Despite criticism, novels serve as valid form of entertainment and encourage youth reading

by Taylor Stone

As one who has read the entirety of Stephenie Meyer’s “The Twilight Saga” and has viewed the film of the first novel, I believe that I have enough authority to truly comment and analyze its definite content as opposed to a detached observer basing opinions off of the marketing endeavors of the franchise.

To properly comprehend the basic themes of the book series, one must fix the brain’s narrow perceptions beyond the “Team Edward” t-shirts, glossy posters, and publicity circus surrounding the movie and its actors. The novel’s plot surrounds many main characters, namely clumsy high school student Bella Swan and the intelligent, passionate vampire Edward Cullen. The series unravels dynamically, revealing fatal conflicts within the local vampire community and with the leading coven, the Volturi, based in Rome. Another major character, Jacob Black, adds interest as a member of a werewolf tribe, further complicating the experiences of the protagonist.

On the surface, or rather if one was to merely skim People magazine’s section on the film’s media frenzy, the entire concept of the novels seems ridiculous – who needs another chick-lit novel anyway, right? Isn’t “Twilight” simply a romance novel disguised as a vampire fantasy?

However, with such narrow judgments, one would clearly miss the significant themes and purposes within the text of the series. While the novels do serve as a method of simple entertainment, proven by its globally colossal success as bestsellers, it exposes readers to inner conflicts within characters. The theme of sacrifice is prevalent – the protagonist wishes to sacrifice her mortal life to be with her lover, while she also sacrifices her sense of reason in order to follow the path of her emotional thought. These sacrifices are not depicted as appropriate and rational to the reader, who is often repelled from Bella’s decisions and does not idolize her blind devotion. Characters encounter dark, complex ideas of self-hatred, immortal love, and suffering.

I found that the novels also attempt to set forth positive messages to teens. The series is altogether very chaste, as the relationship between Edward and Bella remains virtuous until the last novel of the series—following their lawful marriage, of course. The message that pure love can exist without such behavior before marriage is certainly positive.

I am certainly not attempting to insinuate that the “Twilight” series is equal to the works of Charles Dickens or Nathanial Hawthorne. The often-clunky writing style is characteristic of teen literature and should not be equated with the masterpieces of literary giants.

However, the argument that the “Twilight” series deteriorates the quality of literature illustrates the pretentious ideas of “high culture” and “low culture”, one to be appreciated by the intellectually gifted portion of society. I value the “Twilight” series as a form of entertainment, not writing it off as “below” my intellectual standards. The positive impact it has had on the literary excitement of society should be undisputed. Many individuals who may not be interested in Chaucer or Poe have expanded their literary interests through the series. I personally am happy that literature can be viewed as exciting by the general public, and therefore can be available to everyone.

The commercial success of the series is therefore well-deserved. While I certainly would not purchase a “Twilight”-themed snow globe, I do realize that the franchise’s marketing system, as well as any marketing system, operates on the “invisible hand” of supply and demand. The big, bad franchise is not attempting to corrupt youths with products. The savvy franchise is aware that posters, T-shirts, and pens are desired by those captivated by the novels, who themselves pay for such merchandise and have the responsibility to choose which companies to support.

Though the low budgeted and poorly scripted “Twilight” film does take some responsibility for allowing negative opinions to exist, the novels themselves are the foundation for the national success of “Twilight” rather than the charm of its Hollywood stars – a concept not easily comprehended by most critics.

My opinion on the “Twilight” series is foundationally based on the texts themselves, which stem a deeper understanding of the causes of the national frenzy supporting the franchise. Truly, the series’ often misunderstood literary merits and entertaining qualities, as well as its promotion for the appreciation of reading, prove it to be beneficial to both the reader and the reading public.

Lack of quality writing and character development paired with showy marketing render series a failure

by Dawn Androphy

Full disclosure: I haven’t read the entire “Twilight” series. I have, however, read the first book and seen the released movie. With all of the “Twilight” mayhem that has proliferated American culture, I feel as if I’ve been exposed to enough of the series and its connected marketing ploys to have a valid opinion on the brand.

While Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” contains some pretty dreadfully written prose, it is easy to dismiss the books as harmless light reading. Sure, I did not enjoy reading the book, but it is pretty unreasonable to condemn every book that I read and do not like. However, it is hard not to notice the strange development of Bella’s character in the first book and not find it to be off-putting.
The entire book seems to be compromised of Bella gasping over Edward’s beauty, mysteriously reticent behavior, and even his “sparkling” appearance. She constantly frets over her clumsy tendencies and is quite possibly one of the most self-conscious and insecure characters ever written into a novel. Meanwhile, Bella is never shy to randomly insert passages marveling at Edward’s beauty throughout the book to the point of redundancy.

I suppose that a character like Bella just doesn’t seem to be at all independent or capable of autonomy. Her relationship with Edward becomes her life and true obsession throughout the book, with few other concurrent, meaningful relationships in her life. Bella’s relationship with Edward seems to require her to abandon the rest of her life for a man she has known for only weeks. Some might find Bella’s isolation and blind dedication to Edward to be romantic, but it seems to be purely unhealthy to me.

Bella’s “virtuous” relationship with Edward and Bella’s own behavior may be repellant to a more astute reader, but I can’t help but find it disconcerting that so many people view Edward and Bella’s relationship as an ideal to aspire to. Their angsty-gaze-filled relationship may be declared by some as “wholesome” because Edward and Bella do not consummate their relationship, but the way in which their commitment is cemented so quickly to the extent that Bella doesn’t even seem to have a life outside of Edward is a truly disturbing concept to me.

A bland teenage girl in a codependent relationship that is glorified by the author just isn’t what I’m looking for in the fiction books I take time to read.

The permeation of “Twilight” into American culture adds an additional layer of unbearable aspects to the brand.  I call “Twilight” and its accompanying memorabilia (which includes, but is not limited to, movies, clothing, jewelry, and photo mugs) a brand because “Twilight” has expanded far beyond the status of a book series. Despite what many “Twilight”-devotees might say, the series can no longer be judged as simply a poorly written teen romance novel.

As the brand has grown to such a comically extensive level of popularity and obsession, the “Twilight” series has become an insultingly blatant marketing ploy to appeal to teenage girls in the most clichéd way possible. How can one be expected to be ambivalent to a product that wasn’t even enjoyable to begin with when it is constantly shoved in one’s face?

For example, on a recent trip to a clothing store, I was surprised to find the shelves of the store stocked with T-shirts adorned with phrases such as “Team Edward,” or “Team Jacob.” Even more bizarrely, there was a sweater that was apparently “inspired” by the weather in Forks, WA, where the book series is set. This moment epitomized my weariness of “Twilight” in that not only has a strange teen vampire romance novel sparked an overwhelming vampire trend in the media, which truly escapes my understanding, but the series has also become impossible to simply ignore.

It’s moments like these that really lower my opinion of the “Twilight” brand. From the beginning, I experienced distaste for the book. Now, however, I seem to be provided with additional reasons to dislike the brand each day. The unpleasant writing, the unfortunate character development, and the branding of the books with such tired marketing towards teenage girls are pretty infuriating and reductive to literature.