Standing in the Shadow of Bella Swan
When it comes to Kristen Stewart, with most people, it’s a love-or-hate relationship. Her portrayal as Bella Swan in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series has been bashed left and right by movie goers, while Twilight fans and Stewart-hopefuls await for her departure from the franchise before really criticizing her acting skills.
If you remove the Twilight franchise from her resume, Stewart boast a number of films for which her performance and characterization has been praised; when she was 16 she played Tracy Tatro in Into the Wild, in 2008 she starred in the family drama, The Yellow Handkerchief, then in 2009 she starred opposite of Jesse Eisenberg and Ryan Reynolds in Adventureland. In 2010 she co-starred in Welcome to the Riley’s and The Runaways (Dakota Fanning). All this leaves me wondering, if Stewart hadn’t taken the role as Bella Swan, how would she be perceived?
Goodbye, Bella Swan… Hello, Marylou!
This week those who attended this year’s Cannes Film Festival were treated to a film 8 years in the making — On the Road. Based on Jack Kerouac’s iconic book of the same title, the 1957 novel that defined the Beat Generation, director Walter Salles teamed up with screenwriter Jose Rivera and executive producer Francis Ford Coppola to bring the difficult subject matter to the big screen. In fact, it’s taken nearly 55 years for this adaptation to see the light of day. Passed from one director to the next, many discovered that the book’s unique and stylistic transition from fiction to non-fiction wouldn’t translate well on camera, in a medium where story and plot matter most. In fact Coppola has been trying to get this film on its feet for nearly 30 years now. For Salles and his cast to take on such project is an accomplishment in itself.
The story takes place in New York, late 40s; it is here where Kerouac’s alter-ego of sorts, the youthful enigmatic writer Sal Paradise (Sam Riley), is introduced to Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund) by a mutual friend. Dean’s strong personality magnetizes his spirit in such a way that he becomes the center of attention in any social function. Carefree, curious and charismatic, Dean is the definition of a bohemian. In the film, Stewart plays Marylou, the 16 year-old, free-spirited wife of Dean. Dean, Marylou and Sal, along with several other friends, travel across the country with no plans but to live their lives. What ever happens, happens.
A Performance Praised by Many Critics
The critics at Cannes praised Stewart’s performance as Marylou — a character polar opposite of Bella Swan. Sexually, Marylou is vivacious and experienced. Stewart appears topless in several scenes and engages in a threesome between her, Dean and Sal as they all ride naked in the front seat of a car. Interestingly enough, Stewart was actually cast in the role back in 2007, before she took the role of Bella Swan. Although her reps were telling her to drop On the Road completely, she stuck with it. Throughout the film her character expresses a longing to leave behind the wild and unstructured lifestyle for something a bit more concrete and stable. Check out what the critics are saying below:
“In On The Road Stewart’s MaryLou is angry, sexy, innocent, corrupt, and very tangible all at the same time. Hers is a challenging energy that confronts you during every scene. I’ve never believed her so much as a character.” – Lainey LaineyGossip.com
“Stewart takes her top off so many times that even the perennially shirtless Taylor Lautner would be impressed…Certainly, there’s nothing regrettable about Stewart’s performance here: It reestablishes the promising character actress last seen in Into the Wild and held captive as Twilight’s leading lady for years.” - Kyle Buchanan, Vulture
The Controversial Threesome
However, some conservatives are little disturbed by Stewart’s sexual freedom, saying that Hollywood has tainted her wholesome image. Here’s what Dan Gainor of the Culture and Media Institute had to say to Radar:
“In the film On The Road, Kristen Stewart engages in a threesome and masturbates two male characters according to reports. How will parents who took their daughters to see the Twilight movies explain this?”
“We’ve watched and been saddened by the parade of former Disney stars getting used, so that any wholesome image they have is destroyed — Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Miley Cyrus and more. But it’s not just them,” he went on to say. “It’s a common theme from actresses like Elizabeth Berkley from Saved by the Bell who appeared in the tawdry Showgirls or Anne Hathaway who went from every girl’s dream role model in the Princess Diaries to a nude scene with Jake Gyllenhaal in Love and Other Drugs.”
“It is irresponsible of Stewart and manipulative of Hollywood bosses to deliberately try to destroy any sense of decency these actresses might have taught young people.”
Art vs. Attention-Seeking
Unfortunately, Gainor is unable to distinguish between attention grabbing and acting for the sake of art. Kristen Stewart didn’t choose this role to step out of Bella’s shadow, as mentioned above she was cast as Marylou before she signed the contract to play the wholesome and weak Bella Swan. As an actress Stewart stepped out of her comfort zone, should she be ridiculed for that?
Stewart discussed the threesome scene in an interview at Cannes: “I wanted to do it… I love pushing. I love scaring myself. I’ve always wanted to get as close to an experience as I could. I was almost the same age Luanne was at the time, but I was a much younger 16, so I’m glad I had a chance to age before we started shooting.”
What do you think?
While the reviews have been mixed for the film, several performances, besides Stewart’s, have also been praised. We want to know what you make of the all the controversy. Are people overreacting, or should Stewart be bound to her purity until she’s finished playing Bella Swan? Leave your comments below.
Directed by Walter Salles, On the Road stars Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Kristen Dunst, Amy Adams, Viggo Mortensen, Terrance Howard, Alice Braga and Tom Sturridge. This film is scheduled to hit theaters this winter, no word as of yet on the exact date.
‘On the Road’ Movie Trailer
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