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!

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!

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!

The first clip was Bella’s first motorcycle ride with Jacob. Jacob was teaching Bella how to ride, and right on cue, the ghostly vision of Edward appeared to remind her not to be reckless. (The fans screamed when he appeared, of course!) I really like the way they handled Edward’s appearance for the ghostly effect; in my opinion, it didn’t look cheesy at all. It was just a visual representation of what was described in the book, as opposed to only the sound of his voice. It really captures Bella’s feelings in a visual way, which is what a movie is supposed to do.

In this particular scene, the vision didn’t look or sound particularly creepy, but it was eerie, because it seems to follow her sporadically while she rides the motorcycle. And I think it’s going to please Edward fans, because it keeps him present in the scenes when he’s gone, a reminder of how much Bella is still heartbroken over their breakup.

Of course, Bella crashes the motorcycle when she can’t figure out how to stop, and she hurts her head, just like in the book. Also just like in the book, Jacob rides right over to her and tries to help her. This was the point when he took his shirt off, and wow. As everyone in the fandom already knows, Taylor Lautner is now incredibly ripped. The sequence of him taking his shirt off was definitely drool-worthy.

He then starts using his shirt to try to clean the blood off of Bella’s forehead, and you can tell that Bella is pretty woozy at this point; she just kind of stares at him. (Kristen’s version of Bella being woozy hasn’t changed much; it was somewhat reminiscent of when she first woke up in the hospital.) That’s when she says the famous line where she calls Jacob beautiful.

This was the point when Taylor’s performance truly impressed me. He’s really captured the sweet side of Jacob in this scene; there’s a pause, and he gets almost choked up when he tries to tease her, asking her just how hard she hit her head. This moment really proved to me that Taylor understands how Jacob is feeling; it goes without saying that Jacob’s feelings for Bella get much deeper during New Moon. You can tell that he’s starting to hope that maybe they can be together, that maybe Bella will heal from her scars over Edward leaving her and be able to fall in love with him.

It’s a tender moment, but the fact that Bella was seeing Edward only a minute ago also reminds the audience that it’s very one-sided; Bella doesn’t love Jacob yet. (And as fans know, she never really gets to the point where she loves Jacob, at least not in the way she loves Edward.) It’s VERY true to the way their relationship is portrayed in the book. So I would say that fans who are worried that they’re going to make Bella and Jacob’s relationship too much like an official couple can relax, at least a little. So far, that doesn’t seem to be the case at all. It’s no more or less than what Stephenie Meyer herself wrote.

As for the second clip, I was shocked when it was first introduced, because it was the most pivotal scene in the entire book: Bella is running through Volterra trying to find Edward before he kills himself. As a fan, I am SO pleased that they included this scene for the panel; I felt incredibly lucky to be there, because Chris Weitz said was the first time anyone outside of the editing room had seen it.

This scene was more than worth all seventeen hours of waiting for the panel; I would have waited seventeen hours more to get the chance to see it. It was, in my humble opinion, the best recreation of Stephenie Meyer’s writing that I have seen in these movies so far. My sister agreed that it was amazing, as did everyone else I overheard or talked to afterward. I hope that this reaction becomes universal after the premiere, because in my opinion, Chris Weitz and the actors deserve the appreciation of the fans for not only getting it right, but making it absolutely breathtaking.

The scene began with Alice driving through the streets of Volterra with Bella in the famous yellow Porsche. (Alice looked fabulous by the way; she was wearing a headscarf and sunglasses very reminiscent of classic European fashion.) She described what Bella needed to do, and then Bella began racing through the streets of Volterra, which were full of extras in bright red robes. (It looked a lot like the pictures that have already been leaked online by people who were at the set.) The tension in the scene just kept building and building, until she started running through the fountain. The clock began to chime, and the audience was already screaming with excitement.

But then Edward appeared, and as you can imagine, the screaming only escalated from there. (I think he might have been standing in a darkened doorway rather than an alley, but I’m not 100% sure about that. Honestly, it looked so beautiful that I hope fans won’t mind if that detail is slightly different from the book.) This was when I screamed, followed by when I stopped breathing. Why? Well, not because Edward proceeded to unbutton his shirt and let it fall to the ground (although that was an equally welcome sight; wow), but because Rob’s portrayal of Edward in this moment was just perfect.

I can’t even describe the look on his face when he stood there, preparing to kill himself. It was beautifully, utterly heartbroken. It was the most beautiful expression I’ve ever seen on Robert Pattinson’s face, in fact. (And yes, I realize that’s saying something!) I was stunned, honestly. I didn’t expect Rob to capture so perfectly the supernaturally terrible devastation that Edward is feeling in this moment.

After all, at this point in the book, Edward believes that he has lost his soul mate. As Twilight fans know, that’s supposed to be a devastating event for vampires, to the point that they virtually cease to exist; they become hollow shells who have no reason to live anymore, which is why Edward attempts to kill himself. One look at Edward’s face in this scene, and you can see that: he has no hope anymore. He simply has no reason to go on. It was beautiful, breathtaking, and heartbreaking. Everything it was supposed to be. I can’t wait to see it in the context of the whole movie.

The clip ended with Edward moving to step out in the sun, as Bella screamed out for him to stop. (I’m glad the scene ended there, actually, because this scene was already so spoiler-filled that I didn’t want to see the most climactic moment before it premiered.) It was so full of tension at this point that the audience still screaming when it ended; it was the perfect place to stop, in terms of a teaser. Again, Chris Weitz and the producers really knew what they were doing at this panel!

It was pretty amazing, and like I said, I would have waited seventeen more hours to be there. I hope it’s a sign that fans everywhere will be pleased with New Moon. I’ve been rooting for Chris Weitz to get it right from the beginning, and it seems that he’s well on his way to doing so.

That was the last event of the panel, and at this point, the actors as well as most of the audience began to leave. (Like I said, just about everyone was there for Twilight, not for the Avatar panel that was next, which was being billed as the highlight of the convention. Though that panel had thousands of people waiting to get in, people who are more like Comic Con’s usual audience.)

So, that was how the New Moon panel went! (Wow, that was an insanely long entry, haha.) For the second (also non-spoiler) part of my Comic Con adventure, I’ll be posting a new entry soon, which will cover my visit to the Summit booth at Comic Con and the special screening of Twilight at Gaslamp Stadium.

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.

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

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?

Well, no, actually. Of course, every book is what you make of it, and plenty of girls like to read it as a way of escaping into a fantasy world. But that’s not all there is to it. And that’s why this site exists.

While I was reading the Twilight series, I realized that it contained its own insights into human nature, especially that of teenagers. Bella’s romance with Edward is a classic example of young love, the kind that becomes so passionate that it can consume a person’s entire life. (As it happens, that also reminded both Stephenie Meyer and myself of a certain famous work of literature written by a certain famous playwright…)

But there’s more to Twilight than just romance. Sure, on the surface, Twilight is just about an ordinary human girl who falls in love with a vampire.

But if you look a little closer, there are plenty of other issues to explore in this series. These books raise significant questions about death and immortality, not to mention the moral issues that are represented by the Cullens and their radical lifestyle, as vampires who refuse to drink human blood. But these are all topics for another post.

When it comes down to it, I believe there are two key reasons why Twilight is a significant book series. Prepare yourself, because they’re not the reasons that an average literature professor would use. (You’ve been warned!)

Reason #1: Twilight is significant because it’s so incredibly popular.

Now, I’m not the type to like something just because it’s popular. But when you study literature, you learn to appreciate works that were popular in their own time. That’s because these are the works that both represent and influence the culture in which they were written.

It makes sense, when you think about it. There must be a reason why certain books become popular, while others don’t. But why does the romance between Edward and Bella resonate so powerfully with women today? Aren’t we supposed to be a cynical generation, one which has outgrown all those unrealistic ideas about the kind of picture-perfect, head-over-heels romance represented in these books?

Or is there some other reason why they’re so popular? Personally, I believe there is, and I will be exploring that in future posts.

Still, whatever the reason, Twilight is part of our culture today. Everyone’s heard of it, and there’s no escaping that fact. Like it or not, Twilight has affected millions of people, and I think it’s worth exploring for that fact alone. If nothing else, the fact that so many people have fallen in love with it says something about our culture, something worthy of literary study.

But there’s a second reason why Twilight is significant, and this one might surprise you.

Reason #2: Twilight is part of a very important and enduring literary tradition.

Here is where I reveal the real reason why I wanted to make a blog about Twilight. This is one of those things that makes all my most sophisticated literary friends roll their eyes, but it’s unavoidable, so let’s get this over with…

Illustration from Carmilla. +100 vampire nerd points!

I’m an enthusiastic fan of vampire fiction. Yes, vampire fiction. My area of expertise in literature is the early 19th century, which just so happens to be the period in which vampire fiction first appeared in the English language. (To be fair, I chose this period as my favorite before I knew that… But it was definitely an added bonus.)

Because of this, I’ve done a fair amount of studying on the subject of vampire fiction. I also have some experience with the literary criticism that’s been written about it. (Literary criticism: books that are written about other books. Because we literature students have nothing else to do with our lives.)

And it is this experience which has convinced me that vampire fiction is an important part of the literary tradition. I’ll talk more about this in other posts, but for now, I will say this…

Ever since vampires first appeared in fiction, the English-speaking world has become obsessed with them. The first works of vampire fiction in English were actually poems, written in the latter half of the 1700’s. By the middle of the 1800’s, vampires were a pop culture sensation. (Sound familiar?) There were even dozens of plays written about these blood-sucking monsters. And this was all before 1897, when the ever-famous Dracula was published!

Of course, that trend has never really died. (Unlike other critics, I’ll try to resist the urge to make lots of puns about the “undead.”) After the creation of film, vampires became one of the most popular subjects in a very popular genre: horror films. If you’re ever feeling bored, do some research on how many different movies about vampires exist. The results will shock you. (At least, they shocked me, anyway. There are hundreds of them.  Literally.)

And that isn’t even mentioning “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and Anne Rice’s books, two well-known examples of how our parents and older siblings became obsessed with these monsters. Clearly, there is something about the vampire that makes it an enduring myth in our culture, something that both haunts and intrigues us.

Well, I could talk forever about why the study of vampire fiction is so interesting, but the point is that Twilight is yet another part of this important genre. Of course, many vampire fanatics like to protest that Twilight isn’t “real” vampire fiction. That’s a complicated topic that I’ll discuss later on.

But whether Twilight is radically different from other vampire fiction or not, it’s still part of that tradition. And if it is radically different, that makes it all the more significant. After all, if it’s so different from other vampire fiction, then why is it still so popular? This is an intriguing question, and that’s why I decided to make this web site.

In my opinion, Twilight is a unique part of a very important literary tradition, one that’s worth studying in detail. This is why I believe Twilight should be examined as literature, as part of an enduring trend in fiction that has captivated the hearts and minds of millions.

And that’s why this site exists, to show why Twilight is an interesting example of vampire fiction, one that is more than it appears to be at first sight.

This concludes my two-part discussion on Twilight as literature. To anyone who’s managed to read all the way to the end, well done! I realize it was a lot to read, on a subject that’s not nearly as interesting as the books themselves.

Now that the basics are out of the way, it’s on to the more interesting stuff. Next time: Vampires! I’ll discuss why the vampire is so intriguing to us mere mortals, and how this relates to Twilight. (Don’t worry, I’ll talk more about Edward next time. A lot more.)

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.

This is because Twilight falls under the category of “commercial” literature. In today’s market, commercial bestsellers are often stereotyped by literary types as “shallow” and “meaningless.” Unfortunately, literature elitists tend to assume that if the general public likes it, it must be some sort of frivolous, escapist fantasy that has no real meaning. Therefore, they say, such books should not be called literature, and they certainly shouldn’t be studied as literature, especially not in a classroom setting.

The funny thing about this is that it’s all a matter of opinion. If you really think about it, there’s no such thing as “good” or “bad” literature in and of itself. In fact, the field of literary criticism (which is really just a fancy way of saying the study of literature) started because Aristotle wanted to try to explain what makes a “good” play, well, good.

Ever since then, literary critics have argued back and forth about the issue, and they’ve never come up with a decisive answer. No one has been able to decide on objective criteria that can determine whether a book is “good” or “bad.” That’s because it’s a subjective issue.

Let me repeat that, because it’s really important:

The issue of “good” versus “bad” literature is entirely subjective. Whether a book is considered “good” or “bad” depends upon the views of the person reading it.

No matter what academic elitists tell you, there is no universal standard for determining what good literature is.

It’s a lot like ice cream. I may think that chocolate is the epitome of everything that is good and pure in this world (and I do, believe me). But you may think that vanilla is oh so much more sophisticated and takes a refined palate to truly appreciate and understand. Still, no matter how passionate we are about ice cream, it’s really just a matter of personal opinion.

So it’s not possible to say that one work of literature is better than another, at least not objectively. There may be a lot of people who think so, but it’s still just an opinion.

Now, hold on a second … What makes a book “literature” in the first place?

Most of the time, we tend to think of literature as the kind of books that are taught in English class. That’s because this opinion is generally accepted by everyone. No one would argue that a book like Moby Dick isn’t literature.

There are plenty of people, however, who would say that Twilight isn’t literature, because it’s too “commercial” or “poorly written” or “pointless.” The idea that commercial books shouldn’t be considered literature is a common view held by many people, not just academic elitists.

However, this view is outdated and problematic. Why? Well, this is the kind of thinking that has resulted in many important books being excluded from what students call the “literary canon.” The “canon” includes all the works of literature that are considered to be truly essential and worthy of study in the literary community. In other words, when a teacher sits down to decide which books to assign for class, he or she is generally expected to pick works from the canon because they are considered “great.”

You may notice that I put quotes around the term “great.” Why? Well, it’s not because I think that Shakespeare and Mark Twain and all the rest of the canonical authors aren’t great. (In fact, I love them as much as the next literature student!) It’s because the term “great” is misleading. It sounds like a fact, when it’s an opinion. Granted, it’s an opinion that was created by the academic elite, but it’s still an opinion. “Great,” like “good,” is an entirely subjective word.

Fortunately, these days, college students are taught to question the canon. That’s because it has been proven that the canon was created primarily by old, dead white guys. Naturally, being old, dead white guys, they picked the literature which appealed to them the most, and then they decided that these works were the greatest.

Unfortunately, literature that was valued by women and other minorities was usually excluded from the canon, because these groups didn’t have a say in the matter. Today, this is (correctly) regarded as a bad thing, because it excluded a lot of interesting works from the canon… Not to mention the fact that it ignored the opinions and values of huge groups of people.

So, if we can’t determine a work’s literary value by whether it’s in the canon or not, how can we determine what counts as “literature”?

The answer is that it’s pretty much impossible, if you’re trying to exclude anything from the list. Sometimes, people try to say that a book is literature if it’s meaningful. The problem is that I might find a certain book meaningful, but another person might not. And who can say which opinion is better? The book had meaning for me, so it’s a meaningful book, at least for one person.

In other words, every book could be meaningful to somebody, so by that standard, all books are literature.

Personally, this is the standard that I use. I consider all books to be literature, because it’s not my place to decide what is “meaningful” or “significant.” A certain book may not be these things from my perspective, but somewhere out there, someone probably disagrees with me. Therefore, it’s still literature.

Obviously, this is why I consider Twilight to be literature. Millions of people love this book series. I’m not going to sit here and say they shouldn’t love it because it isn’t “good” literature. That’s not my decision to make for them, nor is it anyone else’s.

Twilight, just like any other “commercial” book, has the potential to be literature, as long as anyone out there considers it significant or meaningful.

In case anyone thinks I’m just making this up, I would like to quote from one of my favorite textbooks. This is from a book called Literary Theory: An Introduction by Terry Eagleton, which is considered a significant text in the study of literature and literary criticism:

“With this reservation, the suggestion that ‘literature’ is a highly valued kind of writing is an illuminating one. But it has one fairly devastating consequence. It means that we can drop once and for all the illusion that the category ‘literature’ is ‘objective,’ in the sense of being eternally given and immutable. Anything can be literature, and anything which is regarded as unalterably and unquestionably literature – Shakespeare, for example – can cease to be literature” (p.9)

So, there you have it: the term “literature” is not an objective one, as long as we’re defining literature as a work which is valuable. Furthermore:

“The so-called ‘literary canon’, the unquestioned ‘great tradition’ of the ‘national literature’, has to be recognized as a construct, fashioned by particular people for particular reasons at a certain time. There is no such thing as a literary work or tradition which is valuable in itself, regardless of what anyone might have said or come to say about it. ‘Value’ is a transitive term” (p.10).

Again, the canon of decades past was determined by a specific group of people (usually the academic elite), based on what was important and valuable to them. But why should their opinions be the only ones that matter? I believe it’s pointless (and wrong) to exclude the opinions of others just because they’re not members of an elite group.

This is why any work that is valuable to anyone, anywhere, for any reason can be called literature. It just depends on the point of view of the person who’s saying it.

So from my point of view, Twilight is literature. Of course, there are plenty of people out there who would disagree with me, and that’s one of the main points of this post. Whether Twilight is literature or not is a matter of opinion, and everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Literature. There, I said it.

Still, this means that Twilight certainly can be considered literature, in the same way that any other book can. It just depends on the criteria of the people evaluating it.

Now, as for why Twilight should be examined as literature, that’s another question entirely. You can find my answer to that one in the next post.