Friday, February 3, 2012

Breaking Dawn Parody Is Here

You can watch The Hillywood Show's parody here.

I feel like I'm so late in commenting on this video, though it only came out Wednesday night. But I wanted to give a day or two before saying anything so that my thoughts would be clearer, and I've also just been so terribly busy these couple of days--my eyes don't thank me for the amount of reading I've had to do.

But I've managed to watch this parody a few times by now, and I just watched all four of the Twilight parodies in a row right now. My reasoning for this is the way that I think of the old Sweeney Todd episodes: though there are four of them, I always watch them together as four parts of a whole. Might a similar thing not happen when the Twilight parodies have been out as long as the Sweeney Todd ones? And you know what I found? Breaking Dawn Parody works as a nice fourth installment . . . and it turns out to have pretty good rewatchability. 

Let me first consider what this parody achieves. It's very upbeat and happy, not so unlike how the Twilight one was. But add to that the professional polish of Eclipse Parody. The first couple of minutes are my favorite; they plunge you right in. I'm often tempted to call Eclipse's dance sequence my favorite, and this one still delivered on par with that. I only wish I could have seen the wedding dress more: this is one of the costumes I was looking forward to seeing since I'm sure it wasn't the easiest to get, yet I almost missed it on the first viewing. (I knew it was there, of course, but I didn't get to see it much--maybe because I was busy enjoying the dancing.) One thing I think I did spot, though, was the Twilight hair tools collection on Alice's counter--surely I'm not mistaken?

What comes naturally with the ground of parodies, I suppose, is the exposure of weaknesses in the original movie. As this parody was winding up, I found myself chronicling its scenes, feeling like something was missing; but, of course, the movie itself only has so many events because of the Part 1/ Part 2 issue. The parody brings into starkness the wedding, honeymoon, baby list.

I suppose there are three main twists in this video from the movie, perhaps more subtle ones than in the New Moon and Eclipse videos. First is the music and dance Bella leads the wedding scene with (which is rather like the music sequences in Twilight Parody), then is Jacob's comedic intervention at different points (this reminds me of what "bad Bella" did for New Moon Parody), and last is Edward and the rest of the Cullens' happiness set to song about the baby, in contrast to the tension in the movie during these scenes (this, in turn, equates in my mind to the approach Eclipse Parody took). Did, after the initial view, I feel like these three twists weren't quite enough? Yes. But the more I thought about it and the more times I watched the video, the less I complained (complained is too harsh of a word, but I can't think of a better). 

In fact, I find that I only keep smiling or laughing more at the birth scene, which initially I wasn't sure about, the more times I watch. Like I said, I really liked the first couple of minutes; what follows, though, I'm also enjoying. The conjuring of smiles is the most important part of The Hillywood Show, and this parody does that.

I haven't commented on the recasting of Edward; I suppose I really don't have much to say except that I like how they introduced him in the video, with the slow turning to face the camera. It fit both fans' curiosity to see the new actor and what's going on in the scene. 

One thing I have also been finding entertaining is seeing my name in the credits (under Fan Donations, of course); it comes in at about 9:28--yes, I checked the time. When looking at the Fan Donations at the end of Harry Potter Friday Parody last year, I noted that these long lists of names might help dispel some of the hate Hillywood gets from viewers who think (because of the intensely accurate sets, hair, makeup, etc.) they're just rich people with all the possibilities handed right to them. Seeing that there are donations shows that, no, Hilly and Hannah are just dedicated to what they do; they want to produce the best videos they can, and have for that reason developed a fan base willing to help them do just that. I'm glad I was able to contribute in some way, and I'm proud to have my name in the list for Breaking Dawn Parody. 

No comments:

Post a Comment