So, I made two separate versions of Laurent, one of the important characters of color in the Twilight series (Twilight and New Moon). One of the versions I made from the description I’ve read from the guide and the first book, while the other version comes from what I’ve seen in the movies where Edi Mūe Gathegi plays Laurent.
A. (Books) Turned in his 40s; spoke French Creole yet lived in France as a human; Was very likely biracial
In CAS
In Game, With My Twilight Vampire Mod
*the chalkiness is no my doing, that was the lighting’s fault*
B. (Movies) Gagethi looked like he was in late 20s; Kenyan (East African); dark-sinned black person
I am not good at making likenesses of real people...at all.
In CAS
In Game, With My Twilight Vampire Mod
A Long Winded Explanation for “Why”
Not happy with the movie versions of the Twilight series at all, but not because Laurent is darker-skinned.
I’ve tied the entire movie Laurent character with the smh-ness of the movies themselves. And I am one of those people who will always believe that the books’ narrative is better than the movies’, especially with the number of lazy cash-grabs that continue to soar in number and frequency over time that flanderize personalities.
Not that Twilight is an artistic masterpiece nor was it trying to be. The movies just weren’t as gripping as the books’ horror-tinged, thrilling melodrama because they didn’t bother to actually display the despairing image of vampirism that Twilight vampirism presented. The director of the first movie, Catherine Howard seemed to at least try.
Then they just phoned it in after Twilight and made vampires too human-like.
All in seeming laziness or lack of care AND to better appeal to a wider audience who may or may not know about Mormonism, gender, sex, and race in America plus British literature’s influence on Meyer's vision, specifically the gothic genre’s influence. (This is not an excuse for many canon characters’ behavior nor the series’ treatment of certain characters--more of a contextual explanation for why these movies were weak sauce and tried too hard. And I do agree with the decision to make the darker vampires not pale like how Meyer did. The only thing I agree on.)
Still, I didn’t want to erase Gathegi and his performance. Gagethi’s prescence inserted color and shade into a series that seriously needed it.
The invisibility and degradation of POCs is not for me, so when a POC person succeeds and/or is allowed to, it should be recognized, appreciated/celebrated, talked about, and used as context for a bigger conversation for why it was done. Why didn’t the books do this?
What do you think and how’d I do? Wanted to provide both versions for however you experience the series and for you to think about why whichever respective sim appeals to you.
The two Sims 4 versions of Laurent (inside “James’ Coven”) is out!
