(Note: Spoiler Warnings)
Okay, so let me start things off by saying this: I have read these books. A lot of people who are much better writers than me have given Twilight a lot of fire recently. They are totally in the right, as these sodden masses of pure filth barely qualify as literature in my opinion, but in order to properly bash a book you should read it first. So I did.
These books cover the antics of a teenage girl named Isabella Swan who meets a family of vampires and eventually marries one named Edward Cullen. Now, I could go on for ages about why these books as a series irritate me, but for length issues I will concentrate on the first.
Why I Hate The Book In Itself:
Twilight is not a vampire novel. It is a romance novel. After reading Twilight, I literally felt sick. I had heard that it was a vampire story, and being a major vampire novel fan myself, I guess I was expecting something a bit more. So let me start with this- Twilight vampires are not vampires. The vampires in this book prey on animals instead of humans. They wear designer clothes. They can go in to the sunlight, but avoid it as it makes them glitter. They have souls.
Doesn't that just seem wrong? What happened to the brilliance of vampire novelists such as Anne Rice? One of the defining characteristics of vampires is that they shouldn't be able to go out in the daytime. Vampires are monsters, and it should always be so. They feed on humans, and kill them remorselessly. Sometimes they love, and sometimes they become obsessed with finding a world of pure tragic beauty, but in the end they are monsters, meant to to prey on humans.
Another thing that really bothers me is how the author tries in inject her religious values in to the novels. Bella's vampire boyfriend won't bite her or have sex with her until she marries him. And marry him she does- at barely nineteen. She also chooses to stay with her boyfriend instead of going to college and getting an education. Later, she becomes pregnant with some weird half-vampire spawn and insists on keeping the baby, even though it nearly kills her. Now, these values are all fine and dandy, but it makes me concerned that the fans might be picking up on ideals they might not have had before.
Aside from these obvious flaws, the Twilight books are just badly written. There is absolutely nothing special about the novels as literature- the only reason why they are popular is because of their fans.
Why I Hate Twilight Fans
Twilight fans are among the most frightening and disturbing groups of people out there. Most Twilight fans are girls between the ages of 13 and 16, who are probably the type that need books that make them feel good about themselves. Girls at that age will literally obsess over anything stupid. It just happens. They go out to Hot Topic and spend twenty bucks on a shirt with Edward Cullen's face on it and hope other people will see just how cool they are.
Now, I don't have a problem with people who just read the books and get over them like regular people. In my case, I wouldn't have bothered if I hadn't been trapped in the house anyway after I got my wisdom teeth out. I'm just strangely disturbed that all of these girls choose to obsess over a mediocre piece of literature.
Want more info on Twilight fans? Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Why I Hate The Twilight Franchise System:
The core fact about Twilight that really, really pisses me off is how corporate the entire thing is. The books are money-making machines, devoid of all palpable content. They exist only so teenage girls will buy them. Over and over we see the corporate machine grinding out prepackaged television stars and designer brands- all marketed so that kids will want their parents to buy them things they don't need. Whatever it is- Twilight, The Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana, or Bratz dolls, its disgusting. This generation is being force-fed marketable commodities instead of actual talent. In past generations, things were different. As much as I complain about the '80s, there was at least some original culture that came out of it. What does generation Y have- pop punk?
When it all comes down to it, I miss original, well-written literature. Twilight works to slander the beautiful genera that is vampire novels, and its just painful to watch.
5 comments:
I may largely disagree with you on a majority of political topics, however I agree wholeheartedly with you here. Especially on how consumerist and machine-made our society is. There's very little products or music these days that is actually good.
Excuse me, but could you please put spoiler tags at the top of this post? I'm actually in the middle of reading the series, and I'd prefer not to find out what happens all at once.
While I respect your opinion, I think there's one key thing here. Vampires aren't real, or at least the skewed fantasy interpretations of them aren't. Just because one person started writing about them one way that has been set in stone for a long time doesn't mean that someone can't have a different take on them. Since they don't exist, we don't really have much to go on in the way of comparison.
Vampires surviving off of animal blood is also not anything new. In the TV series Angel, the main character survives off of pig's blood to avoid from killing his human friends. He was also cursed (or blessed?) with a soul. I'd say the only outlandish thing she introduced was the sparkling. What. In. The... I don't know, that kind of pissed me off.
I'm not saying it's a good series, but I am kind of ashamed to say that I do like it. It just appeals to certain people. I've always had a thing for vampires, but I don't share the same views as you. Oh well.
@ bornotaku:
Hooray! One thing less to argue about!
@ Fuzzy:
I'm sorry- I didn't think about the spoilers. I'm just keeping this blog for class, and I really didn't expect anyone to read it.
You're right in that to an extent, vampires are really open to interpretation. But twilight vampires and traditional vampires are pretty much apples and oranges. So they don't feed on humans, fine, there are a lot that don't. But the fact that they can go out in to the sunlight probably irritated me the most.
You don't have to feel ashamed for liking these books. When I read the first one, I thought it was a little silly, but somewhat enjoyable. They are meant to entertain, and they certainly do that. However, its just the recent hype over these books that kind of set me over the edge for this post.
But yeah, thanks for the feedback. I'll be sure to give spoiler warnings next time.
(Why I Hate Twilight Fans
Twilight fans are among the most frightening and disturbing groups of people out there. Most Twilight fans are girls between the ages of 13 and 16, who are probably the type that need books that make them feel good about themselves. Girls at that age will literally obsess over anything stupid. It just happens. They go out to Hot Topic and spend twenty bucks on a shirt with Edward Cullen's face on it and hope other people will see just how cool they are.)
Hey, hey! Don't mix me in with that kind of crowd! I'm a 13 year old girl and I actually hate Twilight for one. I wouldn't say that manga (which I love. And loved since 3rd grade, way ahead of the bandwagon. Also, I dislike Naruto, so don't mix me in with them, either.) is all that stupid either. But I'll shut up now.
It is true that it's entirely marketing. It's sickening.
@Fuzzy: They can make whatever sorta beast they want. But we have the word vampire for a reason! If it's not actually the set-in-stone traditional vampire, then you can't call it vampire! You call it whatever else you want. That's like...like taking a human who feasts on the flesh of the dead and calling it a pixie! And it doesn't even have wings! They're just not pixies.
"When it all comes down to it, I miss original, well-written literature."
YES, YES, YES.
There really isn't much new literature that's worth reading these days.
I agree with what you've written, nearly completely. The books were quite badly written and I wish the vampires had a bit more vampire character as well.
However, I wouldn't call Anne Rice "brilliant", and she's nearly as bad as Stephenie Meyer but in a different way. I didn't enjoy reading "Interview" at all... I consider the vampire genre to be a bit tacky in general.
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