The popularity of Twilight and the disturbing implications herein

[ButtonedDownParadox]

So meany-face-poo-pants Gustav made a mess of the power lines in my peaceful little hamlet and I was left without electricity for almost a week. As you can imagine that left me with a lot of free time and so I decided to buy into all this Twilight hype.

You see I am a male who is friends with mostly females and they all yammer on and on about this Twilight deal. So much so that they often have Edward Cullen as their dream husband and often say how they relate to Bella Swan (Which is such a stupid fucking name that I was a skeptic about the quality of this book going in).

So I read it and I'm not going to knock it's quality because that's too easy. Although if that's what you're looking for I can start by how CHARACTER TRAITS and CHARACTER PERSONALITIES are two different things which Meyers fails to realize and thus has cardboard cut-outs running around being insensible.

No, no. As you can tell by the title I am more for the bigger picture. These female friends of mine (Like...all of them) are pining over some guy who constantly threatens how dangerous he is, uses his strength to circumvent the few independent thoughts Bella actually has, and is obsessive controlling in general.

I once even asked a female friend of mine what fictional character she relates to the most. Just grasp how broad that is. She could have said Ignatius J. Reilly, Ishmael, Agent Dana Scully, fucking Gizmo from the Gremlins.

Her answer was Bella Swan. Who is NOT even a fleshed out character as far as I'm concerned. Like when I read Twilight I envision her character as having one eye pointed towards her nose, her tongue lolling out, pigeon-toed, and just agreeing to whatever anybody says.

Granted that's a contained incident with a fairly stale example of a person. But what about these girls thinking Edward Cullen is something to fantasize about? Are these girls destined to be on Cops yelling, "I love you, babe-ayyy!" as their dream man gets dragged off for domestic abuse?

*Sigh* On a scale of one to ten how much am I overreacting? (Or if you actually think I have something going here feel free to rant)

 

[asleep at the comp]

same here man the quality of the books sucks (sorry) unlike stephen kings so good anyway my sis got addicted to the saga so i tried playing it and found it terrible i got to pg 11 then gace up on the book

 

[Space Spoons]

I've got more or less the same attitude towards the books. Wouldn't say you're overreacting at all. The level of obsession some fans develop for these cookie-cutter "characters" can get downright depressing.

Then again, you're talking to a guy who was in line at the midnight release of "Deathly Hallows." Guess I can't really talk. > .>

 

[PlasticPorter]

This book series does embody the menapausal mastabatory aid like the lame ass romance novellas that they sell in safeway except this time its got a good press agent and has vampires.

 

[ButtonedDownParadox]

Also I had a glimpse at this interview with the director of the film adaptation and she was promising to deliver some attractive teenagers.

I think we're reaching closer to the truth of its appeal. Attractive teenagers and their angsty complicated (Vacuous) relationships.

 

[tmdude]

no you are not overacting the book completely takes the cool out of vampires by making edward a VEGAN Vampire plus he is so overly perfected i want to wrap razor wire around his neck and slit his throat

 

[Fire Daemon]

I know people who think that "Edward Cullen puts human males to shame" (their words exactly) and tell me that all the time. It's as annoying as hell being compared to a character from fiction, let alone being told that he puts me to shame. I might not be a vampire but that doesn't mean I should be ashamed of myself. What type of a person tells others that they don't compare to a character of fiction? If I told someone that they are not as attractive as say, Ivy from Soul Calibur 4, everyone would think "jeez what a jerk face" and think that I have un-realistic expectations of women. But saying that I don't compare to a Vampire is okay?

That's the main problem I have with Twilight.

 

[kelnadine]

As a girl who is a Twilight fan...I can admit that the books aren't perfect, but it brings a lot of girls joy. Why do guys complain so much? All of the fans know that Edward Cullen will never become reality. It's just fantasy and fun.

 

[Bulletinmybrain]

As a girl who is a Twilight fan...I can admit that the books aren't perfect, but it brings a lot of girls joy. Why do guys complain so much? All of the fans know that Edward Cullen will never become reality. It's just fantasy and fun.

Thats fine and all, But some fangirls take it a bit too far..

 

[Eyclonus]

Space Spoons, HP is a far superior series to this filth.

I read a chapter of Twilight years ago and decided that its just another generic emo vamp teen novel that desparately wants to be Anne Rice. At least some of Anne Rice's characters have some depth, initially, and the descriptions are less repeated and richer.

For a genre I hate with passion, the only teen vampire series I can tolerate is The Lost Boys film, mainly because it gives a nice 80s version on the vampire myth. Plus the grandpa nonchalantly killing a vampire and then grabbing a beer out of the fridge is priceless.

I don't think your overreacting, its a perfectly reasonable reaction, like going berzerk at people who want to put Creationism into Science classes and move Evolution into the ignored Philosophy class.

 

[ButtonedDownParadox]

As a girl who is a Twilight fan...I can admit that the books aren't perfect, but it brings a lot of girls joy. Why do guys complain so much? All of the fans know that Edward Cullen will never become reality. It's just fantasy and fun.

That's cool I suppose. I don't wish to offend or give the impression that I think of you any less for enjoying it. But do you understand where I'm coming from when I think it's mildly disturbing that this tale of a submissive girl with inner ear imbalance and her controlling abusive vampire boyfriend is considered to be such a great love story?

 

[Razzle Bathbone]

Dude, they patiently suffer through it when you drool over whoever the latest OMGHOT videogame blow-up doll is. I've never read Twilight, and I can't imagine it's all that good, but I seriously doubt the Twilight dream-boys can be any more vacuous and irritating than your typical videogame dream-girl.

 

[ButtonedDownParadox]

Dude, they patiently suffer through it when you drool over whoever the latest OMGHOT videogame blow-up doll is. I've never read Twilight, and I can't imagine it's all that good, but I seriously doubt the Twilight dream-boys can be any more vacuous and irritating than your typical videogame dream-girl.

At what point did I defend typical videogame dream-girl? I mean if you feel like you're limited to just making presumptuous statements about me (Who I'm fairly sure you do not know, do you?) then I can make a rant about how there are no three-dimensional female videogame characters (You know what I mean) sans Alyx Vance so you can reply on a more civilized ground.

 

[Reaperman Wompa]

You aren't overreacting. Any girl who thinks they are like Bella swan or have a crush on Edward Cullen are absolutely retarded. The only reason it's popular is because it's simple and has a guy going on about how he loves a girl, Most of the girls picturing themselves as Bella as they wait for their own Edward Cullen to come along and "sweep them off their feet" it's sad, pathetic and as a whole makes annoying girls even more so as they go on as if they understand love because of an overrated book. I posted something like this in the Whinging thread.

 

[Digitalpotato]

It's official....This is officially the most hated franchise out there, and move over Herman Mellville - you are no longer the author whose work people dread reading most.

Really it just sounds to me like a generic vampire story that was lucky enough to capture the attention of people what aren't vampire fetishists.

 

[kelnadine]

Dude, they patiently suffer through it when you drool over whoever the latest OMGHOT videogame blow-up doll is. I've never read Twilight, and I can't imagine it's all that good, but I seriously doubt the Twilight dream-boys can be any more vacuous and irritating than your typical videogame dream-girl.

Thank you. I was thinking it, and you said it.

 

[jezz8me]

I have only read excerpts of the book and what i do not like about them is the writing style. It is written as a teen romance which is fine if it was a teen romance but it is being huypesd as a "vamipre romance" which should IMO be written in a classical, sofisticated gothic sort of romace.

 

[ButtonedDownParadox]

Dude, they patiently suffer through it when you drool over whoever the latest OMGHOT videogame blow-up doll is. I've never read Twilight, and I can't imagine it's all that good, but I seriously doubt the Twilight dream-boys can be any more vacuous and irritating than your typical videogame dream-girl.

Thank you. I was thinking it, and you said it.

Oh well how polite of you. To respond to my understanding with assuming I, "drool over the latest videogame blow-up doll". How about you make an actual defense of the Twilight series as I actually want to know what the deal is with this phenomena. I mean am I off-base by saying these characters are petty and illogical? Did I miss something? Is it damaging to aspire to the dysfunctional relationship Bella and Edward have like some fan boy/girls do?

As you may have noticed I haven't judged you like you have judged me and that's because I actually want to hear the other side of the issue.

 

[The Kind Cannibal]

Every female(and a few males) under 17 and within 50 miles of where I live has a die hard obsession with Twilight. Now I could handle this without batting an eye but that's not where it ends....See, they like to compare it(their definition of compare is to make all other things in comparison seem like utter shit) to decent, legitimately good works of literature. I would be more than slightly annoyed at this if it only happen ever so often and only by a few of them but again, it doesn't stop there. Every single one of them has a fanatical obsession and will go as far as to say Twilight is better and more interesting blahblahblahblah than anything EVER WRITTEN. I kid you not.

It's their behaviour that makes me want to stab the author of the damn book(s)in the eye with a rusty spoon.