Twilight

Kirby Feagan
11/05/08
Journalism

Twilight

In June 2003, Stephenie Meyer, a housewife from Phoenix and mother to three small children, woke up after having a dream. Her dream was about a beautiful, pale white, vampire named Edward and a human girl named Bella who love each other so much but Edward is struggling with the urge to drink her blood. She was so fascinated by this dream and so eager to know what happens next, that she decided to start writing the story, mostly for her enjoyment. When the novel was finished, she was strongly encouraged by her sister to get the story published. After sending out copies to 15 different publishing companies and receiving many rejections, Stephenie was signed to do a three-book deal with Little, Brown. She was ecstatic when she heard the news and even happier to know that Twilight, the story she had come to love so much, would be shared with other people. Little did she know, exactly how many people would be sucked into the world of Twilight. Now, in 2008, the Twilight series have sold over 25 million copies and have been translated into 37 different languages.
The amount of Twilight fans (also known as Twilighters) around the world is incredible, and the number continues to increase every day. Parents can’t complain either, now that their teenage daughters are jumping up and down in excitement for a novel with over 700 pages. Twilight has grasped the attention of teens who never read books for pleasure and inspires many teenagers to write and read more often. Not surprisingly, right after the third book in the series was released, Summit Entertainment began to work on the film, which was released into theatres November 21st of this year starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.
On the night of November 20th, thousands of teenagers were bouncing around in their seats eagerly waiting to see the Twilight movie. 2,000 screenings across the U.S. were sold out weeks before for the midnight showing. Many Twilighters stood at their mirrors applying white makeup and sparkles, preparing to go as their favorite vampire. If you were at all interested in seeing how crazy these fans can act, opening night of Twilight would have been the way to do that. Every time Edward appears on screen the entire theatre fills with high-pitch screams and giggles. You could feel the excitement in the air. As soon as the end credits were rolling, stunned and breathless teens were already making plans to see it again as soon as possible. Summit Entertainment must be doing a never ending happy dance as devoted fans continue to see the film five, six or seven times in less than three weeks. The movie, which was filmed on a 35 million budget, earned back the money that was spent plus more on opening day alone, bringing director Catherine Hardwicke to have the biggest movie opening ever for a female director.
Don’t think that Twilight only attracts teenagers though. Thousands of moms have joined in on the obsessive love for these romantic vampire/werewolf series. They have come to love Edward Cullen just as much as their daughters and even began a popular website called twilightmoms.com. Even though the books are mainly about vampires, 75% of the fans are female, so don’t expect a scary action-packed novel. In fact, these vampires refuse to drink the blood of humans and sparkle in the sunlight.
So, if you were wondering what is going on with teenagers these days, the answer is Twilight. The first three of the four books are now available in paperback and the movie is now in theatres, entitled “Crepusculo” in Spanish. Step aside Harry Potter, it’s Twilight’s turn to shine.