I hate it more or less for being WAY TOO GODDAMNED Angsty! I mean really, makes me want to kill myself for watching it. Also, the books are horrible in both structure and use of detail, in my opinion.
(Gaiman remarked: "bespectacled English boy learning magic is the most recycled plot in British children's fiction. I don't begrudge Rowling any of her success.")
Remarking further on this: Magical Boarding School is practically a subgenre in its' own right. And for a delightfully adult take on this, I would suggest The Magicians by Lev Grossman.
Re: Anita Blake and Laurell K. Hamilton's associated works: No, do not hold them up as examples of something a lot better. As a long time fan of Urban Fantasy(Charles DeLint was my first introduction to "Grown up Fantasy") I have always found that Laurell K. Hamilton was a not so good writer, with an obvious Mary-Sue protagonist, and there's a reason people don't like her much anymore. You could try Sookie Stackhouse(Which at least has the decency to have a sense of humor).
Actually, here's my real issue with Twilight and other "Paranormal Romance". Urban Fantasy is my favorite little subgenre of everything ever. I grew up on it (it and Terry Pratchett). My problem is, that as the genre has evolved, while it has certainly attracted new talent, the thing that has attracted me to the genre is fading away and being pushed to the background. Not many people talk about DeLint and his circle anymore, at least Jim Butcher's going strong, but I fear the direction the series is taking. Of course, if he pulls it off he'll be amazing. The problem is, now I have to dig through SO MUCH FUCKING DROSS to find good works in the genre and it is starting to irritate me. It's gotten to the point where I can almost recognize a bad book in the genre by the blurb on the back.
Watch:
________ is a young woman who is secretly a _______ with special powers/traits/etc. But now _______ will force her to choose between ________ and the ________ (Hot, sexy, etc) _______ (Detective, partner, etc) she has begun to love.
There. The fantasy rack has become inundated with this, and Urban Fantasy in particular. You can find good writing here, but it's very hard.
I liked this article very much. I disagree somewhat with your reasoning, but I liked it non the less. As a former frequent contributor to Harry Potter forums while the books where still not fully finished I've had a lot of friends recommend the Twilight series. I could barley get through the back of the book before I had to put it down. If I ever do read it, I do not believe I could do so with a straight face.
In my experience, where men look for conventional p0rn, women usually look for an emotional version of the same. We all have a craving for that deeply emotional troubled man with the dark hair, maybe slightly forbidden to like, who no one but one woman gets. And that woman is you. And with you he transforms into this perfect man who makes love like a devil and brings you breakfast and roses in bed the next day and never have to ask what we would like to be given for our birthday or Christmas. We might dream of this, in the same way that men seem to fantasies about the flawless seeming women that you run across in the adult section of magazines or movies. Both both men and women realize that what ever the dream or fantasy, reality is something different. And what you might reach for in the realm of possibility is something very different. Most geek men seem to fantasies about Oliva Munn, but would you say that you would never settle for any women expect her or someone exactly like her?
Personally I believe that Twilight is riding on a wave that Harry Potter in some respects helped create. Suddenly, there are tons of people who would not ever identify themselves as geeks in love with this magical world. I don't think Eragorn would have ever become known (which read like an amalgamation of the authors favorite parts of several other fantasy books), had it not been for so many people looking for something like the Potter books to read while waiting for the next Potter book. About the only thing I can say favorably about Eragorn is that it is fantasy, and that it is an easy read. I can definitely see the appeal of Twilight, and had I been 13 when it first came out, I'd probably be a fan girl once more. Instead, I read The Paksenarrion Saga when I was that age, and it probably ruined me for most fantasy set novels with a female lead.
I think the article is certainly on to something. I wonder how long I'll have to wait for someone to write something to cash in on the niche for stuff that doesn't objectify either gender
About 2000 years ago. It's about this guy who went around with other guys and this one girl saying it'd be good to be nice to each other. Then he gets nailed to a tree. You wouldn't like it.
I had no idea who Power Girl was at first and then I saw a picture of her in costume and I facepalmed so hard I nearly broke my wrist. She has such a generic name and the only note worthy thing about her are her massive tits. Nice going comic nerds, you makes us males look stupid once again.
Blade sneaked up behind the Vampire, feet carefully positioned each step of the way to avoid twigs. A false step made a light crackle in the pre-dawn air and Blade froze, hand on his sword. Fortunately, the whiny kid and the wet girl where too busy angst chatter with "Love waits" overtones.
He moved slowly, creeping closer and closer. About 1 metre away from the 'happy' couple, the dawn broke and the kid sparkled. "What the FUCK", thought Blade, "He should be in FLAMES, damnit."
Out loud, he said, "Fuck it" and cut the sparkly whiners head off.
Then the puddle girl attacked! With wave upon wave of passive aggressive whining, Blade felt his mind turning to goo. "FUCK" he shouted and fell to the ground, trying deseperately to lift the blade, "Die damnit, dieeeee!"
Just then, a giant train of a wolf came through the forest and turned into a topless bronze boy with 60 abs, "Oh, how terrible, looks like he's dead. Let me comfort you, my puddly girl"
This was deseperate. Blade could feel himself sinking into a tween 'romance' 'novel'. With his last ounces of strength, he pulled out a grenade, and popped the pin....
Good points all, but I do have one response to you (I seem to be disagreeing with you lately, I don't mean to)
They are in the process of developing skin-tight space-suits, because they allow for the flexibility to conduct EVA without worrying about not being able to handle tools correctly etc.
Of course, this doesn't quite apply to the world of fiction where often the women's outfits will still manage to be slightly tighter than the already skin-tight norm, but consider Mass Effect and Star Trek the Next Generation.
In Mass Effect, your uniform conforms to your body shape, with perhaps a little additional armour plating. This is true of both male and female, meaning the only reason FemShep's is seen as sexual is becaue she has breasts around which the armour contorts. But surely this isn't a bad thing or an overly sexual thing? If a woman has breasts and wears a skintight suit then her breasts will be defined by the suit. The male suits have a worryingly-sized crotch plate which doesn't get commented on, so why the breasts? The answer is not T&A, it's the fact that the new in-thing is to try to jump on the 'I'm being feminist' bandwagon, without actually seeing what it is underneath.
Star Trek the Next Generation is similar. Apart from Deanna Troi (Who frequently was wearing suits tight enough to reveal the exact dimensions of her crotch) the men and women were similarly clad, regardless of individual weights, body shapes, genders. The clothing was uniform, yet still people complain about the inappropriateness of the women! It's insane, because if you truly do take the attitude that any time a woman wears anything that may show she has breasts, you are effectively conforming to pre-Victorian era thinking about sex and sexuality, which is something I rather hoped we had grown out of.
The genres are getting there. Slowly but surely we will reach the stage where not only is their equality, but people won't also blanketly accuse a medium of something to which not all examples adhere to.
You have a point about the serious lack of female-centric genre fiction, but releasing crap to fill in the void is like solving an excess of rabbits by releasing bears, it just pisses everyone off in the process.
Me, being a 17 year ould girl, I'm probably right in the target audience. Still, I think Twilight is really, really BAD!
I think you're on to something with man-centric-geek-culture-thingy though. Taylor Lauther isn't someone I'd kick out of bed, but then again there's not to many actors that I would kick out either.
So if Twilight is the best fiction/fantasy with hot guys aimed for girls, I'm sticking with the hot girls and their male-centric fiction. At least the leads there tend to be funny.
Also, applause to Doug for his amazing Twilight/Blade fan-fic. A really touching end there, Blade should be memorized for his sacrifice.
As a frustrated girl- bravo. I tip my non existent hat to you sir Bob.
This is why a lot of closet girl nerds lean more towards anime and manga these days I think... a good chunk of Japan's crud is targeted at tween girls, not young males. We'll read our Ouran Highschool Host Club and be dang happy that it exists at all.
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