(no subject)
Some of you might remember the poll/survey I posted earlier this month.
I had to write an article for class, so I chose the Twilight fandom, and the poll/survey was an essential part of the article. A few of you asked if I was going to post it here after it was done, and I figured, why not?
Hopefully you all find it interesting, informative and fair. That's what I was going for, so... *crosses fingers* Tell me what you think!
HOW THE TWILIGHT APPLE
FELL FAR FROM THE TREE
FANS HATE AND LOVE THE ACCLAIMED BOOK SERIES
By Crystal/petitebelette
Once upon a time, Twilight was an underground cult phenomenon of normal fans, not "fanpires," "Twilighters," "Twimoms," or even "Twihards." When author Stephenie Meyer first published it in 2005, Twilight was a romance story with a complex and unique myth arc of golden-eyed vampires and werewolves that were more shape-shifters than lycanthropes.
All that changed, however - the small fandom exploded into something marketable, into the franchised Next Big Thing. Suddenly this harmless book series straight out of a housewife's dream ceased to be the intimate story bookworms swooned over, and instead became the fodder for fame and controversy.
FIRST BLOOD, FRESH MEAT
It's no secret that Twilight fans are looked down on by many for their over-zealous behavior. Websites like TwilightSucks.com, The Anti-Twilight Movement and The Anti-Twilight Lexicon frequently remind the world that Twilight fans are crazy, and that Stephenie Meyer's prose about Edward Cullen's sculpted, marble, perfect, Greek-God bod is vomit-worthy. One mention of Twilight, and all many people can think about is that time the San Francisco Hot Topic meet-and-greet with Robert Pattinson was canceled after thousands of fans trampled over others to get inside. If it's not that, it's stories like it.
In a recent anonymous poll conducted at lion_lamb, the largest Twilight community at LiveJournal.com, 91% of Twilight fans (151 pollers) thought some Twilight fans were too obsessed. Although only 41.8% (69 pollers) admitted they became ashamed of being fans after Twilight was launched into the media spotlight, 91.5% (151 pollers) said that they weren't embarrassed about liking Twilight before it was famous.
The truth is not all lovers of the books are rabid screaming fangirls or swooning older women called Twimoms. Twilight used to mean more than if co-stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were hooking up.
The Dream Team
Graphic By antonella87
"When Twilight became a 'phenomenon,' it kind of felt like it was cheapening my experience with the books," said one fan. "First they were kind of intimate, something I related to, but then everyone knew them ... Soon everyone was trying to put their own stamp on Twilight and it became less about this amazing new world and more about petty fighting ... Twilight isn't Twilight anymore, it's Bella, Edward and Jacob. It's not about the myths and legends and the gorgeous setting and the emotions, it's about who's cuter, who's better. I just don't like it that much anymore."
Before the hype, another fan agreed Twilight was something personal. "It was really our thing before [the movie] happened. [...] I almost felt like the fandom was ruined." She had to distance herself away from it for a while, because she didn't want to end up hating the books after loving them from the start.
The Dream Team is a prime example of the difference between the "then" and the "now" fans. Then, fans made dream casts of the books' characters (the most notable being Gaspard Ulliel, a French actor, as vampire Edward Cullen, and Emily Browning, a young Australian actress, as fragile human Bella Swan - they were dubbed "The Dream Team"), and discussed things like the mythology of the La Push wolves and the ancient vampires of the Volturi. Like any fandom, there were squabbles over love triangles, but for the most part everyone was civil. Now, Twilight fans don't even argue over the book anymore - they argue over the gossip of the real-life cast's lives.
"Pre-big bang the fandom was," said a fan, "without trying to sound tenacious, a cool little group of people who appreciated every part of Twilight book or film and did not focus on the amount of times Robert Pattinson washes."
Now, fandom is different. Multiple fans in the survey admitted that many people associate Twilight fans with obsessed, immature screaming girls or stalking Twimoms, and that's not the image they would like to portray.
Although many fans acknowledge that their embarrassment comes from loving a series that isn't the best written (one fan said, "No one wants to be affiliated with people who know every single thing about a not-very-amazing-book-in-the-first-place, y'know?"), most of the embarrassment is not because of the material itself. Even renowned horror writer Stephen King told USA Weekend that "Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good."
The fans of the poll/survey unanimously declared that Twilight is not the next testament of the Bible, nor anything resembling classical literature, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to like of the books themselves. One fan said that Twilight gets "a lot of shit" for not being written well. People forget, she said, that it's the story that's good. She represents many - plenty of fans consistently say that Meyer is a good storyteller as opposed to a good writer.
Fans are more embarrassed over the behavior of other Twilighters than they are if Meyer uses the correct preposition.
There are those who are not embarrassed however, and there are new fans that aren't hopelessly devoted to Twilight. "I became a fan when I decided that I liked the story, not out of some desire to follow mainstream interests. I joined Twilight communities [on LiveJournal.com] to find fanfiction, and I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed the camaraderie of fellow Twilight fans - old and new."
Some even said they like that it have become such a huge phenomenon, because now there are more people to talk to about it. Twilight is something they enjoy, they said, and therefore it's nothing to be ashamed about, no matter what other, more obsessed fans may do or say.
Click to view larger.
Screencap of "Hotties Forum" at Twimoms.com.
It can be argued, even by fans, that the hate, if not immature and hypocritical, is justifiable. Twimoms are a prime example - they're older women/mothers a little too obsessed with the fictional characters of Twilight. At their forums, Twimoms posted reports early on from the set of the first Twilight movie, and in some cases, even stalked the actors back to their hotels. Also at their forums, moderators even had trouble controlling the members from making inappropriate sexual comments about the male stars, particularly Robert Pattinson. They had to create secret forums for the Twimoms to gush. It was called the "Hotties Forum" and has since been taken down. Many fans believe the Twimoms have lost touch with the reality of their lives, considering on the boards many posters would say they'd spend hours in the forums and neglect cleaning and even their own children.
Click to view larger.
Screencap of "Hotties Forum" at Twimoms.com.
Taylor Lautner, the 17-year-old who plays werewolf Jacob Black, admitted on The Tyra Show that a Twimom even asked him to sign her "Team Taylor" panties. Behavior like this is the reason less obsessed and younger fans find the Twimoms embarrassing - because the media latches onto events like that. Most fans said that they encounter two types of stereotypes when mentioning Twilight: all fans of the books/movies are adolescent, crying, screaming fangirls or they are old, inappropriately lusting Twimoms. One fan said, "I felt that if I said I was into Twilight, I would be stereotyped as crazy, screaming fangirl."
When asked why she was embarrassed about being a fan, one girl said, "All the publicity showed how insanely rabid some fans are, and I don't want to be associated with that." Several others answered the same way.
It's clear to gage how rabid some fans are by simply looking at the publicity surrounding the movie's cast. Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward, and Kristen Stewart, who plays Bella, both frequently talk about how Twilight has changed their lives. Pattinson described to an interviewer at the London Twilight premiere that a few girls approached him for his autograph after scratching their necks to the point of bleeding. They told him, "We did this for you."
Twilight has become a fad. It's not about love for the books, the characters, the setting or the message of the book - it's about how hot Edward Cullen is. It's about the love triangle between Bella and Edward and Bella and Jacob, and less about the Cullen family, the La Push wolves, and the story. One fan said, "Now everyone thinks that I'm just another fangirl who thinks that Edward is attractive and that is the only reason I like it, which is completely untrue."
No wonder so many people think Twilight fans are shallow, and look down on them. Other fans admit that the forbidden love story and Robert Pattinson's perfectly sculpted jaw has something to do with it. They also admit that Bella’s character, because she is so flat, is a role they can easily insert themselves into. It’s fantasy fulfillment, and who has the right to judge that there’s anything wrong with that?
Fan reacts to full-length Twilight trailer.
But fan said it bothered her that the heroine, Bella Swan, is weak and in constant need of assurance. She called Edward Cullen a vampire with "creepy boyfriend habits," and Jacob Black a "sexual assaulter," but if someone were to ask around the fandom, there are plenty of others who think completely different - that Bella is a strong independent character, that Edward's controlling behavior is acceptable for a variety of reasons and even romantic, and that Jacob has never been unfair or forceful towards Bella.
With such polar views, it begs the question - how can someone have such a bleak outlook on a series, and yet still be a fan? With that large margin of 91.5% of fans that were not ashamed of Twilight before it was famous, and with the considerable margin of 69% of fans admitting they became embarrassed afterwards, anyone can easily deduce that it has something to do with the constant publicity of obsessed fans, and the strong emergence of haters.
GLOSSARY
RESOURCES/CREDITS/MORE
Special thanks to the members and moderators of lion_lamb for contributing greatly to this article.
Websites
MTV.com YouTube.com USA Weekend PhotoBucket
Fansites
lion_lamb forks_it Twimoms.com
lion_lamb: screencaps
I'm also contemplating writing another, more in-depth article about the Dream Team and what they meant to the fandom versus Robert and Kristen and what they mean to fandom... I'm a nerd, what can I say, lol. Since it's not for class, I figured I'd ask if anyone would be interested in it, considering I'd probably just post it here.
I had to write an article for class, so I chose the Twilight fandom, and the poll/survey was an essential part of the article. A few of you asked if I was going to post it here after it was done, and I figured, why not?
Hopefully you all find it interesting, informative and fair. That's what I was going for, so... *crosses fingers* Tell me what you think!
HOW THE TWILIGHT APPLE
FELL FAR FROM THE TREE
FANS HATE AND LOVE THE ACCLAIMED BOOK SERIES
By Crystal/petitebelette
Once upon a time, Twilight was an underground cult phenomenon of normal fans, not "fanpires," "Twilighters," "Twimoms," or even "Twihards." When author Stephenie Meyer first published it in 2005, Twilight was a romance story with a complex and unique myth arc of golden-eyed vampires and werewolves that were more shape-shifters than lycanthropes.
All that changed, however - the small fandom exploded into something marketable, into the franchised Next Big Thing. Suddenly this harmless book series straight out of a housewife's dream ceased to be the intimate story bookworms swooned over, and instead became the fodder for fame and controversy.
FIRST BLOOD, FRESH MEAT
It's no secret that Twilight fans are looked down on by many for their over-zealous behavior. Websites like TwilightSucks.com, The Anti-Twilight Movement and The Anti-Twilight Lexicon frequently remind the world that Twilight fans are crazy, and that Stephenie Meyer's prose about Edward Cullen's sculpted, marble, perfect, Greek-God bod is vomit-worthy. One mention of Twilight, and all many people can think about is that time the San Francisco Hot Topic meet-and-greet with Robert Pattinson was canceled after thousands of fans trampled over others to get inside. If it's not that, it's stories like it.
In a recent anonymous poll conducted at lion_lamb, the largest Twilight community at LiveJournal.com, 91% of Twilight fans (151 pollers) thought some Twilight fans were too obsessed. Although only 41.8% (69 pollers) admitted they became ashamed of being fans after Twilight was launched into the media spotlight, 91.5% (151 pollers) said that they weren't embarrassed about liking Twilight before it was famous.
The truth is not all lovers of the books are rabid screaming fangirls or swooning older women called Twimoms. Twilight used to mean more than if co-stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were hooking up.
The Dream Team
Graphic By antonella87
"When Twilight became a 'phenomenon,' it kind of felt like it was cheapening my experience with the books," said one fan. "First they were kind of intimate, something I related to, but then everyone knew them ... Soon everyone was trying to put their own stamp on Twilight and it became less about this amazing new world and more about petty fighting ... Twilight isn't Twilight anymore, it's Bella, Edward and Jacob. It's not about the myths and legends and the gorgeous setting and the emotions, it's about who's cuter, who's better. I just don't like it that much anymore."
Before the hype, another fan agreed Twilight was something personal. "It was really our thing before [the movie] happened. [...] I almost felt like the fandom was ruined." She had to distance herself away from it for a while, because she didn't want to end up hating the books after loving them from the start.
The Dream Team is a prime example of the difference between the "then" and the "now" fans. Then, fans made dream casts of the books' characters (the most notable being Gaspard Ulliel, a French actor, as vampire Edward Cullen, and Emily Browning, a young Australian actress, as fragile human Bella Swan - they were dubbed "The Dream Team"), and discussed things like the mythology of the La Push wolves and the ancient vampires of the Volturi. Like any fandom, there were squabbles over love triangles, but for the most part everyone was civil. Now, Twilight fans don't even argue over the book anymore - they argue over the gossip of the real-life cast's lives.
"Pre-big bang the fandom was," said a fan, "without trying to sound tenacious, a cool little group of people who appreciated every part of Twilight book or film and did not focus on the amount of times Robert Pattinson washes."
Now, fandom is different. Multiple fans in the survey admitted that many people associate Twilight fans with obsessed, immature screaming girls or stalking Twimoms, and that's not the image they would like to portray.
Although many fans acknowledge that their embarrassment comes from loving a series that isn't the best written (one fan said, "No one wants to be affiliated with people who know every single thing about a not-very-amazing-book-in-the-first-place, y'know?"), most of the embarrassment is not because of the material itself. Even renowned horror writer Stephen King told USA Weekend that "Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good."
The fans of the poll/survey unanimously declared that Twilight is not the next testament of the Bible, nor anything resembling classical literature, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to like of the books themselves. One fan said that Twilight gets "a lot of shit" for not being written well. People forget, she said, that it's the story that's good. She represents many - plenty of fans consistently say that Meyer is a good storyteller as opposed to a good writer.
Fans are more embarrassed over the behavior of other Twilighters than they are if Meyer uses the correct preposition.
There are those who are not embarrassed however, and there are new fans that aren't hopelessly devoted to Twilight. "I became a fan when I decided that I liked the story, not out of some desire to follow mainstream interests. I joined Twilight communities [on LiveJournal.com] to find fanfiction, and I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed the camaraderie of fellow Twilight fans - old and new."
Some even said they like that it have become such a huge phenomenon, because now there are more people to talk to about it. Twilight is something they enjoy, they said, and therefore it's nothing to be ashamed about, no matter what other, more obsessed fans may do or say.
Click to view larger.
Screencap of "Hotties Forum" at Twimoms.com.
It can be argued, even by fans, that the hate, if not immature and hypocritical, is justifiable. Twimoms are a prime example - they're older women/mothers a little too obsessed with the fictional characters of Twilight. At their forums, Twimoms posted reports early on from the set of the first Twilight movie, and in some cases, even stalked the actors back to their hotels. Also at their forums, moderators even had trouble controlling the members from making inappropriate sexual comments about the male stars, particularly Robert Pattinson. They had to create secret forums for the Twimoms to gush. It was called the "Hotties Forum" and has since been taken down. Many fans believe the Twimoms have lost touch with the reality of their lives, considering on the boards many posters would say they'd spend hours in the forums and neglect cleaning and even their own children.
Click to view larger.
Screencap of "Hotties Forum" at Twimoms.com.
Taylor Lautner, the 17-year-old who plays werewolf Jacob Black, admitted on The Tyra Show that a Twimom even asked him to sign her "Team Taylor" panties. Behavior like this is the reason less obsessed and younger fans find the Twimoms embarrassing - because the media latches onto events like that. Most fans said that they encounter two types of stereotypes when mentioning Twilight: all fans of the books/movies are adolescent, crying, screaming fangirls or they are old, inappropriately lusting Twimoms. One fan said, "I felt that if I said I was into Twilight, I would be stereotyped as crazy, screaming fangirl."
When asked why she was embarrassed about being a fan, one girl said, "All the publicity showed how insanely rabid some fans are, and I don't want to be associated with that." Several others answered the same way.
It's clear to gage how rabid some fans are by simply looking at the publicity surrounding the movie's cast. Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward, and Kristen Stewart, who plays Bella, both frequently talk about how Twilight has changed their lives. Pattinson described to an interviewer at the London Twilight premiere that a few girls approached him for his autograph after scratching their necks to the point of bleeding. They told him, "We did this for you."
Twilight has become a fad. It's not about love for the books, the characters, the setting or the message of the book - it's about how hot Edward Cullen is. It's about the love triangle between Bella and Edward and Bella and Jacob, and less about the Cullen family, the La Push wolves, and the story. One fan said, "Now everyone thinks that I'm just another fangirl who thinks that Edward is attractive and that is the only reason I like it, which is completely untrue."
No wonder so many people think Twilight fans are shallow, and look down on them. Other fans admit that the forbidden love story and Robert Pattinson's perfectly sculpted jaw has something to do with it. They also admit that Bella’s character, because she is so flat, is a role they can easily insert themselves into. It’s fantasy fulfillment, and who has the right to judge that there’s anything wrong with that?
Click to viewFan reacts to full-length Twilight trailer.
But fan said it bothered her that the heroine, Bella Swan, is weak and in constant need of assurance. She called Edward Cullen a vampire with "creepy boyfriend habits," and Jacob Black a "sexual assaulter," but if someone were to ask around the fandom, there are plenty of others who think completely different - that Bella is a strong independent character, that Edward's controlling behavior is acceptable for a variety of reasons and even romantic, and that Jacob has never been unfair or forceful towards Bella.
With such polar views, it begs the question - how can someone have such a bleak outlook on a series, and yet still be a fan? With that large margin of 91.5% of fans that were not ashamed of Twilight before it was famous, and with the considerable margin of 69% of fans admitting they became embarrassed afterwards, anyone can easily deduce that it has something to do with the constant publicity of obsessed fans, and the strong emergence of haters.
GLOSSARY
- Antis: haters of Twilight.
- Dream Team: Gaspard Ulliel and Emily Browning as Edward and Bella.
- fandom: an online community of TV show/book/movie fans, usually found at message boards, websites, or LiveJournal communities.
- fanfiction: stories that use existing characters written by fans.
- fangirls: a girl obsessed with a fandom.
- fanpires: a Twilight fan.
- Twihards: a Twilight fan that is disturbingly obsessed.
- Twilighters: another term for a Twilight fan.
- Twimoms: cougars/moms in love with Twilight, specifically Edward Cullen/Robert Pattinson.
RESOURCES/CREDITS/MORE
Special thanks to the members and moderators of lion_lamb for contributing greatly to this article.
Websites
Fansites
I'm also contemplating writing another, more in-depth article about the Dream Team and what they meant to the fandom versus Robert and Kristen and what they mean to fandom... I'm a nerd, what can I say, lol. Since it's not for class, I figured I'd ask if anyone would be interested in it, considering I'd probably just post it here.