Twilight or Fifty Shades of Grey?

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

If you're a woman, it's okay to like either of the above. Enjoying 50 Shades however at best only demonstrates an appalling taste in literature. It's the worst sort of trash, dubbed "mommy-porn" for a reason.

If you're a guy and you enjoy either of the above, there are bigger issues than just poor taste in books.

 

[madster11]

Fifty shades of grey has been directly responsible for at least 4 males i know getting laid, after their wives/GFs were reading it.

Twilight, meanwhile, is responsible for no such thing. In fact, i bet i can prove without a doubt that as soon as it became popular, husbands/boyfriends getting sex dropped a measurable amount.

On this basis alone, fifty shades > twilight.

I wonder how many people know that 50 Shades of Grey is just a Twilight fanfic that they ctrl+f'd and changed all the names.

To be fair, they changed a lot. Like the massive hardon for volvo being replaced by a massive hardon for Audi.

You know the worst part? Even with the book being essentially shit, i still like 'Ana' better than 'Bella', because damn, at least she acknowledges out loud that she's in an abusive relationship and attempts to change this (to a degree of success, too). Bella just pissed me the hell off with how accepting she is about everything. He fucked with your car i don't give a shit what his reasons were, tell the asshole to GTFO.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Probably Fifty Shades, purely because the horrendous writing and juvenile sexual content is at least funny to read whereas what little I've read of Twilight is just unbearably dull.

This. My family talked me into reading Twilight during the craze -- or at least, the first half of the book. It was one of the most mind numbingly boring books I've ever read, and I didn't exactly skip out on my English classes in high school. I also actually enjoy reading, so this isn't a case of "of course he didn't like reading it, he's a gamer. There weren't enough explosions for him."

By the way, I saw the first movie in theaters and enjoyed it. It wasn't exactly the best film I'd ever seen, but it's a good example of how to get a film that anyone can enjoy out of a book aimed at a very specific demographic, to the alienation of everyone else.

Captcha: little bobby tables

First Inglip, now an XKCD reference. Solve Media really /is/ becoming sentient. It's gone beyond reading our threads and started learning from the rest of the internet.

Edit: To be clear, my problem with twilight was how boring it was. Nothing happened in the entire first half of the book -- or rather, nothing that happened was interesting. Stephanie Meyer managed to make vampires blocking out of control cars with their fists and following a woman to prevent a bunch of thugs from raping her, followed by a car chase boring. That takes anti-skill. I also didn't care for any of the characters. Who needs to nitpick the prose when a book has problems like that?

 

[Charli]

Ugh... uhhhhghhghghghhh...

50 shades I guess. Because there is no good story, no good romance, no good in either of them.

...I guess I'll go for some mindless smut then. I can at least laugh my way through it instead of hating myself for even being the same gender as Bella.

If you're a woman, it's okay to like either of the above. Enjoying 50 Shades however at best only demonstrates an appalling taste in literature. It's the worst sort of trash, dubbed "mommy-porn" for a reason.

Or if know some really dumb females.

 

[AlexWinter]

Having read them both I would say Twilight is better. But then again I haven't read the series in so long.

Couldn't finish the 50 shades series.

 

[AlexWinter]

If you're a woman, it's okay to like either of the above. Enjoying 50 Shades however at best only demonstrates an appalling taste in literature. It's the worst sort of trash, dubbed "mommy-porn" for a reason.

If you're a guy and you enjoy either of the above, there are bigger issues than just poor taste in books.

Sexist comment is sexist.

Captcha: Oh, you.

The irony of 50 Shades is that Twilight's author is a Mormon.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Sexist comment is sexist.

Captcha: Oh, you.

The irony of 50 Shades is that Twilight's author is a Mormon.

Why? Is it sexist to say that women are the overwhelming majority who watch "Sex in the City"? Whatever, the truth is the truth. If a guy is into either of the above, or even "chick lit" in general (excepting for a bizarre scientific or literary curiosity), I'd think them very weird. I consider women who like that trash slightly odd but forgiveable as it's trash specifically tailored to appeal to them.

 

[Phasmal]

Hm, which crappy book detailing a shitty abusive relationship* would I choose?
50 shades because it's funnier to mock.

But both of them make me has a sad. I mean, like what you like but you can't convince me either of those men is in any way appealing.
*Oh and not cause of the BDSM (which I think is badly misrepresented in that book), whole other shit is going down in that book.

 

[AlexWinter]

Sexist comment is sexist.

Captcha: Oh, you.

The irony of 50 Shades is that Twilight's author is a Mormon.

Why? Is it sexist to say that women are the overwhelming majority who watch "Sex in the City"? Whatever, the truth is the truth. If a guy is into either of the above, or even "chick lit" in general (excepting for a bizarre scientific or literary curiosity), I'd think them very weird. I consider women who like that trash slightly odd but forgiveable as it's trash specifically tailored to appeal to them.

It's not sexist to say that the majority of people that watch Sex and the City are women. It is sexist to say that it's only understandable for women to watch Sex and the City; which is what you said about 50 shades/Twilight.

 

[Beautiful End]

Personally, I would choose Twilight. I enjoyed reading the books because I always thought they had potential. If the author would have chosen to take a different approach, the series would have been amazing. Vampires with different superpowers? Vampire royalty? Giant Werewolves? Sounds like a comic book to me. I think all of that would have worked better as an action novel than a quasi romance novel. Fifty Shade of Grey is just plan softcore porn, if you ask me.

I only read the first Twilight, but it seemed to me to be nothing worse than a lot of teenage fiction - pretty badly written, but not that bad. It struck me as having the same issue as the Hunger Games did; the bullshit romantic plot that supercedes anything interesting that might be happening.

Honestly, if you had Twilight without Edward and Bella, it would be a hell of a lot more interesting. Barely restrained killing machines trying to pass in ordinary society, roving packs of vampires praying on whoever they want, supernatural vampire vs werewolf warfare...pretty cool. Instead we just got a lot of teenage angst.

One thing I do question, though. You know how one of the not-Edward Cullens absolutely flips his shit because Bella cuts herself and he can smell that tiny drop of blood from the other side of the room? How it drives him into a mindless berserker rage? Well, he goes to a high school with hundreds or possibly thousands of teenage girls. Do none of them ever menstruate?! You'd think by now that school would be a wasteland littered with corpses just because one girl was on the rag and someone caught a whiff.

Well...from what I understood, that other vampire who flips over Bella's blood was an outcast or something. He didn't have a normal life; he was recruited and then taken away. So yeah, he probably would have had a seizure if he had smelled a girl on her period but he never got a chance because, you know, he was out there transforming people into vampires and killing random people. The other good vampires have supposedly learned to control themselves. So yeah.

But yeah, i agree. if it wasn't for the exaggerated angsty love triangle, the story would be cool. I still think it has a cool concept.

And you gotta choose one! Otherwise, why be here?

Alright, there's the thing. Those two novels receive a lot of hate and a lot of attention. I'm not saying they're basically the same when it comes to content; I'm just saying that if you hate both and you HAD to choose one of them, which one would you choose? I just thought it'd be fun to pick something like this as opposed to something most people would like (Link vs. Zelda, Gordon freeman vs. Chell, etc.)

Personally, I would choose Twilight. I enjoyed reading the books because I always thought they had potential. If the author would have chosen to take a different approach, the series would have been amazing. Vampires with different superpowers? Vampire royalty? Giant Werewolves? Sounds like a comic book to me. I think all of that would have worked better as an action novel than a quasi romance novel. Fifty Shade of Grey is just plan softcore porn, if you ask me.

So which one is it and why?

2 things:

1: What is the choice? Are we choosing which to burn/wipe from existence? Choosing which one to read? What is it?

2: You do know that 50 Shades of Grey started out as a Twilight Fanfiction right? So picking between the two is really picking between two of the same.

1. Which one would you keep? Sorry about that, I'll clarify that.

2. Yes, I know. But they're not the same. Even though you could say 50SoG is Twilight's bastard son, they're not written by the same author and they don't take place in the same universe (As far as we know). And even if none of that is valid, you just gotta choose which one you think is better for whatever reason.

 

[DementedSheep]

On the one hand the sex scenes in 50 shades of grey might atleast be funny but the relationship thing may have gone over the point where it?s funny.
I thought the relationship in Twilight was creepy but 50 shades of grey seems to take that to a whole new level. Honestly everything I have heard about it just makes me want to go on murderous rampage so for the sake of my sanity and the lives of those around me I might have to go for Twilight. ಠ_ಠ

 

[Alternative]

Twilight is better, as angsty as the characters may be at least they genuinely loved each other and Edward didn't abuse Bella in the bedroom (to our knowledge)

50 Shades is kinda messed up :|

while Fifty Shades of Grey is an worse written, horrible mess of a book that idolizes abusive relationships (...)

So i'll choose twilight because Twilight doesn't contain an abusive, manipulative psychopath as the ideal husband while at the same time demonizing BDSM relationships.

So I have heard enough about the shit characters, but is it really an abusive relationship when it's consensual? Because if I apply that logic to vanilla sex, all sex is rape even if consensual.

And is Earl Grey really the "ideal" husband in the story?

The problem is that it's not really consensual. Ana "Rexia" Steele wants a normal "Boyfriend-girlfriend" relationship. Christian MOTHERFUCKING Grey wants a "Dom/Sub" relationship, to the extent he wants her to sign a contract handing over her entire life to him.

But every time Ana tries to get what she wants, Christian sexes her mind away from the idea and imposes his will anyway.

I wasn't referring to the sex at all.

Im talking about just about every other part of the book.

any time Anastasia Steele (totally not a porn name) tells Christian Grey not todo something. He ignores her and does it. Two examples, First when Anastasia first gets the contract from Grey. She sends him an email telling him "dont talk to me ever again". So what does Grey do? He shows up at her house 5 minutes later, forces her to have sex (but its totally not rape because she "secretly wanted it") then threats to beat her if she ever trys something like that again.
Second, When Anastasia visits her Mother in godknowwhere she tells Cristian she doesnt want to see himtill she gets back in a few days. So what does Christian do? Shows up to her mothers house uninvited, essentially forces his way in then after Anastasia's mother has left the room tell Anastasia that he can bare to be without her then threatens to hit her if she ever goes somewhere without telling him.

 

[SonicWaffle]

Well...from what I understood, that other vampire who flips over Bella's blood was an outcast or something. He didn't have a normal life; he was recruited and then taken away. So yeah, he probably would have had a seizure if he had smelled a girl on her period but he never got a chance because, you know, he was out there transforming people into vampires and killing random people. The other good vampires have supposedly learned to control themselves. So yeah.

So...this one dude just never goes out of the house, then? He stays at home all day lest he smell someone's blood, go feral, and wipe out the entire town? Seems like a boring-as-fuck existence...

 

[SonicWaffle]

Honestly, if you had Twilight without Edward and Bella, it would be a hell of a lot more interesting. Barely restrained killing machines trying to pass in ordinary society, roving packs of vampires praying on whoever they want, supernatural vampire vs werewolf warfare...pretty cool.

The Russians actually did that. It was called Night Watch.

Night Watch was nothing like Twilight

Also, it still had an angsty pair of lovers, at least early on before they got married and become boring!

 

[Andy Shandy]

Just because of the "voice readings" that I've seen posted in this thread, it has to be Fifty Shades Of Grey.

 

[Beautiful End]

Honestly, if you had Twilight without Edward and Bella, it would be a hell of a lot more interesting. Barely restrained killing machines trying to pass in ordinary society, roving packs of vampires praying on whoever they want, supernatural vampire vs werewolf warfare...pretty cool.

The Russians actually did that. It was called Night Watch.

Night Watch was nothing like Twilight

Also, it still had an angsty pair of lovers, at least early on before they got married and become boring!

Yeah, that's pretty much the only reason why he was created; to act as a hound dog. The other red headed vampire kinda possesses him or something.

But hey, it's Twilight.

 

[Dags90]

So...this one dude just never goes out of the house, then? He stays at home all day lest he smell someone's blood, go feral, and wipe out the entire town? Seems like a boring-as-fuck existence...

It's explained pretty early on the Bella just smells particularly delicious, even to good vamps. That's the more likely reason for his actions (also because it's some other dude's lady). Maybe she's part faerie or something.

 

[Spinozaad]

50 Shades of Grey. Duh. Literary gems such as "Holy cow! Christian wants to fuck me! He wants to fuck me hard!" should be treasured. Who needs books like Musil's 'The Man Without Qualities', Mulisch's 'the Discovery of Heaven' or Joyce's 'Ulysses' when you have 50 Shades of Grey?