Last night, along with my 16-year-old niece, I saw "New Moon," the latest film in Stephanie Meyer’s "Twilight" series based on the book of the same name. This blog is not a movie review, so I’ll just say that it was extremely entertaining and, like the first book, the screenplay stayed true to the print version in the second installment of this mortal-loves-vampire story.
A lot of readers over the age of 17 hide their true feelings for these books or downplay their addiction to them, but I flew out of the "Twilight" closet a long time ago. My guilty pleasures don’t include celebrity gossip magazines or reality television, but I will trade sleep for "Twilight." And as a self-described snooze whore, that’s saying a lot.
Sometimes jokingly referred to as "crack," these books are a breeze to consume even though they have more than 500 pages. However, because of the simple writing style, the fat font and the easy-to-follow story line, they are about as challenging to read as the back of a box of Count Chocula.
In fact, last night at the theater, I devoured my box of Sour Patch Kids with the same ravenous ardor that's present when I read these books. Like candy, the "Twilight" books don’t offer much in the way of brain food, but the instant gratification is delicious. Best of all, to my knowledge, they aren’t rotting my teeth.
Arguably, the most fascinating aspect of the series is that they are insanely popular and yet only include minimal amounts of blood and no sex. Lots of both are usually prerequisites for me to dig a vampire flick or novel, but in the "Twilight" series, graphic scenes are replaced with old fashion romance, the memory of first love and tension. So much tension.
We know from televisions series old and new -- as well as our own lives -- that tension keeps a relationship interesting. Meyer is the master of this in her books, and the director was able to make the tension translate to the big screen. The tension between Bella and Edward -- and even the tension between Bella and Jacob -- sucks you in for hours.
As I looked around the sold-out theater last night and saw so many people -- OK, women-- who were my age or older (and yes, some were chaperoning kids, but most were not), I realized that you never outgrow tension. Or simple, well-told love stories. Or hot vampires, apparently.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
