When I was of an age we hated?loved the movie Grease the same way. Little girls have no sense.

That this whole vampire, goth, werewolf, ghost thing goes away real soon. I understand that Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the greatest thing since Bible and all, but let's give it a rest.

Bring on the gothic doomed lovers, bring on the werewolves, zombies, magic, angst, fun, humour, fantasy. I love it and you don't have to even like it. It's not a trend and its never gone out of vogue.

But you know what? You don't have to watch, read, or role-play! You can snuggle up with a latte and the Guardian while I read Gormenghast, and I promise not to be all like "gross, your dumb newsy-news makes me want to strike you down with a magical amulet and lock you inside an eternal space chamber tomb from which you can only be awoken by a chosen-one who must first collect a series of dark significators in order to work out the mathematical proof that will reveal the Godess and bring an end to the reign of the Dark Lord!"

I haven’t read the book or seen the movie yet but from what I understand Edward is a vampire who doesn’t actually consume human blood. Knowing a little bit about Stephanie Meyer’s religious background (she’s a devout Mormon) I can’t help but suspect that having a main character that doesn’t succumb to his baser desires is a thinly veiled metaphor for sexual abstinence (one of Mormonism's favorite preoccupations). I’m not sure if others feel the same way but as far as I’m concerned having a vampire that doesn’t sink his teeth into some juicy warm flesh takes all the bite out of the myth.

is a horrible idea. What really upsets me about Twilight is the power imbalance in the sexual expression. (in the book anyway) Edward, when he feels so compelled, can reach over to kiss Bella, but she's not allowed to respond for fear of arousing a deadly passion. (In the book he explains that his unbridled strength would crush her.) Also, in the book, Bella is no longer interested in her friends once she and Edward are attached. Her life becomes all about him. So much so that she wants him to "turn her". Her sense of self and self-preservation is completely subsumed.

Sheesh. What the hell? I thought we'd gotten past this misogynistic portrayal of romance. Give me a fully empowered, meet your power with my power, Buffy or Sookie (from True Blood) any day. I've got all 7 seasons of Buffy for my daughter to watch when she's a teen. I will not be filling her head with any Bella-type crap that should have faded into the twilight long ago.

vampires, fantasy, sci-fi... it all can seem a little boring unless you into the symbolism. With the vampire genre there are a lot of possibilities to mine. What other TV series designed for young adults has ever discussed what it is to have a soul? What it takes to be redeemed? the toll that the power of leadership can have on a person? What made Buffy such a compelling story was that all of these things were explored with humor and great character development.

Now, there's True Blood. Here, again, we get to examine what is healthy sexuality? What makes someone human? (The lead vampire character here doesn't drink blood and he lives with more compassion and integrity than most, still he is adamant that he is not human. But when we find out that the brutal murders at the hands of humans and that the human relationships are not built on the development of bonds and trust, but the one with a vampire is, you are pushed to examine how you judge people. Why do women fall for the bad boys? Writers try to explain it with vampire stories.

It's all just a forum to take things to extremes, and out of the norm, so we can see them in a new light.

on how it's done. I've written above about why I don't like Twilight. And I've mentioned in my second post True Blood (on HBO). In True Blood we have a vampire who does not drink human blood to survive. But he has one very hot relationship. Sex included. You'll have to discover for yourself where that leads...

So, it's all in the construct. In Twilight, she's neutered everything for the sake of a Harlequin Romance-style vampire story. I have no patience for that. But in True Blood, it's more complex. Sexual desire comes in many forms. Sexual predators might drink to kill. And then there are gradations.... Trust me, it's not defanged.

I'm fine with a movie for 8 year old girls to swoon over. I simply don't want to pay ten bucks a head to see it. And there are better movies I'd bring my duaghter to than this dreck. Were it on disney, or if my Daughter were a Mormon, (I agree with Allison, above, that this is thinly veiled Mormon moral compass with lace curtains to dispell the truth of where it comes from). for anyone above the age of 10 or 12, (My Mom took me to see MASH, the movie when I was 8 and I survived just fine, even if some of the humour went over my head), True Blood is the real exploration, not just of adult issues like sexuality, which believe me, any internet saavy kid has seen or read about plenty of sexual issues by the age of 12, but of the human issues also mentioned above. Adolescence and the twenties are the times in life we ARE exploring who we are as human beings, what type of person we wish to be, wherein our moral compass points, etc.

I think True Blood does a better job than this movie of both asking the deeper questions and giving a form of pure entertainment for most ages above Disney viewing, than the movie reviewed above. And there is nothing i loathe more than prosyletizing or laying your morals at my feet in the form of supposed entertainment. I assure you, the kids were laughing more AT the character than laughing in enbarrassment as suggested in the review. I hear these kids of today's conversations. They are ever more astute at comprehending what is going on around them, sadly, in many ways, than were the little girls I knew as a kid.