Comparing Blood Types

I have been teasing my fellow Mom-friends for months about this whole Twilight phenomenon. As is my usual way, the second something becomes a bandwagon, I avoid it at all costs. I'm not sure why that is. Probably because I personally can't just jump in and think something is awesome because millions of others think so. There always has to be a catch- you know, "if it's too good to be true..." blah blah blah. I did the same thing with Harry Potter. Even when it came to now-President Obama (my jury is still out on him though), I just couldn't jump on and support him. Hell, I didn't even join Twitter right away, and fought it a long time before joining. Now I'm its biggest cheerleader. Same with Facebook, though I still don't use it as often as Twitter, but I definitely see the positives now.

Seeing how Twilight became such a big tween/teen hit, and then seeing grown women fantasize about being Edwards lamb, it just didn't mix right with me. If it appeals so much to children, why are my friends acting so weird? The books have only gotten warm reviews from them, but yet they go nuts over it. One friend even saw it seven times in the theatre. What the hell was I missing?

I finally had my chance to find out- my neighbor threw a Twilight party today, and invited me and my daughter Allison. Allison was way excited, and I figured sure, why not. I can see what all the hub-bub was about. Who knows, I might even be surprised. As with most of the bandwagon jumping I resist, I can come around. I just need to do so at my own pace. And after all I *do* like vampire movies/stories. True Blood is a great series (want to read all the books now), and I still find myself watching "Interview With A Vampire" when I come across it on the movie channels now and again. So I went in with an open mind, and wasn't even thrown off by all my friends wearing Twilight T-Shirts (It was a little disturbing though, sort of like if a grown woman was wearing a Hannah Montana shirt).

To sum up the movie, it was like watching a two-hour music video. Visual images with that goth-sounding music in the background. Mediocre acting, none of the characters really grabbed me or drew me in. Not very realistic. "How can it be realistic? It's a vampire movie!" you might say. Well, the difference is that True Blood basically has the same premise, but they set it up in such a way where vampires and humans are actually living together openly in society. They drink synthetically-made blood so they don't feed on humans (supposedly). There's a Christian/political base who is trying to keep vampires from being equal citizens. AND it also has a love story as well. A vampire and a woman fall in love, and she doesn't fear him. All in all a lot more depth and meat (and good acting) to the story than Twilight. (For the record, The Sookie Stackhouse series True Blood is based on came out first. Wonder if Stephanie Meyers read it before her dream? ;-) )

As for Twilight, I tried to enjoy it. I truly did. I think for me what it comes down to is I need more adult stories. I need something that will make me actually believe the world that is presented to me could exist, not just a long, drawn out fantasy. If it's meant to be a fantasy (like Lord of the Rings or something like that) I can deal. However, Twilight is set in a real-life present time, and it fell way short. It's a fantasy meant to appeal to the tween/teen imagination, and in that respect it was done well.

Now, I don't even want to read the books, and I had been toying with reading them after seeing how much Allison enjoyed them. I wanted to see what was making her laugh out loud and read lines to me. That desire is gone.

I will never be invited to another party at my neighbors again, I'm pretty sure. But before anyone calls me an old fuddy-duddy, I will fight any 13-year-old tooth and nail for tickets to a Justin Timberlake concert!