Turned Off by 'Twilight''s On-Screen Edward Cullen: A Dash Too Much Predator
Monday November 24, 2008
True, vampires are by nature predators. Also true, in Stephenie Meyer's novel "Twilight," Edward Cullen, every teen girl's romantic dreamboy, is heavy on the brooding and, of course, the entire story turns on Bella and Edward as star-crossed lovers. That...
Filed Under: Bella, books, Edward Cullen, Kristen Stewart, movies, Robert Pattinson, Twilight, Twilight Movie, Twilight Series, Vampires
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I know what you mean. Edward Cullen is also 100 years old and i thought he should have had a charm about him that could have only be seen in the 19th century. Where was the smart, witty and amused but in love character that we all fell in love with???? I think Robert did an o.k. job. But i expected more... So is this the actor's flaw or the director's inability to direct???
G
I am a Twilight Mom and it has been decades since I was 17, so maybe I just don't get the same out of it as the teen fans, but I agree that only the book version of Edward is divine - the perfect creature struggling with passion and lust and the nobility of doing the right thing. The movie Edward was creepy, whiney, and no fun at all. I really think the problem was direction though. In a female centered vision (director and narrator), Edward just didn't get developed to the same scale with his book character.
This Edward is creepy. This Edward is stalkerish--but less in the way of "Bella is his whole world" and more in the way of, well, just stalkerish. This Edward is nothing but a brooding, angsty, downer. Seriously, what does Bella see in him other than beauty?
That's what I was asking myself as I read the books. What DOES Bella see in Edward aside from his beauty?
The character of Edward Cullen IS creepy. He IS a stalker. The guy not only sneaks into her bedroom at night, but he oils the windows to make it easier, and so she won't be able to hear him. At another point, he removes the engine of Bella's truck to keep her from going anywhere. Those aren't the actions of a romantic. They're the actions of a stalker.
If someone did any of those things to you in real life, you'd file a police report, get a restraining order against them, and fear for your safety. Why? Because they're creepy and weird, and dangerous.
In the leaked version of Midnight Sun (which is Twilight told from Edward's POV) on Stephenie Meyer's official site, Edward's initial reaction to Bella shows him plotting how to best kill the entire school and cover his tracks so there aren't any witnesses when he kills Bella. He's shown to be every inch the predator he is, and is hardly the pained, emo, romantic ideal that people think he is.
If Robert Pattinson managed to get those aspects of his character on screen, I'd say he did a good job of showing Edward Cullen as something other than the romantic fantasy some think he is. The character has very real danger and very creepy, stalkerish aspects to him, and they should be shown.
I did not feel either part was played the way they were protrayed in the books. Edward is very stiff in the movie, but in the book he is protrayed as graceful and chrming. The movie Bella seems angry not the confused girl who can't figure out why Edward has such strange behavior. I don't believe either actor was familiar enough with their characters. This could just be that they were not the right actors or they could be taking direction from the wrong director.
Hi, I agree that maybe this Edward was a little different than expected. However, I do not think it is Robert Pattinson's acting that is the problem. I believe that the screen writing is the reason for how Edward is portrayed in the film. If a character is written in a certain way in a script, that is how the actor must portray him or her. I think that Rob did an excellent acting job with the material he was given. The screen writing changed the character, not the actor. If Bella seemed off, I would not blame Kristen Stewart either. The writer of the script wrote the characters a certain way and that is the material the actors must work with. Don't blame them if the portrayal of the characters seems wrong, blame the writing. The entire cast did well with the material they were given.
Finally saw 'Twilight' and even I have to admit I found myself whispering to my friend, "Whoa, this is creepy. He's such a stalker." I agree with LJG--I had started seeing Edward as being authoritative, controlling, and manic depressive throughout the books, so I didn't think he was ideal. But seeing him portrayed with such ferocity was a bit scary. There were times the dialogue delivery was a bit off, but overall the character was well-acted and well-directed.
I LOVE EDWARD!!!! YOUR GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!! AND A GREAT ACTOR!!!!
I totally agree with your assessment of Pattinson's portrayl of Edward. I think that some of the creepiness for me was the way he talked. Meyer mentioned many times in her book the difference in the way Edward talked and how his cadence and flow was that of a different time period, but I think that the way Pattinson talked in the film just made him sound unsure of himself and the end result was a creepy stalker. I was very dissappoint in the movie and thought that they could have picked a much better person to play Bella. I think that Pattinson would have been better in the role with just a little bit different direction.
I completely agree. I expected the books to be much better than the movie because with my experience they always are but Edward's character is what really threw me for a loop. I know they can't incorporate EVERY detail from the book but I feel the aspects of his personality that prevented him from being a creepy stalker were left out from the movie. The only reason I was able to watch all of it was the knowledge of how he was in the book. Don't get me wrong, I think he is an attractive vampire :) but somewhere in translation important things went missing.
Well, wishful thinking aside, Edward was exactly what you saw on screen: A stalker. He followed Bella around, even out of state, unbeknownst to her, broke into her home, even oiling the window so no one would know, he crept around her house while everyone was asleep; sat in her rocking chair just watching her -- if you read Midnight Sun, he confesses to all of this, even asking himself was he no better than a peeping tom.
The popularity of these books is because the women reading them are projecting their fantasy of this great looking guy falling for someone plain, who doesn't have much going for them.
The fact is, as you can read in Midnight Sun, Edward is just as insecure as Bella is, if not more and the reality is insecure people attract insecure people.
It's not at all romantic or fun, and Meyers could have shown us that clearly and then we could have watched the characters grow and mature and have a REAL RELATIONSHIP. But they didn't.
What you saw on screen, due to the brilliance of Rob Pattinson, who in his interviews you can tell doesn't get at all why these books are so popular (which makes me think he's very healthy) -- what you saw Rob play is Edward as he really is.
I think Edward is the hottest guy in the world i wish all the guys in the world looked like him!!!:)
I LOVE U I WISH I WAS BELLA SHE IS LUCKY TO PLAY A ROLL WITH U ME AND MY FRIEND LOVE U!!!!!!!!!
I LOVE YOUR movie i love it so much
o!i think rob did a good job as edward! he just kinda needs to lighten up a bit!!! and kirsten is too strong and secure! she needs to slip and trip and act a little more helpless so edward doesn't portray the personality of a stalker!! he's just protecting her because he's so madly in love with her (idk why) and he doesn't want anything o happen to her!!! rob is too angry-like and needs to act like a lover instead of a stalker!!! other than that, i think the actors are great and maybe the director has the wrong idea of how the characters are supposed to act like!! (btw... angela is spost to be dating ben!! not eric!!! and what happened to the days where bella and edward skipped school?!! like on the blood test day?!!!!)
p.s.
i love edward
i like the way edward cullen was portrayed in the movie. to suggest more, i think he should have shown more love or let's say affection towards bella. and bella too needs to show more affection towards edward..
i love youuuuu
Edward and Bella are made to be a little distance in their romance. That's what makes it so hot. Edward did a fantastic job.
I agree. Where was the charm? Where were the half-smiles Bella fell in love with? My advice: Don't see the movie again. Block it out and go read the books again! That's the only way to fix what they have ruined for you.
Hmmm...well I agree that "movie Edward" and "book Edward" seem to have a few differences but I love them both. I saw an interview with Robert Pattinson and he says he purposely focused on Edwards "dark side". He explained that when reading Twilight everything is from Bella's perspective therefore he comes across different than he actually is because love is blind right? Bella doesn't see his flaws. Stephanie Meyer gave RP the first 11 chapters of Midnight Sun before filming and it seems to me after reading it myself that he definitely channeled a lot of what you see on screen from that. I think you really see a new side to him in Midnight Sun. He's a lot more disturbed than the Edward we see through Bella's eyes and oddly enough it only made me love the chracter even more, at the very least I understand him better. The book is definitely better of course but I still liked the movie. It's just hard to fit a 500+ page novel into 2 hrs and have everything and everyone come out on par. I would give the movie another shot, maybe now since you are already expecting the worst it won't be so bad....
I agree with previous posts... it's really hard to condense a book into a film. I went in with an open mind before I watched the movie and found myself laughing at many parts of the movie that held such different emotions and meanings for me in the book. I could rip the film to shreds in many different ways however I still appreciate its efforts in becoming a visual form of its written self. Likewise for the characters, I didn't expect Bella to channel her emotions the way she did on screen or Edward to carry himself the way he did etc. However, I let myself enjoy how it all came together and hope that the subsequent films will work their own magic in future. The Edward you envisage will always be that Edward. He was just portrayed from a different perspective on screen.
I'm a latecomer to the Twilight saga and did see the movie before reading the books. I found the movie disjointed but interesting. Reading the Twilight book really filled in all the missing information from the movie, some of which was essential to the romantic leads. Hopefully the New Moon movie will capture the electric chemistry missing from the Twilight movie.
Edward is the hottest thing in the world!!!!!And Jacob is this hottest thing in the world
edward is the hottest thing ever!!!!
i love his hair and his eyes!!!!
i love him so much!!!!
my friends like him to!!!!
edward has dreamy eyes!!!!
edward is so fast in the movie and in the book it felt like he was there in my room running around
edward is soooo hot and i just have one thing to say i you'er not a cullen back off
I agree with you he seems disconnected, edward in the saga was very formal and old fashioned not someone who follows young girls into the woods and ambushes them. In the movie he was almost to a point evil not the good guy he is in the saga.
Love Twilight and love Robert/Edward, sooo hot, way hot!
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