In the past twelve months the both acclaimed and decried
New York Times has included no fewer than 20 articles with at least a reference to Stephenie Meyer's book and movie franchise known as the
Twilight Saga. Today alone there are two (at the very least; who can read a newspaper with articles longer than
Lord of the Rings cover to cover ?) pieces in the paper. First, in the
NYT Magazine (my favorite part) they present "A New Kind of Barometer for Keeping Track of Exactly How Old You Feel" about how the internet can help your measure "your imminent cultural irrelevance, at 28."The article includes a "Bonus Feature" a reprint of the "Cultural Osmosis Pop Quiz: Twilight Edition" from their "The Sixth Floor" blog feature by Gaby Dunn.
The 6th Floor is the blog of The New York Times Magazine, where staff
members — editors, designers, writers, photo editors and researchers —
share ideas, arguments, curiosities and links.
6thfloor nytimes.com November 10, 2011
The questions were put to 30 year-old, Erin Judge, a Manhattan based writer with no real Twilight exposure other than a friend discussing the 'pregnancy scene' with her. I'd be pissed if I were Ms. Judge, she comes off as dumber than a box of rocks, and not just about pop culture.
Contrary to Ms. Dunn's, or other NYT writers' assumptions, cultural relevance is a matter of choice and observation. According to an article on Oct. 27, 2011 in Bookselling this Week:
In a Reading Group Guides’ survey published last September, 68.6 percent
of respondents had discussed a YA book at their meetings. Bookselling this Week
I resent people assuming that reading YA or Adult "genre" fiction somehow makes one a Neanderthal any more than we should assume reading the New York Times makes one a self-aggrandizing, pseudo-intellectual. YA novels are generally well-written with interesting story-lines, character and heart. I regularly suggest that parents read what their teens do.
If I get anything wrong, please let me know.
Name the four Twilight Books.
- She gets one, Breaking Dawn, right but thinks she is mixing it up with Breaking Bad and the Walking Dead.
Who plays Edward Cullen?
- She thinks Edward is played by Justin Bieber—obviously mixing up the current Justin Bieber baby scandal with the infamous 'pregnancy scene.'
Why is Alice in a mental institution?
- Okay, to be fair, I (renowned Twilight scholar that I am) do not recall it being overtly stated that Alice's visions were the cause—her family seemed to call it her "strangeness" which all agree goes beyond her being able to glimpse the future. Ms. Judge confuses Alice with Bella and her "vampire baby."
What are the people in the diner (in Port Angeles) thinking about when Edward reads their minds?
- Money, Sex and Cat in repetition, in the film. However, the question itself is wrong. I looked it up and found this exchange takes place not in a diner but in an Italian restaurant in both book and film. Bella eats dinner in a diner with her father in the movie. In the book she takes it upon herself to organize the kitchen and do the grocery shopping and cooking when she moves into with him. This was one of the caretaker traits she developed caring for her scattered mother.
Who is Jacob?
- Apparently a red-blooded female, Ms. Judge is not immune to the power of pecs and gets it right. She claims she knows about that because of the Team Jacob/Team Edward thing and because Jacob reminds her of Anthony Kleidis.
Why don't the Cullens eat people?
- After an answer of astounding incorrectness they go on to discuss whether the Cullens are really Cohens and thus Jewish. If they are Jewish perhaps the consumption of people is not Kosher.
What happens to Twilight Vampires in the sun?
What human Sport do Vampires play?
- Ms. Judge here is not only incorrect on the sport, Lacrosse, but also that they would play Lacrosse because they are European. Never mind that the sport in question is Baseball or that Lacrosse is derived from an Iroquois game, traditionally, but no longer, played to the death. Ms. Dunn correct her as to Lacrosse's origins.
Team Edward or Team Jacob and why?
Team Jacob because all of Edward’s weird, sappy, sad, virginy, purity,
shiny crap is crap. My pro-Jacob stance is at heart an anti-Edward
stance.
Another Royal
Wedding?
Romancing the Gown: The Studio Media Machine in Hyper Drive
The second article,
"The Real Saga Here: What Will Bella Wear?" appears in the Wedding Section of today's paper. Earlier in the year the NYT quoted Kristen Stewart as saying,
“If this dress gets on the Internet, I’ll die.” Artsbeat blog NYTimes.com July 25, 2011
Nothing gets fans more excited than Hype and this dress is being hyped:
Hyper Secret
There is nothing more hype-able than a secret. With less than a week to go we have had only glimpses of the Big Day's dress. One-upping the British Royals, Summit has already licensed the gown's design to a mass market bridal retailer and leaked the designer as Carolina Herrera. We have seen but snippets, including a bit of veil the Times says is "alas, not even enough to determine if it was lace or tulle."
Hyper Hype:
The NYT goes on to say that one would think this were another royal wedding. But, who is making it such? I doubt any of the couples in the Wedding section could care less and I certainly hadn't expected an article about the dress to be in the paper. While the gown will be interesting and exciting to see I think more fans are excited about the bed breaking scene in the Honeymoon. If the dress is a big deal, it is a product of a well-tuned Hollywood publicity mill fanning fans' ardor and media articles.
Hyper Smart Marketing:
If they marketed the bed and those pillows I think they'd make a mint. They may, given the outcome of the honeymoon, want to market Twilight condoms.
The article reports that the dress will be available, starting November 21, at 400 bridal shops for $799. Alfred Angelo stores, whose stores will carry and market the gown redesigned the gown Ms. Stewart is quoted in the article as saying "..Was tight, it was so tight." to be forgiving to brides of all sizes, up to size thirty.
Angelo stores carried a version of Elizabeth Taylor's gown from "Father of the Bride." Other Hollywood dresses shown are Julia Roberts' from "The Runaway Bride," Sarah Jessica Parker's from "Sex and the City," And Grace Kelly's second-wedding dress from "High Society." For a slide show of these gowns please follow this link:
Nov. 13, 2011 NYT On Screen Wedding Gowns
Image by Captivated Designs via Flickr
