I'll admit it, I think Robert Pattinson is hot. I like pale, skinny guys, is that so wrong? I read the books knowing he was going to play Edward, which made them much more entertaining. The fanfictionesque style of writing makes it easy for girls to put themselves in Bella's position and fantasize about perfect, beautiful (did I mention he was perfect and beautiful) Edward. The sick and sad thing is when they start to apply it to their real life and expect every man to be an Edward. I am not a "Twi-hard" but I suspect I might have been, if the series had come out 15 years ago. Edward the vampire turns me on, sure (just like Lestat did when I was 13) but at the end of the day I'm gonna stick with my human boyfriend who encourages me to have a life outside of him, who has flaws and calls me on my shit and is just fine with sex before marriage. And True Blood kicks Twilight's ass, for the record.
I swear to God, I've spent the last half hour laughing at all the comedy (intentional and not) in this thread. I literally woke up my wife laughing at this stuff. I love my wife very much. I know she puts up with my foibles, and she has far fewer than I ever will. She can do almost anything, and I'll love her. Hell, she's a big Harry Potter fan, and while I refuse to read the books, or watch the movies, I still wouldn't have a problem if she ever went to a Harry Potter fan-fest. However... ... I would absolutely go apeshit if she ever compared me to either of those twinkies. And if she ever wanted me to be anything like those guys, I'd leave her. I'm dead serious.
My main complaint about Titanic was that it dragged on too long. It was well acted, but the script was mediocre and the love story just couldn't keep my interest for 3+ hours. It's kind of a shame because it was a magnificent film in almost every other aspect. I think the characters had a little more depth than you're giving them credit for, but yeah, very cliche and got way, way more critical acclaim than it deserved. Most romance movies today are formulaic. 1. Guy meets girl. They're put off by each other. 2. Suddenly they can't believe how much they have in common [insert cheesy me too! line]. 3. They fight about something idiotic. 4. She runs away, he chases after her and makes the 'I love you more than anything in the world' speech. They don't always go exactly like that, but the general trend fits along those lines. Audiences are not at all interested in seeing realistic chemistry or conflict that's honest to real relationships. They'd rather have something far more corny and idealistic. Focus: I fucking hate Twilight. I didn't know much about it when I got dragged to the first movie when it was in theaters. Seriously, his attraction to her stemmed from his inability to read her mind and how much he likes the way she smells? It was off the charts creepy and they couldn't even throw in some nudity or decent action. There's no one thing in that movie I can point to that missed me off the most. I hated every minute of it.
ummmm........ as of this post Box Office Mojo puts the domestic gross of the second movie at $235,729,643. I 100% disagree with the post you quoted. Someone's always going to claim that [insert fad/current pop culture anything] is the decline of humanity. But they wouldn't be selling it if everyone else wasn't buying it. Movie studios don't stay in business by just producing whatever the fuck they want. Like any good business, they make money by giving their customers something they'll want to buy.
Personally, once I heard that the vampires glitter, I thought to myself, well, fuck this franchise. Then, after further reading about it, I thought to myself, really fuck this franchise. Then, after the Bride to Be (Who read the first book and had the same reaction I did) and I went to the movies stupidly on the same night as the second movie opening, I was ready to drop kick both Team Edward and Team Jacob. Any woman with self esteem higher than say, a Monday morning stripper at an airport titty bar should see through the pandering attempt at a love story and tell the whole phenomenon to fuck itself. This guy nailed the second movie and its.....plot. http://www.youtube.com/jacksfilms
This, I do not quite understand, nor do I want to try. I bought the series for my niece last Christmas, upon her request, and then she - like every other pre-teenish girl on earth, ran out to see the movie. She said the first one sucked, but she'd probably see the second one, in hopes that it was better. That was a proud moment for me. Anyway, there is a little part of me that wants to read the last book in the series, because that little part of me wants something horrible to happen, like the vampire guy kills the girl or something because, well, he's a vampire. I doubt that happens, though, and don't want to be shaken out of my little fairytale ending. So I am sticking to that, and hoping for the best.
I was making the point that movies in general are being dumbed down, not just those aimed at women. There have always been dumb chick flicks and intelligent chick flicks, it just seems like the dumb ones dominate these days. You can say the same of action flicks. For every ridiculous Edward and Bella stereotype, there's a muscle-popping dude diving out of helicopters and into the cleavage of a big-titted blonde. Does that mean men are getting less intelligent? Or maybe the movie industry is increasingly pandering to the lowest common denominator of consumers? Who knows, but I wasn't about to give KIMaster a pass on bashing women, using a carefully selected list of movies that make his point.
Everybody is looking at this all wrong, Twilight has the potential to make life much easier. In the old days, you had to have candy and stuffed animals to lure girls to your van, both of which you had to buy. Now all you need is some body glitter which you can get by rubbing up against that dead hooker you've got stashed away, something you were going to do anyway. Focus: The thing that bothers me about the Twilight phenomenon is the "Twilight moms." Teenage girls (really all teenagers) are well known for going crazy over stupid shit, they've always have and probably always will. It seems like adult women should be able to recognize all the things wrong with the series.
You don't meet many lonely housewives, do you? I meet them all the time while I'm at work* and they will literally do anything for someone who is decent looking, has a sense of humor and is willing to pay attention too them. There are a metric fuck-ton of older women out there who are willing to do anything to get a look at a hot young guy or get that squishy love feeling that they once had when they were younger. They don't care about the fact that the story line is so fucked that had this been a man writing the story, police would have been called too his house to look for the dead teenagers in his basement. Also, just because a women is twenty years older doesn't mean they haven't lost all that is crazy and illogical about their younger selves. *It's really unfortunate that the lonely house wives I get to meet on my job look like the women in that Twilight-moms picture Nettdata posted - Alberta doesn't do great things on our women. Looks like the trolls have finally snuck into the MLIT site:
The best part about this - the reason you know it's a fake post from a troll is due to the somewhat legible writing. If you're going to create a mocking post, at least fuck up the grammar a bit. This one has to be a theidiotboard member.
I was exaggerating slightly for comedic effect; there's also the fact that movies today are marketed towards a younger audience. But the main point about these increasingly banal and warped romantic films is how many older women take them seriously. They're escapist fantasy, certainly, but they wouldn't attain this level of popularity if 20+ year old women overwhelmingly considered them elementary school nonsense. I know things like Danielle Steele novels have been around and popular for a long time, but Twilight is a couple of levels below that, and way more popular. As for what movie studios produce...if intelligent, innovative films were profitable, you would see more of them. As it is, the few they do make (which are often excellent) are generally box office disappointments. I think on average, men have become a lot less in touch with reality, and less educated/intelligent during this time period, too. But they don't watch romance films, so you can't draw that conclusion from my very "scientific" study.
I was busting your chops, KIMaster, but I guess I just have a very relativistic attitude towards these societal quirks - I mostly blame my one sociology class that I took in college. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Earlier I mentioned Jane Eyre. It was during that time when gothic novels were immensely popular with women of all ages and backgrounds. Twilight is simply the latest gothic novel craze.
I think this is interesting, and probably something something that would cause a reaction like this in most fans: what are you left with if you take out all the scenes where Pale Boy uses vampire powers? The Last Psychiatrist is a pretty good site in general. I can't speak to the accuracy of the bits where he breaks down specific medical stuff, but he usually has insightful takes on things like the VTech shooting and doublespeak in media.
I should have clarified that I mentioned Jane Eyre in the last post only as a segue into gothic novels. Jane Eyre was a well-written exception - most of the gothic novels were hilariously bad and Twilight would have fit in quite well (and in many cases, pale by comparison). Don't get me started on this century's love affair with soap operas, which apparently has become a dying breed. I know that they are utter crap, and they can also be addicting if you stumble upon it and become intrigued by a certain character or storyline. *grumble* As someone who has been a member of soap fan forums, I've seen the gamut run from the dimwitted to the post-graduate degree holder.
I've got a 16 year old step-son. This little dude is a great kid, but sorta nerdy, and pretty much socially inept. I know he's kissed some chicks, he's seen some real boobs, but I know for a fact he's never seen a live vagina much less been inside of one... We were sitting around the house last Saturday night and he and his buddy were lounging around talking about how tough it was to get with a chick... After I heard this, I called them both idiots and told them to go down to the local theater and go see Twilight. They'd be two virgins swimming in a sea of hormone raging poon. Growing up I didn't seem to have problems with getting chicks to fuck me, (but if I did, you can bet your sweet ass that I would have been a regular at NKOTB concerts) but I was much more social and lived two generations ago... There is no way that if I was his age, and wanted to get laid, and had no success up to that point,,,, that I wouldn't be that dude going to Twilight showings with a "team Jacob/Edward" t-shirt on, pulling crazy ass. What the fuck is wrong with my kid? Not setting aside his morals for some punani? I think I've failed as a parent.
http://stfu-twihards.tumblr.com/ More stupidity... I have read the books, more out of curiosity then anything else. Whilst they were a passable read, and I could see the attraction in the character of Edward, I just don't understand the mass hysteria over the movie. Movie Edward is a pussy whiny bitch. Book Edward is at least a little bit more interesting and charming. I have many women my age (Mid-20s) obsessing about twilight on my facebook. And I notice the same characteristic about all of them. They are either single or in relationships with morons.
Dude that would give him zero chance of actually pulling ass. He would simply fall straight into the 'best friend' category. Remember those guys in high school who pulled the 'best friend' angle, well they didn't get ass either. What you are suggesting is pretty much tantamount to that.