I've read the Twilight series and I realized, despite the big fandom, it doesn't have any particular element; it's not a big masterpiece or a great literary work or a revolution in the literature ... It has very simple use of words and verbs and the sentences seem way too unskilled in some parts. I've read Rowling's Harry Potter Series and after doing a long research on its literature I'm not surprised by the success of the books; beside the incredible plot and creation, the descriptions, character developments and sense of humor in telling the story is astonishing! Even the way the story is told changes through Harry growing up... So, in Twilight, is it only about the plot? I mean, even in that case, the plot seems so rushed sometimes, not to mention that the last book was like a complete fan fiction and the story got really sloppy most of the parts... Yes, it's a good love story and a great entertainment, but not THAT great! So, why did it become such a success?! I'm confused!
They may delete your post because we once had a thread on Twilight, and after a while things got very ugly, lol. Just warning you. I think the success of the first book, Twilight, was due to the happy intersection of plot and girls' fantasies.
Personally I agree with you, Maxtina, and am not a massive fan of the Twilight series. However, they are a light read, with a romantic character the same age as teenage girls .... AND the actor who plays him is very good looking; simple, imo.
I think it appeals to a teen fascination with the dichotomy of mortality and immortality, and of course romantic ideals of doomed love. It's dark and broody, which fits well with the restlessness and search for self that is central to the teen psyche. I apologize to any younger person who feels stereotyped by this. Every person doesn't follow the same route growing up, but I believe much of this does apply in a large enough segment of the teen population to explain the popularity of Twilight and other vampmances.
I agree completly with this, although don't understand it entierly myself. Being a 17 year old girl, all of my similar age female friends adore Twilight, and any other vampire related romance stories, for example True Blood and The Vampire Diaries; they are overly cliched for my liking ... once you have seen/read one vampire romance you have seen/read them all. Although, I do have a soft spot for the origional vampire novel; Dracula.
I cringed many times while reading the first three books and also wondered why it was so successful. But they key is that I did keep reading and want to read the last book. Something kept me turning the pages. That something wasn't the writing, the characters or the plot, which I found hideously strung out. I just wanted her to get bitten and turn into a vampire. Then I would have lost interest. Basically that underlying suspense kept me turning the pages. Wanting to see how she turned out, how she would deal with the 'thirst', how her strange mental capacity would change... that was it! The only redeeming feature for me in the whole series was the creation of that tension. I haven't read the last book and am dreading that it wont give me what I want ughhh Maybe I should just write it myself.
I don't know what the big hype is about. I read all four of them but didn't find anything great about them. I just thought they were another average, B-rated series.
Personally, i think that Edward, the perfect lover is what attracts most teenage girls. The way he loves and adores Bella is what any teenage girl fantasizes about. However, i am a teenager and i prefer Jacob, because he seems to be more real to me, and perfect in his own way. The way Edward reacts to certain situations, and the way he can tell Bella what to do and what not to do without any real fight really annoys me.This controversy kept me reading throughout the series, waiting to see who Bella would end up with. All the books are incredible page turners. But i find many other aspects of the series dissappointing, the last book being the worst. I won't go into detail, as i do not want to ruin the book for others, but i sometimes wander about how it could have turned out differently.
I am in the demographic that this book is written for (I'm a 15 year old girl) and I thought the book was pure trash. I definitely prefer Harry Potter, as well as classics like Slaughterhouse-Five, etc. Hopefully Twilight is just a fad, and people will get over it. It just astonishes me how easy some demographics are to play to and market.
Take care, folks. I'm allowing this thread for the moment, but if it turns into: "Twilight is awesome!" "Twilight is worm snot!" like its predecessor thread, it will be closed. The topic is, "What about Twilight makes it so popular?"
Sorry, Cog. What I think makes it so popular is that it takes a usually intense, gory genre of vampires and turns them into a teen romance, a much gentler version of what the vampire genre usually is. It's a fairytale romance with a twist, which is what drew so many people in.
For me (and I'm not a teenager...probably the only adult member of the forum who likes Twilight), what really pulled me into the stories was the whole idea of vampires who tried to find a different way to be vampires. I think it's an interesting twist to a popular creature. Also, there are dinner books, that you read because they're insightful, make you smarter, make you think, etc, and then there are dessert books, that you read for funsies. Twilight is one of my dessert books.
Come on guys, don't go too far, I wasn't trying to insult the books or the fans; I believe people should NEVER insult the other people's interests. I just wondered about the reasons for the books' success. Yes, in my opinion Harry Potter is a great literature work and again in my opinion, it's a masterpiece for the great writing and plot and everything... Twilight doesn't have that richness or grandeur, but let's remember that it has some fans and we should respect them. I wonder about the reasons of the success, that's all.
The Twillight hype. I think a lot of people tend not to like this book out of principle- because of all the teengirls screaming "edward" etc. I decided to read the first book to see what it's all about. The prologue was rather ok, it had suspense and it made you want to find out who would want to kill her and how she ended up in that situation. But honestly, the plot was sooo shallow. It's basically: girl falls in love with a guy. The whole thing that he's a vamp doesn't make her doubt anything for even a second and isn't really of that much importance to the plot. I think good stories work like this ROUGHLY: Main character has a goal. Something happens which makes the goal hard to reach. Climax: the goal is reached or is given up. In twilight the thing that would make the goal (= her wanting to be with this guy) hard to reach, would be that he is a vampire or that she gets hunted by those other vamps.. only.. There is no point in the book where I thought that they would not end up together.. Meaning: Girl will reach her goal, with hardly any real challenge = no supsense. This is kind of how I felt.. Keep in mind I only read book 1. I think everyone likes twilight, simply for Edward, because he's this 'bad boy' girls are attracted to all the time. But that's like reading Harry Potter for Draco.. Here you see the significant differance between the two, HP has a very deep developed story and very touching way of writing (altough, don't get me started on the last book) combined with witty remarks. Where as Twilight simply has one key-character which makes people want to read it, (( because we know all the girls are pretending they are the ones who hook up with edward )) Oh, and the debate if Draco is or is not attractive is a whole other topic, and certainly not my point. anyway, dont get me wrong: there's nothing wrong with liking twilight and I don't see why people hate it so much. It's just not really a book I like, but that doesn't matter, I'll read something else.
I think it's so popular because, as black-radish said (and you hit it right on the nose), it's all about this perfect guy that teenage girls love. The "perfect guy" is everywhere in the teen/tween demographic, if you think about it. Polished and apparently flawless even though they're hugely flawed. But I digress..... It takes action, suspense and a lot of good elements and mixes them together. Maybe that's why people like it. It's also a fast read the first time around. (IMO the elements are good, but the writing is bad. If it was written by a better author I would like it more, but again I digress.)
Sorry to bump, but I had an opinion, couldn't help myself. A friend of mine once said, that the reason it's popular, is because the main character was so empty, that any teenage girl could put themselves in her shoes. Seemed like a pretty interesting, (albeit sad) theory... Once again sorry for the bump...
^ That's actually a good point too. I don't know if it was intentionally written in that way, but the main character is easy to put yourself into, although not in a good way. I also think the book was hyped so much. It got really big once the movie came out; before that, it wasn't nearly as popular. Marketing technique and the book's demographic play a huge part here. The demographic is teenyboppers and middle aged women ("Twilight Moms"), like AI's demographic audience. Very dedicated but very fad-oriented, they don't stick with anything very long. My point being, the marketing for the book was very widespread, plus add in the mortality/immortality discussion as Cog said, plus romance, and it's popular.
I think the draw is that it's a love story, and a good one at that. Sure, it's not a great piece of literature and the characters and plot aren't the deepest, but it's pure entertainment. When people say they hate it, I think they are simply hating on pop culture, not the text itself. And of course there's the draw of teenage girls because every teenage girl wants her an Edward...but then again, as an adult female, I can't blame them
Also, due to it's basic style, a lot of people seem to have pride in reading them, people who wouldn't normally read... Just something I noticed the other day.
The way Bella is written, she almost has no character whatsoever. She is pretty boring and flat and is describe as looking plain. Many girls can easily insert themselves as Bella not because she is written great, but because many girls see themselves as plain and dream to be the plain girl who gets the guy. Not just a guy, but the most handsome guy in the whole town, maybe even the world. Many girls want to have an Edward: a rich, handsome guy who is also super protective, sensitive, and best of all, different. Add on the love triangle and forbidden romance, it is a girl's dream come true. Bella's lack of a real personality make it very easy to insert themselves into the story.
I read it because my aunt got it for my Christmas present, and honestly, I was dying to read it to see what all the hype was about. It was gone in two nights. I got major crap from the cousins. Looking back, I don't regret reading it. I regret wondering what it would be like to be Bella, because I don't want/need a guy. Darn those pesky teenage fantasies!
I'm 16, and Team Edward (felt the need to add that...), and I think what it is about the Twilight Saga is that it appeals to teenage girls, like myself, because of it's mysterious quality. It's a gripping read, and even if you don't like the book you want to know what will happen next. I found I could envy Bella but also think, well maybe perfect guys do go for normal girls such as myself? But it's also a love story, and i'm a sucker (no pun intended) for love stories.
I got 19 pages into Twilight before spotting several basic narrative errors, grammar errors, and getting really mad at Bella. She's just fueling every single stereotype about teenage girls, EVER. There's no creativity in her personality. This applies to every character in the book, and I believe it was Ray Bradbury who said that characters are the driving force of a story.
