A Synopsis of the Movie Twilight: New Moon

Twilight: New Moon *Mise*-en-scene Title: Twilight: New Moon Year: 2009 Director: Chris Weitz Writers: Stephanie Meyer (novelist) and Melissa Rosenburg (screenplay) Actors/Actresses: Robert Pattinson-Edward Cullen, Kristen Stewart-Bella Swan, Taylor Lautner-Jacob Black, Ashley Greene-Alice Cullen Synopsis This movie is the sequel to Twilight, which was a major hit in 2008. In the first movie Bella Swan falls in love with a vampire. The vampire, Edward Cullen, is very protective of Bella and tries to keep her safe. In New Moon Edward feels that the only way to protect Bella is to break her heart so she won’t follow him. However after Edward leaves Bella comes face to face with danger and the only protection she has is her long-time friend Jacob who she realizes is a werewolf. By the end of the movie Bella is torn between her love for the werewolf and the vampire. Analysis My focus is on scene nine where Bella is confronted by the Cullen’s vampire rival, LaRon. LaRon’s intent is to kill Bella now that Edward has left her defenseless. The scene is set in the meadow where Edward first appeared to Bella in his true form. When the sunlight shined on Edward his skin glistened like diamonds. At that time the meadow was beautiful, the grass was green, the flowers were in vibrant full bloom, and the sunlight shined down so bright. Now that Edward has left the meadow is dead, the grass has turned brown, all the flowers are gone, and the lighting is low and gloomy. I like to think of this as a metaphor to Bella’s spirit how it was alive and vibrant with Edward’s presence and is now dull and a part of her has died. Also you see her in a dangerous position being face to face with LaRon without Edward being there to protect her like before. Then Jacob appears in the scene in his werewolf form to protect Bella. However at this moment she does not realize it is Jacob. Here we are seeing Jacob in his true form appear to Bella just as Edward did for the first time and in the same location. It almost seems as though Jacob has taken on Edward’s role in Bella’s world. There is one shot where the rest of the wolf pack proceeds on to kill LaRon and Jacob stops and turns his focus to Bella for one moment and then moves on. At this moment Bella is mere feet away from this massive wolf but she stands there and looks back at the creature. The up-close shot of the wolf’s eye as he is gazing at Bella shows her reflection and you can feel his harmless nature. This is where it all came together for me and I thought Bella had pieced together the clues but I wasn’t until two scenes later that she realized it had been Jacob that rescued her. In one still frame the full shot conveyed danger, protection, love, and loss. This was a very well-organized scene and I think it worked well in the movie and added drama and thrill for the audience.