books and movies like these are used to escape reality. I think it is unfair to compare them to reality in anyway, there are vampires in it for petes sake. If you don’t like it, that’s one thing, but to put it down because the story isn’t believable is another.
8 - Claire - Fri 11/27/09 5:50 PM
Lydia: i so see where you’re coming from and i understand some people think that way but for me these books have taught me so much about life and love that i can’t just see it as an escape – i know people will probably mock that explanation because they don’t see what i have learned or how i could have learned it, but it happened for me nonetheless and those things have changed me and made me a better person. and someday a better wife and mother.
i know that most people’s reaction to this will probably be along the lines of “wow, you care way too much” and i’ll admit that, but i won’t regret it
9 - Claire - Fri 11/27/09 5:55 PM
Cat: you’re welcome, i thought i’d try going to the source. i just don’t understand why if people have so much hate for something to waste their time dwelling on it
10 - Lydia - Fri 11/27/09 6:06 PM
Claire: If these books have moved you to the extent that you say, then who am I to bring that down. If you feel as though you have learned certain aspects about youself and how to conduct your life in a positive way through Twilight, then keep standing up for it. Its great to have an entertainment outlet to feel connected, mine is music. But please keep in mind that becoming too passionate about a story that was written for pure enjoyment could cause you problems with reality later on.
11 - Claire - Fri 11/27/09 6:15 PM
Lydia: thanks for understanding. and i definitely will keep an eye out for any problems that may ensue, but just to clarify – i do always keep in mind that this is a story with fictional characters in a fictional world and all of those things i’ve learned are taking that into consideration and applying them to the very real one we all live in, thanks again
12 - Cat - Fri 11/27/09 6:31 PM
Again, Claire took words from my mouth on pretty much everything. And I also feel very tied to Twilight that way, it may seem crazy to some people, but it’s a heck of a lot better than what alot of people obsess over. Music and Twilight are two things that really effect me, that’s why alot of fans get so upset when people attack it for meaningless reasons, if you’re someone who says “well that’s fine if some people like it, I don’t” then why are you even posting a comment?
2nd String (much shorter, I promise)
1 - Ashley - Thu 11/26/09 11:27 PM
I’m particurlaly vehement on my hate because most fans are just intolerant. They can’t seem to accept that not everyone finds the stories as good or the relationship as deep as they do, and especially for girl haters they will try and tell you that your opinion is wrong and you should like it, I’d hate it a lot less if fans would actually go “So you don’t like it, ok.” instead of defending it.
The fact is, they defend it so hard and hit it so fast because they view themselves as Bella. That’s part of the reason she’s such a horrible character, she has no personality or real motives so you put yourselves in there. And your being told that “The hawtest, most extra specialist guys like you just because your you!” and no, they aren’t fated, this guy loves her because the author deems it so and she apparantly thinks that’s all thats necessary. Now Stephenie Meyer being an arrogant twit is another issue I have all together.
2 - mk - Fri 11/27/09 12:42 AM
how come you are allowed to rant about how much you hate twilight and fans aren’t allowed to defend if it is good? if you don’t like it you don’t need to hate it.
3 - Diana - Fri 11/27/09 9:42 AM
I really don’t see any comments on here telling people how much they should love Twilight. All I see are people who like it trying to get people like you to stop hating on them so much. If you see an Article regarding Twilight, why would even bother to read it if you hate it so much… just skip it and move on, what’s the big deal?
4 - Rachel - Fri 11/27/09 12:21 PM
Preach Diana!
I hate going to read a Twilight article that I may or may not enjoy due to the opinion of the author. But if the author and I don’t agree then I don’t go immediately to the comments and rant about how “dumb”n they are for not likely Twilight! I respect whoevers opinion and leave it at that. But when I go to a article that’s pro-Twilight or Twi-hards or even is neutral you see all these comments dissing the movies/books and the people who like them can find enjoyment in them. It just doesn’t seem fair!
5 - Claire - Fri 11/27/09 6:37 PM
Ashley: i want to apologise for all those fans of the series for making you feel like you were somehow less of a person for not thinking the same way they do. i know that the core of all my excitement and just…joy of sharing the series is the sheer amount that the books have affected me and i would guess the reason there is so many people will tell you you’re wrong is because they were affected too (i go into all of that in a earlier post) i do agree however with some of the others and say i hope you can find something better to do with your time than dwelling on hate – whatever that hate may be for. there are so many emotions that are more rewarding to rest in. wish you and everyone else here all the best – and less venom, whether they’re accusing or defending
