Imprinting?

This week, after referencing Stephenie Meyer's concept of imprinting, I was pretty much ridiculed. Eh, what's a Twilighter to do out in the real world? However, I have managed to have a civil conversation with one individual, and that led me to wonder how did Stephenie come up with the concept of imprinting?

I'm sure most of the older Twilighters have heard about imprinting occurring in nature and, like myself, decided that was probably the concept that inspired Stephenie's version. It would make sense, after all. The Quileute shapeshifters turn into wolves, which are a form of animal, and it's pretty safe to say that, while they retain their humanity, a bit of animalistic behavior edges its way into their personalities.

However, that assumption runs into some problems. You see, Stephenie Meyer's interpretation of imprinting doesn't exactly correlate with nature's interpretation.

I suppose I should define Stephenie's version first. Wikipedia was kind enough to put it into words for me:

"In the Twilight Series, "imprinting" is the phenomenon where a shape-shifter, after initially transforming, will be unconsciously drawn toward, and then unconditionally attached to a member of the opposite gender, although it is not completely sexual."

That is definitely spot on. Now, it's 9:30 at night and I'm a little sleepy, so I half-heartedly searched for the passage where imprinting is explained. Since I haven't found it, I'll just roughly explain it myself.

When Jacob's imprinting was described, it was said that every cable linking him to everyone else snapped and bonded to Renesmee instead, thicker than wire cables. It tied him to that one person. In general, imprinting connects the imprinter and imprintee. It doesn't have to be sexual, as we saw with both Quil and Jacob. Their partners are very young, and they could never even think of them romantically. They want to be there for them. They want to be whatever they need -- brothers, friends, confidants, mentors, protectors. Now, when Claire and Renesmee grow older, Quil and Jacob may have a change of heart. Romantic love may blossom. However, should either or both girls ever decide they want to venture down a different path, the boys will let them do so. The only thing imprinters want is what's best for their imprintees, and what the imprintees truly desire.

If we tried to apply this to our world's wildlife, most scientists would cry anthropomorphism. (I really hate that term. Science doesn't even have a solid foundation for animal behavior study, so to call anthropomorphism is to do so without basis.) In a way, I agree that this is probably not what imprinting means to real life's animals. Some animals are monogamous; others change partners yearly. So to clarify what science means by imprinting, I'll quote Wikipedia again:

"Sexual imprinting is the process by which a young animal learns the characteristics of a desirable mate. For example, male zebra finches appear to prefer mates with the appearance of the female bird that rears them, rather than mates of their own type (Immelmann, 1972). The famous psychologist John Money called it the lovemap."

Even further, Encyclopedia Brittanica says:

"The duration and time of onset of the sensitive period depend on the species and on the type of behaviour involved. Some animals imprinted to animals of another species will mate with members of their own species but, if given a choice, will prefer the animal to which they have been imprinted. Many species refuse social contact with any animal except the one to which they are imprinted. Male golden pheasants (Chrysolophus pictus) imprinted to humans will court females of their own species but immediately transfer this behaviour to a human, should one appear."

In a way that kind of sounds like Stephenie's version. The animal prefers the imprintee to everyone else. Still, it's not exact, and it got me thinking if there was another definition that Stephenie had used. So I went to Dictionary.com and found this:

"a mark made by pressure; a mark or figure impressed or printed on something."

I felt like both an idiot a genius when I read this. This is the default definition of imprint. I should have realized. To me, that sounds way more like Stephenie's version. Essentially, when a shapeshifter imprints, both their soul and the imprintee's have been impressed upon. They each mark each other's souls; that's what draws themselves to each other. IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE!

Since finding this this afternoon, I've decided that a mark made by pressure is probably what Stephenie meant. It's entirely possible that she combined both ideas or that the psychological behavior of animals inspired her, but... Well, until she addresses this question, I guess we won't know!

What is your theory?

Eclipse Director Announced

I'm a frequenter of The Twilight Lexicon. In fact, I visit the website multiple times a day, so I pretty much get the news as it comes out. So when it was announced yesterday that a new director had been hired for Eclipse, I knew.

Now, I'm a little wary of this decision at the moment. I'm terrified that the end result will be a situation like X3: The Last Stand, where one director didn't have time, another backed out six weeks before shooting started, and another just effed up the script entirely. We've got about a year before Eclipse even goes into production. A lot could happen in that time frame.

I would say that I was excited at first, but I didn't know who David Slade was, so it really made no difference.

And then I started reading the comments.

Turns out, David Slade directed the movies Thirty Days of Night and Hard Candy, both of which I've seen. Now, I liked Thirty Days of Night, but I didn't think it was ~*amazing*~. Hard Candy, on the other hand...

Okay, for those who don't know, Hard Candy is about a young girl (played by Ellen Page) who meets an older man (played by Patrick Wilson) online and starts chatting with him. Later, the two decide to meet. He takes her back to his place, he wants to photograph her (he's a photographer), and generally, the audience is left thinking, "Oh shit. This guy's gonna rape and kill her!" It's revealed, however, that the girl is a vigilante, suspects this guy of being a pedophile, and tries to expose it.

I love Hard Candy, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to watch it again. In short, it involves torture, entirely enacted by the young girl. It got to the point where I actually felt bad for the guy, who was, in fact a creeper.

But nevertheless, it was a brilliant movie. It was shot in 18 days with a budget of under a million. The lighting scheme is fantastic. During the commentary, it was noted that they wanted to influence the mood with effects other than music, so very little was used. Instead, during an incredibly painful-to-watch scene, they use a track of scissor snippings.

Beautiful. Oh my god... I was worried about how things were transpiring, but I have complete faith in this guy. Chances are, it will be more reminiscent of Twilight -- instead of flashy, which I'm assuming is how New Moon will feel -- but... Wow... I can barely breathe!

Twilight Release Party? Not For Me!

So everyone seems to have had a blast this past weekend because they got to attend a fabulous release party.

Now, when Kaleb Nation posted a blog about how a Twilight star could be coming to my town, I scoffed and called him a liar. Seriously, who was going to stop by Rapid City, South Dakota when they're a part of a huge franchise? Um... Maybe Amber the Waitress? I'm pretty sure even the guy who played the teacher was too famous for that. So I didn't expect to see anybody cool from the movie at my Borders.

However, I did expect to go to a party.

My best friend Christianna dragged me along with some other people over to Borders a little earlier than planned. She was going to finish the latest House of Night novel and I would read up on the Twilight Director's Handbook (or notebook or whatever; not as interesting as I anticipated) while we waited.

We did wait...

For an hour...

And then a woman announced over the intercom that there would be no Twilight release party, sorry for the confusion. When asked about this, she said it was only the big corporate stores that were being involved. I was devastated.

Before we left an hour later, though, we were told of a party over at Hot Topic. Um, okay. Let's just go there instead. So we traveled to the mall down the street and waited in line for a half-hour. Robin (one of the workers) took a picture of me and said that I should sign up for the autograph of Taylor Lautner. I was ecstatic.

We were one away from the door. The woman at the front asked if the people before us had their invitations. They produced them promptly. That set off alarms automatically. "Invitations? Hm... Well, maybe that just means you get special privileges..." We get there next, she asks, and we reply that no, we don't have any invitations. Her response was an awkward, "Um... Oh... Well... I can't... let you in... then..." We stood there for a second, not comprehending what we had just been told because this woman obviously doesn't speak English. We can't go in? But... But... TAYLOR LAUTNER AUTOGRAPH! MUST HAVE! I!

Once we realized we'd just been shafted ("But you can still buy the DVD at midnight!" "Eh. We don't have any money."), we found we were still allowed to have cake and punch, took some, and sat on the floor like rejected puppies.

That's what I get for not being a mall rat anymore.

Amber: The Waitress

You're probably thinking, "Who the hell is Amber? I don't remember any waitresses." Or that could just be me putting words into your mouth because I had forgotten about her. It's more probable that you actually recall this brief character, but you're wondering why the hell I brought her up.

Simple, because my name is Amber, and it seems like all of the Ambers in film and literature are bitchy whores.

To recap slightly, Amber the Waitress appears on page 168:

And then our server (because StepheNie, Bella, and Edward are more politically correct than I) arrived, her face expectant. The hostess had definitely dished behind the scenes, and this new girl didn't look disappointed. She flipped a strand of short blak hair behind one ear and smiled with unnecessary warmth.

"Hello. My name is Amber, and I'll be your server tonight. What can I get you to drink?" I didn't miss that she was speaking only to him.

Okay, okay. I admit it. I'm being unnecessarily critical of this Amber chick. Everyone is, in some way, enamored with (of?) Edward. The red-haired secretary over at Forks High, for example, thinks very dirty thoughts about our forever-seventeen year old boy. (By the way, I've only read the first chapter of Dark High Noon. I'll read the rest when Stephenie either a) publishes it or b) calls the project off.)

However, her attitude is a little unnecessary. Sure, Jessica bitches and whines when she first tells Bella about Edward. Sure the hostess 'assessed' Edward right in front of Bella, who could, at that time and place, almost safely be presumed to be his girlfriend. But Amber's behavior was a little over the top. She didn't even look at Bella if it wasn't necessary, and she only technically took Edward's order. Eeesh.

Moving on...

When the movie came out, I had practically forgotten about this insignificant speck of a character. And then I saw her hair.



If you're blind and can't see the growth on this woman's head, I've circled it for you. Wow... After that, the cat guy wasn't all that unexpected. (He's in the background, by the way. He's a little blurry, but I'd recognize that look anywhere.)

In the movie, Amber is played by an actress named Katie Powers. This is irrelevent to what I'm talking about, but I thought I'd mention her. I was looking at her IMDB page -- Everyone and their dead grandmother has one now. -- to see if she kept the freaky do and found her resume interesting. Katie is working in all areas possible. She was a 'logger' on Clean House, a photo double for both Kristen Stewart and Cate Blanchett, and a post-production coordinator for several productions. This chick is really working her butt off to get into Hollywood. I like that.

As for her acting skills, I'd say they were mediocre. That isn't a bad thing because acting is a talent that can always be improved, but she did as well as you'd expect from any extra. I say this as I recall her two lines, but I'm feisty this afternoon, and I need somebody to take it out on.

Back to being on-topic -- I was actually going to make a list of bitchy Ambers from literature and movies/tv, but I can't remember any aside from Amber Brown, and she was pretty cool. But mark my words! The name Amber is default for resentful skank, and it's REALLY unfair!

Edit I JUST remembered one! I remembered somebody singing the name Amber and remembered Amber Von Tussle from Hairspray! See? PROOF!

Casting and Introductions

Brenda Song

I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Amber. *Waves* Hi, Amber! As you can guess by the title of this blog. I am a big twi-hard.

twi-hard (twahy-hahrd)
- noun
An overobsessive fan of the series Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, usually a teenage girl: Oh my god, that girl is such a twi-hard.

At least, that's my definition. :)

Anyway, on to introducing myself briefly. Like I said, my name is Amber. I'm 19 (20 this September!) and I live in South Dakota. I'm going to be attending college in the fall for two degrees: one in English and one in Environmental Biology. I'm currently writing a book called Manifest, but I'm taking my sweet with it. As for my Twilight obsession, I started reading it back in '07 and I'v become ADDICTED.

But I'm sure you gals and guys are here to read an awesome rant. I'm starting off with one I've written before, but I'm going to continue whining about it. :P


Vanessa Hudgens

There's a rumor that's been going around saying that Disney stars -- specifically Vanessa Hudgens and Brenda Song -- are up for the role of Leah. People are freaking. out. Message boards and websites are in a frenzy about this 'information'. How seriously am I taking this? Honestly, I think it's crap, and here's why:

I like Brenda Song. I think she's cute and adorable. I especially enjoy it when she hosts Disney's 'Pass the Plate'. Yes, I still watch Disney. :P Do I think she'd make a good Leah? Well, no. Her acting is strictly Disney. I don't foresee her breaking out into this complex drama that breaks our hearts any time soon. And seriously, her as Leah? Ladies and gents, the gal is CLEARLY asian. She does not look one ounce Native American. That wipes her off of the map for this part immediately.

How about Vanessa? She's cute. (In a pretty way, not personality-wise. Sorry, VH fans. I'm not fond of her.) She's darker skinned, so that means she's in the running automatically, right? Maybe if Summit/Chris/blah blah blah either doesn't care about authenticity or is just ignorant.

But, aha, they DO care. According to Lana Veenker, a separate company was hired to exclusively cast Native Americans. They are trying to be authentic. And don't just shrug off what Lana says as nonsense. She is actually involved in the casting process, so what she says is pretty true.

On to other factors.

Have you noticed that Summit's being stingy? If I recall the numbers correctly, Twilight was on a budget of $35mil. New Moon's budget is $50mil. That only adds $15mil more to their funds. Now, seriously, are they going to want to HIRE Vanessa/Brenda? No, because those girls have bigger pricetags on their heads. If they hire relatively unknown actors (But still professionals, so don't think that necessarily means you, buddies. It's a hard world out there.), then that means they don't have to pay them as much, which means they get more money in return. Summit is being clear in what it's priorities are: cash and more cash.

And you know what? They can AFFORD to do that! TwilightSeriesTheories.com reported a while back that 'since Black Friday, Amazon.com has sold enough copies of Breaking Dawn that, if stacked end to end, it would reach the summit of Mount Everest 8 TIMES!'. EIGHT times to the top of Mt. Everest. That is NOT a small fandom. A lot of smaller productions feel the need to hire bigger named actors to draw in audiences. However, the fans' love for the books alone generated $70.6mil in its debut weekend, according to BittenandBound.com. That's twice what was put into the film in the first place. And no big names were even IN the cast!

But people are still panicked.

I freaked out once. Remember when Taylor's part was basically up for grabs? Taylor Lautner will never be my Jacob Black, but the kid is dedicated to his role. He was working for it. And then there was that Michael Copon guy who just came in and assumed he was going to get the part. (Before anybody says anything, I was WILLING to give him a chance. C'mon, the guy's kind of cute. But if you don't know why I dislike him, go check out his J-14 interview. You'll see.) A lot of Twilight fans freaked out over that, but according to EW (Who is supposed to be REALLY reliable.), Copon's rep never even got a call for the part. So, essentially, he was never even up for the role. It's quite possible that the same thing is going on with the Disney starlettes. That's actually what Yahoo!News is saying. Now, I'm not sure how reliable Yahoo is in its news, but I'm rather inclined to believe that those two girls aren't even up for the parts. It's logical to me.

In short, DON'T FREAK OUT. Summit and Chris will do what's best for New Moon in the end.

Tchau,
Amber