By guest writer Nate Gotchy
Back in
2005 an unknown writer had her first book published with a fresh take on the
fictional creatures known as Vampires (as well as Werewolves). This series took
a while to gain popularity often being spoken about, almost as if it were a
great secret, by groups of mothers and young women. Soon you couldn’t go
anywhere without hearing about the revolutionary love founded between a human
named Bella and a Vampire named Edward. Soon after that Twilight became a
household name and has hit popularity akin to Harry Potter (though not quite as
lucrative). During the years it started to burst in popularity, I happened to
be away from it; forsaking all media outlets like TV, computers, and
entertaining literature. When I had returned the first movie had just come out
and I saw a frenzied battleground of those that love the twilight series and
feel they need to spread that love like a new founded religion and those that
believe vampires are evil blood sucking monsters that shouldn’t be shiny and
that twilight makes a mockery of all that is Vampirism. Seeing the body’s
strewn hitherto one mangled soul grabbed my pant leg. She was part of the
former group and with her last ounce of strength thrust the cursed book series
for which this battle raged into my arms. Then she was gone... she said her kid
was done with soccer practice and headed to her mini-van. So I found a quiet
fox hole to read this series. After finishing, forming a personal opinion, I
began to talk to my friends about what they had thought. My friends consist of
literary hipsters (a fancy term for book snobs ;-) , those that grew up on Anne
Rice and Buffy, and those that simply hate things that are mainstream. Hearing both
their intelligent and silly thoughts on the series I formed another opinion.
Both sides had good points. Here is what I have gathered:
Team Twilight is great!
·
A new concept on Vampires and Werewolves as well
as their lore and physical makeup’s
·
Bella: a 2D character with a very vague personality,
but an uncommon strength and carries a strange ability to not freak out when
surrounded by supernatural beings (as long as they are gorgeous). Contrary to
belief, how she was written was genius. She was written in such a way that the
majority of the female populace (the exception being those women that read lots
of literature or are involved in a lot of fantasy in some way) were able to
place themselves in the shoes of this vague Bella girl and picture themselves
being in the entanglements that come with hanging out with mythical creatures.
·
A wonderful love story both enthralling and (if
given a chance) has the ability to really pull you into the plight of the
characters.
·
One of the few if only mainstream vampire novels
written with a squeaky clean overall story; no over the top gore, graphic
sexual encounters, or anything reaching over a PG-13 feel. Let’s be honest,
married couples will have sex at one point and there was fear that all the
sexual tension being built throughout the series would be swept under the rug
when Bella and Ed were married, but at the same time they didn’t want to be
overwhelmed with a overly graphic scene akin to what is, sadly, popular in
today’s media associated with Vampires. But Stephanie Meyer wrote that part of
their relationship very tastefully that really went well with the audience that
follows her works.
·
Characters that are well built with rich
backgrounds
·
Shiny Vampires: This is very well done whether
you think so or not. Vampires have always been written as hunters. Stephanie
simply took this concept to a whole new level gleaning certain elements of
allure from sources like the original Dracula, Sirens of greek mythology, and
even Phantom of the Opera rather than taking the forceful approach found in
Anne Rice, Buffy, Underworld and various other Vampire outlets today. Nature
has made the vampires in Stephanie’s works
the top of the food chain; having all the lures (good looks, charm, strength, speed, even the
intrigue of shininess drawing humans in with curiosity) needed to be the
greatest predator of what used to be the deadliest prey; Man.
·
The Twilight Rifttracks
Team
Twilight has ruined vampires FOREVER!
·
Stephanie Meyer is obviously a new writer using
a lot clichés in her attempts to describe everything from the physical to the
feelings between characters. Overall her writing is that of a young writer of
her first series; unable to write things she doesn’t like but are needed
(battles for example), unable to let go
of characters (For example, forgoing an all-out battle at the end of the
series, making the things she was writing in preparation for the battle useless
and burying all the tension she built, all in fear of knowing she would have to
kill some main characters and instead left us with an unfulfilling ending and
thoughts of what could have been), and
the only real personal knowledge applied to her characters were mainly applied
to Females leaving the males missing a few key components. Making many of the
characters seem not as well rounded as they could be.
·
Not a huge fan of Bella’s breakdown when Ed
left. Really? You’re going to have a mental breakdown for months over a guy you
barely knew when you have a sexy friend with more abs than seems humanly
possible who wants to help you back on your feet? Girl, you gots to get some respect
fo’ yo’ self…
·
Going with the pervious bullet point, it can put
a negative light on women and their personalities. Often making apparent
ideology that women will be attracted more to men that will push them away and
keep them at a distance rather than men who will be there for them and lift
them up whether or not either party is extremely good looking. This can make
women seem self destructive and weak. I am more a fan of characters that will
build the reader rather than give them misconceptions on how they should act.
·
The
Vampires were a little over powered even with the application of Werewolves
being the vampire hunters of the story. They seem to be on par with Superman.
The werewolves being Batman. Batman can take out Superman given the proper prep
time and equipment, but taken by surprise he would be toast and this makes
things a little strenuous having the only real threat to the vampire world
being other vampires. Honestly the series would have been really different is
these were the case:
·
There were a few loose ends that seemed like
they were going somewhere and dropped off; preparations in case anything should
happen in the last battle that never got used, the actual history of the vampires,
the difference between Jacobs werewolves and the werewolves that were described
like werewolves from other literature, as well as hints that there were other
factions other than The Cullens and The Volturi out there; just to name a few.
Honestly if Stephanie could get over her aversion to battle and killing her
characters she could write about an ensuing war that could bring a whole new
element and flavor to the Twilight universe.
·
This one is directed to Stephanie Meyer herself.
I have begun writing a novel myself. This has allowed me to understand a little
on how important a story is to its author. That being said, the fact that you
cancelled “Midnight Sun” because a friend leaked what you had allowed them to
read seems a little childish. Many negativities people may have with the
original series maybe dispelled if you brought out the first book again through
the eyes of Edward. I’m honestly interested on how that would play out seeing
as how the Male element of your series seems lacking, but getting angry over
this set back and punishing your fans is ridiculous. That is all
·
The Twilight Rifttracks
Conclusion
and Final Opinion
All things considered, I believe, if given a chance as a
standalone work of fiction without trying to tie it to other works, it is a
well written supernatural love story with a rich plot and character development
by a young Author. Though the series is more catered to this central demographic:
·
Average moms and Housewives
·
Average Teen Girls
·
Simple minded followers of all that is
mainstream just to feel involved
·
Lonely and bored women (which may also include
the first three ;-D)
Rather than those that actually make up the majority of the
Twilight Haters front:
·
Those that don’t think vampires should ever
break the rules set down through literary history or think they are vampires
themselves and are appalled by their portrayal.
·
Literature Hipsters that will attack anything
that is mainstream and not a perfectly written masterpiece (sometimes even then
because mainstream is usually all they need to be enraged against something)
whether they have read it or not.
·
Man haters (inadvertently, “romance involving
men” haters). Believing that romance between men and women is often a portrayal
of feminine weakness
·
Most men (I say most to avoid an assault from
male Twilight fans. They’re vicious and will fight for their fandom till the
end)
That doesn’t change the fact that it is a pretty good series
to read.
The biggest problem people hate the
series for is because they think Stephanie has ruined the concept of vampires.
I for one thing think this is ridiculous. Vampirism has gone much further than
simple fandom and has become almost a religion for people. Vampires have a rich
history and people believe that all of them should adhere to a set of certain
rules where few exceptions apply (Daywalkers being vampires that can walk
during the day for instance), but Stephanie decided to rewrite the whole
template and I am fully behind that. Why should she be destroyed because she
decided to push a famous storybook creature from its stagnated position with a
new and fresh take? If we snuffed every new insight that came along we would
still be wearing furs and driving cars made of rocks that we propel with our
feet. I mean we all know that Vampires became big because of one person in
history who lived in a castle and walked around like he owned the place. The
Count from Sesame Street… or maybe some warlord or something… either way it’s
the inventive minds of writers that keep us from getting bored and reminding us
that we can try new things and not have to live in ruts.
For instance, what if I decided to make a
story where vampires give of a black smoky aura and get evil red eyes when they
went into the sun and instead of sucking blood they simply absorbed it with
their eyes. They are deathly afraid of grasshoppers and can’t touch metal but
can pass through everything else. They can rip your soul from your body and
control the owner with it and can be temporarily blinded by the color blue or when
you hit them in their chest too hard. They can only be destroyed by a ray
composed of metal filigree and Necrofibromatics. Oh did I forget to mention
that this all takes place…IN SPACE! Actually that sounds kind of cool, but that
is a random direction on Vampires. There is no right and wrong to it. As long
as they take in blood for sustenance they are vampy.
All in all people who hate Twilight
should realize that they should be thanking Stephanie Meyer for opening the
minds of a huge group of the populace, who never saw supernatural fantasy as a medium
they would be interested in, to a whole new world. It may just be a gateway to
Rice, Buffy, and even Bram Stocker. Also if you hate it so much then why put in
so much energy hating. In battle there are 3 forms of control; fear, caring or
desire, and anger. Twilight has a hold of you and if you really hate it then let
it go and put your energies toward more worthwhile endeavors (and that goes for
other things you spend entirely too much time hating). As for those that are
fans of Twilight, realize that it isn’t the greatest literary work ever
written. It is simply a series you enjoy and possibly obsess over. Please stop
trying to make everyone like it and accept that people will have negative
thoughts. Also allow it to open your mind to other books and series within that
realm. If you don’t know any ask a hater. They have a list…trust me. All in
all, hate it or love it, but leave those feeling on the shelf. People really
don’t need another reason to dislike one another.
And for your final amusement for
both fan and hater alike; Twilight as written by Dr. Seuss:
Jake likes a girl. Her name is Bella.
Bella likes a different fella.
See this vamp? This is Ed.
Ed is pale. Ed is dead.
Ed saved Bella from a van.
Ed must be a special man.
Ed won't kill boys. He won't kill girls.
Ed gets fed on deer and squirrels.
This is James. He's a tracker.
He's a sort of vamp attacker.
James hunts Bella for a thrill.
Will Ed kill him? Yes, he will.
But James gave her a little bite.
Will she be a vamp? She might!
Edward fixes Bella's cut.
She won't be a vampire.
But...
She becomes one. Read some more.
She's a vampire in book 4.
All right as far as it goes, but you've missed out on a whole 'nother point: the "Still a better love story than Twilight" crowd. I don't mind if the vampires sparkle, really. The thing that I don't like about the series is that it is a quintessentially unhealthy relationship set up as romance and fed to young women. Girls, this isn't love. This is lust, obsession, and voyeurism, and I promise you wouldn't like it if it happened to you in real life.
ReplyDeleteI love the 'Dr. Seuss' poem! I remember really liking the first book, but stopped reading them after the second. Someday I might read the last two. I do enjoy their movies. And Twilight can be fun. It's like candy: yummy once in a while, but makes you sick after too many bites.
ReplyDeleteOne thing we have to admire is that Stephanie Meyer knows how to write for her target audience. If she can convince half the world that her books are the best thing ever, then I think she deserves every penny she's gotten.