I've noticed something.
This probably won't be anything, but Hell.

So, the other day, I was staring blankly at the television & some movies-on-demand ad came on & mentioned that the Twilight movie was up for order. While averting my eyes & cringing, I wondered once again why oh why that story is so popular. It's a Mary Sue & the glittery bad boy of her dreams.
Then something in my head snapped.
Not the 'kill everyone' thing, but an 'epiphany' thing.

Okay, so if you've ever browsed Quizilla, you'll have been sure to find 1 or 6 of those interactive-story-quizzes with a title like "A werewolf, a vampire, or an angel? Which one would fall for YOU?"
Once upon an afternoon, I read thru one of those just to see what in the sweet Hell was goin' on. Recently, I went back to scan over a couple.
It was pretty much a 2nd-person story that went like this- Average girl with low self esteem gets thrown into a strange situation. Usually, the girl had seen something she wasn't supposed to see & someone's trying to kill her because she knows too much, blah blah. The good guys, [werewolf, vamp, angel, sometimes a demon or something] all try to help her, by taking her to a distant castle, or something. The whole time, the chick laments being there. Also, they're all terribly in love with her. An inferior human chick. The werewolf is a stereotypical impulsive territorial badass, the vamp loves her but is afraid he'll hurt her, the angel is kind [wussy] & protective. If there's a demon, he's all cold & evil, & hates to show his cute, caring side. The cliches burn. They're usually okay literary-wise, they're written pretty well, but they're all rather similar.

So, I went back to read a couple of my favorite humorous, critical reviews, like these: [link] & [link] about Twilight.
1st person, awkward chick with low self esteem, goes to town she hates a lot, has like 50 guys competing for her fancy, falls for a glittery vamp boy with violent mood swings. He loves her lots, but he's all afraid of hurting her. There's a werewolf dude who also likes Miss Mary Sue, so he & vamp boy has this thing goin' on. And further research concluded that there's some sweetheart blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy, who Mary Sue never really likes, but he's nice. [Just like how the angel character is probably never chosen in those quizzes because he's a wuss.] Also, apparently in the 1st accursed book, there's some guy who tries to kill our awkward little main character.
I've asked some friends about it & they say it's pretty well written, but it's basically just a love story.

So any freaking fangirl on Quizilla could have written this god damned book. It just took the queen of fangirls to make it happen.
It's so similar, just from what I've seen & heard, that it's kinda sad, really.

In my research, I'd also noticed that the vamp characters seem to have the ability to move so fast that people can't see the movements, or whatever. That seems to be used a lot in the Twilight story. Like, too much. In nearly every review I've read trying to understand what makes these books so special, I've seen that point brought up.
That is so painfully stolen from Anne Rice's stuff. I've only been halfway thru 'Interview' & it's clear that SMeyer was even less original than I at first thought. Rice's vamps can stand stock still, like a statue. They can move super-fast. They pretend to eat. They're strong & alluring & fashionable. Totally stolen.

I kind of understand why the Twiseries has become so popular. Many young girls have low confidence in themselves, good girls love the bad boys, they also love it when the bad boys have a soft side [hence the glitter], yada yada. I get that. I get why people might like to read it. The 1st person thing really sped it along too, I bet.
What I don't get is how it spawned such a rabid fanbase. Maybe it's readable, & maybe there are some things I can't glean from just reading reviews, but it just doesn't seem like the kind of thing to get people so uppity. The Twihard attacks have been insane.

ANYONE could have written this. Hell, I could have stifled my vomit long enough to write something like this. I think all the fangirls at Quizilla & Anne Rice should get a share of SMeyer's fortune for this.

Anyways, that's my rant. Doubt few people read past the title. Have a nice day.



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Buddehs