It’s hard being a fangirl of a book. Books are a whole other breed and I have to say that the Twilight series is probably my first foray into that kind of fandom. See, with TV or movies you have actors and stars and visuals assigned to you. There’s no arguing about what Buffy or Spike should look like because we started with Sarah Michelle Gellar and James Marsters. Even with comic books, you have the drawings. Now, you can argue who’s best suited for the live-action role of a certain character (as I have done many a time with Mark as we talked about the hypothetical casting of the Endless) but you still have a visual reference point.
The characters in books, though, lie in the mind of the reader. Sure the author provides the descriptive details, but every individual turns them into their own image in their head. I, for example, have a very strong image of Jacob in mind. It’s changed and warped as I’ve talked to other people. For example, I was at a concert and a guy walked by (I said to a friend, “Hey, did you see that guy?” and she looked at me and replied, “You mean Jacob?” “Oh my god,” I told her. “You’re totally right!”) and now he’s totally Jacob in my mind. Someone else might look at him, though, and tell me I’m crazy. I think a person’s images of some characters are stronger than others. I think I have a decent mental image of Edward, but my image of Esme may be more easily influenced.
So, again, being a fangirl of Twilight is HARD and I think that’s because of the inherent nature of “fandom”. We talk about it; we argue about it; we put images and music to it. The words take on a life of their own and a fan’s nature is to make that as tangible as possible. It’s pretty simple, but it makes things like movie deals all the more difficult. Since I first finished Twilight and discovered the fan community surrounding it I have had numerous incarnations of the characters to choose from. Even Stephenie Meyer threw her own choices into the ring. This is all fantastic because, when it was still just words, it brought the series to life that much more. Now that this movie thing seems to be really taking off, though, I think all these character picks are starting to backfire.
Basically, this is my long-winded way of saying I really don’t think I’m happy about the casting for Edward and Bella so far. I don’t like the girl from her pictures – I don’t think she has THAT quality. And while I love Harry Potter, and I like Robert Pattinson as much as I’ve seen him, he just doesn’t look like Edward. Now I’m holding my breath and hoping that after the casting for Jacob is complete I’ll still want to go see the movie.
Filed under: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Fangirl, Jacob Black, Jacob and Bella, Twilight | Tagged: Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, Jacob Black, Twilight, Twilight Casting
I agree with you…
I was disappointed when I found out that Kristen Stwart was going to be Bella. I don’t mind Edward, Pattinson has a different and interesting look that I like, but he wasn’t who I pictured in my mind. Now, everytime that I read the books, I see Pattinson ;[
Honestly, almost none of the actors are who I had pictured, and as I was discussing this the other night, I came to the conclusion that many agree.
It’s widely known that the Cullens are supposed to have high cheekbones, and be very very pale for starters. Most of the cast have tans! Don’t get me wrong, I adored Pattinson in Count of Monte Cristo, it’s my favorite! However, don’t you dare cast him as a neat, sultry vampire. And Kristen Stewart? She’s too strong for this role. Bella is supposed to have insecurities and faults, Kristen comes off in the clips and posters as some kind of over confident warrior woman. The Jasper they cast? Not even blond or ghostlike. He’s supposed to look like a Jasper, and Jasper didn’t have curly straw colored hair. He had short, fair, blond hair. I don’t know where to BEGIN with Carlisle, and pretty much the only casting I approve of is Emmett.
It doesn’t look like this movie’s going to do justice to the book.
I agree with Chris. Every time I go through the Twilight series, I see Robert Pattinson. It really kills my imagination. But I think Ashley Greene is suitable as Alice! I really can’t wait to watch the movie, but then again I wish it was never produced. I don’t exactly want to sit through long hours of onscreen chemistry between Edward and Bella – it kills me inside!
I’m just going through all your posts now, cause I love it when I find someone I agree with so extremely.
Buffy and HP FTW! And yeah I see what you mean, it’s gonna be hard to me to watch especially the vampires in their movie form, cause I’m worried I will stop liking them as much as I do in the books, especially Carlisle and Esme, who i, despite knowing that they are supposed to look young, always imagined as a bit older than the rest. But it’s gonna be like when I watched HP, the characters from the movie are going to mold with the images I have in my mind, and that’s who I’ll imagine. We’ll get used to them though, I’m sure. 
Sometimes it’s hard to imagine someone as a character when you pictured them completely differently, but once you see them actually step into and become that character on the screen, it usually feels much more right. 
Movie = complete kill of imagination.
But I feel it’s a call of duty to watch. A must.
All love for Stephanie.<3
I agree with most of you on this, and I realize I’m completely late, but yah. I think I’m alright with Patterson as Edward, because he’s already molded in my mind as him being Edward, but I’m not exactly sure how I feel about all of the rest of them. My mind is just getting used to the fact that they’re making a movie out of this Saga. But I’m 100% sure that Kristen Stewart doesn’t seem right to play Bella. Like ofyourdreams said, she’s too strong and [[seems to be]] too over confident to play Bella. Sure, she might be a good actress, but to be honest, I dont believe that she can pull it off.
I think a lot of people have high expectations for the movie,and if they mess it up, there will be a mob, I can guarentee(sp?). Not just the characters but the events too. Like one of the scenes that they showed on the trailer is completely different then events in the book, which this scene tied a lot of the stuff to happen later, together so I’m not exactly sure how they’re gonna make up for that. That was one of my favorite scenes in Twilight, and they’re getting rid of it. IDK… I’m really just waiting to see how much they mess up I guess. Not to seem rude or anything, but the books set a high standard that I dont think they will be able to accomplish in the movies.