Twilight Book Vs. Twilight Movie – Part I
Just as there are two sides to every coin, there are two versions of Edward Cullen. Although the Twilight movie execs were smart enough to maintain glaring similarities for the sake of keeping the fan base, there are some VERY distinct differences between the literary and big-screen version of our beloved Undead Boy. I will be doing a series of posts, each post comparing one aspect of the Book to the Movie. This is the first of many….
Subtle “Destiny” Hints Left Out on Purpose?
In the Twilight book we begin to fall for our beloved Edward Cullen just in time to be intrigued by his choice to ditch Biology on the day that he asks Bella to sit with him in the lunchroom. As Edward puts it, it’s healthy to ditch class now and then. Of course we find out a short time later that its Blood Typing day in Biology which poses two obvious threats to him; First, that Edward does not in-fact have any blood to provide for a sample. And Second, that if he were to hang out in that classroom with all of the other kids slicing themselves open as if they were hamburgers laying on plates while lathering themselves in Ketchup, that room would be a veritable pu-pu platter of Type O-Positively-Yummy.
It is also in this scene where we learn another one of Bella’s sort of half-human-half-destined-to-be-a-vampire traits, in that she faints when she sees blood, but also has the ability to SMELL it! Even Edward comments on the fact that people cannot smell blood, to which Bella replies to him that blood smells like rust and salt.
I always really loved this scene in the book, especially after reading that section in Midnight Sun from Edwards perspective. I was pretty sad to see that it hadn’t made it into the movie, considering that one of the things that I loved about the first three books in the series is that there were several tiny clues that led one to believe that Bella was pretty much destined to become a vampire from the get-go. Leaving these out of the movie almost seems like they’re making it seem like this is a choice for her, which I never believed that it was.
So this poses a question; Did Hollywood leave out these subtle nuances due to time constraints or is this some plot to make the viewer think that becoming a vampire is more choice than Destiny?
Posted in Twilight
May 8th, 2009 at 5:27 am
I read a few interviews with Hardwicke where she says that she left out the blood-typing scene because they already had enough shots of the biology room.
It’s too bad, that would have been interesting
May 11th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I heard the same thing, but I still don’t find it excusable considering the fact that only a fraction of that scene happens in the biology room. Think about it, the majority of it plays out in the hall and in the nurses office! I cry Conspiracy!
May 11th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Lol, from a filmmaker’s perspective – the scene gives us nothing of value. Certainly, you can say that Bella’s reaction to the blood comes into play later with themes about destiny, but Twilight, and any movie for that matter, isn’t taking into consideration the BIG picture.
Every single line, action in movies is there for a reason – to tell us something. So if we had found out that Bella’s woozy when it comes to blood that would have opened up the plot hole comments – like where were they going with that? Additionally, it would have made the ballet scene a lot less believable because she would have passed out way before because of the blood – which happened in the book.
As a fan – yea, I would have loved to have seen it but it’s just one of the hugest reasons that the movie will NEVER be better than the book. No matter what it is.
Except, maybe, Fight Club.