What's wrong with the kids? Why are they obsessed with vampires? WTF?Perplexed by the New Moon mania? I can help.
I wrote a post in August where I confessed that I had innocently picked up Twilight on sale and kept reading through all 4 books of the saga. It's not that well written, but it can be addictive. I can tell you why in 2 words:
Sexual Tension.
They'll never admit it, but there it is.
You're madly in love with a vampire. The vampire is madly in love with you. The two of you want to kiss. Truth be told, you want to do more than that. But, you're a tasty container of blood, and the very scent of you only makes the vampire think of giving you a hickey that kills. What to do? What to do?
That's Book 1/Movie 1. The hype this weekend is about New Moon, Book 2/Movie 2, AKA Sexual Tension times 2.
New Moon adds Jacob to the mix. He's another male in love with the lovely Bella, and he's a werewolf. He doesn't want to drink her blood when he kisses her, of course. His problem is that once he's a wolf he has almost no control over his actions. Kiss, hug, rip you to shreds.
Best of all for moviemakers, a person who turns into a werewolf several times a day goes through a lot of clothes. On screen, that's an opportunity for showing barechested young men over and over.
Rippling six-pack abs bring more joy to the girls whose real life High School Musicals are are quite probably full of the same types of "I don't fit in," "He wants me to go all the way and I don't want to" worries they're watching on the big screen.
If you still can't understand what drives the Twihards, remember the lesson of Harry Potter. Everyone credited the series of 7 books with inspiring kids to read for fun.
The truth is that when the last book (Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows) was published in 2007, statistics showed that the percentage of U.S. kids who stop reading for pleasure as they grow older was basically still at pre-Harry levels.
In other words, more people have seen a Harry Potter movie than have read a Harry Potter book. And, except for wondering if Harry and Hermione would hook up in the end, and of course, Harry's crush on Cho Chang and first kiss, sex isn't even a consideration.
In contrast, The Twilight Saga offers hot, exciting, 'will they-won't they' anxiety to young readers. The story translates well to the big screen-- with really good looking actors. What don't you understand?
1 comments:
The Saturday "Today" Show summed up the sexual tension as abstinence in a pretty package. Seems about right.
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