I've just finished this novella, based off a seemingly trivial character from Eclipse, but who apparently stuck with Stephenie Meyer a bit as she indulged the character and gave her her own story. It was an enjoyable romp through the periphery development of characters that contribute to the central work, and I'll be curious to see what influences seep into the film for Eclipse.
For example, with the creation of the newborn army- we now have a bigger frame of reference for them: what their 'bases' look like, how they think, how they were 'raised' and treated before marching on the Cullens, and where we as the readers probably originally just viewed them as the enemy because they wanted to destroy the heroine Bella, we now have some sympathy and understanding of their situation and how it isn't as clearly evil as we perceived. Bree hiding behind a vamp with the power to nauseate people, vampires killing each other every day, and the flippant discussion of who to murder for lunch and what the hot blood rushing down their throats was like...
It's interesting how nothing could have persuaded us to look at the army as anything but villains unless Stephenie Meyer deemed it so, you know? If David Slade showed the newborns as victims he's probably be thrown to the wolves (pardon the pun), but as Meyer did it, it's perfectly acceptable; it's her universe- she can do as she pleases!
As a side note, the latest Eclipse TV spot was also just released, which heavily features Riley as the villain; there isn't even a mention of Victoria. Riley gets the focus as the threat, and this is surprising if you haven't read TSSLoBT (lordy that's a lot of letters) as he is certainly secondary to the terrifying Victoria. In Eclipse, she is the horror-striking, stalking, lurking threat, and Riley is her minion who she has manipulated into doing her will.
However, in TSSLoBT, Riley is the ringleader. He's the guy in charge, and in the new TV spot, it sure portrays him as such... I can't help but wonder if the filmmakers found a male threat more terrifying and stronger than a female threat, and so is making him a focal villain. We shall see, I suppose.
So that's all for now, just a tidbit of a thought. Big things happening on this end; I just spent last week working on the set of 'Love at First Sight' in London. It's a beautiful little short starring John Hurt (Mr. Ollivander) and Phyllida Law, and I will definitely be blogging about that if I get the all-clear from the producer to do so. I'm also starting work with a production company here producing some shorts with them and learning the processes more thoroughly, we've had some very good news regarding the anthology I'm publishing with Natalie Wilson, and I've just bought my tickets back to the States for the summer. I'm looking forward to that!
So once again, more soon! Eclipse thoughts, discussion of filming and processes, what it's like to go through editing an anthology perhaps... lots of irons in the fire, but it's keeping me happy. I also finally have the layout of my PhD thesis that I'm happy with, and a title! The Remediation and Adaptation of the Event Film Twilight: The Filmmakers, the Fandom, and the Phenomenon.
Now I just have to keep writing it!
