Culture shock: staff reactions to watching Twilight and Star Wars: A New Hope for the first time
Weekend February 8, 2021, Comments OffStephenie Meyers’ Twilight Saga and George Lucas’ Star Wars adventures are cemented in contemporary pop culture. Maclen loves Star Wars but had never seen Twilight. Marissa loves Twilight but has never seen Star Wars.
Initial thoughts
Marissa: I didn’t really know much about Star Wars before I watched A New Hope. Science fiction was always something I didn’t see myself enjoying ever much (even though I’ve always loved fantasy books/movies). I quickly changed my mind about that. Even though the setting was in outer space and some of the characters were robots or aliens, the movies still had familiar human emotions. I think this is part of the reason I was so drawn in. I never expected to feel so connected to the robot or alien characters but that’s part of the reason i enjoyed the movie so much!
Maclen: In the span of a week, Twilight went from a franchise I was completely neutral toward to one of my new favorite things to talk about. It has everything I could ask for in entertainment: weirdly expansive lore, pretty people standing around for the sake of looking pretty, supernatural drama, and no real heartbreak-inducing character deaths. It felt like I filled in a gap of the middle school lexicon. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised considering it’s one of the most successful franchises of our generation, but it blew me away how many people were willing to launch into conversation with me once I started watching. It’s been one of the coolest community experiences I’ve had with a series.
Why did we decide to watch these?
Marissa: Two of my friends love the series and grew up watching it. They both convinced me that I needed to watch it with them, so I did.
Maclen: I made up my mind to watch the series as a way to fill up time in our six-week winter break. Once I found out they were all available on Showtime – a streaming service you can get for free if you already pay for the student Spotify Premium – I knocked all five movies out in a week. It was a very therapeutic way to end the night after getting home from work.
Is it what you expected going in?
Marissa: If we’re being honest, I expected a movie about spaceships blowing up and while that is in there of course, the movie is much more than that. I found myself surprised at how quickly I attached myself to these characters and their role within the much larger plot. I didn’t really expect that going in.
Maclen: For the most part, yes. I still haven’t read the books, but the movies captured the superhuman love triangle and its ensuing drama that I was hoping for. Definitely the biggest difference was my expectation for an actual love triangle – Jacob’s character was nothing like I expected.
What did you know – or thought you knew – from pop culture?
Marissa: Really all i knew about the series going in was that Darth Vader was actually Luke’s father. I knew nothing else about the plot of the characters. But because I knew this fact, I found myself looking for signs that “foreshadowed” it and was surprised that I found a few.
Maclen: I knew there were vampires and werewolves, and I knew the cast got mocked for how “wooden” their portrayals of the characters were. But I also knew plenty of the cast members would make fun of Twilight, even during promotional tours for it. I definitely came in with more knowledge of the cultural drama that surrounded the series more than the story itself. Except for the Jacob-imprinting-on-Renesme thing. But more on that later.
We decided to ask each other five questions about the movies to better understand the other’s thoughts – and to talk about the series we love so much.
On Twilight
Marissa: The most important question: are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?
Maclen: I always thought just based off other people that really enjoyed Twilight, that it was an actual question. I thought that they were both people that were genuinely good for her or that it was a real consideration between the two and she wasn’t sure which way to go for it. It was not like that at all. It is always very clear that it is always going to be Edward and Jacob is only there to make things difficult. But in New Moon when Bella was being a reckless danger to herself, I was Team Jacob all the way.
Marissa: Your thoughts on the end of Bella’s story? Mainly the Renesmee plot line?
Maclen: One thing I’m glad they included at the end of Bella’s story was that she was a shield. I thought it was a good touch because it helped explain why as a human she stuck out and why she was immune to their other powers. But with the Rensmee plot line–I don’t mind Renesmee but I thought their explanation for her was a little silly. The whole ending felt very anticlimactic to me–not that I wanted a big fight with characters dying, but it felt very anti climatic.
Since when do vampires like baseball?
Marissa: Favorite movie and why?
Maclen: I really enjoyed both Breaking Dawn movies. I feel like it’s because the Edward vs. Jacob thing had reached its conclusion and there was a real villain with the Volturi.
Marissa: Any intentions of reading the series now that you’ve watched the movies?
Maclen: I’m torn because I did read the first Twilight book in middle school, and I do think I need to go back and reread it because I didn’t really give it a fair shot then. So, I think I will, because Twilight is just fun.
“La Push baby; it’s La Push”
Marissa: Thoughts on the end of Jacob’s story?
Maclen: I feel like the end was insulting to him. Because Jacob only existed in the context of Bella. Even after she married Edward, they had to keep finding a way to tie him to her. He was never allowed to move on, which I thought was upsetting. One of the few things I did know about Twilight going in was that eventually Jacob does imprint on [Bella’s] daughter. And so, in New Noon when he’s explaining what imprinting was, I was like “this is disgusting.” I just don’t really like the whole concept of imprinting, especially with a baby. And they emphasize again and again that imprinting isn’t a choice and it just happens, but I think I could have accepted what happened in Breaking Dawn if it was something that they could control and it was a last ditch effort to save the baby and make it so the pack is okay with it. Overall, I think Jacob deserved better.
On Star Wars
Maclen: Was anyone in your family super into Star Wars?
Marissa: I started watching it because my friends loved it growing up. It is their favorite movie of all time and they’re like, “You have to watch it!” I’d never seen it. I never knew anything about it. I’d seen some stuff from media but had no idea who the characters were.
Maclen: Who was your favorite character and why?
Marissa: Oh man… I liked Han Solo. I did! I think the morally gray part of him made me like him.
Just a few of Maclen’s Lightsabers
Maclen: Did you have a favorite moment?
Marissa: At the end, C3PO and R2D2. R2D2 got hurt or something, and [C3PO] said, “you can have my wires if you need to save him!” He spent the whole movie saying oh I don’t like him, he’s not my friend. But then he’s so ready to help him. It was so adorable, so sweet… That was something I didn’t expect. I loved the robots.
Maclen: As in every fandom, there are issues of shipping. Han and Leia are pretty clearly set up. But… Han and Luke are a very popular fandom pairing.
Marissa: Okay, I’m ready to talk about it. It’s the very end – when Luke hugs Leia for a little bit. But when he sees Han, he takes off running, and they hug for longer and more passionately than he did with Leia. How could you not see it? I knew exactly where you were going. I see it.
The quintessential character–BB8 modeling it’s bling.
Maclen: Is there anything that you didn’t expect going in?
Marissa: It actually had a plot line. I just thought it was going to be people blowing up ships. I found myself really connected to the characters. I didn’t expect myself to care
Maclen: Since you’ve only watched the first movie so far, are there any characters that you think won’t make it through the movies, or you really hope do but you aren’t sure?
Marissa: I’d like to see more of the robots. They seem like minor characters, so I’m not sure if they’ll be as prevalent later on.
Article by Maclen Johnson and Marissa Mayfield
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