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So, the final New Moon trailer premiered during the MTV Video Music Awards tonight. If you haven’t seen it for yourself yet (unlikely, I know!), then you can check it out below:

What did I think? Personally, I was blown away. I’ve been saying for awhile that I think New Moon will be even better than Twilight, for many reasons. The new director, Chris Weitz, has truly impressed me with his understanding of the book in interviews. I’m also a fan of his filming style; the previous New Moon clips have been excellent. Also, it doesn’t hurt that New Moon has a much bigger budget than Twilight.

But this preview was even better than I expected. It did all the right things: it showed the scope of the plot of New Moon (which is so much bigger than in Twilight, especially with the werewolves and the Volturi). It showed hints of strong performances by Rob, Kristen, and Taylor. It has a darker tone, it has more action, and it’s just one pretty looking movie, in my humble opinion.

If there was one thing that it maybe did too well? It did cover all the highlights of the movie, even key parts near the end. Still, it’s hard to promote a movie based on a book, since everyone who’s read it already knows what happens. Also, most trailers give away the best parts of movies nowadays, whether they’re based on books or not. So even though it showed some pretty spoiler-filled scenes, that didn’t bother me much. (Personally, it just made me even more excited to see the entire movie!)

My favorite parts:

The first few clips of the Volturi = If you look closely, these are parts of a flashback. The Volturi are executing a vampire with Carlisle looking on. It’s during the 1700’s, so they’re all in full period costume. Visually, it’s gorgeous, especially the set and costumes. Plus, it adds just the right amount of historical texture, while Edward is explaining who the Volturi are.

Jane’s line = Dakota Fanning’s performance looks amazing so far. She definitely captured Jane’s creepy side! I can’t wait to see the demonstration of her powers in the movie.

Cliff diving = I thought the visual of Edward in the water, with Bella being pulled out by Jacob, was truly beautiful. It was such a haunting illustration of what happens in the book: Bella is pulled into this deep, dangerous depression because of her obsession with Edward, and Jacob is the one to rescue her.

Edward’s suicide attempt = Nice abs aside, I still think Robert Pattinson’s performance is impressive here. With just his facial expression, he conveys the despair and heartbreak Edward is feeling perfectly.

Laurent and the Werewolves = Okay, I’m sorry, but I love ALL the action sequences! And this one looks especially awesome. I think the CGI has improved leaps and bounds from the first preview. Plus, Laurent’s smirk is deliciously dangerous. (Way to go, Edi!)

Well, I have to say, I am one happy fan. After all, even the best movies based on books are still adaptations. They can’t keep every detail from the books, and some things HAVE to change, or they won’t be good movies. (Some things translate differently onscreen than they do with words on a page.) But so far, this appears to be one of the most faithful adaptations of a book that I’ve seen. It has ALL the key scenes that fans loved from the book, with a few additions that look like they’ll just add even more excitement to the experience.

Personally, I can’t wait until November 20th! And judging by the response on Twitter, I don’t think I’m alone.

Kudos to Chris Weitz, the production team, and the cast for doing an outstanding job on the preview footage. Based on the clips I’ve seen, I think my prediction about New Moon is well on its way to coming true!

I apologize for posting the second half several days late, but just in case anyone was still curious about my Comic Con experience…

After the New Moon Panel, I did my best to overcome my sleep deprivation and check out the exhibit hall. As a Comic Con sort of person, I love checking out all kinds of geeky stuff, so I felt like I shouldn’t just use my Thursday pass for New Moon (even though that’s why I bought it, haha). So I walked around for a little while checking out the booths. Of course, I had to make a stop at the Summit booth. Unlike last year, their booth was HUGE, and you could tell they know what their next big movie will be. There were widescreen TVs playing the New Moon trailer nonstop, and they had beautiful displays with some of the new promotional images.

They also had the spinning wheel from last year, where you could win merchandise from several of their upcoming movies. (You could tell everyone in line was trying for the New Moon merchandise.) They had some New Moon buttons and trading cards for prizes. But the coolest thing was that they were actually giving away the full-size New Moon movie posters while I was there. You didn’t even having to spin the wheel for them! My mom won the Twilight poster for me last year, but she had to spin the wheel and get lucky, so I thought that was pretty cool. I was also really happy to get the poster, because I was hoping to be able to replace the Twilight one (which has on my bedroom door for a year) with the one for New Moon.

After that, I had two tickets to the special screening of Twilight at the Gaslamp Stadium (a local movie theater), so my mom offered to come with me to check it out. It was about 4:40 at this point, and wow, this event was just as crazy as the panel! There were thousands of girls already in line waiting to get in. (Apparently, lots of people also camped out for this event, so I think it’s safe to say there were probably more than ten thousand Twilight fans in San Diego yesterday.) The line stretched for blocks, and it ended up taking us three hours to get inside the theater. The event was really well-organized, though, and it was pretty amazing, because just about the whole cast showed up to greet the fans! (And when I say the whole cast, I really mean it, as you’ll see.)

There was a huge crowd of girls who weren’t even in the line standing across the street from the theater entrance. They were there just to scream when the stars arrived at the theater! I wasn’t able to see them arrive because I was in line, but I have a feeling the fan reaction must have been pretty amazing, just like it had been all day. When we got finally inside the theater, there were lots of displays for lots of Twilight-related merchandise, like the new Barbie dolls. They also handed out samples of the Twilight heart message candy to everyone who came in, as well as that new lip gloss called Lip Venom. There were dozens of those cardboard stand-ups from Twilight around the theater; it almost seemed like Edward and Bella and James had somehow cloned themselves, haha.

Unfortunately, when I got inside our 250-person theater, I had to sit at the very back. So when the stars came in, I actually couldn’t see them very well, and sadly enough, my camera doesn’t have a great zoom function. So the funny thing was, I’m not 100% sure which actors came into my theater! But there were TONS of them. I do know that these people were there for sure: Kellan Lutz (Emmett), Nikki Reed (Rosalie), Elizabeth Reaser (Esme), Peter Facinelli (Carlisle), Ashley Greene (Alice), Billy Burke (Charlie), Rachelle Lefevre (Victoria), Michael Welch (Mike) and Jamie Campbell Bower (Caius). I was especially surprised that they had actors from New Moon, when it hasn’t even come out yet! (The girls were swooning over Jamie’s accent, haha. I think Twilight fangirls have a special love for British accents.)

I think Christian Serratos and Justin Chon were also there, but I couldn’t see them well enough to be sure. I also think Noot Seear (Heidi) and two of the new members of the wolf pack were there, and possibly the one girl I couldn’t identify was Tinsel Korey? But I would check other blogs to see if other people know for sure. (And they probably have photos where you can actually see them, haha.)

I don’t think I saw Jackson Rathbone (Jasper), so if I’m right, he was the only member of the Cullen family who wasn’t in my theater. Rob and Kristen and Taylor also weren’t there, but I believe they appeared in some of the other theaters. (Apparently, it was kind of random who showed up where.) Still, there were so many actors there, including almost all of the Cullen family, that I couldn’t possibly be disappointed! (Plus, I love me some Cullen family. So, there’s that, haha.)

Anyway, the actors were nice enough to answer some questions for about fifteen minutes or so, which was pretty generous given that they had already been doing this for three hours. This one younger girl asked Kellan if he liked her shirt (I think she was wearing one of those Bear Hug shirts, but I couldn’t see because she was sitting toward the front), and he said he loved it and walked over and gave her the biggest hug! It was so utterly adorable that everyone started saying “Awww!”

I’ve noticed Kellan, Ashley, and Peter in particular are always amazingly nice to the fans. They really make a point of being friendly and signing autographs and showing appreciation for fan support, which is something that most actors don’t do. (Although I think all the Twilight actors do this on at least some level, which is pretty amazing, really!)

After all, it doesn’t really help their careers as actors to sign autographs or show up for fans at events like this, even though people might assume that it’s fan support that boosts an actor’s career. It doesn’t hurt it, obviously, but actors are probably better off working to get a place within the industry by meeting influential people and getting publicity through magazine shoots and things like that. After all, people who show up for these events are already fans; most of them are already going to go see their movies regardless.

So I really appreciate it when actors like Kellan and Ashley and Peter do nice things like sign autographs for people who ask, which all three of them did for some lucky fans in my theater. (Peter in particular stayed behind to sign things, and he even came in shaking people’s hands! It’s so fitting that the actor who plays Carlisle is probably the nicest guy I’ve ever seen.)

As far as the questions go, there were a few interesting ones. My favorite was one for Nikki, when someone asked what part she was looking forward to filming in the next two movies. She said, not surprisingly, that she was looking forward to filming Rosalie’s back-story. And she said something about how they’re filming it now! I’m not sure if she just meant they were filming Eclipse already, or if she meant that they were doing this exact scene.

But either way, that’s incredibly exciting, at least for me. Two of the parts that I’m most looking forward to seeing in Eclipse are Rosalie and Jasper’s backstories. (Kellan mentioned that he was looking forward to seeing what Jackson did with the Civil War back-story, and I have to say, he’s not the only one!)

Ashley mentioned that she was looking forward to the epic fight scene at the end, which was also exciting to me, because honestly, that’s the scene I’m the most interested in. (No, I’m probably not a typical Twilight fan, haha. Though during the New Moon panel, someone asked the exact same question, and Taylor said he was most looking forward to filming the sleeping bag scene. And I screamed along with everybody else, because that scene is awesome.)

After that, they said goodbye, and everyone clapped and squealed some more. I didn’t stay for the Twilight screening, unfortunately. I wanted to, but at that point, I had been awake for thirty-nine hours straight and needed a shower and something to eat pretty badly, haha. But I hope everyone who stayed had fun! I would have liked to watch Twilight with so many hardcore fans in the audience.

As I left the theater, fans in the lobby started screaming; apparently, the actors were leaving in a bus at that exact moment. So I’m not sure, but it seems like that was their last appearance for the evening? It was weird, though, because I know there were still hundreds of fans behind us in line, and I’m pretty sure everyone who had a ticket was supposed to be guaranteed an appearance by the actors. Hopefully, nobody had to leave disappointed!

On the way out, we got free autographed New Moon posters (they were smaller than the big movie posters, which was convenient for carrying purposes). Each had one actor’s autograph on it, and which one you got was random. I got one from Elizabeth Reaser, which was cool, because Esme is one half of my favorite Twilight couple and I love the way Elizabeth plays her. And after much sleuthing around the net, I believe my mom got one signed by Jackson Rathbone (so there’s a strong possibility he was at the event earlier in the day). Anyway, it was cool of the actors to sign all those posters for free.

All in all, my epic Twilight adventure in San Diego was amazing, and totally worth all the sleep deprivation and endless waiting. In fact, I really enjoyed seeing such huge crowds of Twilight fans; everywhere we went, people kept asking if we were really there for Twilight, and they seemed shocked at just how many fans are this passionate about it. Some of the Comic Con regulars gave us attitude, particularly in the exhibit hall, which was lame but not really unexpected. Geeks from other fandoms (male ones in particular) seem to have this superiority complex about Twilight, which they perceive as nothing more than a shallow chick flick.

Frankly, I think those people should be looking at it another way: we’re all geeks about different things, so it’s not like they’re any “cooler” than Twilight fans. And if being a geek is cool (which it is), than Twilight fans are pretty darn cool, because as they’ve proven that they’re even more devoted than most Comic Con fans. They camped out earlier and waited longer for the Twilight events than just about any other fans that have ever been at the convention, which is saying something. And as someone who has been a geek in various fandoms, I think that’s awesome. So this is one geek who would never say that Twilight fans are uncool. Personally, I think they’re some of the greatest fans anywhere.

Well, that concludes my overly lengthy account of Twilight at Comic Con! Congrats to anyone who actually read the whole thing. But I figured I may as well be as detailed as possible, just in case anyone out there wanted to know about what a fellow fan’s experience was like. And I hope it was encouraging to anyone out there who’s been wondering if the New Moon movie is going to be any good. From what I can see, it’s not going to be good, it’s going to be amazing. And I can’t wait until all of us finally get to watch it on November 20th!

So, after a much-needed shower and eleven straight hours of sleep, I feel coherent enough to share my experience at Comic Con. Let me preface this entry by saying: it was EPIC, and worth every bit of the craziness involved to be a part of it.

I’ve been to Comic Con before. In fact, I was an occasional attendee of Comic Con several years before I read Twilight. But I also attended the convention last year and got into the now-famous Twilight panel where thousands of screaming fans first freaked out the actors. So I had a pretty good idea of what it would be like to try to get into the New Moon panel this year.

Well, I thought I did, anyway.

The one thing about Comic Con that people need to understand is that it is MASSIVE. I can say that as many times as I want, but it’s one of those things that you would have to be there to really understand. Given how huge the convention is, lining up early is always a big part of getting inside the really popular events. But the interesting thing is that Comic Con has never, EVER seen something like the Twilight panels before… On the night before the panel, hundreds of Twilight fans were already camping out in line, just to get inside Hall H. (The panel didn’t start until 1:45 p.m. the next day.) And as it happens, I was lucky (and crazy) enough to be one of those people.

When my sister and I went around 7:00 p.m. to see if anyone was camping out, we were shocked to see not dozens, but hundreds of people already lined up outside. So I talked her into joining them, and we began a crazy wait that lasted almost seventeen straight hours with no sleep, occasional runs for food, and bathroom breaks at the nearby Marriot hotel where we were staying. The tricky thing was that we still needed to get our Thursday-only passes to get inside the event, but registration didn’t start until 9:00 the next morning. Luckily for us, my mom came along for the trip, and she offered to hold our spot in line while we got our passes.

This doesn’t really half describe the craziness, though, because everywhere we went, there were THOUSANDS of Twilight fans, many wearing t-shirts or carrying signs. Many of us also had Twilight-themed Burger King crowns that were handed out to those of us who camped out the night before. They were pretty cool, actually! You could pick a “Team Edward” or a “Team Jacob” one (I got one of each, but I gave my Edward one to a fan named Liz who just barely missed the volunteers who were handing them out). And the pictures on them are GORGEOUS. As someone who wasn’t 100% pleased with the promotional pictures for Twilight, I have to saw, the New Moon photos are a thousand times better. I can’t wait to buy more unnecessary merchandise this year, haha.

Anyway, all craziness aside, we were eventually lucky enough to get into Hall H. Even though we camped out for so long, we still sat about where I sat during the Twilight panel, just a little closer than halfway to the stage. (This says a lot about how much worse the crowds for New Moon, because I showed up around 7:30 a.m. last year!) We got treated to two other panels before the Summit panel, both of which involved lots of up-and-coming 3D movies. It was the first time they presented anything in 3D at Comic Con. The best part was definitely when Tim Burton arrived to promote his upcoming Alice in Wonderland film. His surprise guest was Johnny Depp! For anyone who likes Tim Burton movies, that this movie looks like a must-see. Visually, it’s absolutely stunning, almost like all the colorful art of an animated movie has come to life. (I think Kaleb Nation might have the trailer up on his YouTube site, in fact, so be sure to check it out!)

When the time came for the Summit panel, you could tell the excitement was building. Everyone knew that virtually all of the 6,500 people in that theater were there for New Moon. When they introduced it, all the fans started screaming like crazy, just like last year. And I can say this right now: we weren’t disappointed in our excitement. (At least, I know I wasn’t!)

Last year, it was fun to see all the fans at the panel, but the panel itself didn’t reveal any new clips of the movie. This year, we got not one, but TWO clips, and they were by far the best part of the event, even though it was fun to hear from the actors and Chris Weitz as well.

Let me just say this right now: New Moon is going to be even better than Twilight. I’m sure of it. As far as I can tell, Chris Weitz has made a movie that is not only faithful to the book, but emotional and visually beautiful in a way that the last film wasn’t. That’s not to say that Twilight was a bad movie or that I disliked it. I loved it, in fact!

But I also understood the criticism by certain fans that there wasn’t as much romance as they expected, and that the effects and filming style looked somewhat cheap, more like an independent film than a studio production. I haven’t seen the whole movie yet, but just based on the clips I’ve seen, I would like to say that New Moon will deliver on both levels in a way that Twilight did not. I hope all the fans out there will be just as pleased about that as I am.

The panel started when the moderator introduced Chris Weitz, our wonderful director. Can I just say something about him? He’s amazing. He was so gracious and kind during the Q&A, and it’s obvious that all the actors loved working with him. But even more amazing, I really get the sense that he knows us as fans, and he’s doing his absolute best to please us.

During the Q&A, someone asked if anyone on the panel had seen the fan reactions to the New Moon trailer that was released during the MTV movie awards. Chris Weitz said that he, along with all the other people in the editing room, watched all of the fan reaction videos and have been using them as motivation to continue to make New Moon the best movie that they can. Personally, I thought that was incredible! It shows that not only does he value fan input, but he is making this movie for us, for everyone who loves these books and wants to see a movie that remains faithful to them.

The rest of the panel consisted of four actors, including the big three: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner. I would say who they play in the film, but I think you all know that. As for our final guest, it was Ashley Greene, and I was thrilled to finally get to see the actress who plays Alice Cullen in person! (Alice is one of my top two favorite characters, Carlisle being my other favorite.) It was fun to hear them answer questions from both the moderator and the fans.

Most of the questions were pretty standard (funny moments on the set, what it was like to work for a new director, challenges they had during the second film, filming in Portland vs. Vancouver). Rob and Kristen are notoriously bad at interviews, but they did a good job handling the questions overall, even though they seemed about as self-conscious as they were for the Twilight panel last year. (Both Rob and Kristen never stop touching their hair when they talk! It’s distracting, but I find it oddly endearing, haha.)

As for Taylor and Ashley, they’re excellent at interviews, and they’re both incredibly charming. It never ceases to amaze me, how great Taylor is at pleasing his fans. He was describing how difficult it was to work out in the cold weather, particularly in one scene where they had to create fake rain with water from a well, and he was wearing nothing but jean shorts (cue high-pitched squeals from the crowd!). He finished his answer by saying something like he was doing it all for the fans, so it was all worth it. It always impresses me, how quick he is to thank the fans and try to please us as much as possible. He seems like a nice guy, and I can tell how happy he is that he got the role of Jacob for the second film. (A role which was very well-earned, by the way. I can’t wait to see more of his performance!)

All the actors handled the constant screaming pretty well. Rob was making a lot of funny faces at people who screamed out his name (sort of an expression like “What are you doing?”, but in a good-humored way). It cracks me up, how Rob doesn’t seem to understand why girls are always screaming at him. (Well, I assume he does understand, at least on some level. But it’s almost like he doesn’t think he’s really all that attractive. Oh, Rob, when millions of other people disagree with you, you’re probably the one who’s mistaken, lol!)

I was also happy to hear people screaming for Kristen, because sometimes it seems like she doesn’t get enough love in the fandom. She’s not the best at interviews; I think she has a hard time getting out her thoughts in words quickly enough to express what she means. But if you listen to how she replies, you can tell she’s a really thoughtful person.

She also has an excellent grasp of Bella’s character. When someone asked what the actors have in common with their characters, Kristen described how Bella is someone who is unashamed of what she wants, and goes and gets it with determination. To me, that describes Bella perfectly. She may end up as a victim of circumstances on occasion, but she is anything but a damsel in distress. And her desires define her, because she doesn’t let anything stop her from getting what she wants, not even when supernatural forces are in her way.

The panel answered a lot of questions from the audience, more than I expected. So unfortunately, I don’t remember everything they said. I will say the questions were pretty good at this panel, at least when compared to the Twilight one. The first time, there were a few questions that were kind of inappropriate, as well as some that weren’t really questions. (”Hi, Rob, how does it feel to be the hottest vampire in the world WHOO I LOVE YOU BABY!!!!!”) I mean, it’s fun to hear people get so excited, but how is an actor supposed to reply to that without sounding like a narcissist? Lol.

Anyway, some highlights from the Q&A included the actors teasing Chris Weitz for wearing too many layers when it was cold (Kristen said he would wear like six shirts when he could have just worn a sweater, to which Chris said he was trying to just wear a shirt to support the actors who had to wear minimal clothing, only to end up wimping out and put on more layers). Chris also said he would carry around a stick on set (I think he meant to use as a walking stick, maybe?) because it made him feel more in control of what was going on, which he then said didn’t work at all, haha.

By the way, Chris is a really funny guy, and he’s also very humble. Most of his humor is very self-deprecating: he tends to give all the credit to the actors and teases that he has no idea what he’s doing, when that’s clearly not the case. He also made some funny jokes about Rob, saying something like he took the job as director because he just wanted to be close to such a hot guy. Both him and Rob constantly joked that all Rob had to do for the movie was stand there and look pretty!

But the best part of this panel, as I said, was the two clips of the movie. These clips were brilliantly chosen for the occasion: there was some action, but mostly lots of tension and emotion. And, probably not coincidentally, (note: the rest of this paragraph is a mild spoiler) they managed to pick one clip where Jacob takes his shirt off, and one where Edward does the same. Let me tell you, Chris Weitz and the rest of the crew knows their audience! This movie is going to be even hotter than Twilight, in terms of both romance and fanservice. Oh, yeah, and for those of you who are curious: yes, Taylor and Rob both look amazing without a shirt, as we’ve all seen in photos.

As for a more serious commentary on the clips, I’m going to start with a non-spoiler version. Then, if you want to read all the glorious, spoiler-y details, just click the link that says “Read More.” Here’s the general commentary, where I don’t give away which scenes they were (although many of you have already heard):

There was one scene with Bella and Jacob, and one with Bella and Edward. And let me tell you something: the chemistry for both pairs was perfect. (I say “pairs” and not “couples,” because I realize there’s some debate about whether Bella and Jacob are more than friends in New Moon. For my part, I think it’s a little bit of both, but that’s a long story.) With Bella and Jacob, you can tell that Jacob is in love with Bella, but Bella is still stuck on her feelings for Edward and can’t get over him. Obviously, that’s as true to the book as it gets. What surprised me was how tenderly Taylor handles Jacob’s feelings for Bella; you can tell that it’s slowly going from a kid’s crush to something deeper.

As for the scene with Bella and Edward, I feel like I can’t say too much without spoiling it, except WOW. Rob blew me away, and so did Kristen! The tension was electric, and you really get the sense that Edward and Bella are soulmates, on a level that I think they didn’t quite reach in Twilight.

And I want to say one other thing: this film looks absolutely beautiful. Twilight was good, but it definitely had the feel of an independent film, whereas New Moon looks like a big-budget studio production (which it is, of course). Rob even described how Catherine Hardwicke’s filming style involves lots of close-up and handheld camera angles, which is often the way that indie films are styled.

He then went on to say that Chris Weitz’s style is very different, in that it’s more fluid and graceful (he described it by saying it’s like a “dance” with the camera). When I saw these clips, I saw exactly what Rob meant by that. Chris Weitz is creating a gorgeous film on a scale that reaches epic proportions, especially toward the end. Of course, the scale of the story in New Moon is much bigger than in Twilight, so I think it’s fitting. I also think fans will be pleased with it, because the scale of it doesn’t get in the way of the romance; as far I can see, it only enhances it.

Which is all to say: I am very happy with what Chris Weitz is doing, and I hope all the other fans will be, too. I also want to mention that both of these clips were scenes straight from the book, easily recognizable scenes that fans talk about frequently. In fact, most of the time, the fans were screaming during the clips not because of the hotness of the actors, but because they recognized key elements from these iconic scenes in the book. And as a fan of the book, that made me extremely happy.

Now for the nitty-gritty details about each scene… Read on, but only if you want to be spoiled!

Read more »

For my first post after my month-long hiatus, I decided to tackle a relatively simple subject: my purpose in creating this site. This subject is fairly personal in nature, so for more objective material, please refer to my two-part series on Twilight as literature which can be found here: [Part One: How?] [Part Two: Why?] You can also refer to the site’s About page for a more general treatment of the same topic.

My inspiration for creating twi-lit.com was pretty straightforward. During my undergraduate studies, I began to explore older works of vampire fiction, as well as the growing amount of literary criticism that exists on the subject. Believe it or not, vampire fiction has been studied by scholars for decades. I became interested in this field, and began researching a thesis project on the subject. Around the same time, I was introduced to Stephenie Meyer’s books.

After reading the Twilight series, I was admittedly intrigued. I found the books to be a fresh interpretation of the vampire myth, as well as a source of personal enjoyment. In the following months, I became a lurker within the Twilight fandom. (This is a fancy way of saying I started checking all the popular fan sites with obsessive regularity, without contributing much more than an occasional comment.) I’ve been active in other fandoms before, but given the enormous size of the Twilight fandom, I wasn’t sure how to get involved. I was also beginning my last year of college, so I lacked the time to commit to any fandom-related projects. Because of this, I was content to stay a lurker until I graduated.

When I did graduate, however, I decided that I wanted to create a site dedicated to Twilight-related scholarship. In my opinion, the literary analysis of vampire fiction is a fascinating field of study, one which deserves more recognition and contributions. So I couldn’t help thinking that an analysis of Twilight as vampire fiction would be interesting both for myself and others, since it’s the most popular vampire series in decades. But I had another reason for starting this site: I wanted to provide my own point of view about the books, which is unabashedly positive.

I’m an Internet-exploring kind of girl. I may not be up to date on all the latest memes or be a member of every single social networking site, but I frequent several different Internet communities in my spare time. So I’m aware of the fact that the general opinion of Twilight on the Internet isn’t 100% positive. Many of my online friends make a point of telling me (and others) that Twilight is an over-hyped piece of trash that isn’t “real” vampire fiction. Obviously, they’re entitled to their opinion. Twilight may have millions of fans, but that doesn’t mean that everyone will appreciate it. Frankly, there’s no such thing as a book that everyone in the universe likes. Books aren’t meant to work that way: some books appeal to certain people, while others don’t. There’s nothing wrong with that; it’s just the way it is.

Still, I was a bit surprised to discover that, in many online communities, making fun of Twilight has become rather like taking a pot shot at Britney Spears or George W. Bush or the “emo” scene. Such people love to chime in and say how much Twilight “sucks,” just to prove how cool and unique and sophisticated they are. (Yes, there’s some irony in that, but hey, there’s always irony when social conformity is involved.)

Of course, Twilight is an unapologetically romantic book, which makes it an easy target for jokes. These days, sarcasm and “snark” are valued much more than sentiment or anything serious, especially online. And I’m not going to lie: I enjoy most Twilight-related humor, even when it isn’t 100% positive in its analysis of the book. Many of the jokes about the “impossibly handsome and sparkly vampires” are funny, and I’m not going to deny it just because I enjoyed the series. There’s nothing wrong with satire, and many of Twilight’s detractors are undeniably clever as well as genuinely funny.

However, anti-Twilight rhetoric often goes deeper than humor. Besides the occasional serious comment on the subject, I was able to find several anti-Twilight web sites that argued passionately (and sometimes incorrectly) about the downsides of the series. So, I couldn’t help thinking that it would be worthwhile to provide an equally thoughtful yet positive opinion about the books, in order to refute some of those arguments.

Of course, the issue of whether Twilight is a worthwhile series is a matter of opinion, so there’s no way to “win” such a debate. In fact, it’s fundamentally impossible. But I believe that it’s still important and worthwhile to provide an alternate viewpoint for those who are interested. Since this site is dedicated to in-depth discussion about Twilight rather than just being a fan site, I believe it’s a perfect venue to discuss some of these topics.

However, I’m not attempting to force everyone to agree with me, or squash any objections that have been raised by those who didn’t like the book. Far from it: I welcome all discussion and debate on this site, and if you leave here and still hate the Twilight series, that doesn’t offend me at all! I’ll just be happy that you took the time to consider an alternate view, as well as grateful for your contribution to the discussions, especially if you bring up a point that I haven’t considered.

The final reason that I decided to make this site was because I discovered that many other Twilight fans enjoy writing essays about the books, and I hope that it will become an archive for some of these essays. Many of the featured panels at Twilight-related events involve literary topics and essay contributions, so it’s obvious that I’m not the only one who enjoys analyzing Twilight as literature. With any luck, this site will soon become a helpful (and entertaining!) resource for anyone who’s interested in exploring Twilight as a work of fiction, as well as fans who want to examine the series they love on a deeper level.

After a much needed hiatus from all things Internet, I’m back online and ready to get twi-lit.com off the ground! So far, I only have two entries on the site, but that’s going to be changing very quickly. Look for dozens of brand new articles in the near future, as well as news posts and fandom commentary from yours truly.

If all goes well, I will begin to look for contributions from other Twilight fans soon (details to be announced later). Ideally, I would like this site to be a complete archive of Twilight-related essays by various contributors, not just myself. But that depends on whether there is a demand for that kind of site, so we’ll see how it goes!

In the meantime, I’m gearing up to attend at least two (HUGE!) Twilight fan events, so updates may be sporadic until mid-August. Here’s where I’ll be in the coming days:

July 22-24: COMIC CON! (Yes, I will be at the Summit panel, just like I was last year. It’s going to be AWESOME. Exclusive New Moon footage!)

July 30- August 2: Twi-Con @ Dallas, TX (I’m really looking forward to this one! It’s the first ever Twi-Con, which promises to be the biggest Twilight-related convention anywhere.)

I am also tentatively planning to be at the Twi-Tours convention in Phoenix, Arizona on August 14-16, sponsored by Creation Entertainment. (Like Stephenie Meyer herself, I am a proud AZ native. So I hope to make it there, especially since it’s so close by!)

Obviously, this is a pretty full Twilight-related schedule, but I’ll be working on the site in between events. I’ll also be blogging about my experiences here, so stay tuned for up-to-date commentary on two of the biggest Twilight events of the summer.

Now I’m going to get back to work on the site itself. Remember, all comments to my entries are welcome, except for spam and links to non-related websites. Thanks! -Kat

In my last post, I discussed how a series like Twilight can be considered literature. Basically, it boils down to this: what makes a book worthy of being called “literature” is a matter of opinion. In my opinion, any work of fiction that is meaningful can be called literature. So if Twilight can be considered meaningful, it’s literature.

So, one question remains: is the Twilight series meaningful or significant in any way?

If it is, then it makes sense that we should examine it from a literary perspective. Sure, Twilight was written primarily for entertainment, first for the author herself and now for millions of readers worldwide. But just because something is entertaining doesn’t make it worthless.

After all, Shakespeare’s plays were once considered mindless entertainment for the masses, back in the day. Today, we realize that they also contain significant insight into human nature, so we study them in English class. So, just because Twilight is an entertaining series doesn’t mean that it can’t be studied as literature.

Of course, most people would argue that Twilight is no Shakespeare play. And while they may be right about that, I would argue that this doesn’t make it meaningless. Twilight may not be Shakespeare, but it can have its own kind of meaning.

But wait a second, they say! Isn’t Twilight just a mindless romantic fantasy? Isn’t the only point of reading Twilight to insert yourself in Bella’s place and pretend that the ever-charming and impossibly perfect Edward is courting you instead of her? Isn’t Twilight just pointless teenage fluff, like High School Musical and Hannah Montana and all those other Disney shows? Read more »

Since this is the first real post here at twi-lit.com (i.e. something with actual content), I wanted to write about a topic that would apply to the site as a whole. I also wanted to give visitors a pretty good idea of what’s to come on this blog. That’s why I decided to start with two very basic questions and answer them as best as I can. The questions are (drum roll please!):

1. Can the Twilight books really be considered literature? How?

2. Why should anyone bother to examine Twilight from a literary perspective?

These are the questions I will be dealing with in the next two posts. By its very nature, it’s pretty basic material. Still, I hope it’s informative as well as somewhat interesting to anyone who’s curious about the purpose of this site. (I also have a similar discussion in the About section of the site, for anyone who’s curious.)

To anyone who finds this topic kind of dry, worry not! The really interesting stuff is yet to come (i.e. the vampires and the romance and so on).

With all that said, let’s get to it! This post will attempt to answer the first question…

1. Can the Twilight books really be considered literature? How?

I’ve been familiar with Twilight for over a year now. I read the first three books just before the media frenzy about the first movie started. Still, Stephenie Meyer was already famous at that point, and soon, just about everyone had heard of the series. After that, it didn’t take long for me to start hearing all kinds of opinions about these books, from the fanatically devoted to the genuinely antagonistic.

Last year was also my senior year in college as an English literature major. Now, literature students and professors are fun people, and I love hanging out with them. But the second you mention Twilight around them, the reaction tends to look something like this:

Why? Well, the answer is pretty simple. Literature students are expected to have “good” taste in literature… Which means that we’re all supposed to read Shakespeare and Melville and Hemingway in our free time, because we’re just that nerdy. In literary circles, it’s cool to say that you’re reading Leo Tolstoy for fun.

It is not cool, however, to say that you are reading a bestselling Young Adult novel like Twilight.

Read more »