Wednesday, June 23, 2010
My Weekend with Team Jacob
Last weekend I went away on vacation with my mother, sister, and daughter for a “girls” trip. As many of you know, I live in the “Robsten closet” about my Twilight and Robsten addiction. Last weekend was particularly hard for two reasons. One, I would be missing the Twi-Con coverage and the Eclipse press junket. And Two, my family is Team Jacob. “How did this happen?”, I asked myself. On top of being in the Robsten closet, I am now the black sheep of the family.
When New Moon came out, I had to beg and bribe my sister to see the movie with promises of mimosas and shirtless men. She fell for it, came along, and alas, fell for Taylor Lautner’s rock hard abs and cute grin. I was accepting of that since, well, she’s never read the books and he is a cute kid. A month ago my mom said she heard about “those vampire” books from the girls in her office. I willingly gave her my complete Twilight set in hopes that I she would too become Team Edward. I figured she would definitely be in love with Edward and the Cullens since she loved the soap Dark Shadows back in the 60s and Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire. I thought it was a slam dunk. Boy, was I wrong.
Throughout the past month my mom asked me the typical Twi-virgin questions about the saga, like, “Is there something up with why Bella is different?” or “Does Bella become a vamp?” or “Why do these vamps sparkle in the sun?” I arrived at the airport and saw “Breaking Dawn” peeking out of my mom’s carry on bag. My spirits were raised; the outlook was good that I would be able to finally bond with someone in my family about my love of Edward. My mom pats the book and says, “I just started this one and I can’t put it down. I just have to say that I really love Jacob”. WTF?! Is she reading the same series that I am? My three years of being on Team Edward were cast into doubt. Perhaps I have been reading too much fan fiction to remember if I really loved the original Edward Cullen.
Later while in-flight my mom turns to me, lowers her reading glasses, and says, “Jacob helps Bella and Edward so much in this book. He is just wonderful. Oh, I really like this Rosalie too! She is hilarious.” She proceeded to tell me she loved the wolves, Leah Clearwater, and the whole Jacob point of view. I knew I was in for a long weekend. I needed my RLC girls STAT to help me through this. I didn’t have my laptop and I was only armed with my Blackberry to stay updated and revive my love of Edward and Bella.
We didn’t bring the books or the movies up again until Rob was on the Today show. I quickly changed “Special Agent Oso” that my little one was watching to put it on and shushed the room. No one gets between me and a Rob interview. My mom says, “Oh, I didn’t know he was British”. Seriously, what is with my family?! Then my sister says, “Ugh, he is so ugly. Taylor is so much hotter.” Facepalm. She proceeds to insult Kristen’s look and her attitude. And my mom says, “Well, isn’t Rob dating Bella in real life”. I confirm and my mom continues, “Well, they do look cute together. But that Jacob, he’s my man”. I was done. Defeated. Saddened.
Were my mom and sister secretly in a Summit focus group. Is this who they have been targeting the movies toward? I guess there really are Team Jacob fans out there. I thought they were mainly tweeners, or people who didn’t read the books. I never believed that they would be in my own family. I had always heard about them; like unicorns, they are a rarity of sorts.
The last night of vacation, my cousin stopped by our hotel to visit us since she lives in the area. She walked into the lobby, and there emblazoned on her chest was “Team Edward”. FINALLY!! I gave her a big hug and chided my mom and sister. I knew someone in my family had good taste. I was elated.
I guess that is what is nice about Twi-fandom. There IS room for everyone. Whether you are Team Edward, Team Jacob, Team Bella- hell, Team Jasper or Team Volturi, we can all enjoy and be fans together. Stephenie Meyer has created characters for us all to love, and we may not all be on the same team, even in our own family, but it’s cool that books can get people talking and rooting for fictional characters. So, on June 30th, my mother, sister and I will all be heading to see Eclipse, each looking for something different in the movie. I will be Team Edward all the way, excited to see Rob and Kris on the big screen together. My mom and sis will be enjoying Taylor’s abs and his jorts.
OMG RL I loved the post! Too funny..i live in the same world you do right now..with 2 sisters that are team Jacob and do not find Rob attractive..oh the Blasphemy!!! Did we come from the same parents? I don't get it…but hey we coexist..and i pretend i don't know them at the theater..lol..Awesome post RL…always love your humor & can always identify with your closet Twilight/Robsten obsession! <3
haha this had me really laughing. My mom too finally gave in and just started reading the first book. I am itching to start talking to her about it but she only gets to reading during down time at work so its a slow process
One thing I have learned with this whole Jacob/Edward thing… people LOVE the underdog and in this case that just so happens to be Jacob. So… maybe thats why they feel the need to root for a character that doesnt stand a chance lol
Great blog
My whole family is Team Jacob too. I actually watch it by myself the first time and with them the second time. In all honestly I completely love anyone who is either team because the alternative is the haters of the whole series. Those people REALLY drive me nuts and I just keep my mouth shut because it is just a fictional series and not worth arguing my point of why I am obsessed
.
I got lucky. My mom hates Jacob as much as I do. Then too she says it all depends on your experiences in life and pet peeves. We both hate arrogance which Jake has a lot of. We cant stand how manipulative Jake is….first kiss forced, second manipulated. Cant stand disrespectful people….walking into the Cullens house like he owns it in BD. Plus him imprinting on a helpless baby didnt help either. And we never pictured him as being cute. I read the books before the movie and so did she. No where in them does it state Jacob as being gorgeous. It calls him big, mammoth, but never described as the hunk of man Edward is. By the time the movies came out we were already Team Edward and seeing Taylor just made us giggle. The short boy from Sharkboy and Lavagirl plays the huge muscular mammoth of a man Jacob…needless to say we didnt buy it.
PS: Dont worry you are still in the majority. The only reason Summit pushes Team Jacob is because of Taylor who is in bed with them, Wyck Godfrey, and Tay Tay's father Dan's new production Taylor Made Entertainment. They push Tay Tay because they want to keep him as their puppet forever.
My mom is Team Edward, like me… yay!!
We can't stand Jacob's manipulative friendship… The other day, during the press junket, Taylor said he likes Jacob's loyalty towards Bella… and I thought "loyalty?! Jacob isn't loyal to Bella in the book!" (MO)
that was fun! But nothing can make us fall from our Team Edward wagon!
I dont get where Taylor gets his character depiction from. It is like he didnt even read the books or decided to ignore all the bad to build up Jacob as a different character in his mind. Not once have we heard Taylor mention any flaw that Jacob has. He calls Jacob's obsessive and erratic behavior, frustration. He calls his taunting of Edward in his mind, his way of evening the playing field because Edward can unfairly read minds. It is no shock that Taylor is a Jacob hype machine like Summit but isnt it false advertisement? The people who havent read the books are getting a completely different impression of Jacob. It would be interesting to hear their take of the books after being a fan of only the movies.
PS: I wonder if they are going to water down Jacob's temper and bitterness in Eclipse to make him seem less dangerous. Slade called Edward dangerous in Eclipse but Im thinking….what does that make the temperamental wolf!
That was so funny. Thank you for sharing your experience with Team Jacob. My mom fawned of him as well and I said "Taylor is a seventeen year old boy..stop it!" She likes them all I can't change that but I accept it. How do you ignore the sexiness that it Brit talk from Rob? I melt. Off topic sorry, wonderful post. <3
Loved your post and your blog! I too am a total closet Twi lover- I've got a great career, young family etc- and yet I want to eat sleep and breathe twilight. I, of course , am Team Edward (switzerland is no team at all) and I was trying to figure out why people are team Jacob. I think its because he is the friend (non threatening) unlike the lover who is dangerous. You know how in boy bands there is always that one who looks young and approachable who all the girls like because they think he just wants to kiss , whereas the other band members look like they really have ANOTHER agenda entirely….Jacob is like that. And we feel sympathy for him because he's not the bad guy.He's just not the good guy either.
I'm in the UK and in a very Robish part where all the boys have Rob preppy haircuts and the same accents! But we have to wait for the 3rd July (for advance screenings) for eclipse.Sigh. I might pop with excitement.
Anyway…i'm on twitter susie004
(what a ramble!!!) XXXXXXXXXXXXX Thanks againX
I guesss we all get to have our close encounters with the third kind XD
Love this post!
I still can't quite wrap my head around why people are Team Jacob?? Is it really the character or is it more just Taytay? I can understand it more if it were Taytay coz I can "get" that (hey I'm totally ROBsessed) but in terms of the characters and THE STORY… I just am stumped.
Long live your Team Edward ways.
Jeez. I can't imagine what that's like. Lol. Everyone who I've exposed Twilight to are Team Edward.
Hilarious, RL! You poor thing! How can they can't be fans of the jorts?!? lol Thank God your cousin showed up! Maybe Edward will win them over in Eclipse.
Oh, no! A whole weekend of this?! You poor girl.
I was at a party this weekend, and these two young girls, who are pretty nice and normal, were all about Jacob too. I really wanted to go at it with them, but, as a mature adult (and because other people were listening), I just said "Good for you." lol What's sadder is that my Mom is totally Team Jacob. He's better for Bella, she says. Pffft. Whatever. My sister is Team Edward, as is my daughter. Thank God! lol
But, like you said, whatever floats your boat. It's all good.
Dana
Lol. Love it. Very relatable, though my family isn't as Twi-crazy.
My friend who got me into the Twilight series was an avid Jacob hater and I immediately shared her love for Edward and hate for Jacob, though BD has made me more sympathetic of Jacob. I have gotten my sister into the obsession as well, who is also completely pro-Edward. My oldest sister, who hasn't read the books, went along to New Moon and spent the entire film drooling over Taylor. Another friend of mine who hasn't read the books likes both, though Taylor('s abs) slightly more. And then there's two friends of mine who are Team Bella but if given the choice they'd both go for Jacob. So.. yeah, it's funny how people like different aspects of the story and identify with different characters.