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The Sociology of Sparkly Vampires
Aug. 13th, 2009 04:10 pmAll right. Twilight is hilariously awful. We all know this now. The question is, why do so many people like something that's clearly Objectively Not Very Good so much? What are the sparkly stalkers tapping into?
Kit Whitfield has a rather good stab at trying to explain it here. She's picked up on quite a lot of rather interesting dynamics in the book, in particular the way we keep on being reminded that Edward is DANGEROUS! But SAFE! VAMPIRE! But DRIVES A VOLVO! and the way Bella's relationship with Edward is essentially a fantasy of a perfect D/s relationship where you don't have to do any of that tedious communication and negotiation stuff because your dom's Just That Perfect.
Best thing she's come up with is right at the end, in the comments, though; the insight that Twilight is not really for reading. The fun bit of Twilight is in the fantasising about it, or analysing it, or mocking it, not reading it. Like Edward, it's whatever you want it to be.
Kit Whitfield has a rather good stab at trying to explain it here. She's picked up on quite a lot of rather interesting dynamics in the book, in particular the way we keep on being reminded that Edward is DANGEROUS! But SAFE! VAMPIRE! But DRIVES A VOLVO! and the way Bella's relationship with Edward is essentially a fantasy of a perfect D/s relationship where you don't have to do any of that tedious communication and negotiation stuff because your dom's Just That Perfect.
Best thing she's come up with is right at the end, in the comments, though; the insight that Twilight is not really for reading. The fun bit of Twilight is in the fantasising about it, or analysing it, or mocking it, not reading it. Like Edward, it's whatever you want it to be.
