NEW MOON SHOWS HUMAN LONGING FOR TRUE LOVE

www.catholicnews.com: Teenage girls (and their mothers) had been joining the growing wave of Twilight fans or fanatics, even before the movie “New Moon” hit theaters on November 20. Chris Padgett, a Catholic author and youth speaker explained to CNA that the epidemic isn’t due to the attractive actors or innovative storyline, but rather it is the longing for heroic love that is drawing them in.

What they are really looking for, Padgett added, “is actually given in Christ who truly is heroic, who will give up himself entirely so you can be the best you.”

Padgett, who was introduced to the Twilight series by this oldest daughter, has since read the entire series with his wife. The couple will soon be releasing a book on the topic.

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FANS DISSECT THE SEQUEL

www.indianexpress.com: ‘New Moon’, the much-awaited sequel to the cult hit ‘Twilight’ has not been spared by eagle-eyed fans who are busy spotting errors in the film.

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WEITZ CAN HAVE BREAKING DAWN IF HE WANTS IT?

www.examiner.com: 

‘Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn’ – for ‘New Moon’ director Chris Weitz ‘the job is his if he wants it’ – Variety is reporting that The Twilight Saga: New Moon director, Chris Weitz, has the job of directing Breaking Dawn as well “if he wants it.” The reputable entertainment industry publication cites “sources” for this conclusion and also states that Summit has not yet made a formal offer to Mr. Weitz.

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UNCONSCIOUS SEXISM IN NEW MOON

www.blog.oup.com: Critics have been much better at picking up the retrograde gender subtext of the screenplay, at how it exploits the fine line between rape and lust, and how Bella Swan plays a terrible role model for teenage girls. Bella, the female protagonist, is portrayed as weak, vulnerable, virginal, and young, while Edward Cullen, her male vampire love interest is portrayed as supernatural, more powerful than he dares admit, 17 and yet over a hundred, young but wise. Throughout the first half of the movie, Bella is depressed because Edward has left her, and she ultimately attempts a pseudo-suicide by going cliff-diving and nearly drowns, but lucky for her, another supernatural male, Jacob Black, who plays a werewolf, swoops in for the rescue. Throughout the movie, young girls are comforted and encouraged in mixing sexual desire with sexual vulnerability, that to be loved is to be rescued. As a preview of the next sequel, we are tantalizingly promised the consummation of Bella’s and Edward’s love, that he will finally agree to change her into a vampire. He would then take everything that is hers, no less than her life and her soul, and shockingly, it is everything that Bella ever wanted.

If this is what causes teenage girls (and not a few self-confessed middle-aged feminists) to swoon at the movie, the unconscious racism in the movie takes us to a new league of egregiousness.

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WOLVES MORE THAN JUST SYMBOLS 

www.examiner.com: The tiny town of Forks, Washington is the place where the Twilight movies have been filmed, including the latest in the series called “Twilight: New Moon”. The vampire/werewolf saga has become a box office block buster and has turned Forks into a fledgling tourist town.

Wolves may be a fictional force in the latest installment of “Twilight”, with a popular werewolf persona vying for the favors of Bella, but they have been a scarce commodity in Washington since being hunted, exterminated, and driven out during the late 1800’s.

Recently, wolves have been increasing in numbers, expanding down from Canada, back into Washington State. Two packs of Northern Rockies wolves were observed in Eastern Washington. Biologists now have a better understanding of the role that wolves and other predators play in the balance of the natural world.

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MORE MISTAKES IN NEW MOON FOR YOU TO PONDER

www.moviemistakes.com:

• Continuity: When Bella is in the parking lot at school in the beginning, Edward walks toward her. Bella’s hair is neatly pulled off to the side. When he leans in for the kiss it is suddenly stuck to her forehead, and when Edward tells her Jacob wants her, it’s suddenly back to normal.
• Continuity: When Charlie is talking to Bella at her truck about her going back to Jacksonville, the large wisps of hair on Bella’s left ear keep changing position and alternate from not / blowing in the wind.

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ROSENBERG EXPLAINS HER CREATIVE PROCESS

www.examiner.com:

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PATTINSON READS BETWEEN THE LINES

www.zimbio.com: There’s certainly a lot of angst and sexual tension in Twilight, and Robert Pattinson is calling it. The 23-year-old, who plays vampire Edward Cullen in the series, said the whole thing about him not being able to kiss or really touch Bella, his human love interest, makes the films even juicier. 

The intense longing is part of what makes the story so great; if everyone got what they wanted right away, it’d be boring. Or something.

He said: “The success of the Twilight books comes from the fact that fans can lust after Edward and yet, certainly in the first book, there’s no actual sexual contact between him and the series heroine. Twilight is a big metaphor for sexual abstinence, and yet it’s erotic underneath. There are so many elements in the story which are sexy.”

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THE FACT AND FICTION OF TWILIGHT

www.huffingtonpost.com: Okay. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, you’ve heard all about the Twilight phenomenon. The throngs of screaming girls subsided briefly, only to be thriving once again with the release of New Moon. What I find the most fascinating is that the media is acting like the “vampire phenomenon” is a new thing. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Hello? Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Lost Boys, Interview with a Vampire and of course Dracula. I have been an avid reader, like many women, of paranormal romance for years.

As an author of paranormal romance I am particularly fascinated by Ms. Meyer’s unique take on vampires. She took a risk by straying from the traditional vampire lore and it paid off big time. She created an entirely new race of Vampire. Let’s be honest. Blood suckers that burst into flame aren’t necessarily appealing to the masses. So she created a sexier and more accessible vampire. It’s genius really. When writing in the paranormal genre you have a fantastic freedom to create a brave new world. However, if you want your “new world” to appeal to the masses it has to be one that everyone can relate to. Ms. Meyer did what many would think impossible. She took the paranormal and made it normal.

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So, what do you think of todays Twilight Saga News?