Amazing DOP dose not disguise a missed opportunity

Rating: 1/10 (7 June 2010)

First of all, this film looks amazing. The director of photography had done an incredible job, even if the CGI is a tad to obvious in places. Just to get that out th way; now onto the bad stuff.
For all of its failings, the Twilight series has a simple message of comfort for coming of age girls about the perils of relationships and the pain inherent with the joy of first love. All fair and good one might say, however the toned down films offer a far more damaging life lesion of how teenagers should approach their blooming sexuality, portraying a safe, rose-tinted depiction when in reality relationships are hard and rough with problems other than how to deal with overwhelming affection when separated (as is the case of the second instalment New Moon). Not that relationships are bad and destined for failure, don't get me wrong, but the relationship between Bella and Edward is playing the fairytale card too strictly to the letter when it should really be guiding its impressionable young audience with something more tangible to what they will actually face. In reality, teenage boys are commonly ravenous and rather selfish beings out for themselves and all the sex they can get, making the vampire a highly symbolic medium, so a girl in love with a vampire is a great way to portray the terror that is the adolescent male and his undying lust forwell lust draining her of self-worth as she continuously pours her unrelenting love into him. Yet in Twilight Edward is patient an almost comically nonsexual, his emotions suppressed, happy to simply stare into Bella's eyes or sneak a rare passionate kiss. Now we have a woman whose urging desire to be bitten (representative of sexual congress) needs to be slapped down by Edward, who fears her becoming like him. Now from a certain feminist perspective can understand why this film is considered as a positive influence for young women; here we have an independent female protagonist who knows what she wants and refuses to back down, but when her goal is ultimately to be subject to her man the argument looses its momentum, even becoming somewhat hypocritical.
Going back to my earlier statement, monsters are steeped in symbolism – each and everyone reflecting a very real human fear, trait or outlook. As the lead male, Edward is representative of the vampires we see throughout the movie, with those acting like the classical parasitic vampires coming off as heinously villainous in contrast for simply doing what they have to. What I am getting at here is that Edward's vampirism is wasted potential if he refuses to ever act in any way like a vampire. I realise the point is he believes he is evil incarnate and so must fight to suppress his nature, but in the context here it just plain fail if Bella is more blood hungry (well, she's certainly hungry for something of Edwards) than he is. Surely Bella is a negative influence on Edward for trying to make him abandon everything he's been working so hard to achieve just so she satisfy her needs. In this light, Bella is really the more monstrous of the two.
My biggest problem with these films and books is that they play the teen monster card to safe and child-friendly – like if Disney were given the reigns to remake the Hammer Horror catalogue. Puberty and monsters is a dream combination, as it's a time of great uncertainly, self-awareness, new sensations and rapidly changing body and emotions to contend with; it's a goldmine of potential that only films such as Ginger Snaps and the more recent Let The Right One In have utilised in the last decade – and these were strictly speaking not American (Canadian and Sweden respectively) so were untainted by the overdone sentimentality of their Hollywood cousins. In Ginger Snaps the repressed sexuality of Ginger is unleashed after a werewolf attack that triggers her delayed puberty. The werewolf motif is initially unrecognised for it mirrors the traits of puberty; hair growing in new places; a changing body shape; uncontrollable lust (albeit for blood); and bouts of emotional instability. Even when a male character is infected by the lycthropancy virus after having unprotected sex the symptoms manifest like an STD rather than an urge to repent for his misdeeds. This is far more realistic a portrayal of the teenage years and sexual awakening than Twilight is willing to employ, and I find it disheartening to discover that a fluffy piece about unconditional love over between to emotionally dead and rather vacant people is a global success while the superior mediums are regarded as cult or niche. I understand that in a time of fearful and unwanted change its comforting to have films like Twilight there to hold your hand and give you head a reassuring pat, but kids need to learn that hardships coming or it will be all the harder to deal with the difficulties of boys, sexual peer pressure and the nightmare that is puberty. To this end, a film about the suppression of desire in the face of first true love is more harmful than one in which people are maimed, eaten and savaged – at least they know how to vent their frustrations and desires rather then bottling them up for the inevitable post office massacre in 30 years time.