twilight movie vs book essay

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BOOK VERSUS FILM: Twilight – Which Version Is Best?

Twilight in the garden of good and evil.

Is there any franchise as harshly and consistently maligned as Twilight ? Fifteen years on from the first book, protagonist Bella is still lambasted as ‘lame’ and a  ‘poor role model ‘, whereas the Cullens are  ‘stupid sparkly vampires’ . In addition, various other interpretations insist Twilight is an advertisement for the Mormon faith.

But however you fall on these issues, there’s no doubt about it: Twilight is here to stay. Love it or loathe it, the notion of a human falling in love with a vampire is an iconic story. At its foundation, it’s a modern tale of star-crossed lovers akin to Romeo and Juliet, a pre-sold concept every high school student is familiar with … No wonder it was so popular amongst teenage girls!

With Halloween around the corner, I thought I would revisit Twilight as my first ‘Book Versus Film’ article in many months. As it’s 2020, I thought I’d check out not only the first book in the series and its movie adaptation, but also Midnight Sun , the re-telling of the original from Edward’s POV. Ready? Then let’s go …

The Book – Twilight

It is soon revealed Edward is a vampire whose family does not drink human blood. Bella is not frightened by this, but fascinated. Head over heels for him, she enters into a dangerous romance with her immortal soulmate who it appears will do anything for her, even kill.

I first read Twilight back in 2005 when it came out. Meyer also makes some additions to the vampire myth that whilst not always successful – like the aforementioned ‘sparkling’ – feel original. I LOVED the idea vampires have ‘venom’ like snakes. I also loved the contrary ideas that they’re super-strong and yet their limbs break off like tree branches, but can be stuck back on just as easily! There’s also some suggestion that, not needing to breathe, vampires can swim forever or even walk along the bottom of the ocean to other countries when travelling.

Like many feminists, I was a bit creeped out by some aspects of the story, especially Edward’s habit of coming into Bella’s room uninvited to watch her sleep. He also seemed capricious a lot of the time, his moods turning on a dime. This rarely seems to bother Bella though (an important distinction). She also manages to hold her own with him and doesn’t take any crap from him, or his family. I was especially amused by her irritation with Emmett’s grudging acceptance of her plan to escape James!

Like many other readers I found Bella and Edward’s relationship very compelling and dare I say it – considering Edward is a vampire! – realistic. The mutual obsession teen couples go through is deftly illustrated in the first book; they fall for each other hard and cannot imagine ever being with someone else. There’s also an angsty element to the book that again is supremely authentic: teenagers feel everything so deeply and that’s woven expertly here.

Edward and Bella’s love is in jeopardy from the offset, of course. Since the Cullens are living in plain sight (Carlisle is even a doctor at the local hospital), Bella is a threat in that she can expose the family at any time. However we don’t find that much out about Edward’s adoptive vampire ‘parents’ Carlisle and Esmee in the first book, plus moments in which his ‘sisters’ Alice and Rosalie and his ‘brothers’ Jasper and Emmett appear are all too fleeting. That said, every time they appear they feel like a ‘real’ family, with the psychic Alice and her beloved Jasper the real stand-outs for me. I also loved the notion that vampires can only play baseball during thunderstorms because otherwise they’re so strong, humans can hear the CRACK of the bats against the ball for miles.

So the Cullens are established as mostly friendly and helpful and not much of a threat to Bella. That said, Meyer repeats far too much that Edward ‘could’ kill Bella if ‘he loses control’ in my option. Even so, Edward feels like a complex character with plenty under the surface. His backstory is compelling, with us finding out he’s actually over one hundred years old, having been near death in the 1918 influenza pandemic. Carlisle was a doctor on that ward and seeing the young teenager with no one left, ‘resurrected’ Edward as a vampire. Whilst some feminists say this makes Edward a kind of paedophile being so much older than Bella, Meyer goes to pains to remind us Edward is a virgin and was never interested in sex or even romance until he met Bella.

In contrast, it’s hard to understand from Twilight what Edward really sees in Bella. She spends what feels like an inordinate amount of time cooking and cleaning, whereas Edward doesn’t eat regular food and appears to have zero interest in household matters so presumably doesn’t look for that skill in a life partner! Bella seems quite mature for her age – admittedly a plus when you’re a 107 year old virgin looking for love – plus she’s quite open-minded (also handy if your boyfriend is a vampire!). Beyond that, it’s hard to see what’s so special about her in the first book.

So whilst most of the characters, thematics and worldbuilding of the piece are  layered and nuanced, plot-wise it feels much more of a slap-dash affair. Though I enjoyed the ‘will they/won’t they’ aspect, it got old fast. What’s more, the ending with the vampire threat of James, Laurent and Victoria seems to come out of the left field and far too late, almost right at the end of the book.Hearing the Cullens playing baseball, antagonist vampires James, Laurent and Victoria run to the clearing and ask to play as well … Only to discover the Cullens have a ‘pet human’ (Bella), whom they want to eat.

Edward and the others are forced to act and face down the new vampire trio and protect Bella, before going on the run. Edward, Carlisle and Rosalie take James on a wild goose chase through the forest, whilst Alice and Jasper take Bella to Arizona. James does not fall for this trick and tracks Bella to Arizona, where he attacks her. When Bella is bitten by James, Edward must save his love by sucking out the venom without killing her. Of course he manages to stop before draining Bella dry, proving he is not the ‘monster’ he thinks he is and showing Bella is right to trust him.

Twilight – The Film

As an adaptation, Twilight is epically faithful to the source material. Unusually, a female duo take control of the movie, but this makes sense when the army of Twilight fans are predominantly female too. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke and written by Melissa Rosenberg (who’d previously been co-executive producer on teen favourite The O.C) , the story is in expert hands.

So it should surprise no one that Twilight took a big fat vampire-sized bite of box office revenue when it came out in 2008. The first movie grossed $37m on its opening day and accounted for $400m of the total $3.3bn for the whole franchise. It’s the smallest takings of the bunch but very respectable for a 2008 world that hadn’t seen multiple billion dollar earners courtesy of the likes of Marvel yet.

What was surprising that for a teen movie, a good chunk of its reviews were respectable too. Though many critics could not resist bashing the movie, even those who didn’t like it were forced to give grudging kudos …

“The two hormonal teenagers sizzle like sausages in a frying pan. The supernatural stunts don’t disappoint. Neither does the deadpan wit.” (The Times) “Some will find it all too polite, but compared to rival blockbuster exercises in explosive CGI mayhem, its character-based index of longing and protectiveness at least provides a viable alternative moodscape.” (Time Out) “Ten years after its release, Twilight stands as a powerful, darkly stylish depiction of teen female desire.” (Refinery29)

The aesthetic is gorgeous, with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson born to play these roles. Everyone looks effortless sexy with amazing styling; the movie it feels like an early 90s music video for most of it.

Whilst it’s Bella and Edward’s story, the female characters dominate the frame over their male counterparts, even lesser characters like Jessica (Anna Kendrick). There’s also a considerable amount of diversity in contrast to the book, with many secondary and peripheral characters cast as black and asian actors. The rainy, dark town of Forks brought to life as surely as if it had stepped straight out of the novel.

Also in contrast to the book which was *all* from Bella’s perspective, we see more of Edward’s POV generally. Occasionally he branches off without Bella, usually to give us more of a sense of his family, especially Carlisle, Alice and his brothers. This is a welcome change, since I felt it was frustrating to see so little of them in the first book. It also introduces more chance for action: we are left in no doubt that Edward has super-human strength when he stops the truck from crushing Bella. We also see the others doing incredible things too, such as James running at super-human speed after Edward and Bella in their own vehicle, or Emmett jumping through the trees and landing in the truck’s flatbed behind them as they escape.

The big change in the movie is to the antagonist function of James, Laurent and Victoria. Rather than have them simply ‘turn up’ out of nowhere for the baseball game towards the end, the movie seeds the trio’s dark presence from around the end of Act 1, getting nearer and nearer to Forks. On their way, they attack and kill a number of Forks residents. Since Bella’s father Charlie is police chief for the town, this ties his character ‘in’ to the story in a much more authentic way too, as in the book he kind of ‘floats around’ the periphery of the story. It also adds to the Quileute Nation’s worry about ‘The Cold Ones’, especially from the POV of Jacob. He is somewhat under-used in the first book and more of an ‘Expositional Jo’ character, there simply to tell Bella the history of the Cullens and the tribe.

Twilight – ‘Midnight Sun’ 

A long-anticipated re-telling of Twilight , Stephanie Meyer’s Midnight Sun has been in development so long that apparently Robert Pattinson used her unpublished manuscript to inform his character work in the movies twelve years ago. Published at long last in August 2020, it sold one million copies in just ten weeks.  Though critics were largely unimpressed , the ‘Twihards’ lapped it up.

What drew me to Midnight Sun first and foremost was Edward had always been my favourite character in the Twilight saga. I always wondered what he saw in Bella and felt this retelling might answer that.

I was rewarded with exactly this, but even more: Meyer seeks to put the record straight about Bella and the notion she and Edward are in an ‘abusive’ relationship. Meyer seems to assert that no, Edward is NOT a ‘stalker’, but instead a vampire guardian angel for Bella. She appears to say that Bella is NOT lame, but misunderstood, a girl kind of ‘outside of her time’. Meyer even seems to paint Bella as having some kind of death wish because she thinks of others before herself. Whilst I was not entirely convinced by much of this, I found Bella via Edward’s eyes hugely more compelling, so mission accomplished Stephenie Meyer!

What’s more, Meyer attempts to clear up the whole ‘sparkly vampire’ thing like she does in the 2010 Bree Tanner novella. It’s more convincing here in Midnight Sun , where we see Edward worry about Bella seeing the ‘real him’ and remembering his shock when he saw Carlisle in the sun for the first time. There’s also some suggestion the sparkles look like flames to humans which would have been much cooler than what depicted in the movie, though ultimately I couldn’t get that sparkling image of Robert Pattinson out my head.

We also see lots more of not only the Cullens in Midnight Sun , but also more details of how their gifts work. Edward’s ‘mind reading’ is great and answers lots of questions I had about how he doesn’t seem able to read Bella’s (he can’t!). There’s also some suggestion Bella gets this from Charlie, whose thoughts Edward can’t read either. Alice’s ability to see the future is painted much more vividly too, whilst Jasper’s ability to influence the moods of others around him is brought to the fore here with great effect, especially at the baseball game with James and the others.

At a whopping 756 pages Midnight Sun is far, far too long given we have the first four books, the Bree Tanner novella AND five movies to draw from already. I feel like Meyer could have cut 200-250 pages easily. There’s far too much repetition (‘ I’m the villain of the story ‘) and general rumination of how great Bella smells which makes her seem like a piece of meat or a freshly baked cake. No doubt humans are food to vampires, but it felt overcooked (arf).

As in the first book, the final showdown with James, Laurent and Victoria is very sudden but again my favourite part. There’s a stronger sense of jeopardy in Midnight Sun than Twilight in my opinion. We are also with Carlisle and Edward every step of the way when they draw James away from Bella through the forest, which is a very welcome addition too.

This is such a tough one to call as all three versions of this story have their own charms as far as I am concerned! I really enjoyed the pre-sold, original take on the romance concept and angsty authenticity of the first Twilight book … But then I MUCH preferred the addition of the antagonists’ arc and murder spree on their way into Forks in the movie. Edward has always been my favourite character in this saga which draws me to Midnight Sun , but I also feel like it’s far too long as well.

So there’s a whisker between them … But ultimately, being a plotting junkie and because I love the aesthetic so much, I think the movie just grabs the victory!

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The Twilight Books Vs. The Movies: 15 Major Differences From Stephenie Meyer's Novels And The Films

And so the lion fell in love with the lamb...

There are two breeds of Twilight fans, and no, I’m not talking about Team Edward vs. Team Jacob. You either fell in love with Stephenie Meyer ’s novels first or found the series through the movies starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson . No matter the avenue in which you found your way to Edward and Bella, it probably changed the way you look at the franchise in one way or another. So, why don’t we compare notes and talk about the major differences between the Twilight movies and the bestselling books they are based on?

The last of Stephenie Meyer’s four-part saga was released just a few months before Twilight hit the big screen and became a cultural phenomenon back in 2008. As the Hollywood movies found their massive audience, the Twilight saga continued to become bigger with each new installment. And nearly a decade after the ending of the franchise , we’re still talking about what Twilight 's main stars are doing now , rewatching the films on spare weekends and reading more Twilight such as with   the release of 2020’s Midnight Sun . Let’s talk about how the source material and movie adaptations are different:

How Bella Tells Edward She Knows He’s A Vampire

One especially iconic scene in the first Twilight movie is when Edward and Bella stand in the forest together as Bella Swan puts two and two together concerning her crush’s true identity. Edward Cullen famously belts out “Say it out loud!” as she stands in front of him and responds with “vampire!” Sure, that’s cinematic and all, but it did not happen that way in the Twilight book.

Originally, Bella tells Edward her findings about him while she is in his car on the way back to Forks from Port Angeles. The revelation occurs after Edward comes to her rescue to pull her off the group of strangers who crowd her in the city, and were apparently thinking some uncouth thoughts about Bella. When it comes to this difference, I think fans appreciate seeing two distinct versions of Edward and Bella’s big turning point.

Bella And Charlie Were Not Diner Regulars In The Books

Bella Swan’s relationship with her father Charlie is a complex and interesting one in both the books and movies, but when it was adapted to screen, one key change was made to their dynamic. In Meyer’s books, Bella and Charlie don’t spend much of their time in a diner downing berry cobbler as the movies portray.

In the books, Bella is something of a cook and she makes the meals at home for Charlie. This may seem like a minor thing but the Twilight movies would not have been the same if Kristen Stewart’s character was always in the kitchen serving her dad another recipe. It shows a different vision for the teen that Meyer had, which was certainly more traditional.

There Was No ‘Cullen Crest’ In The Twilight Books

Starting in the first Twilight movie, it’s established that the Cullen family wear their own Cullen Crest around their necks. The symbol involves a roaring lion standing over three clovers and an open hand above its head. In the movies, the Cullens are often seen sporting the Cullen Crest, but it’s a completely new concept created for the movies.

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My guess is the Cullen Crest was created by the costume department to create some uniform to the vampire family’s looks and their loyalty to each other. And honestly, it was also likely added to sell movie-themed merchandise as well.

The Book Cover In Twilight Is Not Directly Referenced In The Original Text

As you may recall from the first Twilight movie, there’s a scene early on when Bella drops an apple in the cafeteria and Edward bounces it off his foot and into his hands exactly how the picture on the front of the original book cover looks. It’s a clever reference to the cover, but it does not reflect a scene in the novel. 

When it comes to the reason behind Stephenie Meyer having two hands holding an apple on the cover of the bestseller in the first place, it is more symbolic. Per the author’s website , the apple represents the “forbidden fruit” from Genesis because she loved the phrase “the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.” As Meyer explained, that phrase is exactly what Bella ends up with Edward. She also said she finds the cover’s apple to represent “choice.” 

The ‘Spider Monkey’ Movie Line Was Picked Last Minute

There’s a lot of quotes from the Twilight movies that are surprisingly funny , but the one that takes the cake the most is when Edward said “You better hold on tight, spider monkey” before taking Bella on a gorgeous jaunt through the skies of Forks. No, this was not part of the book. 

As Catherine Hardwicke told MTV back in 2009, one night while they were shooting the movie she realized Edward and Bella needed a line whilst climbing that tree so it wasn’t simply another scene of them “looking into each other’s eyes.” Hardwicke wrote down a list of options for the actors to pick from, and Pattinson decided upon the spider monkey one. Honestly, that’s way better than some of the options like “prepare for liftoff” or “you’re not scared of heights, are you?” 

Victoria Only Shows Up To Bella’s Prom In The Movie

At the end of the first Twilight movie, fans got a fun tease for the second movie when Victoria is seen watching Edward and Bella while they are at prom. At the time, the couple thinks danger is pretty much behind them, but Victoria’s secret appearance at the high school event helps signal more trouble on the way after Victoria’s lover James was killed by the Cullen Clan. 

While the scene is actually a really great way to set up New Moon , it was not canon in the first book. Victoria does not show up to the prom, however you could argue that she might have since it is told from Bella’s point of view. 

How Edward Proposes To Bella Differs 

And New Moon ends with its own great cliffhanger when Edward finally agrees to turn Bella into a vampire only if she will marry him!! The scene is preceded by a more formal proposal from Edward in Eclipse when they are talking in their bedroom about waiting for marriage before having sex. In the movie sequence, Edward offers Bella his mother’s ring and tells her he promises to love her “every moment, forever.” 

In the books however, Edward proposes to Bella for the first time at the end of New Moon after the Cullens vote on her becoming a vampire as a unit. When he does so, Bella actually thinks Edward is joking about it at first. 

Jacob Black Is A Lot Taller In The Books

In the The Twilight Saga: New Moon , Taylor Lautner comes in with his glowing tan that won the hearts of Team Jacob fans after he’s introduced in the original movie as the unassuming boy next door. In the books, Jacob Black is described a bit differently than Lautner’s portrayal. The actor is 5’10, standing five inches taller than Kristen Stewart’s Bella and a few inches shorter than Robert Pattinson’s Edward. In the books however, Jacob is much taller. Much… much taller . 

In fact, he’s the tallest character in the Twilight series, standing at about 6’7. If the movies had stayed true to the source material, it would have been a very different view when scenes of the werewolf are shown, especially between the first and second movie, since that is when he has a nearly foot growth spurt. Perhaps when Lautner was considered to be recast , height was a factor! 

Bella’s Friends Are Barely Around In The Movies

Now, Bella Swan isn’t exactly the best role model for how one should balance their high school life. Girlie spends so much time with her boyfriend, she’s ready to die for him. But the movies make her seem more like a loner type than she was actually written as by Stephenie Meyer. In both the books and movies, Bella is seen on multiple occasions with a friend group consisting of Jessica, Angela, Mike and Eric and while she does share some scenes with them throughout the movies, she mostly avoids spending time with them.

Bella’s human friends are more important to the books and overall storyline. Although Edward is still at the top of her mind, she does have some interesting arcs with each of these characters that the movie chooses to gloss over. But to be fair, there’s a lot of storylines the movies had to juggle and cutting the human characters’ screen time certainly makes sense.

We Never Get To See Alice Cullen’s Backstory In The Movies

Throughout the four Twilight books, fans are introduced to a lot of lore regarding the Cullen family, including how each member of the family came to become a vampire and then “vegetarian” after meeting its founder Carlisle Cullen. In The Twilight Saga: Eclipse , the movies even go into a number of flashback sequences most memorably through scenes featuring Rosalie Cullen and Jasper Cullen, but the movies fail to go into depth about Alice Cullen.

Alice is one of the most important vampires in the entire Twilight series and she was pretty short-changed by the movies failing to take time to get through her origins, romance with Jasper and how her precognitive ability really works . If only the Twilight Saga could have been a TV show !

In The Books, Bella Makes Some College Plans

Another issue book fans may find with the movies is how the Twilight Saga films decide to cut out a subplot involving Bella Swan making plans to attend college. In the books, Edward Cullen is very supportive of his human girlfriend attending university and Eclipse starts with Bella getting accepted into the University of Alaska and Edward additionally encouraging her to apply for Ivy League school Dartmouth, which he got into.

And in the book for Breaking Dawn , Bella decides to attend the university for a year after getting married (despite thinking it's a little pointless) and remain human, that is until she gets pregnant with Renesmee and she has to be turned into a vampire prematurely.

There’s More To Edward Cullen’s Early Vampire Years

Although the initial saga in both the books and movies are told from Bella Swan’s perspective, Edward Cullen is still a huge character to the series and as far as the movies go, there’s just not enough of his backstory and character development told that fans read in the books. For example, the movies do a bit of glossing over in regards to Cullen’s early days as a vampire.

Edward Cullen had a rebellious period in the ‘20s where he became somewhat of a vigilante and used his mind reading to take down the worst people around. The movie for Eclipse does bring this to the viewer’s attention, but there’s a lot more to his early days before Bella that informs his character that we just don’t get to see play out in the movies. Again, this was likely left out due to time constraints.

Changes Were Made To The Vampire Covens

Later in the Twilight movies, the movie franchise explores the myriad of vampire covens from all over the world who end up being part of the larger storyline. In the books the covens that are mentioned are the Denalis, Amazons, Romanians, Irish and Egyptians, in addition to the Cullen’s Olympic coven. 

In the movies, the filmmakers decided to also add a French coven and a nomadic Japanese vampire named Toshiro. Some of the specific vampire characters from the international covens in the books also are not in the movies. 

Jacob Imprinting On Renesmee Isn’t As Creepy In the Books

When Breaking Dawn Part 2 came out, there was a ton of backlash regarding Jacob Black imprinting on Bella’s daughter Renesmee and rightfully so! The movies do not explain the whole “imprinting” situation with care.

To book fans, it made more sense because the books had spent time developing what it means to imprint on someone over time in a way that was more sweet and endearing to the books concluding than anything else. But to fans who were not given that explanation, Jacob seeing a long life with Renesmee starting with her as a baby just came off weird. It’s an odd concept to begin with, and it just didn’t translate well on the big screen. Not to mention the decision to make that strange CGI baby.

The Breaking Dawn Finale Battle Was Added To Part 2

Lastly, although there’s definitely more major differences, the most noticeable change between the books and movies comes in the final act of it all. In The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 there was a massive sequence added to the last movie that is not even in the corresponding book.

The battle scene shocked fans because the battle we see in the movie doesn't even happen in Stephenie Meyer's novel. We think all these horrible things are actually happening and then we learn that it’s one of Alice’s most horrible visions. While it was underwhelming for many and strayed away from the books, it did a good job of delivering the unexpected and a major action moment to end the series on.

Now that we’ve talked out the major difference between the books and movies, you can decide for yourself if you have a favorite path to experience Bella and Edward’s love story.  Hey, and “both” would be a perfectly acceptable conclusion! Check out   how you can stream the Twilight movies here on CinemaBlend.

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.

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Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — Twilight — Comparison of Twilight Book and Movie

Comparison of Twilight Book and Movie

• Categories: Book Review Movie Review Twilight

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Words: 878 |

Published: Nov 8, 2019

Words: 878 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Works Cited

• Meyer, S. (2008). The Host. Little, Brown, and Company.
• Weitz, C. (Director). (2013). The Host [Motion picture]. Open Road Films.
• Schottenfeld, R. (2014). Transformations: From Book to Film. The ALAN Review, 42(3), 84-91.
• Robinson, J. (2011). Adaptation and the book-to-film industry: Frankenstein and the legacy of the Universal Pictures adaptations. Adaptation, 4(3), 242-254. doi:10.1093/adaptation/apr024
• Stam, R., & Raengo, A. (2005). Literature and Film: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation. Blackwell Publishing.
• Cartmell, D., & Whelehan, I. (Eds.). (1999). Adaptations: From Text to Screen, Screen to Text. Routledge.
• Hutcheon, L. (2006). A Theory of Adaptation. Routledge.
• Naremore, J. (2000). Film Adaptation. Rutgers University Press.
• Ryan, M., & Kellner, D. (Eds.). (2009). Camera Politica: The Politics and Ideology of Contemporary Hollywood Film. Indiana University Press.
• Corrigan, T. (2012). The Film Experience: An Introduction. Bedford/St. Martin's.

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“Twilight”: The First Movie in the Saga Essay (Critical Writing)

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The movie Twilight was released in 2008 causing the most different feedbacks of the viewers. It is a fantastic love story about a family of vampires who lived under disguise in Forks, a small town near Washington. The film begins with Bella Swan moving to this town to live with her father; she meets Edward who she is suspicious about from her first day at school. With time Bella discovers the truth about Edward and he introduces her to his vampire family.

Surprisingly, but the fact that Edward and his family are not humans does not scare Bella and young people fall in love with each other. As the plot develops, Bella is kidnapped by James, a tracker vampire; Edward and his relatives save her risking their lives and Edward prevents Bella from becoming a vampire after James’ biting her. Later, during the prom, Bella asks Edward to make her a vampire, which he refuses. The movie ends with James’ lover, Victoria, plotting revenge against the young couple for killing her beloved. Twilight is worth the attention of any viewer due to its skillful direction, brilliant acting, and well-selected music which altogether make this movie unforgettable.

To begin with, the direction of the movie deserves special praise because, unlike some of the other movies about vampires, it does not produce an impression of fantasy. Twilight is an action-packed love story brought into life by Catherine Hardwicke. Catherine has been working as a director, writer, producer, art director, and production designer since 1986, which means that she has rich experience in the sphere of movie production.

She directed such movies as The Nativity Story (2006), Lords of Dogtown (2005), Thirteen (2003), and Maximum Ride (which will be released in 2010). In addition, she was a production designer of the Martians Go Home (1988), Mad City (1997), Three Kings (1999), Antitrust (2001), Vanilla Sky (2001), and a number of other famous films. The direction of Twilight differs from the rest of the movies about vampires.

It is always hard to evoke in the viewers’ compassion towards the negative characters and not each director succeeds in this. However, Hardwicke managed to intertwine action, murders, panic, chaos, and love into a coherent story about the vampires who lived the lived of ordinary people. Any director knows that shooting a movie basing on the book is extremely difficult. As compared to Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” (the book), the movie is no less expressive.

All the necessary details were preserved and the plot was in no way distorted. Twilight may be considered as a faithful adaptation to the book owing to the work of Catherine Hardwicke and the team of the filmmakers working under this movie. Thus, Hardwicke’s direction turned Meyer’s “Twilight” into a romantic-fantasy film saturated with visual effects and full of bright memorable moments which make the viewer return to them after finishing watching the movie.

Moreover, the acting of the movie is brilliant and all the actors seem to have lived the lives of their characters for some time. The movie Twilight once again proves that people who try not to resemble the others always get into trouble. Indeed, in most of the films weird things happen to those who avoid being like everybody else, who live in isolation, or have hobbies which the society does not approve. This was the case with the protagonist of this movie, Bella Swan (in reality Kristen Stewart).

In real life Kristen does not look like a loner, but due to her talent, her heroine has loneliness even in the expression of her eyes. Edward Cullen, in his turn, inherited all the charm of Robert Pattinson, an actor with quite a large filmography for his age. Stewart and Pattinson have made this movie alive; the passion which existed between their characters seems impossible to achieve without its taking place in real life.

Other actors of this movie are Billy Burke (as Charley Swan, Bella’s father), Ashley Greene (as Alice Cullen, Edward’s adoptive sister), Nikki Reed (as Rosalie Hale, a girl turned into a vampire by the Cullens), Kellan Lutz (as Emmett Cullen, Rosalie’s beloved husband also turned into a vampire by the Cullens), and others. The cast for this movie was perfectly selected and the actors, especially those who were in the leading roles, have brilliantly coped with their roles.

Finally, the music emphasized the expressiveness of the movie and made it complete. Choosing the right music is extremely important in shooting the movie; inexpressive soundtracks can spoil even the best direction and those which are too loud or too famous can overshadow the play of the actors and the essence of the movie in general. Twilight ’s music supervisor, Alexandra Patsavas, succeeded in achieving balance between expressiveness and unobtrusiveness of the music when choosing soundtracks to the movie.

Apart from the Twilight score (which, by the way, perfectly suits the mood of the movie) composed by Carter Burwell, Muse and Linkin Park can be heard in the film. Such a choice of soundtracks is somewhat symbolistic; this music was listened to by Meyer when she was writing the book “Twilight”. Perhaps, this is why Patsavas considered them to be the most suitable to the movie. Apart from the film score, Burwell wrote several other soundtracks to the movie.

His “Bella’s Lullaby” is the variation of a “Love Theme” which was supposed to voice the romantic relations between Bella and Edward. Burwell’s “Predator Theme” opens the movie. This theme is absolutely striking; it plays Edward’s vampire nature and transfers even more emotions than Edward’s look or the expression of his eyes full of resoluteness, defiance, and tenderness at one and the same time. Therefore, it can be stated that the music to Twilight cannot be perceived separately from the movie; they supplement each other and, being a whole, join the actors’ play, the visual effects, and the intricate plot to tell the viewer a story about the forbidden love.

In sum, due to the great work of talented filmmakers, the movie Twilight is able to meet the wishes of any viewer. Its director Catherine Hardwicke did her best in producing the movie of high quality. The cast, in face of Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, and others have brilliantly performed their roles and added reality to the music. A great job has been done by Alexandra Patsavas, the music supervisor, who selected the best-fitting soundtracks to the movie. All these people have created a great movie and turned the fantasy into the reality.

Twilight Movie. Org. News About the Twilight Saga. 2009. Web.

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Bibliography

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‘Twilight’s Biggest Changes From the Book

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The Big Picture

• The Cullen family crest is a clever addition to the Twilight movie and symbolizes uniformity and loyalty among the clan.
• Bella finding out Edward is a vampire is more dramatic in the movie, with the cringy, yet memorable "Say it" scene in the misty woods.
• Bella's friends are practically non-existent in the movie, unlike the books where she has a close-knit group, leading to memes about her loner status.

Stephenie Meyer ’s vampire love story Twilight took the world by storm. Everyone was talking about Twilight back when it was released — whether they were saying good or bad things though was a different story. But as far as book-to-movie adaptations go, Twilight is one of the better ones. A lot of the changes made are fairly minor, such as lines being cut or characters being omitted from scenes to help with runtime. But there are still some moments that are very different between the book and the movie, and though they don’t alter the story too much, they’re definitely noticeable.

When Bella Swan moves to a small town in the Pacific Northwest, she falls in love with Edward Cullen, a mysterious classmate who reveals himself to be a 108-year-old vampire. 

The Cullen Family Crest Is Only in the Movie

The Cullen family crest is something that was invented solely for the movies , and there is zero mention of it in the books. Each member of the Cullen family wears the crest in some way, Emmett ( Kellan Lutz ), Jasper ( Jackson Rathbone ), and Edward ( Robert Pattinson ) all wear a cuff bracelet with the crest on it. Alice ( Ashley Greene ) and Rosalie ( Nikki Reed ) wear it on necklaces. Esme ( Elizabeth Reaser ) wears it on a bracelet, while Carlisle ( Peter Facinelli ) wears it on a ring, and eventually, Bella ( Kristen Stewart ) wears a smaller version of the leather cuff that Edward, Emmett, and Jasper wear.

The crest is meant to show uniformity and loyalty among the clan , and has some sincere meaning behind it. The lion represents strength and ferocity, which is a characteristic of vampires (hence the “So the lion fell in love with the lamb” line.) The hand represents faith and sincerity, and the trefoil at the bottom represents perpetuality, to reflect vampires living forever. It’s quite a clever addition to the film, and a neat little aspect to look out for on your next rewatch.

Bella Finding Out Edward Is a Vampire Is More Dramatic in the Movie

One of the biggest changes from the book to the movie is how Bella tells Edward she knows he’s a vampire. In the book , after being suspicious for a while, especially after Edward saves her from the car in the school parking lot, she gets some extra information from Jacob ( Taylor Lautner ). Jacob tells her local folktales about the “cold ones” and why the Cullens have never really been welcome in Forks. This leads to her taking out books on vampires and doing research on the internet. The night Edward saves her from the men in Port Angeles is when she tells him her suspicions. On the ride home from the restaurant, she simply tells him she knows that he and his family are vampires, but that she doesn’t mind.

The movie reveal is a lot more dramatic, and results in the famous “Say it!” line . It takes place in the misty, atmospheric woods, and Bella simply begins to list off all the things she’s noticed about him that support her theory, such as the fact that his skin is pale white and cold and that he never eats or drinks. She tells him she knows what he is, and he urges her to say it, " out loud ." He then carries her up the hill into the sunshine where he shows off the way his skin sparkles, and then delivers a hearty monologue as he shows off his super speed and strength to try and scare her off. But Bella is undeterred and tells him that the only thing she is afraid of is that she is going to lose him.

Bella’s Friends Are Practically Non-Existent in the Movie

In the books, Bella is not quite the loner that she seems to be in the movies — in fact, she has a close-knit group of friends with whom she’s regularly seen with . But in the movies, they’re basically background decorations, there to provide Bella an introduction to the Cullens and their strangeness. Other than that, they’re not all that prominent in the movies, which makes sense given cuts had to be made to fit a runtime, but perhaps Bella wouldn’t be as much of a meme had the movies actually proved she had friends.

The 'Twilight' Movie Follows a More Condensed Timeline

In the book, Bella moves to Forks in January, whereas the movie has her move to Forks in March. While two months doesn’t seem very significant, the longer timeline in the book allows more time for Bella and Edward’s relationship to develop . It allows more time for Bella to adjust to the town, as well as learn about Edward’s true identity. The events of the book are much more drawn out over the span of its 500+ pages . The movie is a mere two hours, meaning a shorter timeline was necessary to still tell a properly flushed-out story. It’s not entirely distracting or noticeable, but it does cut down valuable time that could have better developed Edward and Bella's relationship .

Bella Cooks in the 'Twilight' Books (And This Actually Means Something!)

In the movies, Bella and Charlie ( Billy Burke ) are regulars at the local diner, as it’s Charlie’s favorite place to eat. The waitress even informs Bella that she used to go there all the time as a child. However, in the books, Bella cooks all of her and Charlie’s meals at home. That may not seem like a difference that is worthy enough to mention, but it does say something about who Bella is as a person. Bella reveals that as a child, she often felt she had to be responsible for both herself and others, which is why she’s so keen on cooking for Charlie, especially when he reveals he doesn’t know how to cook. It's clear that Bella fiercely loves and protects the people closest to her .

Waylon Forge Does Not Appear in the 'Twilight' Books

Waylon Forge ( Ned Bellamy ) is actually a character that was created solely for the movies, and does not exist within the books . He and Charlie are old friends, going way back to when Bella was a child and even before. He’s a victim of James ( Cam Gigandet ), Victoria ( Rachelle Lefevre ), and Laurent ( Edi Gathegi ), and his murder is what alerts the Cullens of James’ dangerous coven.

Edward and Bella's First Kiss Is Steamier in the Movie

Another moment that is very different from the books is that of Bella and Edward’s first kiss. In the book, after professing their love for one another in the meadow, and Edward piggybacking Bella back to her truck in his super-speed fashion, he tells her there’s something he wants to try. The kiss is meant to be chaste on his end, but Bella reacts feverishly to it and him, and kisses him back with more passion. However, it’s still relatively tame in the book compared to the movie. The movie opts for a steamier scene between the two, and takes place in Bella’s bedroom, where she’s wearing nothing more than a t-shirt and underwear. Also, it's important to note that he reveals to her beforehand that he’s been watching her sleep for a couple of months now. He still says the same “there’s something I want to try,” line and Bella is still the one who escalates the kiss to a more passionate level, so it isn’t all that different from the books aside from the change of scenery .

Victoria Doesn’t Show Up at Prom at the End of the ‘Twilight’ Book

The end of the first Twilight film sees Victoria watching Bella and Edward at the prom. In the book, she doesn’t so much as have a line, let alone show up at the prom . Had she shown up, Edward or one of his siblings would have been able to sense her presence. This scene was simply added to set up the next movie, New Moon .

"Hold on Tight, Spider Monkey"

Finally, the iconic line “Hold on tight, spider monkey,” was not in the book, and was added only to the film. For such a hugely talked about and mocked line, it’s surprising it’s only a part of the movie and is non-existent in the book. But still, we’re glad it exists in some form, because what would this movie be without this line?

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• Movie Features

The Twilight Saga: Books vs. Movies

Team Movie or Team Book? Regardless, if you love Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga, you're sure to be fascinated by the differences between the best-selling novels and their blockbuster screen incarnations.

's is more than just a young adult series—it was a cultural phenomenon that remains popular and continues to influence young adult literature, vampire fiction, youth culture, and pop culture. The original Twilight Saga includes four young adult fantasy romance novels that were released annually from 2005 through 2008. This series was followed by two companion novels, most recently , and a . In 2020, Stephenie Meyer revealed that she was working on two additional novels in the Twilight series. Meyer's Twilight books have been translated into 49 languages, selling more than 160 million copies worldwide. All four Twilight books in the original series broke records and dominated The New York Times best seller list.

What inspired The Twilight Saga?

It's hard to believe that a series that has meant so much to so many people started off as a dream—literally. After dreaming about a young girl and a vampire in love, Stephenie Meyer, who had never even attempted to write fiction before drafting Twilight , felt compelled to write their story. As Meyer has stated, each of the four novels in the original series owes a debt to a literary classic: Twilight takes its inspiration from Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen; New Moon is inspired by William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet ; Eclipse draws influence from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë; and Breaking Dawn is inspired by Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

Meyer's personal life and outlook also have a major influence on her novels. Stephenie Meyer is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so she doesn't drink alcohol or coffee, smoke, or watch R-rated movies. Subsequently, the characters in her novels live by this moral code. You won't find drinking, drugs, bad language, or gratuitous sex in Meyer's work because the author firmly believes that books don't need them to captivate teens. Meyer's characters also struggle with ethical dilemmas. Characters in the Twilight novels are often met with temptation and forced to find self-control to do what is right versus doing what they desire to do. These themes are connected to Meyer's strong religious beliefs as well.

Beyond her faith, Meyer also considers herself a feminist, and the female characters in her novels reflect her beliefs that women are just as strong, intelligent, capable, and independent as men. While some critics have argued that Meyer's novels are anti-feminist because they show women and men in traditional gender roles, Meyer asserts that true feminism is allowing women to choose whatever role they wish. Ultimately, Bella's own choices land her where she is at the end of the final novel. 

Aside from the conversations about morality and feminism surrounding Meyer's work, everyone can agree on one thing: the Twilight Saga revived and revolutionized the vampire genre. Vampire fiction has gone in and out of style over the years, but Meyer's novels took vampires into new territory. A far cry from the horrifying creatures of Bram Stoker's imagination, Meyer's vampires are romantic, sympathetic, moral, and, yes, the rumors are true: they sparkle. Twilight made vampires cool again, sparking a whole renaissance of vampire books, films, and television shows that weren't afraid to play with the conventions of vampires and do something new. 

Of course, the Twilight novels were also adapted into a highly successful five-film franchise. (The fourth novel, Breaking Dawn , was split into two films.) Released in theaters between 2008 and 2012, the Twilight movies have collectively grossed more than $3.4 billion worldwide. Their trio of stars—Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner—became major celebrities and household names. And with the release of the popular films, the love for the Twilight novels only grew. 

Whenever any novel is adapted for the screen, changes are made. Here are some of the key differences between the Twilight books and the Twilight movies.

Twilight Characters: Books vs. Movies

Bella Swan 

Yes, Bella Swan is just as awkward and clumsy in the books as she is in the movies. But there are some key differences between the Bella of the movies and Bella in the books. For one, Bella in the novels is much more strong-willed and opinionated than her film counterpart. When Edward proposes marriage, Bella doesn't say yes right away, and she questions getting married so young. In the books, Bella is often described as cooking at home for her and her father, Charlie, while in the movies, Bella and Charlie eat at the diner a lot.

Edward Cullen 

The first big difference you'll notice between the Edward Cullen of the films and the Edward of the books is his appearance. Edward in the novels is described as having long golden hair. Robert Pattinson's hair when he played Edward Cullen in the movies remained short. In the movies, we see Edward Cullen wearing his family crest on his wrist. This was a detail added for the screen; the family crest is not mentioned in the books. In the novels, Edward had a dark past—he wasn't always a "vegetarian" vampire, and he actually spent many years feeding on criminals' blood. In the films, all Edward says to Bella is that he has killed people before. 

Jacob Black 

If you're Team Jacob rather than Team Edward, here are some key differences between the book character and the movie character that you should know. First of all, there's Jacob's appearance. In the books, Jacob gets taller after the first book, but in the movies his height remains the same. In the books, Jacob starts growing his hair longer to be more attractive to Bella, but in the movies, once Jacob's hair is cut short, it stays short—perhaps to match movie rival Edward Cullen's short hair? In both the books and movies, Edward and Jacob are romantic competitors who both love Bella, but the way they react to each other is quite different. In the books, Bella and Jacob fight after Jacob tells her she'd be better off dead than living a life as a vampire. Edward encourages Bella to make up with Jacob and remain friends with him. In the movies, it's the opposite; Edward doesn't like Bella hanging out with Jacob.

Other Key Differences Between The Twilight Saga Books and Movies

The Twilight movie adds the character of Waylon Forge, who never appears in the books. Waylon Forge is Charlie's friend and coworker who James, Laurent, and Victoria end up killing. The townspeople believe Waylon's death was an animal attack, but the Cullens recognize it as a vampire killing.

The Cullen Family Crest is another detail added for the movies. In the films, each member of the Cullen family prominently wears a version of the family crest at all times. This is not mentioned in the books at all. 

In the books, Edward writes a song for Bella called "Bella's Lullaby." There is a song on the Twilight movie soundtrack entitled "Bella's Lullaby," but it's never referred to by name in the movie, and Edward doesn't mention writing this song for Bella. 

Books often have more room to offer up character backstories, and this is definitely the case for Twilight . In the novel, listeners get Carlisle and Alice's backstories, but they are never mentioned in the movie. 

The character of Lauren Mallory is omitted from the movies. In the books, Lauren is one of Bella's main antagonistic relationships at school. Lauren and Jessica Stanley both seem to actively hate Bella. In the movies, Lauren and Jessica are combined into one character, Jessica, who seems to be jealous of Bella but doesn't outright hate her.

In the book, Jacob doesn't really show up until after Edward is out of the picture. In the movie, Jacob is present in the story from the very beginning. He even stops by her school to give Bella a birthday gift—a dreamcatcher. 

In the book, Jasper is no longer in high school, because he was posing as a senior the year before. But in the movies, Jasper is in the same grade as Edward and Bella, so he is still attending high school. 

The New Moon movie is a little more action-packed than the book. Part of this is because we're not limited to Bella Swan's point of view in the movies, so we get to see what other characters are doing. For instance, when Harry and Charlie are in the woods hunting what they believe to be a bear (spoiler: it's a vampire), we get to see Harry be attacked. We also get to see Jacob step in to fight back firsthand. In the books, because the story is told from Bella's perspective, we only hear about this happening later.

The movie also includes an action-packed Volturi confrontation that wasn't present in the book. In the book, Edward, Bella, and Alice just talk it out. In the movie, it's an all-out physical fight, instigated by Aro.

One of the biggest differences between the Eclipse movie and the book is Edward's controlling behavior when it comes to Bella and her friendship with Jacob. In both the book and the movie, Edward discourages Bella from seeing Jacob, but in the book, he takes it much further. Edward actually encourages his sister Alice to kidnap Bella so that she won't go spend time with Jacob while he is away. Eventually, in the books, Edward decides he's okay with Bella seeing Jacob. In the movies, he never warms up to their friendship.

This is the book where Jacob gets much, much taller. By Eclipse, Jacob is nearly seven feet tall. In the movies, Jacob (played by Taylor Lautner) stays around the same height because, well, the actor remained the same height. 

Two supporting characters get a major personality change in the Eclipse movie. In the book, Eric Yorkie is nerdy and smart; in the movie, he's more of a class clown. Meanwhile, Jessica is the academic one in the movie, and she ends up becoming valedictorian. Eric is valedictorian in the book. 

The Twilight books are pretty dramatic, but the movies really amp it up. For example, in the Eclipse book, Edward is able to kill the vicious vampire Victoria without too much drama. In the Eclipse movie, Edward is nearly killed in the struggle and Bella has to cut herself to distract Victoria. 

Remember how the Twilight movie leaves out the part in the book where Edward reveals the truth behind his vigilante past? Well, we finally get the full story on film in Breaking Dawn-Part 1 . 

At Edward and Bella's wedding, the movie adds a touching scene where the couple's friends and family offer up speeches. These are funny and sweet, reminding viewers of the joy these characters have in their lives before the conflict really kicks off. 

One significant storyline in the novel Breaking Dawn is Jacob's budding friendship and alliance with the Cullens following Bella's marriage to Edward. In the book, Jacob finds an unlikely friendship with Alice, Edward's sister. Alice starts developing headaches because of Renesmee, Edward and Bella's hybrid daughter, and her inability to see the baby's future. But being around Jacob cancels out her headaches. This healing friendship is not shown at all in the movies. 

We've saved the biggest change from the Breaking Dawn book to the movies for last—and it's one that Twilight fans will never forget. When Breaking Dawn-Part 2 came out, fans were shocked to see the movie culminate in a giant battle. They watched with mouths agape as their favorite characters—including Jasper and Carlisle—are brutally killed. Why were fans so surprised? Because none of this violence and carnage happens in the book. Thankfully, it turns out that it's all contained in one of Alice's visions, which she shows to Arlo to try to convince him to stop the battle before it starts. It works, and Arlo decides to retreat after seeing his death in the vision. In the books, there is no terrible vision, but Arlo still retreats after realizing he is at a disadvantage.

Will there be more Twilight movies?

Still craving more Twilight? While there are no official plans to adapt any of Meyer's other Twilight companion novels into a film (yet!), there have been whispers that a Midnight Sun movie could be on the horizon. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are both busy with new projects—especially with Pattinson set to play Batman. Besides, they might be a little too old to convincingly play high school students. So, a new Twilight movie just might mean a complete reboot with a new cast. And with a fan resurgence in full swing and two more Twilight novels on the horizon, maybe it's about time—we can only hope!

Twilight - book to movie differences

The following are noted differences between the original Twilight novel and the movie adaptation .

Please note: Scenes/lines that were not in the book but were added for the movie:

Changes [ ]

Omissions [ ]

Scenes/lines from the book that were left out of the movie:

References [ ]

• ↑ 1.0 1.1 Larry Carroll (2008-09-16). 'Twilight' Tuesday: Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg Was Inspired By 'Brokeback Mountain' . MTV. Retrieved on 2010-07-15.
• 2 Alice Cullen
• 3 Jasper Hale

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Twilight: 10 book to movie differences nobody talks about.

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While Catherine Hardwicke's film adaptation of Twilight is largely quite faithful to the novel, it naturally does make some departures. Most importantly, though, her version captures the spirit of Stephenie Meyer's novel that millions fell in love with.

RELATED: Twilight: 5 Ways The Books Are Better Than The Movies (& 5 Ways The Movies Are Better)

Perhaps, since most of the changes made from book to screen aren't incredibly major, it's a topic not widely discussed. However, it can be fun to dive into some of these changes and consider just how different the film might have been without them.

The Timeline

In the books, Bella moves to Forks, Washington , and starts school in January. In the movie, her move and start date are shifted to March, in order to condense the events of the plot to two hours.

The longer timeline that the book offers gives Bella a bit more time to get used to Forks and to get to know Edward. However, it makes sense that the movie would need to shorten things up for the sake of pacing and time.

The Cullen Family Crest

In the books, the Cullens try to blend in with the humans, but mostly fail, since they're a group of super-beautiful orphans who are all dating each other.

The movie has them stand out even more, by having them wear a family crest on a piece of jewelry that screams "cult" even more than their identical features and odd behavior do. There's no mention of these matching jewelry pieces anywhere in the books .

In the books, Bella cooks for Charlie upon finding out that he can't cook at all. In the first movie , Charlie takes Bella out to the diner often, his favorite place to eat. This may seem like a minor change, but it actually does shift the dynamic between the characters a bit. In the books, Bella informs the reader that her mother often required care instead of being a caregiver herself, leading Bella to be responsible for her age and feeling the need to look after others.

Her immediate assumption of kitchen duty in the books is an example of this. In the movie, Charlie taking her out to the diner, where the waitress informs the audience Bella used to go as a child, gives a bit of background to the father-daughter dynamic.

Waylon Forge

The character of Waylon Forge was completely invented for the film and doesn't exist at all in the books. Additionally, the whole subplot about the mystery of disappearances that leads up to the discovery of James' coven also isn't in the book at all.

It makes sense to put it in the movie, however, as it increases the tension and makes the vampires appear more dangerous. It even raises the question of whether Edward himself could be responsible for the disappearances, for those who haven't read the book.

Here is a major change from the book to screen. In the book, Bella tells Edward she knows he's a vampire while he's driving her home from Port Angeles. It's a much more quiet and intimate moment between the two. Later, Edward wants to scare Bella off with his sparkles and asks her to accompany him to the meadow on a Saturday. This planned excursion leads to a confession of love from each of them and takes up about two chapters of the book.

RELATED: 10 Things To Watch If You Love Twilight

In the movie, the reveal is much more dramatized: Bella wanders off into misty woods, where Edward follows and menacingly demands that she "Say it. OUT. LOUD." He then gives her a speedy piggy-back ride up the mountain to the meadow, where he shows her his killer sparkles and they lay in the grass together.

Meeting The Cullens

Bella's first time meeting the Cullens goes a bit differently in the book. First, she shows up in an ankle-length khaki skirt and all of the Cullens, except Edward's super-buff brother Emmett and gorgeous sister Rosalie, are waiting to meet her. In the movie, this scene is livened up a bit, and thankfully the khaki skirt is omitted.

Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie are making Italian food, based on the sensible assumption that, since her name is Bella, she must be Italian. Later, Alice and Jasper hop off of a tree and enter the room.

Spider Monkey

"Spider Monkey" is just one of many bizarre endearments the Twilight movie has to offer that the book did not, though thankfully, the movie left out how often Bella, a 17-year-old human girl, says "Holy Crow."

Other endearments like this include Rosalie's dubbing of Emmett as her "Monkey Man" and Carlisle calling Rosalie "Nice Kitty."

The First Kiss

Catherine Hardwicke sexed up Bella and Edward's first kiss a bit for the movie. In the book, Bella and Edward return to her truck after hiking to the meadow and back, and Edward gives her a brief kiss, to which Bella responds most enthusiastically.

The kiss plays out pretty similarly in the movie, with the major exception that it takes place on Bella's bed and that she's in her underwear.

Bella's Attitude Towards Prom

In the book, Bella's clumsiness makes her terrified of dances. Alice dresses her up and Edward takes her to prom, and she protests to the point of tears.

The movie is much less dramatic on this point, instead having Bella act mildly reluctant, but overall much more relaxed about the whole thing.

Victoria At Prom

Here's a change that essentially serves to set up the next installment of the franchise, New Moon . In the book, there's no mention of Victoria being at prom, although it's possible that she was and just escaped notice.

However, since Edward can read minds, it's likely he would have been aware of her presence.

NEXT: Twilight: Best Soundtrack Songs From The Saga, Ranked

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Difference Between the Twilight Book and Movie

• Categorized under Entertainment , Miscellaneous | Difference Between the Twilight Book and Movie

There are inevitable changes when a book moves onto the big screen. When the book is a cult phenomenon like Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, die-hard fans are sure to talk about the differences between the book and the movie for weeks and months to come. In this case it might even stretch into years as Twilight is the first in a four book series and the other three films are rumored to be coming soon to a theater near you.

The meat of the book is still found in the movie. The plot is a vampire romance and centers around the love story of the mortal Bella and immortal Edward. It takes place in rainy Forks, Washington. The paradigms set up by Meyer remain intact: vampires can go vegetarian by only drinking the blood of animals, they sparkle in the sun rather than burn, and they are preternaturally strong and fast. From there, depending on which fan you talk to, things either go downhill or uphill fast.

Positive Views of the Movie The mood of the Bella’s original home in Phoenix and her new home in Forks created a great contrast with which to start out the movie. It eliminated the need for extensive narration. The characters, baring Jasper, were extremely well cast and again instantly created a visual that took pages to describe in the book. There was more tension in the near-mugging scene with the use of hand-held camera filming techniques. The baseball game was more astounding and fun without pages of description to slow down the fast movements of the Cullens.

Negative Views of the Movie The character of Bella, who we primarily meet through first person narration in the book, comes across as moody and introverted in the movie whereas she is strong and stubborn in the book. The nod to the first person narrative with a few voiceovers didn’t help matters. The first kiss between Bella and Edward was changed from the front door the bedroom in the movie. It downplayed Edward’s monumental battle of wanting to be with the woman he loved while at the same time not wanting to risk hurting her. In the interest of time, Bella was left alone when James was tracking her. In the book she had to go to elaborate measures to escape her captors and reach the ballet studio. The special effects of superfast movement and fighting where over the top and didn’t fit with the fluid descriptions they were given in the book.

Summary: 1.Both the book and movie of Twilight remained true to the basic ideas of creator Stephenie Meyer. 2.The movie moved faster than the book because the great casting and stunning visuals eliminated a hundred pages of description found in the novel. 3.The changes that were made in the movie to make it more cinematic, such as special effects and romantic moments generally took the viewer out of the story.

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Cite APA 7 Kumar, M. (2011, July 28). Difference Between the Twilight Book and Movie. Difference Between Similar Terms and Objects. http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-the-twilight-book-and-movie/. MLA 8 Kumar, Manisha. "Difference Between the Twilight Book and Movie." Difference Between Similar Terms and Objects, 28 July, 2011, http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-the-twilight-book-and-movie/.

They are exactly the same ! Im the biggest twilight fan & love it !

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Written by : Manisha Kumar. and updated on 2011, July 28 Articles on DifferenceBetween.net are general information, and are not intended to substitute for professional advice. The information is "AS IS", "WITH ALL FAULTS". User assumes all risk of use, damage, or injury. You agree that we have no liability for any damages.

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Twilight: Movie vs Book

Filed Under: Essays Tagged With: movie

The Twilight saga is a fantasy book that became even more popular with the movie that came out two years after the book. Twilight is about a teenage girl that brings danger to her life by falling in love with an immortal vampire. The book is written by Stephanie Meyer who has written 3 more books to the series. Even thought that the movie “Twilight” was based on the book it had a lot of differences and there were a lot of missing parts.

One of the biggest differences is that the book is written from Bella’s thoughts; it is really she who narrates the situations she is in. The reader gets to be Bella in a way and you find out everything she thinks and feels about Edward. Although in the movie reflects on both Bella and Edward, by watching the movie you don’t get the same feeling as in the book. If there are some private thoughts of Bella that the viewer must know about, you get them in the context of the story; it feels almost like Bella is writing a diary.

Another important difference is how Bella finds out that Edward is a vampire. In the book, the school they are going in is having a dance and because Bella is not really that in to dancing she and Edward decide to go to Seattle, but the don’t even go to Seattle instead Edward takes Bella to the meadow and tells her what he is and he reveals himself in the sunlight so that she can see that he is sparkling in the sunlight.

In the movie they are in front of their school preparing to go to class and Edward decides to go to the nearby forest, Bella went after him and she confessed that she knows what he is, Edward was surprised and he tries to scare her by showing himself in to the sunlight so that she can see that he is sparkling. However the book and the movie have a lot of similarities as well. The family dynamics are described very well. In the book Bella’s mother Rene is very eccentric and she cares a lot about Bella, even though she does not get more than a few minutes in the movie, you can easily see her personality.

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Have you ever witnessed a well-adapted animal thriving in its environment? Well similarly when a book is transformed into a movie or play it needs to be adapted so that it can thrive in its environment. For example if you read a great book and when you watch the movie you see every scene that you read in the book, the movie won’t be so good. There are many examples in which we see a movie or play ...

It is the same with Bella’s father Charlie, he did not spend much time with Bella when she was little and the awkwardness between them is described well in the book and in the movie. Altogether both the book and the movie follow the same storyline. As I mentioned earlier the movie is based on the book twilight and it is hard to miss that, they have the same method and all the important characters. I would recommend to read the book first and then watching the movie because the small differences in the movie are significant as of course that depends from the viewers.

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