Twilight: Bella is SUPPOSED to be a flat character.

[Atmos Duality]

Oh, I heard this explanation before.
And here is why it doesn't work: Role-playing a character with variable emotions, but static continuity (that is, Bella is always going to fall for Edward) is doomed to failure.

Why? Because projecting your persona into a pre-defined role is bound to cause contradictory behavior. It's like being forced to act a script for a role that you don't fit into; you can technically blurt out your lines and slog through it, but nobody (least of all yourself) is going to find it believable (unless they're gullible, of course).

Ironically, this is the very same reason why the books, and especially the movies, are so unintentionally hilarious, because this is exactly the sort of logic you would use to create a parody or comedy.

A lack of characterization is still weak characterization, no matter how you try to rationalize it, because at the end of the series Bella Swan is still a useless, boring, submissive emo *****.

 

[CleverCover]

But I didn't like the rest of the characters in the first book, so if it really was me, I would have just tried to finish high school. Or not treated my Dad like crap.

And I would have gone shopping with those girls BTW Ms. Meyer.

 

[Dexiro]

I'm pretty sure every other aspect of the book was badly written to match, so that excuse doesn't stop it from sucking.

 

[Baneat]

Might fulfill that function

Doesn't mean it was intended.

 

[Oscar Bjorklund]

The good way to make a character that you are supposed to project yourself into, is to make one that's very alike the target audience, making a character boring just so that you can think of yourself as the person is just a way to make the character interaction very bland.

 

[Therumancer]

I've always thought that the issue is that if Bella had more of a personality and was more reactive it would ruin the rest of the storyline. A personality would mandate some kind of sensible reaction to being stalked non-stop by supernatural weirdos, and especilly early on any kind of realistic reaction to the situation would have ruined the entire story. Any real personality that could be made to react according to the needs of the plotline would come accross as being totally dysfunctional to the point of making projection by the reader impossible.

There have been tons of things written about how creepy a lot of Edward's behaviors are, and yet nobody notices. By this I don't mean the vampire "creepy" bits, I mean the kinds of behavior that even for a non-Vampire would warrent a restraining order even if the guy was Adonis.

-

That said, I think the whole thing being so weak in implausible to any rational thought is why it was chosen by the powers that be in Hollywood and so on to be face of "Paranormal Romance" that they were going to promote. The entire work is objectively terrible and impossible to take seriously.

Now loon back at situations with similar kinds of material like the "Vampire The Masquerade" RPG, or other, better constructed universes and lore systems that acheived fanatical followings. A concern being people taking it too seriously, or being manipulated through obsession, which would generate the wrong kind of contreversy and bring their long-term franchise potential to a premature end.

Think of situations like

http://roswell.fortunecity.com/seance/500/killers/family.html
http://www.karisable.com/ymvamp.htm

There was also a case when "Vampire: The Masquerade" was newer where, there was a (non murderous) teenage sex scandal involving teachers at a school manipulating students through the RPG group and the like.

The bottom line here is that "Twilight" just doesn't have the kind of mythology behind it where Hollywood would expect it to create the kind of obessesive detachment from reality that has hurt other franchises, and with the somewhat touchy history of fantasy vampire lore, exploiting the fad was probably akin to walking a tightrope, because with time you could dig out a bunch of stories about wierd Vampire fans (RPG and otherwise). Heck, "Something Awful" even did articles mocking sites where people who allegedly think they are real Vampires go to hang out and talk about Vampire stuff.

"Twilight", "True Blood", and similar franchises all share the simple trait in common that they are impossible to take seriously. Notice that just between those two series Bella and Sookie have a lot in common.... both being complete morons in reaction to what's going on. What's more neither is remotely believable, in one universe we've got Vampires who sparkle (and truthfully in "Twilight" I don't really 'get' the downside of being a Vampire, and why they wouldn't turn someone they care about), in "True Blood" we're supposed to believe that the authorities let Vampires kick around publically, doing whatever the heck they want, up to and including maintaining their own seperate justice system. One would think that as part of such acceptance would have been the development of squads in law enforcement trained to exploit their weaknesses when they step out of line (in that universe at least the Vampires do have signifigant weaknesses). Of course the whole mystique would be ruined if some Vampire Sheriff/Crime Lord wound up getting slammed into the back of a keyboard on "Cops: The Redneck South" to the tune of "Bad Boys" and then chained up with silver permanantly inside of a cell with his new buddy "Bubba".

All of the big vampire franchises right now have "not making one bit of sense when you think about them" in common, and I think it's internaionally set up that way by the people producing them.

 

[Terminal Blue]

I just thought it was because women weren't allowed to have personalities in Mormonism..

(this is a joke.. sort of)

 

[VegetaPrinceofSaiyans]

i dont buy that bs, it gives meyer too much credit.

she cant write for fuck and its a miracle that shit storm of a book was even made into a movie.

there are so many other books that would make excellent movies, such as the song of ice and fire series, but no we get this shite.

While I agree with your love for GRRM's masterpiece series, I disagree on the fact that it would make a good movie. Those books contain so many simultaneous subplots that much would have to be cut out in order to make the movie of an acceptable length. I think they went the proper route with the HBO TV series. IMO, it gives them a much better opportunity to examine the depth of the series in a way that I doubt a movie/movie series could.

OT: *insert obligatory Twilight hate statement here, as well as snarky comment about how all Twitards should be forced to watch the entire Hellsing Ultimate series then reevaluate their perspective on vampires.*

 

[Andrew Bohan]

It's a trademark of 90% of romance novels that the protagonist, or usually lackthereof if you really look into how little they do, is pretty much purely there for the sake of reader integration. Of course they put in a mary sue with asinine thoughts and no-shit-sherlock responses, because if god forbid they have an original thought it would take away that gap that's there SOLELY for the reader to fill. Honestly the best way to view twilight is it's like a choose your own adventure book in a straight line. No choices, but you're expected to sit there and think thoughts to FILL that gap. It's seriously just a cut and paste job where any name can fit in. And yes, it's poorly written but it's hit on that market that makes the most money, tweens and teens. In this generation as well do you really see /ANY/ of those readers who're drawn to twilight having a reading age above it's writing skill? It's a stepping stone at best to get the kids into actual worthwhile reading material and at worst a HURR DURR with no big words for them to get through.

 

[_Cake_]

100% spot on. She is suppose to be a lame cardboard cut out so girls can think "Well if she could get these guys so could I". Like Hitomi from Escaflowne I loved that show when I was kid so I can't really make fun of all the lil girls into twilight.

 

[Raziel_Likes_Souls]

Fate/Stay Night

To be fair, there was three main chracters, and the one you chose interacted with the other 2. So, the other characters at least had some semblance of a personality. Unlike Bella. And she succeeded at one thing, at least. Being the definition of Epic Fail, mostly.

 

[Brad Shepard]

Isent your main charecter suppost to be intresing?

 

[Captain Bobbossa]

Personaly I don't think Meyer is that intelligent, she wrote twilight.

 

[sageoftruth]

So, the author wrote poorly on purpose?

 

[sageoftruth]

Discuss.[/quote]

So, the author wrote poorly on purpose?


Why was Bella obsessed with Edward? He was a jerk! Seriously, even in fiction women like the worst possible man they can find. Violent, rude, and a stalker? Gets them wet.



WORST. MOVIE. EVER!

Well, since we're in agreement about this being a movie of pure pandering to a teen girl demographic, I'd say we need to think with less logic and more about what said panderers were thinking:
Okay, so Edward is a strong vampire and teen girls love strong guys who can protect them. However, we need our girl readers/audience to feel that he needs them as well, so let's make him a tortured soul that needs a woman's comfort. He'll treat her badly, but they'll know he's just crying for help. Let the squeeing ensue.

 

[jameskillalot]

As a Creative Writer that has both read extensively on the subject and taught on the subject, I can say that is only an excuse and, even if it was intentional, it is simply lazy writing. If Meyer really wanted to have the reader put themselves in the shoes of the main character, she would have had to write the story in 2nd person (and that can be done). However, the problem is (yes, I have read Twilight) that she doesn't really decide on perspective. Sometimes she wants to be in 3rd person omni, sometimes 3rd person limited (camera very close to Bella so we can only see what she is thinking), and sometimes it is 3rd person "fly-on-the-wall" which gives emotional distance and breaks tension.

For more fun information on this, I would like to point out that the ACA/PCA Conference in San Antonio is going to have an entire academic panel on the modern vampire stories (Twilight and Tru Blood), so if you are a college student and really want to look deep into this, shoot them a paper and you might be the academic expert on the matter.

agreed. Flat characters are not suitable for a protagonist, at all in my opinion; but if you're going to do it at least give it a constant AND DON'T BLOODY PUT THEM IN HER HEAD.

 

[C117]

Hmm... yes, that would make sense. If it wasn't for the fact that she is NOT a character you control like in a sim-date. She does things on her own, not listening to the viewers commands. Also she has a face (a face that leads me to believe she high on fly agaric).

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

I suppose I understand the point if this is true... (hint source hint) but the whole point of a book from a third person perspective or a film is to tell someone elses story.

First person books allow you to project yourself, but I just don't see films as a medium that allows you to put yourself in the characters shoes. Maybe some people can but I personally don't see it.

Hay, not all ideas are SMART ones

 

[tthor]

I heard an interesting theory regarding Twilight and the character of Bella Swan the other day.

The reason she's such a bland, uninteresting, burlap sack of a character is because the target audience is intended to project themselves into her shoes. If she were a REAL character (i.e., someone with a personality and other defining traits), she would just be some dumb ***** getting in-between the reader and Edward Cullen (or Jacob, if you're into that sort of thing). Probably also why the Twilight novels are written as a first-person narrative.

This rings true for me, because I'm already aware of another type of entertainment that does this: Japanese dating sim games. In these types of games, where the player is intended to project themselves into the role of the main character and decide which of the lovely ladies they'd like to woo, the character is frequently not even given a face, let alone a personality.

Discuss.

thats exactly the reason. as long as she doesn't have much personality, she could easily be replaced by any girl anywhere.