Pop Culture Curmudgeon

Twilight Mania

Even if I hadn’t read the books and developed a passing interest in seeing the movies, I would find it hard to hide from Twilight mania.

It is compounded because I live in the Portland area, where a good portion of the movie was filmed. When Jennifer Aniston was here, I didn’t even know until the last day when I drove by the filming location. But when the kids were here filming Twilight, it was as if the local media was following their every twitter and tweet. Now that the movie is out, the stations offered those of us lame enough to stay home last night a tour through the filming locations so we can see each and every one as it is used in the movie.

The reviews are decidedly mixed, but I think we all know that it won’t matter to the target audience.

When I was little, I remember my mom going ballistic when Tracy Berry of KEZI gave Song of the South a negative review. “It’s a Disney movie,” she sputtered. As if that somehow forgave the racism inherent. The time when it was made would be a much better argument for overlooking the racism, but I certainly didn’t have the wherewithal to make that sort of argument at the time.

As I’ve gotten older, I have seen blockbuster after blockbuster get negative reviews, yet still positively rake it in at the box office. Certain viewers will see a certain type of movie no matter what the reviewers say. It makes we wonder why we even bother to review them. I mean, really, do any of the critics think their negative reviews will keep anyone who is planning to see Twilight stay home?