About one year ago my 16-year-old sister Shelby established an unhealthy obsession with the “Twilight Saga.” The Twilight Saga consists of four books that explore the relationship between Bella and her vampire lover Edward. The series was popular, but didn’t gain much attention until the first book “Twilight” was made into a film last fall, a technological shift. This film is what turned my sister and many others into “Twi-hards” (die hard Twilight fans). The major reason why these young girls are so obsessed with Twilight are the two leading men, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, the “beautiful people” in the film. After seeing the movie my sister began to read the books. She finished all four within two weeks, and only left her room to eat. As I have expressed in the past I am a huge Harry Potter fan and constantly told Shelby that Harry Potter was much better than Twilight! After a while, I got curious and finally decided to jump on the “bandwagon." I made an agreement with my sister, she would read the Harry Potter series and I would read the Twilight Saga and watch the first film. So I watched the first film and thought it was terrible. The “production techniques” were not impressive and the acting was terrible. The only good thing about the movie was the very attractive main character Edward Cullen. After watching the movie I understood why everyone was so obsessed with it. He is every girls “dream man” even if he is a vampire. After watching the film I started to read the series. The series is told from Bella’s perspective, so the readers feel as if they are in a relationship with this mysterious vampire babe! I must confess the series dragged me in and I was hooked. I also read the four books at record speed. The books are entertaining and very emotional at times. As a reader I invested so many of my own feelings into the series that I experienced a personal shift. I was no longer reading about these characters, I was mentally, and emotionally engaged and participating with the characters. As embarrassed, as I am to say this, I cried during the last book because it was so emotional, and I find it absolutely amazing that books can captivate readers in that way. I wonder if Little, Brown and Company, part of Hachette book group (formerly Time Warner Books) a "second tier publishing division" (Media & Society, 35) predicted Twilight's success? According to Media and Society written by David Croteau and William Hoyness, "Books are published on a wide range of subjects, packaged in various formats, sold in many different settings, and bought by many types of readers. In addition, there are several different kinds of publishing companies, from large commercial houses that sign prominent authors to seven-figure advance-payment contracts to small presses that publish scholarly monographs"(143). Media and Society also states, "Different industries and the various sectors within each industry have different rules that govern the decision-making process. The search for steady profits by commercial media companies make evaluations of the potential for economic success a central feature of the decision-making process. Those in decision-making roles need to develop strategies for evaluating the potential profitability of a particular movie or book"(143). It looks like the publishing company knew what they were doing!
So I give the series a thumbs- up!
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