Would we like Twilight if it weren’t for Edward?

Dear Team Edward,

Close your eyes and think about your love for the Twilight series books. And now let your heart go ‘pitter-patter’ as you think of and feel your connection with Edward Cullen. Now, with your eyes still closed, shift your focus to the sub-par movie version of the beloved book series we’ve been focusing our energy on. What are you feeling? Super annoyed that after your most recent viewing of the movie you thought, “Wow… it’s really 2nd-hand embarrassing that my teenage sister and her friends just walked away from this movie and I’m still sitting here.”

I love Twilight. Plus having Rob as the hottest freaking vampire ever doesn’t hurt. But there are those of you (and some are crazy, sure) who thought it was a brilliant movie (That’s Not Normal), and then some of you LOVE the movie, but not because it was brilliant and not necesarily because of Rob. WHY!?

Before we jump into this today’s Twilosophy, let me define my love for Twilight: I love the story; I love the world Stephenie built; I love the familiarity of the movie and the way it made me feel when I saw the amazing book brought to life on the big screen the first time. Even though, during my first viewing, I had this nagging feeling of “that movie wasn’t that well-done,” I still loved it because I remembered what losing my Twi-virginity was like. So when I say “I/you/we love the movie,” that’s what I mean. I don’t mean I love it like I love “Whatever works,” my ‘best movie of 2009’ pick so far or like “500 Days of Summer,” or my love for “Waitress” or “Junebug.” No, no, no. I mean I love Twilight because it’s given me an amazing friendship with Moon- and with many of you- plus given me an opportunity to laugh, A LOT, and meet people in this amazing community we all built together.

So getting back to you closing your eyes feeling that love for Edward yet conflicted by the sub-par movie Edward starred in, I have to ask: Would we like Twilight the movie if it weren’t for Edward? And by “Edward,” I mean, Rob, playing our beloved Edward. Yes, we love the books & we love the story- so maybe we’d give it a second watch. But would we love the movie so much that we become interested with people barely involved with the movie, (the 100 monkeys, Bobby Long or Sam Bradley) or would we just push it off as a teenage movie that’s supposed to be bad? How much did Rob’s hottness and Rob’s portrayal of Edward have to do with the success? Do we make excuses for Twilight because of our attraction to Rob?

I posed this question to a group of LTT readers and loved their responses. Join the convo after the jump!

Would you love Twilight even without Rob as Edward?

JBell: YES I WOULD LOVE IT! Robward = beautiful? Says who?? I went back to the theater 5 times just to catch a glimpse of Buttcrack Santa. “…didn’t know how to make a kitty meowwwww…” That’s my ringtone, text tone and email tone. I just CANNOT get enough. And Kristen with the blinking and the stuttering!? PSH! Fahgetaboutit! HAWT. Robwho?

Too_Far_Gone: I think Twilight was a great movie. Except Kristen Stewart’s performance – she was no match for my Robbie- my favourite actor in the film, Robert Pattinson. I think he did a fine job and is just an overall lovely bloke.

EastFriend: Twilight was a bare display shelf. It was bare. Lonely. Boring. Uninteresting. Rob was the Sprinkles cupcake sitting in that shelf. And all was right with the world. The end.

Janetrigs: If Robward wasn’t as hot, I think we would all still find the actor endearing unless he was a total asshole, because he is portraying a beloved character. Twilight the movie sucks the balls of a f**king goat, because it’s based on a book that had some of the worst published writing I’ve ever read. Not to mention adding strange twists that involve googling about legends, then buying a book on legends and then re-googling about said legends. Effing Retarded. Also there are entirely too many scenes (by that I mean 2 different scenes), which involved mindless games of catch. Catty Hardwicke is mindless, so it makes sense. I wish someone could have taken the awesome idea for the story Stephanie Meyer wrote, but wrote it better, then created a shortened version of the movie. But bad writing is bad writing.

Heyyy brother: Let’s be honest: I would straight up despise the movie if I hadn’t read the books first. Even being the fangirl of Twilight that I can be, and lusting after Rob like a dog in heat, I prefer to watch the movie with a solid three glasses of wine in my system. More if possible. Rob was the only saving grace initially. At first I hated Cougar & Co (Hardwicke and Rosenburg) for butchering it all so terribly, but the repeated inebriated viewings have taught me to love such atrocities as Buttcrack Santa, the spider monkey line, and Mike Newton’s delusion that he’s not a white bread boy from what must arguably be one of the least diverse regions of the country. If I’m being honest, Rob is probably what kept me coming back for more viewings. He’s the reason I kept giving it another chance. I can’t picture another Edward, but that could be because I read the books after he was cast, so I never had anyone but Rob in my head. But hey, you don’t see me complaining…

So… do I love the movie? Heck yes. But do I love it the way that one might love a QUALITY movie like, say, The Princess Bride? No. I love it because I get to drool over Robward for 122 minutes. I love it because there is no better movie to simultaneously laugh and squee over with some girlfriends and a bottle (or three) of wine. I love it because it’s terrible and I have no shame.

Moon: The movie sucked, so of course Rob as the Edward-eye candy totally helped make it better, but in the end he’s just the actor who played Edward from the story we all love. Edward could have been anyone: Kellan, Jackson, whoeverit and I’d still like it cause it’s Twilight. The movie was a POS but ultimately, I love it because of the story. We love the saga and the movie is just one person’s artistic interpretation of that story. At the end of the day people fell in love with the story first and not Rob.

I’m sure Rob brought in a few looky-loo’s, but if the story was terrible to begin with, no one would be as obsessed as we all are now. For the story to ultimately overcome a lackluster film version and to pull in fans who had never even read the saga before seeing the movie, it points to how powerful Stephenie Meyer’s novels really are. Amen

So where am I? I’m torn between HeyyyBrother and Moon. Before I wrote this post I thought I was going to admit that I really only like the movie because Rob plays Edward and Edward is the manvamp I would like to fall in love with me, do stuff like leg hitches, snuggle in my room at night and ultimately take me to Isle Esme & bite me. In a special place ifyouknowwhati’msaying. But Moon is right. If someone else played Edward, as long as he was great looking & did a great job, we’d probably have a “letterstotheotherguy” blog. So I do love Twilight, the sub-par movie, a TON because of Rob playing Edward, but I mostly love it because Rob plays Edward who was created in a book series that through bad writing, good writing, repetitive words and words no teenager says, you have to admit has captivated tens of millions people of all ages around the world and as a result, made a movie, that might otherwise be cast aside as a “badly done teenage romance,” really successful

Class dismissed,
UnintendedChoice

What are YOUR thoughts!? Where do you stand? And I wanna hear from people who AREN’T crazy Rob fans but still love the movie. I know you’re out there! Explicame! Why do YOU love Twilight!?

-Yesterday on The Forum, Emmeloowhoo launched Biggest Loser LTT Go there now to figure out what in the WORLD that is!
-Then go tell Rob thanks for making you love a sub-par move on LTR

OverDose of Edward pics courtesy of Source