Twilight 2: New Moon

[Tripe]

Oh that reminds me Lucas, I find cognitive processes fascinating (that was my favourite section of my psychology A Level). You said that talking books are harder for you to concentrate on than the book itself. How do you do with dramatizations of books or audio dramas in general?

[LucasM]

Oh that reminds me Lucas, I find cognitive processes fascinating (that was my favourite section of my psychology A Level). You said that talking books are harder for you to concentrate on than the book itself. How do you do with dramatizations of books or audio dramas in general?

Since the answer to this had little to do with Twilight: New Moon (other than explaining why I couldn't read it or listen to it on tape), I moved it here: http://forum.rifftrax.com/index.php/topic,12482.msg500035.html#msg500035  if anyone's interested in reading the response to this question.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

But yeah. I think real writers probably really, really, really hate it when things like this happen.

Yes, we do.

I'll confirm that too.  And like Tyrant said, not because of jealousy, but because of the effort we put in.  But also - for me - because it reduces the standards that people subsequently require in their reading, and well-crafted writing will (further) fall by the wayside.  If anyone can slap some shit on a piece of paper (referring to word use, not content, here) and people will pay for it, there will be more of that 'writing'... and actual, good writing will get lost: as diamonds in the garbage.

I am currently writing a short novel for roughly the same target age group.  [Very different content.]  I have such regard for the English language, that I spend a fair amount of time writing and editing even e-mails I send, and posts I put up online (like this: I've run through this 4-5 times editing so that it hopefully expresses exactly what I intended, and does so smoothly).  That's for a couple reasons.  One, is head-injury related (I need to make sure that what I think I'm saying is what actually ends up onscreen), but the other is because it allows me even a few sentences/paragraphs more 'practice' writing so that what I write - that I hope one day to get paid for - is the best it can be, and is the most evocative it can be.


Oh... and . . .

Yeah I have a friend who is very clever and cool and still likes them.

If I didn't find her so very cute and cool and generally awesome* I'd rib her a lot more about it but she also knows they're utter crap.

*I tend to lose some of my eloquence when I think about her, she is that cool.  

"TripeHoundRedux has a girlfriend... TripeHoundRedux has a girlfriend... " 

But seriously.  Yeah, the cool things about the friend I have 'outweighs' anything negative I could think about that could possibly be there with the books.  I'm sure there are things that I like that she (and others) would find questionable, too.

Oh, well.  It happens.


Of course, by all that, I think we are 'proving the point' of what we all are finding distressing with the reports about 'Twihards' and the 'anti-'s.  We are thinking rationally about this.  They aren't.  But there is a very good reason for that.

Dr. Daniel Amen is a well-respected Psychiatrist who uses cutting-edge brain imaging to see into the way the mind works  http://www.amenclinics.com/.  He found that teenagers brains are actually hyperactive and hyperreactive in areas related to emotion, so they react in extremes (any parents of teens reading that see something familiar?) and they often cannot control their responses because - effectively - their brain won't let them.  So when they get 'overinvolved' emotionally with something like Twilight (or anything else, it's not vampire-love specific  ) their ability to determine what is a 'reasonable' response disappears.

[It also makes it so that their ability to determine what is 'reasonable' writing also disappears...    ...because they are too caught up in the emotion from the content to notice it.]

Yes, and that totally explains why the 30-40 year old women "teenagers" are big fans.

Stop pulling that shit. Everyone likes to oggle teen brains to explain their "abnormality." I think it's dehumanizing and grotesque. Give me a brain scanner and a few hours and I'll find ways to point out how irrational you are. 

[LucasM]

Of course, by all that, I think we are 'proving the point' of what we all are finding distressing with the reports about 'Twihards' and the 'anti-'s.  We are thinking rationally about this.  They aren't.  But there is a very good reason for that.

Dr. Daniel Amen is a well-respected Psychiatrist who uses cutting-edge brain imaging to see into the way the mind works  http://www.amenclinics.com/.  He found that teenagers brains are actually hyperactive and hyperreactive in areas related to emotion, so they react in extremes (any parents of teens reading that see something familiar?) and they often cannot control their responses because - effectively - their brain won't let them.  So when they get 'overinvolved' emotionally with something like Twilight (or anything else, it's not vampire-love specific  ) their ability to determine what is a 'reasonable' response disappears.

[It also makes it so that their ability to determine what is 'reasonable' writing also disappears...    ...because they are too caught up in the emotion from the content to notice it.]

Yes, and that totally explains why the 30-40 year old women "teenagers" are big fans.

Stop pulling that shit. Everyone likes to oggle teen brains to explain their "abnormality." I think it's dehumanizing and grotesque. Give me a brain scanner and a few hours and I'll find ways to point out how irrational you are. 

Wow... you seem to have some issues, and quite possibly totally misread/misunderstood what I was writing (possibly because of those issues?  I don't know).

You also don't seem to understand how brains develop over time.  They change dramatically from about age nine to about age 20 (much like the rest of the body... or don't you believe there are differences happening there, either, during those years?)  And no, brain scanner reading can't be 'faked' by people (including you): the areas related to different brain functions 'light up' in different ways, at different times, depending on what people are doing.  It is actually rather straightforward.  And some of the different parts of the brain have been known to govern different types of activities (such as language, self-control, and strong emotion) for over 100 years.

And just because a pattern of brain function shows up for an age group doesn't mean they are 'abnormal', that was your word for it, it was not mine.  It just means that's the way they function in that developmental stage.  And, simply, teen brains are not as good at modulating strong emotion... or haven't you ever seen or heard of a teenager crying or becoming enraged at its parents or friends for what seems to everyone else a minor event?

And I didn't write anything about brain function and the quality of the content of the books.  I wrote nothing at all about the storylines in that post.  So there was nothing in my post which could have related to adult fans, which was what you immediately jumped into.  My final comment about "reasonable writing" was partly facetious (hence the winking smiley), but it was about the way the words were strung together... it had nothing to do with the plots or characters.  The adult readers I've heard from (and about) on this board generally acknowledge poor composition or sentence structure in the books.  As far as content?  People like what they like, adults or children.  I honestly don't give a shit either way what people like, unless they hurt someone else from their preferences...

Which brings me to the point I was making: the thing that "we all are finding distressing with the reports about 'Twihards' and the 'anti-'s" that was what I referred to in the post you took issue with, is the violence and suicidal statements (possibly actions) that has been under discussion for the last page or two of this thread.  That is what I was talking about: that these books (like thousands of other things before them) are being 'over-reacted to', and apparently some of that over-reaction is turning violent.

Why?

Because teenagers can't modulate strong emotions.  That part of their brains hasn't developed yet.  It won't finish developing, according to research, until about age 25.  That - not at all coincidentally - is why auto insurance rates go down dramatically at age 25: auto company actuarial research demonstrates that that age group can't modulate its actions well enough to avoid situations that are dangerous until about age 25.  Insurance companies aren't trying to 'pathologize' teens, they simply see, through decades of keeping track, that generally people prior to age 25 get in more accidents.  Brain science just finally figured out 'why'.


In the future you might do well to find out what someone is actually saying, or learn about what they are discussing, before jumping all over them.  It is less than civil, and makes you look bad, or at least, impulsive.

[Tripe]

Or am I misinterpreting what you were asking?

No, that was pretty much it; I wondered if there was a noticeable difference between listening to a single voice reading a text and multiple voices plus sound effects and the like (which makes it a bit more like a movie without picture, I'm at school for sound design so I'm interested from that perspective too).

Interesting stuff.

[ThatGirlWithTheFreckles]

Yes, and that totally explains why the 30-40 year old women "teenagers" are big fans.

Stop pulling that shit. Everyone likes to oggle teen brains to explain their "abnormality." I think it's dehumanizing and grotesque. Give me a brain scanner and a few hours and I'll find ways to point out how irrational you are. 

Wow.  Getting that worked up about people liking Twilight is just about as sad as people getting worked into a frenzy over liking it. 

Also, anyone who denies that teenage brains are "abnormal"  and overly emotional obviously doesn't remember being one, or hasn't been around one recently.

[RobtheBarbarian]

Also, anyone who denies that teenage brains are "abnormal"  and overly emotional obviously doesn't remember being one, or hasn't been around one in recently.

Oh lord. Linkin Park exists because that is true.

[LucasM]

Or am I misinterpreting what you were asking?

No, that was pretty much it; I wondered if there was a noticeable difference between listening to a single voice reading a text and multiple voices plus sound effects and the like (which makes it a bit more like a movie without picture, I'm at school for sound design so I'm interested from that perspective too).

Interesting stuff.

Thanks.  I suspect we are the only ones here who think so.  So I moved my response here, where its more appropriate: http://forum.rifftrax.com/index.php/topic,12482.msg500354.html#msg500354

[ThatGirlWithTheFreckles]

Speaking of Beauty and the Beast and Twilight:

[Cosmic Muse]

Speaking of Beauty and the Beast and Twilight:

I think Gaston would be saying that about any book.

[ThatGirlWithTheFreckles]

Speaking of Beauty and the Beast and Twilight:

I think Gaston would be saying that about any book.

Very true.   

[Ayriana22]

This little diddy we found pretty much sums up our view of the Twilight phenomenon.

Been away for a little while, but I just wanted to say that this as well as the movie review done a few pages back, is freaking BRILLIANT!  LOVE IT!!
Haven't subjected myself to New Moon yet, I'm still getting over the trauma induced by the last one. We shall see though.

[Ayriana22]

I'm gonna end this argument once and for all.


Ladies and Gentlemen, "The Vamp"

http://tantusinc.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TD&Product_Code=VAMP

This is f***ing hilarious!!!!

[iv3rdawG]

According to Summit Entertainment's Twitter page, the studio has officially set March 20 as the release date for 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon'. The second movie in this vampire franchise was panned by critics but was a huge box office hit, grossing nearly $100 million more than 'Twilight'. This will be a two-disc special edition.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=4046

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

According to Summit Entertainment's Twitter page, the studio has officially set March 20 as the release date for 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon'. The second movie in this vampire franchise was panned by critics but was a huge box office hit, grossing nearly $100 million more than 'Twilight'. This will be a two-disc special edition.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=4046

Yeah, I looked at that release date when I was making up my "50 Top Rifftrax Request List"...if it was being released soon enough for the rules of the list.

But this one is a given, so I left it off.