Or - Why splitting Breaking Dawn is a poor choice, except for the part about it making lots of money and that seems to trump everything. (Spoilers included)
I don't really want to be comparing Harry Potter and Twilight in any manner, because a) everyone else does and b) no one really should (please see John Green's excellent video on the subject of Twilight, he has opinions on the series very similar to mine and makes this particular point quite well). However, let me start this off by saying that I am elated that the final Harry Potter film is going to come out in two parts. I have been rewatching the films with a friend who is reading the books for the first time, which has allowed me to remember back to when I first watched each film and my initial reactions with how much they have to cut out of these films, and note what parts really bug me and what does not. For example, I can live without the house elves in 4-6, and I even like where they allow Neville a chance to shine a little where Dobby was missing (providing the gilly weed and finding the room of requirement), as they are good character development substitutes (for the other stuff they cut) and give me hope that when we finally see him in Deathly Hallows part two he is a full fledged badass. Contrarily, I have yet to make it through Prisoner of Azkaban without complaining about the lack of marauder back story. Would it have killed them to add one line from Lupin such as "your Dad, Sirius, Peter, & I made that map"? But I digress. The final book is action-packed and it is necessary to include as much as possible so that the finale makes sense to all viewers and not just those who have read the books. Splitting the film, in lieu of a 5 hour film, makes sense.
So yes, sometimes the desire to make copious amounts of money jives with artistic goals. And I have a lot of faith in the Harry Potter film people - even if there were things that I would have done differently, I believe that they love this series as much as I do (see also David Heyman's recent interview on Mugglecast - how can you not love him?). Other times, splitting a book into two films just seems like a horrible idea that will lead to a painful two film movie. As is the case with Breaking Dawn, which I will see it anyways. And yes, I recognize the latter part of that statement is entirely my fault.
I strongly believe that if Breaking Dawn was kept as one film it has the potential to be the best film in the series (I realize the bar has not been set that high). There is plenty to cut and if you thin it out then you have one action packed, intense film to wrap up this series. There is romance, chaos, and a chess match style non-battle at the end. Instead we get two parts, likely split when (SPOILERS) Jacob imprints on Renesme. So the first half of the film is the wedding, lots of honeymoon sex, and a painful pregnancy with lots of intense arguments. And the second half is vampire Bella not eating people (especially Charlie), wolves not killing the now imprinted upon baby/vampire, the lead up to the Volturi with all the vampire friends visiting, and then the final non-battle. Now that I write that out, the 2nd half doesn't sound so terrible, but the first half? If they were going to go all True Blood on the first that might be interesting in a totally different way, but this series is geared largely at 13 year old girls, so I'm doubtful. It's going to be Anakin and Amidala frolicking in the fields or something out of a Nicholas Sparks book turned film. Stephanie Meyer said that she wrote that middle chunk of the book from Jacob's perspective at least in part because reading Bella's point of view (excruciating pain) or Edward's (misery) would be too depressing. I hope that the film makers are able to get around that for half the movie as well.
Okay, my rant on this is over. I am not surprised at this choice, just disappointed. Unlike the majority of Twilight readers, Breaking Dawn is my favorite. Yes, that is partly because it's just completely ridiculous and that kind of thing tends to "come back around" for me. But I also like it because it's the first time since Bella meets Edward that I actually like her. I feel like she takes some initiative and grows a backbone (at least a little) and becomes a little more of a heroine than she is the rest of the book. She's never going to be Buffy, Sydney, Veronica, or Hermoine, but her second life has a lot more potential than her first. Kind of sad that she had to die to get there, but teenage girls do make strange choices.
Here's hoping I'm wrong. And that they keep in all of Emmett's lines.
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