Close Reading
It Was the Best of the Worst of Times: Breaking Dawn, Part 2
Mary Pols, Time Magazine
http://entertainment.time.com/2012/11/15/it-was-the-best-of-the-worst-of-times-breaking-dawn-part-2/

So, in a half-ironic, half-nostalgic attitude, I found myself reading a review of Breaking Dawn, Part 2 in Time Magazine. The details, imagery, and syntax were very effective in convincing me of the reluctant mediocrity of the final installment of the Twilight series.

The details which Pols chooses are all  humorous but uninspired quotes. In one of the first direct quotes, Pols gives an example of Bella's new-found humor, "Vampire Bella is even funny. "You think you have some sort of moronic wolfie claim on her?" she bellows...". I highly doubt this is what the script writers would consider one of their golden lines. Neither is "You named my daughter after the Loch Ness Monster?", but these are the longest direct quotes from the movie, among precious few. Note that she does not  insert the inevitable diatribe about the value of love, family, and post-marital sex that we all know will make an appearance sooner or later. Her focus is on the shallow, quiet chuckle-worthy jokes which she sees as the best part of the movie. Not the highest compliment. The entire review focuses on the minor improvements in dialogue and aesthetics while choosing to ignore the essential details of the plot and culmination of  saga, because it deems them unworthy or uninteresting.

The ironic imagery in this review mocks the attempted effects of the "wildly campy" film. A wry description of "the Irish vampires- dressed in various shades of green, fisherman sweaters and tweed caps" eludes to the stiff, one-dimensionality of many characters in the series. Further snorts of derision are buried in an observation of the "cozy, ivy-covered, fully decorated cottage" which is so disgustingly charming it repels the Volturi from harming their daughter Renesme. Pols' manipulates objective imagery into something comic using her descriptive language, "Now she and Edward... sparkle like disco balls" to support.

This review is arranged with many (parentheticals) and side comments, like a real conversation. This syntax lends itself better to an informal voice, and doesn't recommend the professionalism that a typical movie review requires. Some of these concisely and smirkingly address plots points "(He imprinted. It’s a wolf thing.)" while others are blatantly teasing "(Why the delay? Soccer season in Italy?)". This effect reminds me of a friend muttering snarky comments to you at the back of a theater. And its just as funny. The lackadaisical organization of paragraphs is a little tricky to follow, but its informality is appropriate for the tone.

I have already spent way too much time on this analysis. The DIDLES definitely support the humorous tone of this essay, as well as its suggestion that Breaking Dawn: Part 2 was a small improvement on its predecessors, but amusing if viewed with the right attitude.

It Was the Best of the Worst of Times: Breaking Dawn-Part 2

Read more: http://entertainment.time.com/2012/11/15/it-was-the-best-of-the-worst-of-times-breaking-dawn-part-2/#ixzz2CdHAgeHf

It Was the Best of the Worst of Times: Breaking Dawn-Part 2

Read more: http://entertainment.time.com/2012/11/15/it-was-the-best-of-the-worst-of-times-breaking-dawn-part-2/#ixzz2CdHAgeHf