Did Twilight really suck that much?

[Iron Mal]

So I was browsing the forums and I saw a Twilight hate comment. And that brang back memories of other people hating on Twilight.

I remember back when everyone raged about it too, man those were good days.

And more. AND MORE.

Well...lots of people didn't like Twilight, so what more do you expect? It's like Justin Beiber, people just seem to be unable to do anything but hate him.

And I have to ask, did it really suck that much? Was it really that bad?

Yes, yes and a thousand times yes. I read the damn book and saw the first movie with my girlfriend (she admits that she used to be a fan of it but isn't so much of one anymore). You know how some people joking say 'I can do better', I wouldn't be suprised if there were huge crowds of people out there who said that and meant it.

i read it and thought it was fine. There were a few good bits,

Did you get different versions than I did?

a few bad bits, and Bella is about as emotional as a box,

Just a few? So having a Mary Sue protaganist (who despite supposedly being bland and unremarkable gets more in-depth description than the allegedly inhumanly handsome vampire stud), the awkward dialogue which doesn't really sound as much like natural speech as much like how someone who's watched too many teen dramas thinks people speak and the fact that it's an underwhelming and laughably flimsy portrayal of vampires (that isn't everything by the way).

but I didn't want to gouge out my eyes over it.

No, but it was enough to make me wonder 'why the hell do so many people like this?'.

Ok, so it didn't exactly blow my mind. But all it was was average. A lot of books are average! I don't hate (and this is just me looking at a random book that I didn't like all that much) Endymion Spring entirely because I forgot about it 20 minutes after finishing. So why do people hate Twilight so much?

I think a lot of the ire and hatred comes from the fact that it really wasn't that great or even groundbreaking but it still somehow managed to become a huge thing with a massive following for no apparant reason (which is a fair enough reason to be cynical and dismissive of something, to a lot of people it felt like it didn't really deserve the fame and attention that it got).

I suppose people hate it for the same reason people hate Call of Duty. Because it's popular. Or something.

That's something else completely different, Call of Duty is at the very least compotent at what it does and there is an obvious reason for why it is popular (it has enjoyable gameplay, it has a lot of customisation within it and is pretty fun to play with friends), hating Call of Duty for it's popularity usually comes from people who aren't even willing to give it a chance and automatically condemn it as 'crap' before they even glance at it.

Twilight's 'people hated it because it's popular' is probably not too far off from the truth and probably well justified. Again, it was sub-par and yet still managed to become a huge hit with no ryhme or reason as to why.

 

[Rin Little]

The entire book revolved around the sparkling vampire... Literally the ENTIRE THING! This completely pathetic, dependent, clumsy, emo girl (yes she's emo, she whines about EVERYTHING!) has her entire life revolve around a vampire that not only thinks about killing her but WANTS to kill her and then later ABANDONS her in the middle of the woods... Even Rob Pattinson hated the books and he plays Edward!

 

[SixWingedAsura]

YES.

As someone who has a hobby of reading up on the mythological and paranormal, the very thought of "sparkly" vampires ruins any and all credibility that the books and movies ever could hope to have in my eyes.

As an above person posted, all it is is masturbational material.

 

[stutheninja]

having read the book, its just honestly a poorly written teenage love story that subliminally pushes conservative values on girls, so yeah, wasnt a fan at all, if it had actually been abit more ambitious with the style of writting, or switched up the characters ait more, it could have been bearable, but as it stands id put it at drivel-caliber literature, cant wait till we all forget about it

 

[Iron Mal]

Oh yeah? Says who?

This is an issue I have. Why can't she just re-imagine them? People have done it with other monsters. Is it just making them less threating? Is that the issue?

Sorry for the double post but vampires don't sparkle because they're supposed to be threatening monsters who feast on the blood of the innocent and are cretures of the night.

A vampire is supposed to be mysterious, mythic being yet still a tangiable threat.

After reading the book (admitantly, I gave up after about 15 chapters I think) I swear the only even slightly aggressive thing I heard of Edward doing was to give people the evil stare and to just repeatedly announce that he's dangerous (writers of the future remember this, it is better to show than to tell, even in the written word this applies). That isn't really much of a reimagining as it is defanging the poor guy so he can get roped into an angsty emo love-triangle.

You want an interesting reimagining of a vampire? Check out The Preacher and look for the character of Cass. Spoilers below about why he's far more interesting a reminaging than anything I'm certain the Team Edward demographic could ever come up with:

Spoiler

They strip away all of the mysteical crap from the original vampire legends and in a single swoop explain how that's all just superstition. Cass explains to a fellow vampire who's new at the whole thing that he's been staked in the heart several times (apparantly it hurts like hell though), loves eating garlic (even knows a place that puts it in everything), isn't bothered by crucifixes (why should it matter to him that some poor bugger was nailed to one 2000 years ago?) or holy water (what about it?) all the while they're sitting in a church. In fact, the only thing they absolutely need to do is avoid sunlight (which causes them to up up in flames).

When we meet Cass we find that he isn't a noble or gothic vampire, he's more or less just drunken party addict (I still laugh at the line '$20 if you rub haggendaz on them!' in reference to a topless woman at Mardi Gras), the one 'gothic' vampire he does meet not only turns out to have just been putting on an act for the local goth/emo kids, but he only did it because he didn't know what else to do and went on what books and movies had told him.

Now that is a bloody reimagining.

 

[fryzee]

Forced to watch by the girlfriend, honestly an okay film.

 

[Icyheart]

Personally, what aggravates me is not so much how bad the books are(after all, we get crap media and entertainment all the time) but the following its generated. In the years that followed the book the shops were flooded with merchandise, fan-fiction and other crap books determined to get in on the new vampire craze. There had even been incidents at my high-school where relationships ended because the guy "wasn't enough like Edward." That was really the point where my hatred for the series started(after the hilarity of the incident subsided, that is).
(Incidentally, my hatred extends to similar situations beyond the Twilight books. It's been years since the Harry Potter books finished, and word has started of adding a Quidditch team to my school's roster. Ordinarily, I'd just shake my head and moan, but this is a fucking college campus we're talking about here. I mean, I loved the Harry Potter books(in fact I still read them), but seriously, people! Crossing the line!)

 

[Asita]

I suppose people hate it for the same reason people hate Call of Duty. Because it's popular. Or something.

Also, vampires do not sparkle.

\

Oh yeah? Says who?

This is an issue I have. Why can't she just re-imagine them? People have done it with other monsters. Is it just making them less threating? Is that the issue?

Because she made them superficial mary sue versions of their namesake. Living on animal blood like the main character's family? Sure, that's workable, understandable and certainly has precident. Beautiful? Again, precident makes this ok, and actually that's par for the course for the monster type. Lack of fangs...wait what? Diamondlike durability and superstrength? Huh??? When did she decide that Clark Kent was a vampire? Lack of any real sort of weakness, with the only real way of killing them (dismemberment followed by burning) being rendered almost entirely moot by the aformentioned durability...now it's getting ridiculous. And the sunlight thing...now let's see, the quintessential vampire that was Dracula was rendered powerless in daylight, later vampires tended more towards combusting upon exposure. But Meyers? 'Bishie Sparkle for reals! And that's a flaw!' Honestly, it's not so much that she changed them, it's that she did it in a hamhanded way that reeks of poor character design.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I actually didnt mind the first book. Read it, thought, meh, its alright. maybe shes just getting her wings. I mean, Id idnt think the first HP book was all that great, or at least not at the standards of the other six.

It wast till I read the second that she was going to decline, rather improve.

 

[spartan231490]

I suppose people hate it for the same reason people hate Call of Duty. Because it's popular. Or something.

exactly.

It's not bad at all, people just hate it because they want to hate things. it makes them feel better about their own pathetic miserable lives

 

[Kenbo Slice]

Because Twilight actually sucks. Duh.

 

[Watchmacallit]

I'm an old school vampire fan and I'm only 19. The vampires I loved were monsters rejected from hell, doomed to wander the earth feasting on the neck of pretty young blondes.

They didn't fall for the girl.

They did not sparkle in the daylight they burst into freaking flames.

They were not emotional. THEY WERE DEAD! THE LIVING DEAD! They feasted on blood because they had none of their own.

True Blood I can stand. The vampires are violent creatures.
Vampire Diaries, no.
Underworld, yes.
Being Human...Yes.

I don't just mean the shows, I also mean the books.

Also, I read Twilight and it wasn't written that well. I've read much better that have gotten no where near as much praise.

The thing that ticks me off the most is what Twilight did to media.
Vampire Diaries....TEEN WOLF!

Come on, talk about sucking something dry. They are all trying to cash in and filling in valuable air time.

Go read the Song of Ice and Fire series or Matthew Reilly's books. Try Brent Weeks while you're at it. Truly great authors that I loved and that did thorough research and put a hell of a lot of effort into their masterpieces.

 

[Asita]

I suppose people hate it for the same reason people hate Call of Duty. Because it's popular. Or something.

exactly.

It's not bad at all, people just hate it because they want to hate things. it makes them feel better about their own pathetic miserable lives

Now that sounds familiar. I seem to remember the fandom saying the same thing about Steven King because he criticized Meyer's prose. There are legitimate reasons to dislike this series, you know.

 

[Watchmacallit]

I suppose people hate it for the same reason people hate Call of Duty. Because it's popular. Or something.

exactly.

It's not bad at all, people just hate it because they want to hate things. it makes them feel better about their own pathetic miserable lives

Pathetic miserable lives? I read the first book. It was a poorly written book. I hate it because really great books don't get that kind of attention and it is wrong.

I gave reasons as to why I don't like it. You just claimed that I'm pathetic because I apparently hate it because of its popularity? Then why don't I hate CoD? Or the Harry Potter series? Matthew Reilly's books are pretty popular and I love those.

Next time you try to insult someone, don't? Just leave.

 

[Sean Steele]

My experience with Twilight is this.

Twilight (Film) Comes out. A number of my gal friends think its the best thing since sliced bread, most of my male friends and a good chunk of my female friends think it is the dumbest shit they have ever seen.

Out of curiosity I see it on HBO one day, watch for about an hour (I quit at the vampire baseball scene.) There is a whole lot of longingly staring in eyes and anything that could be interesting about vampire stories is brutally stripped away to turn the Cullen family into less a coven of vampires and more a family of superheros who don't really do anything superheroy except protect one member's girlfriend. Then baseball happens (The only thing they use their powers for on a daily basis.)

I quit watching.

 

[spartan231490]

I suppose people hate it for the same reason people hate Call of Duty. Because it's popular. Or something.

exactly.

It's not bad at all, people just hate it because they want to hate things. it makes them feel better about their own pathetic miserable lives

Now that sounds familiar. I seem to remember the fandom saying the same thing about Steven King because he criticized Meyer's prose. There are legitimate reasons to dislike this series, you know.

Not really. as I said above, I've read it, and it's not nearly as terrible as everyone says. It's certainly not great, but it's not really below average either. Hell, if you limit yourself to young adult fiction, which is what twilight is, it's a fair sight above average.

As for Steven King, I haven't been impressed by anything he's done. I certainly don't consider him much of an authority. I form my own opinions, using my own observations, I really don't care what who said about what.

I dislike a great many things, people, books, purse-dogs, spinach, Mr. Boston Vodka, the list goes on. I don't make a point out of "hating it" all over the internet. I truly believe that people who do that with anything; whether it's twilight, or CoD, or Bieber; are just trying to make themselves feel better about their own horrible lives.

 

[Watchmacallit]

I suppose people hate it for the same reason people hate Call of Duty. Because it's popular. Or something.

exactly.

It's not bad at all, people just hate it because they want to hate things. it makes them feel better about their own pathetic miserable lives

Pathetic miserable lives? I read the first book. It was a poorly written book. I hate it because really great books don't get that kind of attention and it is wrong.

I gave reasons as to why I don't like it. You just claimed that I'm pathetic because I apparently hate it because of its popularity? Then why don't I hate CoD? Or the Harry Potter series? Matthew Reilly's books are pretty popular and I love those.

Next time you try to insult someone, don't? Just leave.

I wasn't insulting someone, I was offering my opinion, when that's the whole point of this thread. If you don't like it, screw yourself.
I read all 4 books, and have a collection of books that quite literally rivals some public libraries. It's not bad. It's not great, but it's certainly not "poorly written." It's average. Not great, not bad, just fair.

Saying that people that hate Twilight have 'pathetic miserable lives' is an insult. So is 'screw you'. When you post here, don't insult anyone, I didn't insult you so there's no need to get pissy.

Also, you offered nothing to the topic. "Its not bad at all". No explanation, nothing. I offered something. I didn't produce malice, I didn't give an insulting "opinion" (as you stated) such as all the teen girls that read the books are idiots because it isn't my place to say and it sure as hell isn't yours.

 

[spartan231490]

I suppose people hate it for the same reason people hate Call of Duty. Because it's popular. Or something.

exactly.

It's not bad at all, people just hate it because they want to hate things. it makes them feel better about their own pathetic miserable lives

Pathetic miserable lives? I read the first book. It was a poorly written book. I hate it because really great books don't get that kind of attention and it is wrong.

I gave reasons as to why I don't like it. You just claimed that I'm pathetic because I apparently hate it because of its popularity? Then why don't I hate CoD? Or the Harry Potter series? Matthew Reilly's books are pretty popular and I love those.

Next time you try to insult someone, don't? Just leave.

I wasn't insulting someone, I was offering my opinion, when that's the whole point of this thread. If you don't like it, screw yourself.
I read all 4 books, and have a collection of books that quite literally rivals some public libraries. It's not bad. It's not great, but it's certainly not "poorly written." It's average. Not great, not bad, just fair.

Saying that people that hate Twilight have 'pathetic miserable lives' is an insult. So is 'screw you'. When you post here, don't insult anyone, I didn't insult you so there's no need to get pissy.

Also, you offered nothing to the topic. "Its not bad at all". No explanation, nothing. I offered something. I didn't produce malice, I didn't give an insulting "opinion" (as you stated) such as all the teen girls that read the books are idiots because it isn't my place to say and it sure as hell isn't yours.

you view it as an insult, that doesn't mean that it is one. I believe that all people have pathetic and miserable lives 90% of the time. And I don't see anything wrong with trying to alleviate that misery by hating on things.
Also, i did offer something to the topic, I said that people hate the series, not actually because it's bad, but because people like hating things because their lives are miserable, and hating on something, especially something that is popular to hate, is cathartic. I thought that was obvious, but there, I spelled it out for you. Just because my opinion doesn't match yours, doesn't mean that it isn't contributing to the thread.

Besides, without people like me, people wouldn't get to hate on twilight for more than one sentence. One needs opposition, otherwise, there's no reason to keep talking.