The School Newspaper of Vista Ridge High School

The Word

The School Newspaper of Vista Ridge High School

The Word

The School Newspaper of Vista Ridge High School

The Word

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Vampires, Werewolves, “Twilight,” Oh My!

The bedside lamp is low. Heat softly radiates from the light as her fingers faintly slide across the torn, crumpled pages. Biting her lip, sophomore Lindsay Tarrant, wonders where to begin this time. She decides on starting at the beginning as she relents to every time, and finds herself once again in the world of “Twilight.”

“Twilight.” With over 70 million books sold worldwide, 143 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List, a movie grossing over $380 million at the box office and a sequel grossing almost $571 million worldwide, this series single-handedly grasped the hearts of billions worldwide. Published in 2005, author Stephenie Meyer, was declined eight or nine times before her book was picked up and really noticed.

 “[I love] the whole thing about how the vampire -the antihero- goes against his nature and falls in love with a human,” Tarrant said.

Well before “Twilight” became popular, Tarrant read the book in 2006, starting her own obsession and losing count after 34 times.

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Teenagers across the world are literally obsessed with this phenomenon. It is uniting the teen population around the globe with one book, which in itself, is a miracle of its own.

Though, some have not joined the throngs of fanpires.

 “I read the first half of the book. The prose was turgid and purple. It detracted from the plot, which was pitiful in its own way,” junior Ben Manry said.

However, many boys, though not wanting to admit it, have read the series and really enjoyed it.

 “Most [people] were disgusted [that I read the book] because I’m a guy, and they assume it’s just a love story,” junior Kyle Violetto said. “It’s not [bad] if a guy reads them. It centers around love, but guys can read it because there’s lots of fighting, a lot of action.”

Many English teachers have found that these novels are inspiring students, even those who rarely pick up a book, to read.

 “I like that it has encouraged so many people to read and gained the interest of readers,” English teacher Penny Billingsley said.

Some think the “Twilight” world is taking things a little too far.

“I don’t think that it is the obsessing that’s getting out of hand. People obsessed over Harry Potter and ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ but the fact [is] they are obsessing over something so bad…,” Manry said.

Others are finding just one family of vampires isn’t enough for them as they go searching for more books.

 “After ‘Twilight, I read ‘Moonlight’, a series about werewolves and I liked it because it was interesting to see the werewolves’ side. I also read ‘House of Night’ which was about vampires and it was very suspenseful and romantic,” Tarrant said.

“Twilight to those, though, sometimes horribly plotted to some, has the best morals and values to others.

 “Even though vampires have always had a negative thing about them, there is another group that can separate them from the bad,” Billingsley said. “Much like life today.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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    Belia HadcockOct 19, 2010 at 2:17 pm

    clearly among the greatest films out there. Twilight rocks.

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