I have been thinking about this question for the past couple
of days. Why exactly is Twilight
hated so much? Yes, the writing is pretty bad, but it is also written for much
younger women than college-level. Personally, I do not view Twilight as necessarily bad; I view it as something that did not
provide any sort of substance or stimulation that we were looking for. I think
this is where the Harry Potter
comparison comes in. People really enjoyed Harry
Potter because they felt that it had more substance and felt that it broke
some of the conventional writings of the time. Twilight was just a normal love story of a hopeless and weak high
school girl that found love where she least expected it. Harry Potter, on the other hand, went deeper than the conventional
love story. It had a much deeper-rooted storyline that kept the reader coming
back for more.
In addition, there is no substance to the characters; Bella and Edward seem so incredibly boring to be around. We want to read about characters with personalities, not someone that is special because she “smells good” or because Edward cannot read her mind. Harry Potter has many more likeable characters that young people can relate to and support. For example, Hermoine is the nerdy, sassy girl, Ron is the poor kid where everything seems to go wrong, Harry Potter is the ultimate protagonist with different layers to his story. In Twilight, however, there is Bella, a shy, pale girl who moves to a new town. There is also Edward, who is mysterious….and really hot. Neither of which really develops a personality deeper than what is presented in the first 20 pages of the book. They are basically people in the book that are doing things, the reader does not have the ability for form a good personal connection with the characters.
Of course, there are other reasons people have their issues with Twilight; these are just a few of my issues. I understand the point of the story is to keep some of the characters mysterious, but you also need to help the reader to develop a relationship and proper understanding of the character. The readers were looking for some more substance from the plot line and characters that they ultimately did not get.
I agree. I have also been thinking about the Harry Potter vs. Twilight comparison. Maybe it's because I absolutely love Harry Potter, but I just didn't even think you could compare the two! I recognize that both the first book of Harry Potter is poorly written and that Harry lacks a certain spark, but then again have you met an eleven year old with a fully develop sense of who they really are? I think that's another reason Harry Potter is much more liked, he develops. By the end of the series Harry is truly a different person. On the flip side, by the end of Breaking Dawn, Bella is still drab...just dead and prettier.
ReplyDeleteHonestly my biggest thing is that Harry Potter had a sense of originality where as Twilight had none. Vampires and supernatural where already common and quite popular. Love stories following this basic set up are much too popular (in my opinion). Harry Potter brought in more adventure and personal growth than Twilight and even took a more unique spin to the supernatural genre.
I was thinking more about why so many people hate Twilight. As crazy as it sounds, I loved it when I first read it and I still feel the same way about it. I started wondering if this had anything to do with gender roles. When I was younger, I was always embarrassed if someone caught me checking out a bunch of romance books. The boys would laugh at the gushy, girly stuff that I was reading. Then, there seemed like, at least in my life, a distinct point in time when girls didn't want to read the gushy girly stuff. They called it stupid and girly. When that point happened, I altogether stopped checking out my girly books. I think it is a little drastic, but I wonder if that plays a role in the hatred of this book? Before the movies, before everyone knew everything about Bella and Edward, the few girls that I knew that had read it absolutely loved the book. But after it became popular and the movies started coming, suddenly they hated it and claimed to never have liked it. This kind of reminds me of how my cousin used to love pink, and then she turned 13 and now hates it because "only little girls like pink."
ReplyDeleteI think Twilight is just for a different reading purpose. If you like inserting yourself into the role of the main character, I think it's a good series to read. It gives kind of a blank-slate character in Bella that a reader could easily associate themselves with. I also think that Twilight has just become something people love to hate. It's the popular thing to diss, like Justin Beiber. That being said, it's not my favorite read. I wouldn't call it dumb, though, Stephenie Meyer is laughing all the way to the bank.
ReplyDeleteJennifer, that's a good point. I think another thing that makes it looked down upon is the whole different level that some fans take it to. One of the biggest associations with Twilight is the hot guys. Girls always pick "Team Edward" or "Team Jacob" to show which one they think is more hot. Also, the levels that some fans will go to just to touch their hand is ridiculous. I guess it just paints a bad picture for Twilight fans.
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