Saturday, November 21, 2009

Twilight: New Moon

There is no other legend as delicious as the legend of vampires, and in the "Twilight" series, vampires are the perfect bad-boys that every girl is attracted to at some point during high school. That first contact -- the touch of a hand on the school bus -- can be as electrifying as a set of fangs sinking into the jugular vein. The bad-boys were always a bit aloof, as if they were hiding a deep, dark secret. The darker the secret, the more attractive they were. One always imagined, what were they hiding in their tortured souls? And what secret could be deeper and darker than being soulless -- a vampire? Bella is attracted to Edward and when she finds out the truth about him, she is even more attracted. She is hopelessly lost and willing to give up her own soul for him.

The second and third movies of the "Twilight" series were filmed here in Vancouver, and I cannot imagine a better location for these movies than the forests of British Columbia. When I was growing up on Vancouver Island, I lived on the edge of the forest. I was comfortable in the forest, and spent a lot of time there on hot summer days, but there were times when I became afraid of the trees. Or, I should say, I had an instinctive knowledge of what lived in the dark forest trees, something that shouldn't have been there -- something unnatural. And whatever it was, I could feel it watching me, waiting until the sun went down. Even as an adult, I don't like driving through a forest at night. At every bend of the road, something menacing is lurking beyond the headlights of the car. I can feel it.

If ever there were an environment where vampires, werewolves and humans could co-exist, it is here. After a few weeks of Pacific Northwest weather -- rain, clouds, wind, more rain -- humans begin to resemble vampires with translucent, pasty skin and blank, bloodshot eyes. Vampires could walk amongst us, and we wouldn't know the difference. The co-worker at the next desk, is that a spot of ketchup on the corner of his mouth, or could it be....? And, as far as werewolves are concerned, I work with two monsters people who shapeshift on a regular basis.

Do vampires and werewolves exist? Oh, yes, they walk amongst us.

29 comments:

Leslie Avon Miller said...

I live not far from the actual setting for the Twilight series - Forks, Washington. Every time we pass through Forks, several young ladies are standing in front of the old run down sign saying Welcome to Forks, having their picture taken as proof they have been there. And every coffee stand has a variety of "twilight" coffee drinks...

DUTA said...

Hi Jo,

I read mostly non fiction, and I hardly watch Tv series ,but I'm romantic by nature and I do like it how you write about boy(man)-girl(woman) attraction; You do it beautifully.

I definitely agree with your concluding sentence - vampires and wolves walk among us.

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

Okay, now I'm spooked! :)

Shaista said...

Alack! I agree with Bonnie, I am spooked :)
This is tempting me to read the Twilight series - I can't tell if you are recommending it or not!
I started watching True Blood which absolutely drips spook and gore, but I've forgotten which channel it airs on, and keep missing it. I guess I'm not a hard-core fan?!
Love that you grew up near forests - and agree with the last line too... although since I have Lupus which is Latin for Wolf, does that make me une petite werewolf??

Land of shimp said...

Jo, here is something I think will amuse you. As you know, I have a nineteen-year-old son, and he's a very sweet kid in a many ways, but he's also rather successful with the girls. He's also always been quite secure about traditional masculinity, and people's perceptions meaning little. He's played football, but he also was Lumiere in the Beauty and the Beast.

All that to say, when he started reading the Twilight series, I thought nothing of it. He's always been a reader and even if I thought, "Huh, that's a lot fluffier than what he usually reads." that's all I thought.

Until I was with him at the doctor's office, and he had one of the books with him. The tech taking his blood was a young man of about 22 and he commented, "I thought those books were mostly for girls?"

My son answered, "Yeah, but chicks really dig it when you're able to talk about having read them. Dude, I've been swimming in digits."

And the clerk, clearly very intrigued said, "Really, man, I'll have to give that a try."

*Face-palm* Well, at least he isn't broody!

The woods in British Columbia are so magical that I can easily believe they are filled with Sprites, and Faeries, Werewolves, and Nymphs.

But the vampires are all at the bars, picking up the young and nubile ;-)

Susan said...

Ok, Now I'm nervous!
My daughter loves this series.

The Bug said...

I read the series because my SIL had the books & "made" me. Heh. I totally did not get the Edward thing - give me Jacob any day! Wonder what it says about me that I would prefer the werewolf to the vampire?

Alane - that's a great story about your son. He totally gets it!

VioletSky said...

Well, aren't you showing your dark side!

A human kind of human said...

No "forests" near us, only "bush", but I will be very careful in future. Loved your post.

BALLET NEWS said...

spooky...

Nancy said...

Oh, this was a great post, Jo! You gave me the chills, had me laughing, and inspired me to watch one of those movies...and I think I have one of the books around here somewhere...

Jennifer D said...

Jo you gave me the chills! Dark forests are creepy.

I am currently reading the fourth book in the series...I love it. I recommend it to all women, it is written with teen girls in mind but it has a HUGE adult following.

Shimp- your son is oh so smart. I think the book could teach him a lot about girls. It actually sounds like he has been picking up tips from his step dad:O).

Alissa Grosso said...

Land of Shimp: So what does it mean that my 40-something brother-in-law is reading the Twilight books? And no, my sister didn't make him. She hasn't even read them!

Alicia said...

I got chills reading this and then laughed at the end with the shape shifting co-workers. I have a couple of those as well. Great post!

pilgrimchick said...

I didn't know that was where they were filmed--that's a very beautiful place up there. I'm not much of a Twilight fan myself, though. Something like that was bound to come along and capture the imagination of droves of teenaged girls, though.

Land of shimp said...

Alissa, it means he's a lifelong geek, scifi/fantasy enthusiast :-)

So, you know, a really cool guy!

Or possibly that he once had a fling with a weregirl, but things didn't work out due to family pressures. Still, he never forgot her and...

Yeah, I'm the geek thing is more likely ;-)

KathyB. said...

Oh yes! And there are many, many spots around here, slightly south of you, that evoke the sense of mystery, dread, and excitement the story evokes. I have a lot of friends and family who are completely addicted to this series.

John said...

I didn't know it was filmed up there! Yikes! I know what you mean about not wanting to be in those woods! I grew up in very rural southern Illinois and lived "out in the boondocks" most of my childhood. When we had cousins or naive friends over, we would take them "snipe" hunting at night. (Google it if you don't know about it).

It was a rite of passage I guess, because I can still remember how scared I was when I was taken into the dark woods snipe hunting. I don't think anything could get me to enter those forests around Vancouver at night though after seeing Twilight!

You just couldn't resist adding that comment about working with monsters, hehe! Shape shifters... you had me in stitches laughing! TY

Lone Grey Squirrel said...

Shape-shifting monsters in the office, eh? Why not? The clever monsters hide in plain sight pretending to be evil bureaucrats.

Country Girl said...

You are so much fun.

allisondegeorge said...

Jo
you are an amazing writer!
always up to the moment, yet personal?!?
we went to the movies this past weekend to see something that two people around me actually snoored thru! but I was amazed and disturbed by the throngs of people flocking to see the twilight movie?!?
I loved the bad boys too...as a youth...in the woods!!?
can feel my heart race just with remembrance!?!?
and a real scary thing is that I've been told my son looks just like the main bad boy, (I don't even know his name!? I'm ashamed/proud to say?!?)I don't think he's a 'bad boy'?!??!
but I wouldn't put it past him to be ones of the ones who woes the girls with the book...
maybe he is a bad boy......?!?
oh well...I would've stayed on the bad boy path, had my mother not pointed out the nice boy who happened to be pursueing me as chased the darkside, who I found boring!
She told me to 'give him a chance'...I married him...26 years ago...
still love the woods!?!?
and thanks so much for looking at my 365 pix! I appreciate the word you used, 'breath taking'..thanks

Russell said...

I confess. I know nothing about this Twilight business. (Add it to the list of many other things I know nothing about! But, of course, I will talk about such things at great length!!)

What I do know is that a woman I work with has a 13-year old daughter who is quite taken with all this Twilight business. The woman said she and another woman were taking their daughters to a midnight showing of the new movie which I found, well, interesting.

But I recall the long lines of people who waited for Star Wars and Harry Potter movies, so, well, why not?!

Bad boys? Heh! I know a little more about that but, to the best of my knowledge, such conduct was not very attractive to the girls in high school or college!! Quite the opposite, really!!

Jennifer D said...

OH Edward is no Bad Boy. He is chivalrous, smart, patient, honorable and wants to wait for marriage to have sex! A parents dream for their daughter right?

The only "bad" thing about him is ...well... he is a vampire! :O)

Same goes for Jacob except he is a werewolf.

Charles Gramlich said...

that's why I like the woods. My relatives live there.

Jo said...

Leslie, I would love to visit the actual town represented in the books. That would be amazing!

Duta, I read mostly non-fiction too, oddly enough. I have seen one of the Twilight movies, however, and it was very good. And yes, they do walk amongst us.

Bonnie, *heh* You must see the movies!

Shaista, oh, gosh, I'm sorry to hear you have Lupus. Whoo, maybe you are a werewolf? I sort of doubt it, though. :-)

Alane, you son just may be a genius...! Omigosh...! I would bet he has lots of girlfriends, who would appreciate the effort he makes in getting to know something about what the girls like. He doesn't sound like a geek to me, but a really cool guy...! :-)

Susan, yes, and you live closer to the woods than I do, don't you? *heh*

The Bug, I have only seen the movie -- the first installment -- so I don't know about Jacob yet. I think I will go see the second movie. :-)

VioletSky. :-) Out here on the We(s)t Coast, we all have a dark side.

Anna, oh, I would imagine you have supernatural creatures there in Africa too...! :-)

Elise, oh yes...! :-)

Cloudia, Aloha...! :-)

Nancy, the movies are really fun, and you'll get to see some of Vancouver and the surroundings.

Jennifer, yes, I think the books have a wide appeal for everyone -- teens and adults like. I love the movies!

Alissa, wow! The books must appeal to men too. I had no idea.

Alicia, one of our shape-shifter co-workers is retiring. Yay! Double-Yay!

Pilgrimchick, yes, two of the movies were filmed here, one was filmed in Oregon, which is very similar. It is dark and spooky in the forest of the Pacific Northwest.

Kathy, can you imagine any other location being more perfect for this series than the Pacific Northwest? It was made for these books.

John, LOL...! I have actually taken people snipe hunting -- usually people from the Prairies who have never been in the forests. I guess it is something that is universal, isn't it? :-)

LGS, oh, yes...! Especially in my office. Oh, goodness, but every once in a while, out of the corner of my eye, I can see what they really are! *heh*

Kate, *heh, heh* Thanks.

All That I Am, yes, we all go through a stage where we fall for the "bad boys", don't we? But it sounds as if you made the right choice, marrying the "non-bad-boy". *heh* And yes, your photographs are breath-taking. The worlds needs to discover your blog!

Russell, oh, goodness yes, the girls in highschool and university loved the bad-boys. But they are like "forbidden fruit" and it is best to keep them at a distance. But all the really interesting boys are the "bad-boys". I have a feeling... :-)

Jennifer, Edward is definitely not one of the "nerdy" guys, that's for sure. He has that bad-boy air about him, but usually the bad-boys were very chivalrous, don't you think?

Charles, *LOL*

heartinsanfrancisco said...

I really dislike vampire lit, movies, everything about them, although I have been attracted to some bad boys in my life. (It was always ketchup, thankfully.)

I lived with a purebred gray wolf for many years and wolves are such glorious, loving and beautiful creatures that I have always been mystified by the concept of werewolves. But I do believe in shapeshifters and have even known a few. I suspect everyone has that capability.

Jo said...

Hearts, I have always loved wolves. I think next to lions, wolves are the most magnificent animals in existence. They are pure and elegant.

Firefly the Travel Guy said...

I agree, they do.

I only saw Twilight on dvd this weekend and is looking forward to see New Moon as soon as I get a chance.

Brenda said...

I am clueless about this...