Nick Jimenez: Have you read any of the Twilight books?

Chase Tremaine: I have never read any of the Twilight books.

N. I have read half way through the first one.

C. We both saw the movies recently for the first time.

N. What made you want to jump in and see the movies finally?

C. The second’s trailers enticed me.  I thought, ‘Wow, this could be a good movie.’  My brother and a friend saw Twilight one night and New Moon the next.  Frankly, we loved them both.

N. So you’re pro-Twilight movies?

C. Yes.

N. What did you like about the first one?

C. The first movie is definitely weaker; it had bad directing, bad cinematography, bad editing.

N. To me, it seemed like the pilot to a new CW show.

C. But the series puts you directly into a female’s head.  Even if the books are bad writing, that’s supposedly what it does successfully.

N. It does bad writing successfully?

C. Yeah.  Because it’s not about the way it’s written, it’s about how real the writing is. As a man, I can imagine most guys have trouble enjoying it, but if you realize it’s supposed to be realistically from a girl’s perspective, (just put in supernatural circumstances), it’s quite fascinating.  And the actors do a good job.

N. I agree, I think the first movie was poorly made. A lot of people say it’s supposed to be in the mind of the female girl, but I’ve seen movies that successfully put you in the female psyche, like the works of Jane Austen or Amelie.  I don’t like Bella Swan not because she’s a female character.  It’s that she’s a helpless, gross, very anti-feminist character.

C. So were Jane Austen’s characters.

N. But if you look at Emma Woodhouse or Elizabeth Bennett, they both actively made their own narrative.  For Bella Swan, she doesn’t do anything, she just reacts.  Bella seems just like a notion that gets swayed.  She, in the movies, is just a flaky character with no personality.  I never see what they guys see in Bella.

C. One misconception I’ve seen is that people tend to think Bella falls in love with Edward then she falls in love with Jacob.  The way I see it, Jacob’s loved Bella all along.  When Edward’s gone, Bella simply saw friendship with Jacob.  But as an audience, we can tell Jacob wanted more.

N. So it’s pretty much a Pretty in Pink situation.

C. Yeah.

N. Would you put yourself on Team Edward or Team Jacob?

C. [laughter] From this stance of just seeing the first two movies, honestly I do think Edward definitely has a greater understanding of what love is.  He is hundreds of years old; he is the most mature member of the group, and he is really the only one who has to fight for his love.  I like Jacob, he’s a cool character, and he’s just not getting what he wants.  And Bella’s getting everything she wants, she just happens to get caught in little mishaps where Edward has to come save the day.

N. So at the end of New Moon, Bella’s like ‘Well Edward’s back so I kinda don’t need you anymore.’

C. The entire movie, she is still all for Edward.  Her friendship with Jacob helped her get through the pain.  She wasn’t trying to get over Edward and she never did.  Bella was kind of using Jacob… Bella’s not a nice person…

N. I don’t want to watch a movie about her.

C. That’s the good part how characters like Edward and Jacob are pretty strong.

N. So, what’s your opinion of the way vampires are treated in the films?

C. That’s definitely been a form of controversy.  I applaud Meyer for taking a well-standing mythos and turning it on its head.  She definitely has the guts to call these creatures vampires even though she’s changed them completely.

N. The idea of falling in love with a vampire has been done really well, like in Buffy.  To me, Meyer neutered vampires so she can take them to school and on dates.

C. Meyer uses it to her advantage so she can put the vampires in a larger array of situations.

N. It’s lazy. Her changes could be seen as good or bad storytelling, but it’s like she made the story easier to fantasize about. Meyers created a kiddie version of vampires.  Do you see Twilight dying down in the future?

C. It definitely will die down, unless of course Meyer keeps milking the series.  The saga definitely has staying power.  Girls will read the books over again.

N. Do you want to see the third movie?

C. Oh, yes!  Can’t wait.

N. It’s interesting that in the age of Hilary Clinton and Kim Possible taking control of themselves, Bella’s like ‘I need a man to help me, I need a man to pick me up.’  It’s interesting how something so anti-feminist is so successful.  You would think girls would be disgusted with this idea.

C.  This new generation that’s rising, are they complacent?  Are they lazy?  Do they want to go back to the old ways?  Do they not want to work hard for success but just ride on the waves of whatever man picks them up?

N. Maybe girls just think its fun to be the damsel.  This is just a movie and its fun to watch this play out.

C. But you have to draw the line.  Girls are putting these ideas and images into their heads, they need to be able to support themselves and stand on their own two feet.