Twilight Analysis of Movie Adaptation
Book to Movie
Get ready for a Twilight analysis blog! (Yes, I know I’m 14 years late to the party and this topic is probably very overdone).
I am not just going to talk about Twilight, no no. I am going to rant all about the adaptation’s successes and utter failures. Some of the “failures” might just be some of my own judgmental opinions. However, I’ll be sure to clarify what is my opinion and what is the general consensus of the fandom.
ADAPTATION 101
First, let us look at what makes a good movie adaptation. I’ve narrowed the formula down to one ingredient: expectations.
How are expectations created? Well, we use our imaginations to bring to life what is written in a book. Our imaginations as readers is what distinguishes us from non-readers. Ask around and you’ll quickly figure out that non-readers tend to “get bored” while reading and/or simply have trouble making words into mental pictures.
Our imagination as readers tends to be a little outlandish, colorful and continues on even when the book ends. How often do you fall asleep or daydream thinking about the characters? Do you change plots in your mind?
Fun fact: When I re-read Twilight every year, I tend to daydream about what would have happened if Edward actually had bitten Bella on the first day. I also think about what kind of things the Cullens do when they aren’t pretending to be regular high school teenagers. Things like wrestling, extreme board games, creating businesses, and handling stocks are fairly common in my mind. Thankfully, Stephanie Meyer blessed us with Midnight Sun, so I don’t have to make up my own scenarios anymore.
STORY WITHIN A STORY
Our expectations of Twilight don’t end when the pages run out. Part of Stephanie Meyer’s creative genius is that she created back stories for many of her characters.
For example, Alice could see visions when she was still human. Emmet nearly died in a bear attack. Carlisle had centuries of experience as a very restrained vampire. Unfortunately, the film didn’t touch on the backstories of these interesting characters much. It is one of the “utter failures” that the fandom can collectively agree upon. Meyer should consider writing a spinoff about Carlisle’s life with the Voltori!
Alice especially had a great story that wasn’t just a passing explanation of her character. She actually has a direct connection to the story’s protagonist, James.
At this point, I really shouldn’t be warning you about spoilers. It’s been 14 years, and if you are reading this without ever having read the books, then you need to get your life together. Brace yourself for a spoiler alert…
James came across Alice many years ago when Alice was still human. Her blood appealed to him in the same way that Bellas appeals to Edwards. While still human, Alice had premonitions that loosely labeled her as a witch and landed her in a mental hospital. She has no recollection of her human life, including meeting James, having visions, or how she turned into a vampire.
Her story being left out of the film didn’t completely change the story, but it was a great disappointment to not be able to see our expectations of her super interesting story brought to life on the big screen.
Thankfully, Stephanie Meyer rectified the situation. She collaborated with some prominent members of the movie world and helped young female filmmakers create short stories about Alice’s life as a human. They also created stories for Jasper. How she met Jasper, what Jasper’s life was like in the army, and a bunch of other underrepresented characters that the filmmakers of Twilight decided not to include in the adaptation.
Check out The Storytellers: New Voices of the Twilight Saga – YouTube
LOCATION! - Twilight Analysis
One of the things I learned while studying film in college was the importance of location. The setting is what sets the tone and mood of each individual scene as well as the entire movie. The locations should make sense according to the plot, have variety (but not too much variety), and be very visually appealing.
The Pacific Northwest is well known as being the most rainy and dreary part of the U.S. It also has some of the most incredible views and the filmmakers of Twilight really took advantage of that. Many scenes highlighted the towering trees covered in bright green, dewy moss.
One scene in Twilight even went so far as to put Bella and Edward high up in one of those tall trees and pan around them to show the vast forests and mountains. I did not picture that scene in my head while reading the books, but I was not disappointed with the addition.
STICK TO THE SCRIPT
Sometimes, though, filmmakers really should stick to the script.
The good thing about making a film based on a book is that it’s basically already done, they just need to take out the boring and unnecessary scenes, make a few slight adjustments, and that’s it. The scripts hardly ever need to be messed with. So why do filmmakers ignore the clearly written conversation from the books? Do they not realize that we create entire Pinterest boards, dream journals, and wall posters based on book quotes?!
The cringiest and most upsetting line that showed up in the films that were NOT included in the movie was the spider monkey line. I apologize if you haven’t seen the movie in a while and have successfully blocked out the dreadful scene where Bella hangs off Edward’s back while he jumps out of the window/wall of his room onto a tree and then proceeds to climb up the tree right after saying “You better hold on tight, spider monkey.”
I bet you didn’t put up a poster of that line on your bedroom wall!
*insert dramatic sigh* Whose idea was it to write that into the script? What does a spider monkey have to do with anything? Why would anyone ever call their love interest a “spider monkey” as a cute nickname? I’m so confused. Just so you know, the entire #teamedward clan rolled their eyes and sat lower in their seats when he said it. I’m fairly certain a few of them switched over to the #teamjacob tribe out of embarrassment.
QUOTES
Besides that line that we can go back to forgetting, many of the best lines actually were included in the movie adaptation. For example, the very first line of the very first chapter (the preface) of the very first book:
“I’d never given much thought to how I would die…”
That’s pretty much where the direct line ends. The book continues to talk about a scene that will show a much later, foreshadowing of a traumatic event, while the movie continues with “but dying in the place of someone I love seems like a good way to go.” To be honest, I’m not mad about the change, and I don’t think anyone else is either. I am much happier with the movie’s alteration of the opening scene being a deer wandering in the woods and then being chased down by a vampire (I assume is Edward in a hoodie).
The alternative, if the Twilight filmmakers stuck to the book’s events, would have been a clip of the fight scene with James at the climax of the movie. I’m a big fan of foreshadowing, but with a time limit of less than two hours, it’s unnecessary to waste 30 seconds on a scene that we will see again soon. I guess that makes the opening scene a success.
INTERNAL MONOLOGUE
Bella’s internal monologue wasn’t even THAT annoying. Twilight (the book) tends to get very wordy and overly descriptive. Honestly, there aren’t many key events. There are a lot of details that are vital to understanding each character. For example, why Edward choose to drink animal blood instead of humans. Also, why Bella connects better to book characters than to her classmates.
Stephanie Meyer also gave us a peak of Renee through Bella’s internal monologues when we are given a description of the bright yellow kitchen cabinets that her mom painted to bring some “sunshine” to the place. Charlie keeping the yellow cabinets even many years after their separation is also very telling about his character and how he never really moved on.
Some of Bella’s internal musings are included in the film, like when she starts to question what Edward is, when she fully realizes that she loves him despite being incredibly dangerous and toxic, and her minor day-to-day activities. Many of the more important descriptions are left out though.
FOR EXAMPLE:
Bella in the books is actually kind of funny and very sarcastic. One of the first lines where she cracks a joke is when she gets the news that she has a free truck and thinks “I never looked a free truck in the mouth – or engine.” It’s a little lame, but we see some actual personality. This is not translated into the movie!!
I’m not saying that this exact line should have been in the film, but a couple of Bella’s funny thoughts would have really made Bella more relatable and significantly less dull, depressing, and boring.
I also love the line at the beginning of the book when she is having a conversation with Eric about Phoenix and he says “You don’t look very tan.” Bella responds with “My mother is part albino”.
BELLA IS...FUNNY?
At various points, Bella also refers to Mike as a golden retriever. Which is an accurate enough description.
I don’t understand why the filmmakers wanted Bella to be boring. I have a feeling that they wanted her to seem more mature and easily able to fit in with the creepy vampire crowd, but she was still a 17-year-old high school human girl, and we wanted to relate to her.
Book Bella is relatable. Movie Bella is not.
Book Bella is occasionally witty, sarcastic, occasionally judgmental, a book nerd like us, introverted, shy with making friends, is mature for her age (like all teens think they are), but movie Bella doesn’t portray any of these awesome character traits except for being introverted and shy. Movie Bella lacked a kind of depth and several personality traits that book Bella had.
I’m not at all implying that its Kristen Stewart’s fault, because the other movies in the Twilight series are much better, but perhaps the director and scriptwriters of the first film should have focused less on making her look blue and depressed and given her some more life and those relatable qualities that Stephanie Meyer so clearly wrote into the novels.
BLUE
Our expectations for a film adaptation don’t just include scripts – we also want the scenes to be accurate and visually appealing. While reading Twilight, did you imagine a slight blue tint over every scene, character, and location? No? I don’t think anyone except the director did. Thankfully the directors of the following films in the series did away with that disappointment. The directors of the other Twilight movies fixed a lot of basic mistakes from the first film.
Now these are just my opinions about what a book-to-movie adaptation should focus on. I am not a prominent of even an aspiring filmmaker or writer of books, but as a reader and viewer who spends money on hardbacks and trips to the movie theater, my opinions are relevant, as are yours.
Head over to my Instagram page, @books4movies and share your thoughts with me and the fandom.
Twilight Adaptation Analysis: My General Musings
SCENT AND POWER
- Perhaps Alice and Bella’s blood smelled so good to James and Edward because their powers as a vampire were especially strong even as a human. Is the scent of blood in humans directly tied to a vampire’s power? Is there anyone else in the series that had a strong scent and supernatural abilities while human?
NOT SO NICE
- Bella in the books is sort of an asshole. She calls Mike a golden retriever. Bella points out flaws when describing newly introduced characters (such as Erics’ skin problems and the girl in one of her classes with a “bad perm”). She ignores people when they have conversations with her. For example, Angela is talking to her and Bella’s thoughts read “I couldn’t remember her name, so I smiled and nodded as she prattled about teachers and classes. I didn’t try to keep up”….
GUILTY PLEASURE
- The first Twilight movie is the worst one, but also the most popular. People love to hate it, and it’s a guilty pleasure. I think that people now no longer consider it a “guilty” pleasure. Now the film is more about sentimentality.