the twilight effect
by
B. L. Hewitt
the twilight effect
B.L.Hewitt
Copyright 2011 by B. L. Hewitt
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Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
To the Gods of Olympus
For Robert Pattinson, who literally saved my life.
For Stephenie Meyer, who saved my sanity?
Truly, Thank You.
Preface
Have you ever glanced across a crowded room and met the eyes of a stranger? A stranger that is looking back at you with a stare so intense that his eyes held yours with some kind of crazy physical gravitational force, so strong you could not look away? Were his eyes so clear in their depth that you could see into his soul and thought that perhaps he could see into yours? Did a little voice in the back of your mind say “Girl you are in so much trouble?”
Has an idea ever taken root in your mind? This idea being so far fetched, so far from real possibility, so opposite of what you have always believed in and yet you know it to be absolutely true regardless?
Has something ever come at you so fast and hard that you had no warning; you had no time or desire to turn and run? Something that grabbed a hold of you, that blindfolded you, spun you around and dropped you into a moving roller coaster car with no seat belt?
Have you ever been so desperate to know the truth of a thing that nothing else matters to you except finding that answer? Something that makes you willing to chase it down to the very end no matter what happens or where it takes you?
If you could answer yes to single one of those questions, this book will make perfect sense to you. If you could not, in reading this book you may find out how someone else could answer yes…to all of them.
When something….or someone reaches out in the middle of the night, with a single word spoken in a soft velvet voice and that voice wraps around your mind like a glove and that single word pulls you back from the edge of darkness into a light so bright you can’t even think. It sets your life on a different path. No matter where that journey takes you……. even into obsession, there is no doubt that you will take it.
In December of 2009 my husband died. I did not take it well; in fact I fell off the face of the earth and went to planet Zeron. That is how my journey into Twilight began.
I have always been all about myth and magic, so falling into Twilight was not that big a reach for me, except for the very strange and tragic circumstances that enlightened me to its existence.
Once fate stepped in front of me and introduced himself, my path was set; it was a compulsion to find out why.
Chapter 1: Phenomenon or What?
Webster defines phenomenon as, an exceptional, unusual, or abnormal, person, thing, or occurrence.
It isn’t that we all haven’t seen what could be classified as a phenomenon before, a total eclipse for example and not the Twilight kind. We all have had the chance to experience that in our lifetime. The northern lights are another example. The aurora borealis, beautifully named for the goddess Aurora, goddess of the dawn and the Greek, Boreas, god of the north wind, is a stunning light display visible in the night sky between 65 and 75 degrees latitude. We might be lucky enough to view that phenomenon, yes? Or maybe a meteor shower, such as the Geminids with its multi colored display, these celestial light shows happen every few years and almost everyone has seen one. Well known comets, named Hale-Bopp, Halley and Levy 9, they pass closely enough to Earth to be seen in a normal lifespan. No big deal, right?
If we accept this definition in the broadest sense then, even a four leaf clover might be classified as an unusual occurrence; or a person with one blue eye and one brown eye might be thought to have an unusual appearance, therefore that trait might be a phenomenon.
In the scientific world, when these things happen, we may or may not be aware of them. We may or may not care that they are occurring. Maybe these events just don’t get enough press and ok…I can go along with Webster’s definition to a point but… Wow! These examples are not what come to the mind of a fan of Twilight when you say the word phenomenon.
Exceptional thing! Unusual occurrence! Sure, sure, but the word and the definition are extremely inadequate and not nearly enough to explain how the fans feel about Twilight, don’t you think? I mean, Mega-phenomenon or giganta-phenomenon don’t even seem to be enough to define what is happening with this franchise. Maybe humomga-phenom, yeah, lets go with that.
The Twilight Saga has had such an unquestionable effect on so many lives that, oh wait that’s good, maybe I will just call it…The Twilight Effect.
Was Twilight lightning in a bottle, wishful thinking or just a hope and a dream or was this very, very carefully planned spontaneity? When the entertainment world creates a phenomenon it is an entirely different matter than a shooting star or a bio-luminescent algae bloom. The very word phenomenon suggests something random, unexpected, unplanned, but when Hollywood gets involved none of those words apply. It is not some tiny blurb in the science section of the local paper, a meteor shower can be seen tonight in the northern sky at midnight, or thousands of blackbirds fall from the sky across the world on New Year’s Eve. Oh no, not by a long shot. With today’s tech- conscious fans and mega-media access, a Hollywood created phenomenon is not easily ignored. It is in your face…totally.
They start with constant media coverage leaking tiny, little tidbits of information about an upcoming Hollywood created event. Little by little they tempt you with a comment here, a short trailer there or a new piece of merchandise, dangling each new thing in front of our eyes, enticing us further and further into the net until we are totally swept away. They completely capture your interest, it seems like you have to pay attention. Your curiosity is peaked, it’s just human nature; the intensity of your interest grows and grows with each new piece of information or photo or interview. You can hardly wait for the event! Whatever that is!
I was not aware of this slow buildup in 2008 when this phenomenon started brewing. I was totally oblivious, but then it seems I was not the only one, in the very beginning everyone was.
The Twilight Saga is not the first carefully nurtured franchise to develop a cult following.
Although the original Star Trek TV series, created by Gene Roddenberry in 1966 only ran for 3 seasons. This franchise created a cult following of avid fans, referring to themselves as Trekkie’s. For all these years they have always been steadfast and loyal; they waited patiently for the Star Trek rebirth, that they were sure would come somewhere in the far distant future. That rebirth started to happen when a newly rekindled interest in science-fiction movies started to become evident in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
A short lived animated series came along first and was quickly followed by several successful television series spin-offs that were developed using the same Star Trek universe but different, newly created and updated characters. Unique storylines emerged that mingled favorite characters from the past series, to hold the attention of and satisfy older diehard fans, while introducing new compelling figures to hopefully capture the attention of a younger generation of fans and continue the saga into a new age. Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise, were very well received.
Starting in 1979, a plan for several motion pictures, based on the original series was produced starting with Star Trek the Motion Picture and ending with Star Trek Nemesis in 2002. Nine films in all including a total reboot of the original characters in a new movie in 2009, has started the frenzy all over again.
Dozens of computer games, comic books and novels are now included in this franchise. Trekki conventions are still held every year. I probably still have my communicator pin along with my official Dick Tracy decoder ring, somewhere. “Beam me up Scotty.”
Star Wars created its own phenomenon; I was a little old for a light sword at that point. Yeah, like I am not sporting a “Team Edward” button pined on my handbag at this very minute. Star Wars was a trilogy that started its own pop culture following, complete with all its own mass merchandising. Sixteen years after the first film was released, an additional three films were produced to answer all the questions the first three films created. George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg are no fools.
James Bond, Indiana Jones, Underworld, Resident Evil, Batman, Spiderman, the list goes on and on. They all have their own cult like followers. Loyal fans that will hold on to their heroes until the very last sequel and through each remake and recast and reboot. Comic Con is the ultimate tribute to all super-heroes and alien fiends. Fans of fantasy fiction dress up and pay homage to their gods at this convention in San Diego each year, including Twilight.
It took Star Trek twenty years to catch on, but it did and it is still around after 40 years. It took Star Wars eighteen years to tell us the whole story. Once Hollywood finds something that works, it never really lets go and once such a thing becomes part of modern culture it never dies. Have you never really held up your hand, fingers spread wide and said “Live long and prosper?”
It took Twilight only three short years to achieve the kind of status and loyal following some of these other franchises. Who knows how many remakes, recasts and reboots we have to look forward to with Twilight. Wow!
All of these franchises are still going strong with remakes, timely new releases and new merchandise from time to time. There are loyal fan groups in all corners of the world for every single one of them. Some of these Hollywood created phenoms are almost as big as Twilight. Look at Harry Potter. It has taken 10 years to tell that complete story. Twilight’s Bella Swan is to most young girls what Harry Potter’s boy wizard was to most young boys.
The studios hope is that their timing has been right. That they haven’t stretched it out to long, that the first fans that picked up the first book would grow with the franchise and follow it through to the end. Along with that the hope is that new young fans will get caught up in the mayhem and be there for all the endless remakes and new episodes. All of the fans of these franchises are loyal, I will give them that, very loyal, but not nearly as obsessed as we Twi-hard’s seemed to be.
Elvis Presley, and Michael Jackson, even though they are gone they have an amazingly loyal fan base that keeps those legends alive. Edward Cullen and Jacob Black are just as real to their fans as these real life mega-stars.
I was around when The Beatles hit the United States in February of 1964. The fan feeding frenzy there was almost as crazy as when Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart or Taylor Lautner makes a personal appearance… almost. Nothing quite compares to that! Edward Cullen, Bella Swan and Jacob Black will live forever, really. If you are a Twilight fan I think you have to agree, there has never been anything even close to this! There may never be again.
What made that happen? What is it about a specific film or book or series that captures our attention? What made this little movie capture my attention and why can’t I let go? Why did we fall in love with the story and the characters? What holds us there? Have we, the fans, ever even asked ourselves that question? I had to ask myself that question. I really needed to find the answer too. I was swept away by it, so far from my planned destination that I was compelled to find out what the hell I was thinking.
My introduction to Twilight was kind of like being run over with a truck, so I was defiantly asking myself these questions. I was hoping that a little research into what was happening with Twilight would help me with the answers I so desperately needed to make sense of my need to continue with it. And so this book began. I never really planned on a book; just an answer but there was such an outpouring of support from fans that I began to see that their stories were just as important to me as mine.
When Twilight hit the theaters in the United States on November 21, 2008, the author, the producers and most of all the actors had no idea what was about to happen. No one could have imagined the firestorm that Twilight would ignite.
When a film like this, from a popular book or series of books is produced, the writer, the studio and the cast can only you hope for the best.
They hope the screenwriter was able to bring the story to the screen without losing the beloved storyline the book fans adore. They hope that they got the cast right. They hope that the people they choose to play the characters that fans love are the ones already in the minds of the readers. They hope that the fans will embrace the film version as they did the books. That seems a lot to hope for. It is a risky business and an expensive one. There is a lot on the line for everyone involved.
We have all anticipated movies based on one of our favorite books only to find after seeing the film, that they didn’t hit the mark at all. Sometimes we feel that the studio did fairly well at following the storyline and a few times that they really nailed it and we really love it and still watch the film every time we can. That third scenario is what Hollywood is always looking for. Lightening in a bottle!
Shortly after the first book in the series, Twilight was published; Stephenie Meyer sold the rights to produce the movie to Paramount MTV films. The script that they developed was so far removed from the original written story that Stephenie Meyer told Entertainment Weekly, “They could have put that movie out, called it something else and no one would have known it was Twilight.” After Paramount’s option expired Meyer was reluctant to move on any further movie deals. When Eric Feig, president of production at Summit Entertainment approached Meyer it took some convincing for her to believe that Summit would honor the integrity of the book. Meyer needed it writing, no fangs. The contracts were signed and in July of 2007 Stephenie Meyer and Summit Entertainment made the announcement that Twilight would, in fact be made into a movie.
They have to get all of the elements right to make a profit. They have to first entice us into the theater to see the film, then they want us to come back to see it several times and then to love it so much we buy our own copy on DVD. They also need us to tell all of our friends to see the movie and buy the DVD. The author, the studio, the casting director and the production company may have done all the legwork to make it happen on screen but what good is all of that if the fans don’t love it? Regardless of all the money spent to get this work into theaters, we the fans are the most important unknown element affecting the life of a franchise and most importantly the studios bottom line.
They got it right with The Twilight Saga. Really right!
Stephenie Myer described her characters so precisely in the first book that casting must have been a nightmare. The books were already a big hit and had their own fan base even before the thought of a film. All of us who have favorite books know that we have already created a mental picture of those characters faces in our minds. We already know what they look like to us. A casting agent and director really have their work cut out for them trying to reconcile our vision to the one that will be on screen. I have to say; with maybe just a couple of exceptions these actors were perfectly cast. How did they do that?
I did this all backwards of course, because I saw the first Twilight film before I read the first book. (I know, I know) I watched that first film several times before I sat down with the book but my vision and Stephenie Meyer’s descriptions were dead on. My preconceived visual view only had to do the slightest shift for a couple of characters before it was a perfect fit for me and so it would seem, for you, as well.
When I started to do research for this book, I found out that the fans were so against Robert Pattinson being cast as the character of Edward Cullen that they were sighing an on-line petition to stop it. What were they thinking? Who else could be Edward? The facial structure Meyer describes, the square jaw, the perfect line of his nose, the full lips, and the eyes fringed with long lashes and the hair, that tousled bronze hair. Robert Pattinson is Edward Cullen period. Pattinson of course was not Stephenie Meyer’s first pick either, but during the filming she said this “I never anticipated that Rob would end up looking like the actor in my head. When he’s Rob, he’s just Rob, and he’s funny…and then, at the snap of a finger, he just switches into Edward, and it’s kind of an amazing transformation to watch.”
According to the LA Times, Robert Pattinson was somewhat taken aback by the fans negative response when he landed the coveted role of Edward Cullen. His Mum sent him a link to the on-line petition that said “Please! Anyone else apart from him.”
Alice, the casting of Ashley Greene there could not be more perfect. Billy Burk, a really great choice for Charlie Swan and Kristin Stewart, amazing as my vision of Bella.
All of the chosen actors fit neatly into my vision and yours too. Once the fans embraced the on screen characters, they became The Cullen’s, The Quileute and the clueless humans of Forks in our minds. Good luck to anyone who has to cast a remake of this. Hopefully not until after I am dead and gone.
Between the release of New Moon and Eclipse there was some internet buzz, which I was monitoring carefully at this point, that our Alice and our Emmett might not be returning for Breaking Dawn, the fans went wild. They could not even conceive of this blaspheme. What was Summit Entertainment thinking? It was amazing to hear the depth of feeling that the fans had for these characters I have to admit, myself included. All kinds of plans to stop this outrage were buzzing around the internet, everything short of storming Summit Entertainment’s main offices on mass with protest signs and plans for a sit in, and maybe even that. This could not happen.
Thank goodness it never did happened. Replacing one of these actors at this point would have been disastrous. We already had to conceive of a new Victoria. That has been very difficult for most of the fans. Even though Victoria’s on screen time was short, we already knew her. I am hoping that I can reconcile myself to the new Victoria in Eclipse and that the rest of the fans can too. Hollywood, you can’t just do this to us you know, it’s traumatic!
Now that we have had a chance to see the Denali clan, are they what you pictured? Since I reread the books all the time I have already seen them in my mind and I am ready to fully accept them in their proper roles when Breaking Dawn I comes out this fall.
Hollywood seems to have been going with the tried and true bottom line material for so many years now. I mean how many more Freddy Kruegers can we endure? They seem to be reluctant to try anything new. Re-making old movies sometimes two and three times. I might add, not necessarily better with each remake either. Picking their characters from Comic books and now trying to make everything 3-D.
Please… All you had to do was just give us that old material in a whole new way. Instead of another remake, why not a rethink of what we think we know? Change our minds about everything we already know, or thought we did, about Werewolves and Vampires anyway and let us sink our teeth into it. Sorry about that…
That’s right Hollywood, all you really had to do was take a chance on a charming little book, geared to a fan base of teens and pre-teens, cast it perfectly, place the story it in the magical and misty forests of the pacific northwest, keep it clean, match the books electrical charged love story with an on screen presence that would give our beloved characters faces we would never forget and pull us along for the ride of a lifetime. Right?
In this instance at least the literary world and Hollywood came together perfectly. The Twilight Saga book series, already having not just national but worldwide appeal and a built in book fan base, all that was necessary was to have perfect timing in bringing the quiet book loving fans and fanatic vampire loving film fans together with the magic of Hollywood. No big deal, yeah, well not really.
The Twilight Effect is a phenomenon seldom seen anywhere, even in Hollywood. This kind of madness does not happen as often as you may think.
The premier of the first Twilight film would, of course be the turning point in the creation of this Hollywood phenomenon. When Twilight, the first movie was released in 2008, I am sure everyone was holding their breath, even all the fans. The fans above all really wanted this to work.
Zap...Zing! The book fans loved it, the movie fans loved it, and even most vampire fans loved it. The film grossed over 69 million in the first weekend.
When those two distinct and different groups of fans came together with an overwhelming yes to this first film, the lines crossed over, got blurred, the book fans and the movie fans became one and a spark was ignited. Once that fire was lit between the film and book fans there was no stopping it. And so the frenzy began, that fan fed wildfire now has spread literally across the world.
With every new piece of Twilight merchandise we feed the flames. With each new contact we make, we convert a new fan and The Twilight Effect expands and grows. We all wait impatiently for the next new thing, a new Cullen or werewolf tee, bookmark, sound track, fragrance. There is no end to the items we are offered to keep us close to this story and the vampires and werewolves we love. We click on each new clip for the next movie. Fans tweet about the stars and what they are doing. We set our Tevos and DVR so we do not to miss a single TV interview. (Hope you are getting the picture.) We are obsessed with all things Twilight. Our own excitement and enthusiasm for these books and films constantly fan the flames into a bigger and bigger firestorm.
I was certainly no exception to this.
Chapter 2: Edward Cullen Umbrella…. Really?
When I first became aware of Twilight, in December of 2009 I know, what planet was I living on anyway! I immediately became aware of all things Twilight.
This is how it started for me. When I watched Twilight for the first time, back in December of 2009, I know, I know, even in my brain dead state I could see that I was not getting the whole story from this one movie and where were the vampires anyway?
After I watched it three, you read it right, three times in a row I still couldn’t figure out what I was missing. The emotions, the expressions hinted at a secret I didn’t yet know. I set off to find a copy of the movie for myself. When I finally found it at the local video store and took it to the counter to pay for it the salesgirl looked at it and smiled. This was really embarrassing; I had to admit to her that I was more than a little obsessed with the movie. I asked her if she had seen it.
Well…she couldn’t contain her enthusiasm, while she enlightened me as to all I had been missing, while I had of course been waiting on planet Zeron. She told me there were in fact two movies now, the next installment New Moon had already been out of theaters, I had of course missed it but it was due to be released on DVD soon and I could sign up for my very own reserved copy now.
She explained that there was a series of four books that these films were based on. Ah ha!, now I would find out what was not being said in the movie. I would know all the secrets that were hidden between the lines of dialogue, so carefully constructed to leave me wanting more. Could there be a better marketing plan? I think not…I was totally sucked in. (no pun intended)
Now I was on a mission to find the answers I needed, off to the book store, after I had signed up for my advanced copy of New Moon, of course.
I was just as excited as the salesgirl had been, like now I was in on some special secret; a secret of course only to those who have been on planet Zeron. Everyone else seemed to already know everything I didn’t. I love vampires, how could I have been so clueless?
I entered the book store determined to find these books, even if they were several years old. I was armed with all the new secret information I would need, given to me gladly by my new Twi-hard friend from the video store. What the hell is a Twi-hard anyway? I had the first time author’s name, vampire genré, and the titles of the four books I was seeking and I was set to go.
I tried the simple version of my request first. It couldn’t hurt, and everybody in town didn’t need to know I had been clueless for two years. I simply asked for Twilight. No problem. This guy was in on the secret too. He knew exactly what I wanted with that single word.
I wandered off in the direction he pointed me and it didn’t take any time to find what I was looking for. Are you kidding, how could you miss this! Half of the whole top floor of the place was Twilight. I am not just talking about books, but of course you already knew this, I was the alien here, sorry.
Every single piece of merchandise you could possibly think of related to Twilight, from bookmarks to umbrellas (umbrellas, for goodness sake, oh that’s right it is always raining in Forks) with Edward Cullen’s face, or Bella Swan or Emmett, Carlisle, Alice, everybody! Wow! And there was a bunch of guys without shirts too, where the heck did they come from? (This could be interesting) I hadn’t gotten to the wolf part yet. I was truly feeling like a little kid in the candy store.
I was so focused. It was so wonderful to let all the pains of my real life recede to the back of my mind while I just stood there smiling and trying to grasp the magnitude of this thing, I seemed to be so willingly getting myself into. I picked out the first two books in the series and held them tightly to my heart, like some kind of newfound treasures of untold value, afraid to set them down for fear someone else would pick them up. These were a definite must have. There was so much stuff, and so much I didn’t know yet. Where to start?
I had a totally heart wrenching debate over an Edward Cullen umbrella. I really had been thinking about a new umbrella, mine was more than a little bent. Did I really have the guts to flaunt this obsession to the world? I decided that I did not…..yet. As I firmly resolved not to buy the Edward umbrella, I pulled my hand back from it, trying to rein myself in, with great difficulty I might add, I started to laugh. I guess it was loud enough to attract the attention of the salesgirl and she gave me a strange look… like I had lost my mind, maybe she was right. I looked her in the eye and said “I almost bought an Edward Cullen umbrella” and I laughed again. She didn’t seem to get the joke.
As I turned around, my mouth dropped open and my eyes went wide, I came face to face with a full sized, stand up cut out of Edward Cullen; I just stood there for a second, dazzled. I decided I really needed to make a break for it. I could blow my whole Social Security check in here. I gave one last wistful look at the Edward umbrella and made a run for it. I actually gave thought to going back for it on the way home… several times. This was truly an obsession now and I hadn’t even read the first book yet. For goodness sakes, get a grip!
I needn’t have feared that people would think I was crazy. The very next rainy day while I was downtown, I saw three; yes count those 3 Edward umbrellas. And this is a very small town. One was a young girl, totally expected the next a middle aged gal. Ok I’m down with that. The last was a very attractive young man. I’m not even going there. I immediately wondered if the book store still had any left. Anyway my point is that I would have been perfectly within the realm of sanity if I had bought the silly thing. I’m just sayin!
The whole merchandising angle on this thing is overwhelming. Every possible item connected with these films and books is out there. Just Google Twilight merchandise on the internet and you will be sorting through the web sites till 2012. Most of it is pretty mundane and to be expected, but some of this will really blow your mind….or not.
Did you know you can buy vials of Edwards’s venom? Ykes, who is out there dreaming this stuff up? There are fragrances too; really, you can smell like Edward does to Bella, an almost honey-lilac and sun-flavored scent, Ah yum! And there is one for how Bella smells to Edward, now that can’t be very pleasant! I even saw sparkly sexual lubricant, with glitter…good grief. You can buy a lock of werewolf fur, complete with a certificate of authenticity. No joke Team Jacob!
There are thousands of Twilight groups on Facebook, follow Twilight fans on Twitter; I’m not even really sure what that Twitter is…yet. There are chat groups, book clubs and role playing games too. Whatever you are looking for to connect with Twilight, I’m sure it is out there.
The sale of the idea of Twilight has changed things for thousands of people, as well. Volvo the manufacturer of Edward’s hot little silver car from the first Twilight film showed a marked increase in sales in 2009. It seems that in this case a picture is worth a thousand words. The Volvo model C30 T5, in silver of course, from the film has shown an increase in requests. The Volvo S60R, as mention in the book has not. Why is that… do you think?
The most favorite names for babies born in 2009 were Jacob and Isabella. That is probably a no brainer. Edward still seems a little old fashion. And we love that it is.
The residents of the small Pacific Northwest town of Forks Washington have completely reinvented themselves and their town since the release of Twilight. There are actually two DVD’s about the town and how it has dealt with Twilight mania. Twilight in Forks-Saga of a Real Town and Destination Forks: Real World of Twilight. Both were released in 2010 and are available on line. Most of the film was not even actually filmed there, most people already know that, but fans flock there anyway looking for Bella’s house which was actually 218 Rim Dr. in Washougal, Washington. Fans even ask where Jacob is like he really lives there.
Forks, Washington has developed a whole cottage industry around their new found fame. There are now tours that include the Cullen house, not the one we remember from the films. The modern glass and wood masterpiece from the films was designed by architect Jeff Kovel, for Niki executive John Hoke. The real house sits on the border of Portland, Oregon’s Forest Park, nowhere close to Forks, Washington, as were the actual locations of Bella’s house and the building where the movie’s prom was held. That building unfortunately is scheduled for demolition, but again the fans seem oblivious.
The Cullen house in Forks is more like the one described in the novels, a tall white wooden framed house with a wrap around porch. The fans don’t seem to notice. One of the bus tours even stops for lunch at the invisible Quileute borderline between Forks and La Push, where Edward must leave Bella in Jacobs care while he reluctantly leaves to hunt in the third film in the series, Eclipse.
I recently saw on the internet several tours being put together, by fans to make the trip to Forks to celebrate Bella’s birthday on September 13th. You wait and see if this doesn’t become a yearly event.
New shops have opened up with Twilight shirts, cups, bookmarks, games and even ceramic apples from the cafeteria scene. I am debating it; I really need one of those. Forks may be covered with thick green moss, but believe me there is no grass growing under the feet of new savvy Fork’s businessmen in the pursuit of the Twilight dollars.
Websites by the thousands have popped up. Fan clubs and blogs all related to the books or films now exist. The new era wave of technology is part of the reason this has gone global with such speed. Could that be the key to why this affliction has spread like some super virus? Is it the fact that all the new technology has given us the ability to shoot something out over electronic networks across the world with such speed, allowed them to spread the madness to everyone with access? Is that how this happened? Maybe because the films have made it a visual experience rather that a quiet journey in the mind and heart of the reader this has become a world wide fanatical connection between fans.
Maybe being able to chat with other fans online and not face to face has made it easier to express our obsession with others of a like mind without fear of ridicule. Maybe the vast amount of merchandise available, that we buy and proudly wear, in public even…has made it easier to approach a total stranger and begin a discussion about our obsession with Twilight. More likely, it is as it was with the creation of phenomenon itself, a combination of all these things that keeps it going and growing.
Ok…be honest with yourselves, how much Twilight stuff do you have? I never opted for the full size cardboard cutout of Edward Cullen, but I do have a Bite Me tee and yes I wear it. I found my “Yes I’m one of those Twilight People” tee very useful while I was making random contacts for research for this book. All I had to do was wear it in public and the people came to me. Really! Every time I get a phone call while I am out: Bella’s lullaby is my ring tone, complete strangers start asking which film or book I like best or which characters I love. It made researching this book a lot of fun.
I received an Edward Cullen Birthday card last year from a non Twi-hard friend and although she thinks I am crazy, I was happy as a clam. (I found it very handy on the many interventions my friends planned for me during my Zeron days.) I even have an Edward Cullen nightshirt but the first time I tried to sleep in it, it freaked me out. Lying there with Edwards face on my chest was just too creepy, even for me. I also proudly display a bumper sticker that says “Warning I Drive Like a Cullen”, which is actually very appropriate for me.
I have purchased 10 books. I am on my third copy of Twilight, the first two fell apart. I recently had to purchase “The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner”. After all I had to get the whole scoop before Eclipse. I even had to buy all the books and DVD’s spoofing Twilight like Nightlight and Vampire’s Suck. Very funny, by the way.
Stephenie Meyer has said that some of the music that has appeared on the soundtrack CD’s was her inspiration as she wrote certain chapters of the books. I have all the music now too. I was always Rock & Roll and Rachmaninoff, but I really like this Indy stuff. Now I have all the Muse albums. Death Cab for Cutie, Linkn Park, even Lady Gaga, I’m in. So I guess I help to perpetuate this giganta-phenenom I call The Twilight Effect, all by myself.
Exceptional, unusual, abnormal, yes it is all that and much, much more.
This is truly a fan driven effect, just like all Hollywood created phenomenon’s must by necessity be if they are to be a financial success. Somebody should really begin to realize that. This seemed to be a real sticking point for me. I had become one of those fans and I still wasn’t sure why or how that happened. I was a reasonable adult, more than an adult really, hell I am almost older than God! What is it about this story for goodness sake? How did I let myself get drawn into all this craziness anyway?
The Twilight Effect, we, the fans continue to drive it with our purchases but more than that we continue to drive it because we love it.
Why is that…do you think?
We love the characters. We love all of them; we are in love with some of them, hopelessly but most of all we love the story. It connects us to other people. The feelings we have for it have gone global. One Twilight Mom said she could throw a dart at a world map and no matter where in the world it landed she would have a friend. There are literally millions of us now and the number is growing with every book purchased and every ticket sold.
Chapter 3: Eclipse….finally?
Once you are caught up in the Twilight frenzy there is no going back. You begin to look forward to the next big thing. You can’t help yourself the obsession takes on a life of its own and you are helpless, really…to stop it. Last summer, of course it was the release of the third film in the series, Eclipse.
Many of the fans sites I visit often have helped to fill the endless days of waiting for the film to be released with constant updates and wonderfully creative videos they put together from still pictures of the stars and past films clips. The talent and devotion of these fans never ceases to amaze me. You can spend hours watching their wonderful imagination spill across the computer screen complete with great music and get that little fix you need to curb the craving for more that this addiction inflicts upon your soul. For most Twi-hards, it is truly an addiction, we simply can’t get enough…ever!
You begin to count down the days and what seemed like a ridiculously long wait is getting shorter and shorter and finally it is here. It is the night of the big show and you have clothes thrown all over the place trying to find the right Tee and bracelet and bag to ware to the big event. You have so many to choose from the decisions are impossible; you’d think it was a state dinner or the prom for goodness sake.
Well I finally decided what to wear and got to the much anticipated midnight showing of Eclipse. Like the rest of the avid fans; I had watched the entire press blitz in the weeks before the opening. All the stars interviews, each new clip, all the buzz and of course the TV recap of the Hollywood premier.
Now it was here, what we had all been waiting months for. I really debated if the opening night was a good idea, what with hundreds of teenage girls screaming every time Edward or Jacob came on screen but, in the end, I was just like a million others, I couldn’t wait.
The excitement was evident when you first entered the theater, even with the mob outside. It was electric and contagious and everyone was talking to their friends and to the all the strangers sitting beside them about the movie. Everyone speculating on what scenes would be included and how they could possibly pull off some of the books content. And when the lights in the theater went down and the music started the same electric spark that Bella and Edward felt flash between them in biology class, began to flash from fan to fan super-charging our frenzied anticipation of this…the event we all had waited for so long.
Before the film started the young woman in front of me turned around and started a conversation about the newest Victoria and to ask if I had read “The Short Second life of Bree Tanner?” I had, of course. After speaking with her for some minutes, I had learned that a friend had turned her on to the first Twilight book; she and I talked for a short time and exchanged names and numbers for later discussions. I learned in that short time that her obsession with the Twilight merchandise was much worse than mine. Not really a surprise since everyone in all 15 theaters was wearing some kind of Twilight related apparel. I was still good to know I wasn’t the craziest person here.
Her bedroom was divided in two, Team Edward and Team Jacob, she was very fickle while I of course remain steadfastly Team Edward. She had bedspreads, pillow cases, posters and clothing for each. She traded off sleeping in both twin beds, some nights laying her head next to Jacobs face and some nights next to Edwards… I am completely sane.
Nearly everyone was decked out in Team Edward or Team Jacob garb, including my self and both my Twi-hard and non-Twilight friends (We loaned her a Team Edward shirt, no need for her to be embarrassed at being underdressed). The local TV channel was there and I even got my three minutes of fame on Television, in our little town at least, spouting out my unbridled love for all things Twilight.