twilight why was it so successful?

[eagor]

i have read the twilight series the reason being i was bored and a bit curious as to why it's so popular, and i think i know why.

lets take a look at the basic story
. very straightforward and trashy plot
. no real twists
. and a bogus "they liver happily ever after ending"

with a story like that it should have been a flop, however if you look at the characters
. bella
the description of bella is very vague leaving room to let your mind picture her as you wish. now in the mind of an incredibly perverted man (myself) she is stunningly beautiful and half naked if not fully.
in the minds of a young girl just reached puberty however bella looks just like the reader.
as for the personaility, she's emotional but keeps it all in and gets hot in the pants when she sees hot guy #1 edward, very much like a young girl.

now onto ed and jake they are both the stereotypical archetypes of what young girls look for in men.

, ed
a pretty boy, won't fight but will protect the girl he likes (the reader) by running away and taking her with him. generally wears his emotions on his sleeve.

. jake
starts off as a nerd but then after meeting the girl he likes (again the reader) he gets all manly and buff, with a massive chin. and will fight for you over anything that upsets you (the reader)

now throughout the books these two archetypes duke it out for two reasons. one apparently fairies and shifters hate each other becouse they both smell different, and two (the main reason) they are fighting over bella (the READER).

also if we look at the kinds of dates these two young boys take "bella" on we see that ed tends to take "her" on dates like an all vegan picnic followed by reciting Victorian poetry and weeping (pretty boy). while jake takes her on a motorcycle ride and rocks her world while she sits on his chin (very manly).

so with all things considered is it really surprising that young girls read this over ratted, ridiculous love story riddled with plot holes and two dimensional characters?

so, what do you think?

on a side note the things i mentioned are based on events in the books, the only difference is my version would have made an excellent trashy beach novel.

[MissQuote]

I stood in the grocery store and attempted to read the first chapter of one of the books once ( don't remember which one) It was very embarrassing to do so, but my morbid curiosity over the hype forced me to do so.

The writing was so horrendous, I couldn't make it further than a handful of pages.


I'm just going to assume you are right about this.

[snafupants]

Those movies seem to play to the hormonal urges of budding ladies. I mean, the Jonas Brothers suck too but they slap that market up pretty good. These things have little lasting artistic merit though: pure ephemera and visceral entertainment.

[Pyropyro]

Originally Posted by snafupants

Those movies seem to play to the hormonal urges of budding ladies. I mean, the Jonas Brothers suck too but they slap that market up pretty good. These things have little lasting artistic merit though: pure ephemera and visceral entertainment.

I agree, let's just say the series is female porn.

[Mello]

It's because Edward sparkles.

[snafupants]

Originally Posted by Pyropyro

I agree, let's just say the series is female porn.

Perhaps we should rename the series Lolita's Night In to avoid confusion?

[Akuma]

It's the female version of Transformers, it's emotional porn, wish fulfilment.
Pretty much resembles 98% of everything on fanfiction.net.
It's not difficult to see why it's appealing, the diabetes covered romance likes molesting such fantasies.

[eagor]

first off im glad i wasn't torn to pieces by the community
second i couldn't agree more, which raises the question was all this done on purpose? is the author an in the closet literary genius? or was this slop made by pigs to feed other pigs?

[MissQuote]

The author is a Mormon wife and mother. Interpret that as you will.

Seriously, no self respecting writer would produce slop if they could write something better. One does not expose their most brutal heart and tender thoughts, does not drive themselves insane night after night with self doubt pacing and ripping their hair out in clumps, chewing their nails to mangled bloody metaphorical pulps, over whether their plot holes are sloppy enough or their best characters the perfect display of vapidity.

[Cognisant]

It's the female version of Transformers, it's emotional porn, wish fulfilment.

Just because one guy made a series of shit movies dosen't mean you can say that.
Between where it is now, said movies, and where it began, as advertising for toys, a deep and engrossing world of philosophical and theological exploration exists.

Are they alive, do they have souls, do they need souls to be alive?
That's the Transformers universe I know, unlike most Asimovian rip offs the Transformers universe has the essential living nature of it's mechanical protagonists as foundational assumption, it's never questioned if they're alive or if their feelings are real, leaving us to question the nature of ourselves.

The implicit question is not: Can machines be alive?
Instead it is: Are we human beings essentially living machines?

It's a totally new and perhaps more accurate perspective on what machines are and can be.

[Mello]

Originally Posted by Cognisant

Just because one guy made a series of shit movies dosen't mean you can say that.
Between where it is now, said movies, and where it began, as advertising for toys, a deep and engrossing world of philosophical and theological exploration exists.

Are they alive, do they have souls, do they need souls to be alive?
That's the Transformers universe I know, unlike most Asimovian rip offs the Transformers universe has the essential living nature of it's mechanical protagonists as foundational assumption, it's never questioned if they're alive or if their feelings are real, leaving us to question the nature of ourselves.

The implicit question is not: Can machines be alive?
Instead it is: Are we human beings essentially living machines?

It's a totally new and perhaps more accurate perspective on what machines are and can be.

Yeah, man, but Megan Fox is so hot, bro.

[Fukyo]

Originally Posted by Cognisant

Just because one guy made a series of shit movies dosen't mean you can say that.
Between where it is now, said movies, and where it began, as advertising for toys, a deep and engrossing world of philosophical and theological exploration exists.

Are they alive, do they have souls, do they need souls to be alive?
That's the Transformers universe I know, unlike most Asimovian rip offs the Transformers universe has the essential living nature of it's mechanical protagonists as foundational assumption, it's never questioned if they're alive or if their feelings are real, leaving us to question the nature of ourselves.

The implicit question is not: Can machines be alive?
Instead it is: Are we human beings essentially living machines?

It's a totally new and perhaps more accurate perspective on what machines are and can be.

Everyone stand aside, it's Cog, the ascended fanboy and the defender of robotic honor!

Spoiler:

Click for original size

[EyeSeeCold]

twilight why was it so successful?

Because even its critics feel compelled to discuss it.

[Mello]

Originally Posted by Fukyo

Everyone stand aside, it's Cog, the ascended fanboy and the defender of robotic honor!

Spoiler:

Click for original size

Spoiler:

I love you.

Spoiler:

Maybe.

Spoiler:

Not really, though.

[Dragonmythos]

Simple: It appeals to the emotions of the general audience. I read the second book and was immediately repulsed by the main character. How could it be? Leading on a best friend only to chose that which deserted you over him? I do not understand.

I like Shakespeare more. It is so much more real. Nine out of ten times do we rarely get a happy ending. Stories like the former serve only to fill us with false hopes and dreams. The sooner one wakes up the lesser the pain will be.

[electra]

Nobody confuses books like twilight with reality. They know real life doesn't have happy endings - because how would that even work? - but it's nice to have in a book.

[lungs]

because it has a main character that isn't very fleshed out and most girls can project themselves onto, and involves a romance with a guy who is basically a perfect superhero but tortured and not completely available because of his bloodlust. so if you get absorbed in the story and identify with the main character it brings you through the feeling of limerance - idealization and frustration and lust.

its addicting in the way a new romance can be addicting because it puts you in that headspace. the lack of intelligence and realism just adds to that effect.

and this:

Originally Posted by EyeSeeCold

Because even its critics feel compelled to discuss it.

[inner_mind]

I would re-iterate wish fulfillment.

A beautiful man, completely unobtainable by all the popular girls, manages to see the wonder and all that is of this ordinary girl, aka the reader... is completely devoted, to a sacrificial point...

Think of the scene when Edward and Bella first walk into the school with his arm around her... everyone is dumbfounded... another fantasy

at the end he takes her to the perfect prom night.

wish fulfillment. You wouldn't even really want this in real life. But it is the stuff of teen daydreams...

[SpaceYeti]

Does the perfect prom night end in perfect anal?

[ObliviousGenius]

It's almost as if adding vampires and werewolves was done on purpose to highlight the fact that the perfect guy doesn't exist. The whole story is like some little school girl fantasy. I used to play with my DragonBallZ action figures because it was my little boy fantasy. Twilight is no different. It's a day-time soap for younger girls.

I don't even think the author really believes in this dream guy stuff, just the money these gullible little girls will make them.

[Agent Intellect]

I don't think talking about Twilight in isolation is the best way to understand why Twilight became a phenomena the way it did. The question is: why did vampires go from unquestionably evil enemies of humanity to misunderstood Byronic heroes?

This video is a good (and funny) introduction to deconstructing this idea. I may offer my own analysis sometime but I have a thing right now.

[MissQuote]

Everything hardcore on the fringes eventually gets body glitter added to it and becomes mainstream.

Why should vampire be any different?

Here is another thing, I think, that adds to the young girl fantasy that is Twilight: Edward has an unquenchable lust for Bella which absolutely consumes him, but he refuses to satisfy this lust, instead denying every last pang and twinge of his urges and channels them instead into loving and honoring her and protecting her virtue, even when she throws herself at him, even when she begs him to take her. He makes it unequivocally clear that he wants nothing more in the world than to ravish her entire being and then he cuddles with her an asks her what she is thinking instead.

The metaphor for all that, instead of actual sex, is that her smell, the smell of her blood is unlike any he has ever had before. He wants, essentially, to eat her (screw her) She wants him to, she begs him, to turn her into a vampire. But he absolutely refuses to do so until after they are married.

Of course even once they are married he still doesn't do it, but he does literally destroy their entire bedroom having sex with her in, what I can only assume, is an effort to do it to her but not bite her.

[MissQuote]

I think I just admitted that I have watched the movies.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by ObliviousGenius

I don't even think the author really believes in this dream guy stuff, just the money these gullible little girls will make them.

lol no. she said she came up with the idea from a dream. more like daydream, i'm sure. everybody has stupid fantasies, don't lie.

[vault]

i think it was popular because it provides a stalker/abuser "ultimate connection" style fantasy within a convenient framework of supernatural rationalisations. the saddest part is how willing readers are to trade their own sense of personal integrity and autonomy for these feelings. or maybe how unscrupulous the thing is in taking advantage of their vulnerabilities? i cant tell. admittedly ive only read the first book. i thought the writing itself was serviceable, but the content made me sick. ive heard bella does later obtain some sort of competence of her own (ordained on her by the powers of her man of course).

[intpz]

I haven't read those books and wouldn't want to. It doesn't appeal to me at all. However, to answer your question, it was successful because of the vampires and warevolves, as well as emotions. Which would be idiotic for me to read, considering that I don't like the mainstream stuff, most of it anyway. For example the mainstream music of today...

[lungs]

Originally Posted by intpz

I haven't read those books and wouldn't want to. It doesn't appeal to me at all. However, to answer your question, it was successful because of the vampires and warevolves, as well as emotions. Which would be idiotic for me to read, considering that I don't like the mainstream stuff, most of it anyway. For example the mainstream music of today...

you're pretty cool.

[intpz]

Originally Posted by lungs

you're pretty cool.

I don't like you.

[lungs]

[intpz]

Originally Posted by lungs

I like you even less now.

[LcDel]

It doesn't surprise or seem odd to me that young girls love twilight despite how poorly written it is (I'm not hating on the author, though--The Host was a much better book by S.M).

What frightens me is that there are people like this "twilight mom" here:
http://www.twilightmoms.com/2010/11/...ontest-winner/
^skip to 1:00