Breaking Dawn Part One, the day has finally arrived and, as of now, passed. All of the freaking out, speculation, promotion and movie still leakage has come to an end. Now it is time to talk about how the movie differed from the novel — for us literary nerds. For those of you who have not read the novel or seen the movie and plan to do so, this is probably not the piece for you. There are Breaking Dawn spoilers ahead — movie spoilers and novel spoilers.
Bella’s Dreams
Very early in the novel “Breaking Dawn,” Bella Swan — now Cullen, feel free to squeal tweenies — starts having dreams about a little boy and the Volturi. In Breaking Dawn Part One, the little boy does not appear in the two dreams they show. In the first dream, Bella and Edward are standing atop of bloody pile of their wedding guests while the Volturi look on. That dream does not take place in the book. In the book, the bloody pile of bodies involved the boy, who had the blood-red eyes of a human prey-eating vampire. The other dreams that included the boy and the Volturi do not appear in the movie. It’s an easy guess to say that they will not be in the next film either, given that Bella will not be dreaming ever again *cue squeal.* Yes, Bella Swan is finally a vampire. I said it. I told you not read any further if you did not know and did not want to know, so do not blame me if I just ruined your life.
Nearly the Entire Beginning of the Movie
The book starts with Bella reminiscing about Jacob leaving when he heard about the wedding and telling Charlie about Edward Cullen proposing to her. There is also a scene with a car much like a tank that Edward bought for Bella. The car scene is not in the film. The scene where Bella tells Charlie is not in the film. The fact that Jacob is gone for months is only barely mentioned in Breaking Dawn Part One.
Another interesting aspect of the beginning of the film is the filmmakers revealing Edward’s bloody vampire past. He and Bella are talking the night before their wedding and he “reveals” that he strayed from the veggie vampire path for a few years and hunted evil men. In the novel, this was already established. One cool thing about it, though, is that they show Edward back in what must be the ’30s or thereabouts, slaughtering bad guys.
The Wedding
Then, there is the wedding. Some of the wedding is true to the novel, for the most part, or at least adapted for film very well. Other parts of the wedding are not in the novel at all. There is a kind of ridiculous scene where wedding guests and Edward talk about Bella and Edward in speech form. It lends some comic relief to a film that is about to get gruesome, but it is really just that — fodder for comedy.
Irina, a member of the Denali Clan, does not attend the Cullen wedding because the werewolves killed Laurent. In the film, she shows up at the wedding and makes a little scene with Bella and Edward.
While we are talking about the wedding, I want to mention something. It was a decent scene — very romantic. However, there is an aspect of the scene that is eerily similar to a scene where Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy dance in Pride and Prejudice. You know, the one with Keira Knightley. Anyway, as the couple kisses, the guests disappear because, apparently, they only have eyes for each other. It is very nice and everything. We know Bella and Edward are much beloved, but no couple is Lizzie and Mr. Darcy. There, I said that too. Feel free to castigate me.
The Honeymoon
Twihards rejoice! The honeymoon in Breaking Dawn Part one was pretty true to the book. Apart from a lack of every little detail, it covered everything you came to see. Bella did not eat a ton of eggs, but she sure hurled. Yum!
The Wolves
Where to start with the wolves? Just about everything regarding the wolves’ involvement was changed for the film. For starters, the wolves backed off quite a bit when Jake left the pack in the book. In the film, they surrounded the Cullen house and waited to attack. It gets worse — they actually attack! They fight vampires twice in the film. They did not even do it once in the book. They almost did, but Jacob was able to keep it under control. Cool fight scenes — really the only ones they could add to the film — obviously took precedence over character development for Jacob and Leah. The good news is that they nailed the imprinting scene, with the exception of a forward flash to Renesmee as an adult. Somewhat silly, really, as she is not an adult for either part of the book.
There are many more small details that are either missing or were added to the film, such as no concept of the time it took for Bella to transform. However, those little details may be discussed in the first part of Breaking Dawn Part Two, so it is hard to say whether they are really differences or temporary omissions. We will have to see when the next movie comes out next year.