More Twilight ranting

[angelicmadrigal]

Someone please explain to me how Twilight is anything special. Someone PLEASE explain to me how it's doing anything new and ground breaking in the realm of vampire fiction. PLEASE PLEASE tell me how it's not a complete and utter rip of of everything that's already been done in vampire fiction and in vampire roleplaying games. In my opinion for me

Comments

[satyrblade]

You're right in that there's isn't much new about Twilight. It's just introducing the old tropes/ cliches to an audience too young to know how overdone they are. The one new-ish element about it, though, is what appears to be making Twilight so popular.

You're right: Twilight has nothing to do with the Vampire as history or as archetype. It has everything to do with wish-fulfillment. Twilight is neither horror, thriller, satire nor erotica. It's a more-or-less chaste romance in which the Super Beautiful Bad Boy protects his adolescent girlfriend from the horrors of the Big Bad World.

Edward Cullen is dangerous enough to be thrilling, but presents no serious danger to Belle. He's a cool and gorgeous escort into adulthood, neither rushing her nor truly coddling her. As a symbol, Edward isn't Plague or Parasite, Genderqueer Proxy or even Power Fantasy - he's a Protector. And for girls hitting the uncertain age between childhood and adulthood, the idea of an "escort" through that territory who also happens to be a vaguely sinister superhero - and the hottest, most confident guy in school - is pretty appealing.

You're right - Edward is not your Vampire - he's their Vampire, a neutered Demon Lover for the Smallville set, one who won't destroy you even though he could because he's just so in LOVE with you. He's the hot yet old-fashioned guy who cares about you so much that he restrains his bestial side. He's not a stumbling puppy like the other boys your age, and he carries enough Secret Inner Torment(TM) to appeal to your mothering side, too.

Y'know what? In a world filled with date rape drugs, porn sites, slutty media "role models," frat boy etiquette and stripper chic, I can totally understand why that's so popular. It might not look empowering to us, but it seems pretty appealing to its core audience.

(Where do I get these impressions? Because I've been reading Twilight and checking out lots of articles about it, driven by a mercenary curiosity about the same questions you asked above.)

[angelicmadrigal]

I actually attempted to read about 1 chapter of it(from my cousin who was raving about it) and all I could was roll my eyes. So no one is EVER going to convince me it's good...hell no one is ever going to convince me it's mediocre.

Honestly, I would have liked to see the little vampire group (which remind me a bit of a Sabbat pack) tear the girl apart. She just comes off as annoying and in my opinion overly vulnerable and weak (been there done that with that character archetype and figured out how much it annoys people).

What you're explaining as the appeal to teenagers (and even some adults) is exactly the thing I HATE about teenagers...and most people in general. Seriously if the writer wanted to explore certain things why the hell chose vampires? My guess is the writer just thinks vampires are cool or has some ridiculous fantasy involving some ridiculousness that has to do with vampires.

tht heing that annoys me is this isn't just a teen phenomenon. Adults are jumping on the bandwagon as well...people who SHOULD no better that all this has been done before. I think that's the biggest sticking point for me.