Question about Twilight.

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Nmil-ek

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Dec 16, 2008
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b4k4 said:
Cid SilverWing said:
Vampires don't sparkle. Stephanie Meyer either failed to research vampire lore, made up lore for herself, or both.
Just thinking out loud here, but isn't making stuff up, y'know, the entire point of writing FICTION?

Nmil-ek said:
Its a glorified mormonised fanfiction from an either undersexed or underfufiled woman, oh and chagrin summs the whole thing up really.
So if it's fan fiction, you obviously don't agree with Cid's idea that she made it up on her own.

So I'm gonna be completely honest with all of you, I think it's totally hilarious that even though all of you seem to think twilight is so insignificant, you're spending time out of your no doubt very busy day to point out just how insignificant it is. By talking about how terrible it is and how much you want the series to die, you're just bringing it to the attention of more people and prolonging the life of the fad. Most of the people I know who read twilight did so because they saw a forum thread like this and wanted to know why everyone was making such a big deal out of it.

Oh, and before you call me a hypocrite for posting in a thread I so obviously want to die, I don't want to die, watching the irony of these one-sided flame wars unfold amuses me.
Its a bank holiday in scotland so hah to your buisy day theory.
 

Blow_Pop

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Jan 21, 2009
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Jannycats said:
Clirck said:
Maybe I write a vampire book about vampires who exposed to sun change to Kiss bandmembers and start playing heavy metal while earth blows up. Nice conspect huh ?
I would love to see a book like that! At least heavy-metal playing vampires is a unique idea.
The Vampire Lestat/Queen of the Damned. Anne Rice already did it. Well the heavy metal playing vampires part at least.
 

Blow_Pop

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Jan 21, 2009
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Nmil-ek said:
b4k4 said:
Cid SilverWing said:
Vampires don't sparkle. Stephanie Meyer either failed to research vampire lore, made up lore for herself, or both.
Just thinking out loud here, but isn't making stuff up, y'know, the entire point of writing FICTION?

Nmil-ek said:
Its a glorified mormonised fanfiction from an either undersexed or underfufiled woman, oh and chagrin summs the whole thing up really.
So if it's fan fiction, you obviously don't agree with Cid's idea that she made it up on her own.

So I'm gonna be completely honest with all of you, I think it's totally hilarious that even though all of you seem to think twilight is so insignificant, you're spending time out of your no doubt very busy day to point out just how insignificant it is. By talking about how terrible it is and how much you want the series to die, you're just bringing it to the attention of more people and prolonging the life of the fad. Most of the people I know who read twilight did so because they saw a forum thread like this and wanted to know why everyone was making such a big deal out of it.

Oh, and before you call me a hypocrite for posting in a thread I so obviously want to die, I don't want to die, watching the irony of these one-sided flame wars unfold amuses me.
Its a bank holiday in scotland so hah to your buisy day theory.
and I am tired of the unrelenting attacks. DO some freaking research people. She explains ON HER WEBSITE why the vampires sparkle and such. It is a FANTASY/FICTION book. Last I checked it didn't HAVE to go along with any known vampire lore or anything. Last I checked that meant you could say the world was flat and we walked on the moon. That's the beauty of books, you can do anything and go anywhere and ANYTHING is possible. So, with that said,
http://stepheniemeyer.com/twilight.html
That explains why they were written.
and Ignorance is NOT bliss.
 

Skeleon

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Nov 2, 2007
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Hah! I'm just reading through that recap of Break of Dawn, hilarious, let me tell you.

But I just noticed that Bella's last name is "Swan".
Are you kidding me?
Bella Swan?

How much more cliché can you get?
Oh... wait.
 

Not Good

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Sep 17, 2008
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Just forget it. I've had it up to my neck with twilight bull. Trust me your better off with the vampire interpretation in Anime, which is probably almost as piss-poor as Twilight's.
 

Dr.Sean

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Apr 5, 2009
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I've been thinking of writing a book. It shall center on a vampire stalking a chick. At a certain point the chick will meet the vampire and try to make the vampire into her friend. Later on, the chick will ask the vampire to go to a tanning sallon with her, but before the vampire could stutter out an answer, she pulls the vampire into the salon and sticks the vampire in one of the tanning beds, shuts it and the vampire screams, "No! UV Radiation! My one true weakness!" The chick figures this out and I haven't really worked out how the rest of the book will go.
 

Panzer_God

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Apr 29, 2009
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TheNecroswanson said:
Clirck said:
Maybe I write a vampire book about vampires who exposed to sun change to Kiss bandmembers and start playing heavy metal while earth blows up. Nice conspect huh ?
I want to read this book.
Oh me too
 

axnxgxixe

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Apr 23, 2009
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I am not a huge fan of the Twilight series. The writing sounds like it was written for an 8th grade creative writing assignment, but it reads quick and is entertaining so I guess I can let that go. What I really don't like about the Twilight series is the whole culture that has mutated around it- pretty much all the creepy girls in love with Edward Cullen. Yes, it is one thing to be in love with Robert Pattinson-I will admit that he is an attractive gentleman, but Edward Cullen isn't real.

O and I agree with you on the whole "sparkle in the sunlight" bit- it's pretty lame.

But hey that's just my opinion.
 

azurawolf

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Apr 27, 2009
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Matronadena said:
Jannycats said:
Clirck said:
Maybe I write a vampire book about vampires who exposed to sun change to Kiss bandmembers and start playing heavy metal while earth blows up. Nice conspect huh ?
I would love to see a book like that! At least heavy-metal playing vampires is a unique idea.
that pretty much has been done, that was Queen of the damned
I was thinking the exact same thing.

Okay.... I have read what everyone else has typed so here I go.

Twilight was made for Stephenie Meyers to live out something she never could. It was also most likely targeted for teenage girls. She took all the "bad" parts of a vampire and changed them to something a little more "suitable". Personally, I can't stand that the vampires sparkle. And, personally, I hate Edward! He is a little sissy and I think girls can do someone so much better. If a guy like Edward fell in love with me, I would kick him in the balls and walk away. Especially is he sparkled!!

I read all four books and they are good books, yes. I can't stand that she decided the recreate vampire lore though. She made me hate her for that.
 

Steeveeo

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Sep 2, 2008
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Clirck said:
Maybe I write a vampire book about vampires who exposed to sun change to Kiss bandmembers and start playing heavy metal while earth blows up. Nice conspect huh ?
Much better than sparkling, that's for sure...
 

Trivun

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Dec 13, 2008
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Since people keep on posting Twilight threads, and I'm sick and tired of them because they always end up as people who haven't read the books or seen the film going "Twilight's gay, ur gay, lolzorz twilight's crap" and so on (my /b/ speak isn't that good since I'm too used to writing proper sentences, but you get the idea). I'm basically going to give my opinion because this thread has been pretty good so far, I've read people's posts and people here seem to have read the OP for once and aren't simply making stupid comments. The original question was "what's so bad about sparkly vampires" and people have actually given valid answers to the question, regardless of their Twilight knowledge they've had decent discussions that admittedly still bash Twilight, but in an informed way. So here goes, sorry if this is boring you (if so, skip to the last paragraph, it'll be worth it).

I've basically spent a while now trying to stop Twilight bashing on the Escapist, as anyone who reads a lot of my posts will know. I'm aware that I'm the only one doing this, and that I'm fighting a losing battle, but I feel strongly about the idea that opinions should be made, provided that they're informed. I don't care how many of you hate Twilight, as long as you've actually read the books or seen the film and therefore have a reason to dislike the series other than wanting to be cool by joining the hate-wagon. Unfortunatly, most people do join the hate-wagon to be cool and only perhaps 10% have seen the film or 1% have read the books. This really disappoints me.

I've read all the books (own them, in fact). I saw the film and I actually like Twilight. I'm eagerly awaiting seeing New Moon hit the big screen. True, I'm aware of all the flaws in the series, Stephenie Meyer is by no means a great writer (she does focus a lot too much on how perfect the vampires are and how plain Bella sees herself as being) and the characters themselves aren't that likeable. That said, I did still like the characters, but my only real favourites who I actually cared about were Jasper and Alice, and they were pretty much the most complex in a way (although even they weren't too great). The books aren't exactly challenging and there is a wide held belief that they're simple 'Mormon vampire abstinence porn', which may well be true. Nevertheless, in the same way you like watching Eurovision every year or anything with John Barrowman, even though you know you shouldn't, I still like Twilight.

Despite all this, I feel that the portrayal of vampires in Twilight is perfectly reasonable. What most people fail to realise is that the idea of the 'traditional' vampire (i.e. burns in sunlight, hates garlic and religous iconography, and so on) came from Bram Stoker's Dracula. However, this wasn't the defining text on vampire fiction. Vampires first came into the realm of fiction in the earliest legends that date not to Slavic and East European regions, as Stoker suggests, but rather to the Far East, hundreds of years before. These vampires were extremely different and had none of the same weaknesses that the traditional vampire does today. In fact, they were much different to any idea of vampire we have today, and yet these legends spread across the globe. Every culture had their own myths and legends of the vampire, and they all were different. It was merely the prevailing East European legends that were used as the basis for Dracula that came to the attention of most modern people. Indeed, even after Dracula, vampire fiction changed things yet again. In Stoker's novel, sunlight would burn the vampire, in Buffy, it turned them to dust. And that's not all. Every piece of modern vampire fiction changes something about them and creates a new and more 'distorted' idea of the vampire. And thus to the crux of my argument.

Twilight has done nothing new with vampires compared to other fiction. The vampires are exceptionally strong, fast, and some have supernatural powers beyond their advanced senses and skills. These differences have gone unnoticed or unappreciated as a problem by most people. And that's fine. However, the problem for most people is 'sparkly vanmpires'. This is basically bashed as a major reason, more so than any other, about why Twilight is so bad. To be completely honest, I hated the idea of sparkly vampires. I thought, all the vampire traits were perfectly fine and indeed very much ideal, save for the vegitarianism (although I'm guilty of that myself, as you'll soon see). Sparkling in the sunlight was just too stupid for me, though. So to anyone who's read this far (if you have, congratulations and you get a whole bag of cookies for your patience), I come to my conclusion. What I have been building up to is this: I didn't like the sparkly vampire bit. That did ruin them slightly for me. However, Stephenie Meyer was perfectly within her rights to have sparkly vampires and as such I accept them as part of the world of Twilight. That's basically it.

Final thing. When I read Twilight I was first starting to get into vampire fiction (That same week I'd previously bought, on impulse, a ticket for a reimagined theatre production of Dracula at my university. It was the best impulsive thing I've ever done, definitely worth it.). Anyway, soon afterwards I began to come up with short story ideas and so on, and I'd just begun to explore within my own mind the darkes recesses of the human psyche, the macabre and the horrific things that lie within all our minds (bear with me, I'm setting a mood here). Recently, there was a thread started up on this very forum for short stories. As a result, I created my own short story basically stealing some ideas (the good, not the considerable bad) from Twilight. In writing, I made sure to make an effort to create engaging characters and a moving story that does what Twilight apparently fails to do. The characters are basically created in my own signature style, as good people who inherently have dark personalities and are flawed and have to overcome their flaws and struggle against themselves and each other to find happiness and fulfillment. Very complex, but to the level that it doesn't overshadow the point and morals, a must in any short story. I'm waffling now, so here's the link:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.110578?page=3#1939495

It's the story called 'Nameless', and it's in three parts. I advise you take a look, if so then please give some constructive criticism, it would be much appreciated. Thank you :D

And sorry for the huge Wall'O'Text...
 

Lord Beautiful

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Aug 13, 2008
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Thyunda said:
The vampire didn't glow, it sparkled. Not THE most masculine thing for a vampire to do, of course.
The big issue we all had was that in vampire history, so to speak, sunlight was fatal. Dracula was reduced to ashes when exposed to sunlight. Other vampires died in similar ways from the same cause.
Hell, even Vampire Hunter D had heat syndrome, and he was a dhampir. This sparkling business is pure silliness, and I can not think of a reason why Stephanie Meyer would make her "vampires" do such a thing in the sun. I can appreciate vampires that deviate a tad from the norm, Hellsing's Alucard being a prime example of an out-of-the-ordinary vampire who is fantastically badass, but her take on them is a rather disturbing one. What's next? Werewolves that turn into kittens upon the arrival of the crescent moon? Zombies that aren't undead and only hunger for cabbage? A politician that isn't a douche? Poppycock.
 

Undeed

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May 22, 2008
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Trivun said:
WORD WORDS WORDS
Quote edited for length.

I, like many people, have not read the novels or seen the film. However, I have been sufficiently informed of goings on therein that I find myself with an opinion. That opinion is this: The movie was certainly tripe, even if the novels weren't. I cannot make such a bold statement on the quality of the novels, as that's much more difficult for me to get second hand, but I doubt they fare much better. In the post to follow I will be talking a great deal about Dracula, the novel proper, so spoiler alert maybe.

I don't mind when a story strays from the norm, when done well it is innovative and exciting. The common belief held of vampires bursting into flames under sunlight is actually a deviation from the original tale, wherein Dracula simply became average again and wore a large coat. The combustion originates from their first appearance on film, and the change was made because it was more dramatic. The list of powers has long been in a state of flux, changing depending on the needs of the story being told. The first tale included minor weather control(Or possibly being able to transform into a mist, I don't recall), mesmerism, shape changing into a bat, immortality, and super-strength, among other things. The weather control/transformation was dropped almost entirely from the start. Other aspects have been made more specific, for example some vampires will turn into their weight in bats rather than one bat, some vampires turn into a man-sized bat. The original gave vampires several weaknesses: Sunlight made him weaker, crosses, holy water, and garlic could be used to ward him off, but the only sure way to kill him was to decapitate him and drive a stake into his heart. The new version seem to be fairly invulnerable under most circumstances.

I think the main problem with Meyer's vampires is simply that they are no longer frighting. A sparkling, pretty vegetarian will get beat up on the school ground in the best of circumstances. We cannot do this to Meyer's vamps, but we can certainly reel at the inappropriateness of this particular change: vampires were not meant to be attractive. They were meant to frighten us, keep us indoors at night, make us check our locks. At no point has anyone decided to make any of the other 'classic' monsters people friendly, with the exception of Scooby Doo( A cartoon, but I may as well be thorough). Meyer's characters seem to be more the embodiment of some ideal for her as opposed to a real attempt at vampires. I'd even accept that they were vampires if they drank any blood but they seem to be vegetarians, which is ridiculous.

The number of things wrong with the relationship is staggering, but I'll bring it down to two:
1)He is a vampire who got to decide when he would turn immortal(I think?), and that was at seventeen. Now I don't know when he went vamp, because that would make all the difference, but in today's world you'd turn at eighteen or twenty-one due to various rights and privileges you get. The only reason I could see for staying seventeen is to dodge laws, mainly so you could pick up younger girls without issue. I doubt the author gave this much thought. This one is not as big as the other.
2) The relationship described throughout the novel carries a pattern typical to abusive relationships. This was in my earlier post, so I won't go into this terribly, but it is making this the romantic ideal for tween girls everywhere. I sincerely doubt this is a good thing.


Maybe it's just me, maybe I'm right. Who knows? I don't. Opinions are free for a reason: You get what you pay for...