Movies aren’t really a profound medium, and they rarely can probe very far into the realm of ideas. But they are capable of creating an explicit sense of time and place, and a visceral involvement in audiences, through what Susan Sontag once called “sensual elaboration.”

I can’t remember the last time I was at a screening where the audience screamed in anticipation when the lights went down and the show began. But the audience for Twilight was not your standard jaded preview crowd. They were almost entirely girls of about 12-16 years of age. There were a few parents in tow, but if any of the tweenies had bought dates I couldn’t see them.