Why Twilight Isn't About Vampires
There are 2 big reasons why there are no vampires in Twilight.
1. Rules! There are a LOT of supernatural creatures to populate your genre fic. They all have "rules" that are vaguely defined and that the author has freedom to play with, like "vampires are burned by sunlight". Their rules also often overlap. How can you tell the difference between a forest-dwelling shape shifter in a fantasy movie from a werewolf who can transform at will in a horror movie? Context. The tropes surrounding the creature help define it. If you deviate too far from the currently accepted rules, your vampire ceases to be a "vampire" and becomes some other creature.
2. Themes! Okay, so why would you pick a vampire for your story anyway? Because they are ready made metaphors for so many things. What does your vampire stand for? Well, the themes of your work help define that, too. Again, authors are free to innovate, but when they deviate too far from the traditional themes and metaphors, then there's no reason for the vampire to be a vampire, and the story becomes stupid.
Basically, Meyerpires aren't vamps because Meyer broke too many rules and strayed too far from the usual themes. Sure, her vampires drink blood, but that's not what makes a vamp a vamp. Not all vamps drink blood (incubi/succubi and psychic vampires are more or less accepted as part of the vampire mythos), and not all blood-drinking creatures are vampires (some are demons, witches, or evil spirits of one kind or another, and they may or may not have started out as humans). Her vamps also have super-strength and speed, but so does almost every supernatural creature ever created. They are cold and have no heartbeat, but can get erections and impregnate women, which is medically contradictory but not unheard of in vamp fic (dhampirs). But impregnation of a human by a supernatural is more commonly associated with other creatures (demons and gods, for example. Sure, it's part of the incubus mythos, but we're clearly not dealing with an incubus here, so it doesn't count). They are nigh invulnerable to everything, and that cinches it. Vampires are very killable. Also... venom? I could almost accept it if you were taking the supernatural-meets-science approach where a scientists is studying vamps, but that went out the window with the bloodless erection.
It's okay for an author to play fast and loose with the rules if there's a good narrative reason to do so... but Meyer doesn't have one. So, like the werewolf example above, I can only judge what kind of creatures these are by context. Are there any other vampire tropes in the stories? None that I've been able to pick out. There are horror tropes in Breaking Dawn, but they're not vampire horror tropes.
So, what's left? Well, we have a creature who lures a young and very stupid girl away from her family and impregnates her with what I'm interpreting as a changling baby (yeah, I know they're supposed to be switched after birth, but this would actually be an acceptable narrative deviation if Meyer had done it on purpose). The creatures live in the forest, are not particularly nocturnal or diurnal, apparently have several pots of gold stashed away judging by their private island and jet and have a variety of magical abilities including mind-reading and precognition. What am I supposed to think they are?
If we weren't TOLD that they drink blood, no one would ever have thought that they were vampires. So, I'm sticking with faeries.
Final note: All rules can be broken if you're a good enough writer. Meyer just isn't.
1. Rules! There are a LOT of supernatural creatures to populate your genre fic. They all have "rules" that are vaguely defined and that the author has freedom to play with, like "vampires are burned by sunlight". Their rules also often overlap. How can you tell the difference between a forest-dwelling shape shifter in a fantasy movie from a werewolf who can transform at will in a horror movie? Context. The tropes surrounding the creature help define it. If you deviate too far from the currently accepted rules, your vampire ceases to be a "vampire" and becomes some other creature.
2. Themes! Okay, so why would you pick a vampire for your story anyway? Because they are ready made metaphors for so many things. What does your vampire stand for? Well, the themes of your work help define that, too. Again, authors are free to innovate, but when they deviate too far from the traditional themes and metaphors, then there's no reason for the vampire to be a vampire, and the story becomes stupid.
Basically, Meyerpires aren't vamps because Meyer broke too many rules and strayed too far from the usual themes. Sure, her vampires drink blood, but that's not what makes a vamp a vamp. Not all vamps drink blood (incubi/succubi and psychic vampires are more or less accepted as part of the vampire mythos), and not all blood-drinking creatures are vampires (some are demons, witches, or evil spirits of one kind or another, and they may or may not have started out as humans). Her vamps also have super-strength and speed, but so does almost every supernatural creature ever created. They are cold and have no heartbeat, but can get erections and impregnate women, which is medically contradictory but not unheard of in vamp fic (dhampirs). But impregnation of a human by a supernatural is more commonly associated with other creatures (demons and gods, for example. Sure, it's part of the incubus mythos, but we're clearly not dealing with an incubus here, so it doesn't count). They are nigh invulnerable to everything, and that cinches it. Vampires are very killable. Also... venom? I could almost accept it if you were taking the supernatural-meets-science approach where a scientists is studying vamps, but that went out the window with the bloodless erection.
It's okay for an author to play fast and loose with the rules if there's a good narrative reason to do so... but Meyer doesn't have one. So, like the werewolf example above, I can only judge what kind of creatures these are by context. Are there any other vampire tropes in the stories? None that I've been able to pick out. There are horror tropes in Breaking Dawn, but they're not vampire horror tropes.
So, what's left? Well, we have a creature who lures a young and very stupid girl away from her family and impregnates her with what I'm interpreting as a changling baby (yeah, I know they're supposed to be switched after birth, but this would actually be an acceptable narrative deviation if Meyer had done it on purpose). The creatures live in the forest, are not particularly nocturnal or diurnal, apparently have several pots of gold stashed away judging by their private island and jet and have a variety of magical abilities including mind-reading and precognition. What am I supposed to think they are?
If we weren't TOLD that they drink blood, no one would ever have thought that they were vampires. So, I'm sticking with faeries.
Final note: All rules can be broken if you're a good enough writer. Meyer just isn't.