Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Dissecting Twilight

I hadn't even heard of the Twilight series of books until I wound up at the midnight launch party of Breaking Dawn (amidst countless teenage girls in prom dresses.)

However, Twilighters now seem to be everywhere and it seems like everybody's discussing them.

Stephanie Meyer's Twilight saga certainly has its detractors - Stephen King remarked that: "Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good."

However, that hasn't stopped the books being wildly popular. Now they're not my cup of tea (I find any books featuring vampires to be incredibly dreary) but I can see why they've become so successful. Say what you want about Stephanie Meyer as a writer, but you can't deny that she delivers very good 'product.'

I've heard accusations that the Twilight saga is nothing more than a teenage girl's wish fulfillment. Stephanie Meyer has certainly tapped into the eroticism and fantasies of that target audience - delivering a package that spoke directly to their subconscious desires.

However, on a deeper level, Meyer has written something about the nature of love and romance itself, which resonates with more than just the 'teeny Twilighters.'

Just like Harry Potter, to which the Twilight saga is often compared, Meyer's books have an appeal far beyond teenagers- although you wouldn't have thought that at the launch I went to.

In Twilight, Stephanie Meyer has done what every successful writer needs to, and focused on a specific audience when she created the characters, situations and emotions of the Twilight books.

As a result, that target audience of teenage girls love Twilight, because it speaks directly to them and their experiences. However, older women love Twilight too, because (to quote an old marketing manager of mine) "At heart, all grown-ups are aspiring teenagers."

But what specific elements make the Twilight books so popular?

Character Elements that make Twilight so successful:

Bella: The heroine of the Twilight saga is a blank slate, left deliberately devoid of distinguishing characteristics so the reader can more easily step into her shoes.

Second only to books written in the first person perspective, this is the easiest way for authors to suck readers into the world they have created.

Bella's story is one of a teenage girl's sexual awakening; her desire for Edward to turn her into a vampire is a grand, all encompassing romantic gesture similar to a teenage girl surrendering her virginity to the boy she loves. (It's hardly an original metaphor Meyer's used, but it's an effective one.)

Bella's final transformation, when she becomes a vampire in Breaking Dawn, is another metaphor - this time for the secret desire of every teenage girl to be transformed from an awkward, adolescent bundle of self-esteem issues into a beautiful, 'sparkling' creature full of grace, confidence and strength.

Bella's journey in the Twilight saga reads like a wishlist of teenage fantasies, which is compelling for her audience because Stephanie Meyer was so careful to avoid unnecessary characterization when she wrote about Bella. Therefore, it's blissfully easy for women and girls to see themselves in her stylish (yet affordable) shoes.

Edward: Impossibly beautiful, moody and sullen, yet incredibly seductive; Edward is the living embodiment of every teenage girl's crush.

Edward at first treats Bella abominably (just like kids at school bully the girls or boys they secretly fancy.) Then he reveals his hunger for Bella - in the entirely literal sense (he wants to drink her blood.)

Out of all the characteristics that make Edward every teenage girl's dream date, it's that hunger that's the most important. His desire for her blood is a metaphor for him desiring her - and for the danger that desire poses. Danger is sexy - and what's more exciting and erotic to a teenage girl than a beautiful, mysterious boy who desires her deeply, desperately and dangerously?

and that's not just a teenage girl's fantasy. Even my wife agrees that one of the sexiest things a man can do for her is make her feel beautiful and desirable.

Given that women are assaulted from all angles by unattainable representations of feminine beauty (the skinny girls in posters, the anorexic models on TV) perhaps the most powerful part Edward plays in the Twilight saga is simply making Bella (and, by extension, the reader) feel beautiful, sexy and desirable.

But to a lesser extent, Edward also represents the unattainable boy in high school. In addition to being beautiful and seductive, he's got all of the materialistic possessions teenage girls are supposed to be impressed by. A 'stupid, shiny' Volvo S60R [Yawn - Editorial Bear] and an Aston Martin V12 Vanquish.

Finally, you have to remember that Edward was born and raised in the early 19th century, making him the quintessential gentleman of every girl's fantasy. The fact that he refuses to make love to Bella until they're married is further wish fulfillment - the very opposite of most teenage girl's first experiences of love and sex.

Edward represents respect and romance and appreciation for Bella and for the gift she's honoring him with (her virginity.) That's a sharp contrast to the 'real world', where horny boys, devoid of romance, just want to 'do it' in the backseat of their Pontiac Sunfire.

Jacob: Oh, poor Jacob. He, too, represents a figure that features in most teenage girl's lives - the lovesick best friend - making him (like Edward and Bella) more of an archetype than a real character.

Jacob first appears in Twilight, where he suggests to Bella that Edward is a vampire. Bella likes Jacob enormously and Jacob develops a crush on her. What teenage girl hasn't experienced a male friend having a crush on her, while she's only interested in being friends?

This crush simmers through the book New Moon, but comes to a head in Eclipse, when Jacob (and his feelings for Bella) mature somewhat. In another twist that teenage girls will be familiar with, Bella discovers that she, too, has feelings for her 'just good friend' Jacob and they kiss.

Although the Jacob/Edward/Bella 'love triangle' totally fizzles out in the Twilight saga, it's another succulent situation Stephanie Meyer threw into her story, knowing that her target audience would devour it greedily, murmuring: "Oh, my God. This is just like my situation with [insert boy's name here.]"

Jacob makes the story of Twilight appear directly applicable to the reader's real life.

Jacob also serves as a reminder to Bella that her love for Edward is greater and more all-encompassing than her feelings for him. It validates the idealistic teenage belief that an unconsummated crush is more 'real' than feelings you might have for somebody you already know and care about.

Without Jacob as the 'friend with feelings' to mitigate Bella's romance with Edward, Edward could never ascend to become the archetypal romantic hero.

Jacob plays a vital role in making the Twilight saga resonate so successfully with female readers - but many agree with me that he basically got boned.

I was secretly delighted to to find myself discussing the situation with teenage Twilight fans at the launch of Breaking Dawn. Many of them hoped that the conclusion of the Twilight saga would see Bella end up with Jacob instead of Edward. No such luck!

Other Elements that made Twilight so successful:

Vampires: People love vampires. Just look at the success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter. It was the books of Anne Rice that first invented the concept of 'noble' and misunderstood vampires - and the vamps of Twilight represent the very worst of those vampire clichés. They're beautiful and strong and sexy, rather than decaying corpses who thirst for blood. In Twilight, Stephanie Meyer has successfully tapped into the conventions that make vampire fiction so wildly popular.

High School: Twilight begins with Bella attending a new school in Washington, thousands of miles away from her old home in Arizona. The 'new school' scenario is tried and tested - one almost all of Meyer's readers will be familiar with, which just adds to the ease in which they can relate to Bella's story.

Sex: Stephanie Meyer writes about teenage sexuality with surprising skill and subtlety. Even Stephen King, who eviscerated Twilight in a recent interview, admitted that Meyer's description (and allusion to) teenage sexuality was what made the book resonate so strongly with a female audience:

"She's writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up a kind of 'safe' joining of love and sex. It's exciting and it's thrilling, but it's not particularly threatening because it's not overtly sexual."

"A lot of the physicality is conveyed in ways, for example, like how the vampire will touch
[Bella's] forearm or run a hand over her skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that's a shorthand for all the feelings that they're not ready to deal with yet."

Whatever shall we make of the Twilight Saga?

Stephen King attacked Twilight because is was compared to J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter saga - and it doesn't take a literary genius to spot that Stephanie Meyer is no J.K. Rowling.

However, she's still an immensely talented writer.

Rowling's gift was in her vibrant imagination and the beautiful way she laid her visions out on the page. Stephanie Meyer's talent, on the other hand, is a powerful empathy for her target audience and the ability to transcribe a fantasy that speaks directly to them.

I think the Twilight saga is more 'product' than literature. That probably explains why it was scooped up by Little, Brown and Company just months after completion (whereas it took J.K. Rowling several years and many rejection slips for her bestsellers to find a publisher.)

Because of all the elements described about, Twilight is simply more 'bankable.'

But as I've often said, the proof of a great writer is not the recognition of their peers or the appreciation of the critics. It's not even in the awards the writing has won (and Twilight won the New York Times Editor's Choice, Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and a place on the American Library Association's "Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults" and "Top Ten Books for Reluctant Readers.”)

A good writer simply writes what people want to read - and what captures their imagination.

The Twilight saga, if its millions of fans are anything to go by, certainly achieved that goal - which makes it a damn good series of books as far as I'm concerned.

9 comments:

paisley penguin said...

I am on the third book. My teenage SD had read the entire series and realy liked it. She likes this genre of book and I am not usually drawn to it.

I am reading it because a friend of mine just loved it. I find a lot of things really interesting about how vampires and werewolves are portrayed in this series.

Anonymous said...

As you know, I homeschooled our children for 9 years. Throughout our 20 years of marriage we only had our TV hooked up during football season and only had cable one time for six months before getting the Dish 18 months ago. We were careful about what we allowed our children to see/read and when. Once our children got to the mid teens, we removed those restrictions. We could not see sending them off to college without having let them make decisions on their own prior to leaving our home.

My 18 year old daughter loves the Twighlight series. I had not read the books or even heard of them prior to her reading them. I read the Philip Pullman series (The Golden Compass... etc.) and I read the first four books of the Harry Potter series. There were elements I did not care for in each of those series but once my kids were of an appropriate age I felt it was their decision whether to read them or not. For the record, there are also elements of The Lord of the Rings series... and even C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia that I'm not particularly fond of... and I wrote a Vacation Bible School curriculum based on The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Anyway, I have now read the first two books of the Twighlight series. I had to step beyond my distaste for the attribution of good to symbols historically evil and allow the story to be told. I tend to be a bit critical where literature is concerned and I wanted to understand what my daughter found so appealing.

The author's writing style definitely does a good job of pulling you in. The whole element of danger keeps you on edge. The love story evokes that wistfulness that I don't think we girls ever lose. I am very happily married and when I think back on those first days of falling in love with my husband I still swoon.

There is more to these stories than people are saying. The fact that this band of vampires... most of which were turned into vampires through no will of their own... their distaste for what they are and the belief that the killing of humans is wrong... and their fight to choose a different way and not give in to what they are.... WOW!

It is this aspect of the story that I find the most compelling. Who would have thought that in today's culture a story about learning self-control, putting others before yourself, and waiting until marriage to have sex would be so popular? Even the denial of practicing what you "are" because it is ultimately wrong.

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series even though I find much of the circumstances and drama in the books lame.

As far as Stephen King's opinion... Snore. When I was young I read his books and they scared the beejeebers out of me. But... a Stephen King book is a Stephen King book. He is boring now. He needs to grow out of his genre and move on to something else.

Anonymous said...

Hey! You changed your header!

Roland Hulme said...

I was bored! Whaddya think?

As always, your insight was fascinating. I'd never thought about it the way you described it - how Edward and his family choose not to live the way they're 'meant' to because they feel it's wrong. Kind of, well, VERY topical to the debate we often have!

I studied CS Lewis at university (I went to a theological university) and would be interested to know what you objected to. I always liked CS Lewis' quote about why Aslan was a lion - he said if Jesus was an animal, that's what he'd be.

now I've lost my faith, I kind of look at Narnia like Christian propaganda - but they are great stories.

Anonymous said...

I like your header!

Well, it is not that I have a problem with The Chronicles of Narnia so much as I have a problem with the standard by which many judge other books in terms of witchcraft/occult type themes.

Remember I am coming from the Christian homeschool community... which is far more stringent in many ways than even main stream Christianity. The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia are just given a pass because they were written by Christians. Many of the arguments I've heard when these same people are coming out against other books really bother me.

In The Chronicles of Narnia there is a much clearer divide between good and evil. However, in The Lord of the Rings you have Gandalf. Gandalf is a sorcerer... yet he is attributed with being good. That goes against scripture. It was the first problem I had with Harry Potter... the attributing of good to something we know to be evil.

Interestingly, Gandalf gets a pass under the guise of "fantasy." Then why not Harry Potter? I had many other problems with Harry Potter... what I am talking about here is the argument coming from Christians as to why some books are okay and others are not. It is hypocritical.

I read The Chronicles of Narnia as a child and LOVED them! I had no clue as to there being any sort of message in them. I did wish that Aslan was real though...

Sasha Sappho said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you! For validating my ridiculous obsession with the series, and for writing out what I've basically been trying to explain to people who ask me why the hell I read the books. It's not for the stunning literary quality. They ARE relatable. And I recognize the archetypal characters in all the cases... shit, half my RL relations are named after Twilight characters on my blog. (The unspoken assertion being that yes, of course I'm Bella. It doesn't hurt that the actress who plays her in the films and I bear some resemblance, either. Keeps the dream alive.)

Anyway... this is turning ramble-y. But yes, as is often the case, I agree with much of what you've said. I do find it interesting, though, especially given your commentary with Coffee Bean, that you don't mention that Meyer is openly Mormon. (Yes, I say it like "openly gay." I think that's appropriate.) When I learned that, it actually pulled me out of my ability to read the story for simply what it was... I couldn't ignore the preaching. And yes, like Coffee Bean said, I do think it's ironic that a story preaching restraint, self-sacrifice and abstinence-only til marriage (good lord, they only kiss like five times before they get married) would be so popular. A professor I was speaking with suggested that this is the "ideal" kind of love for tween girls... My reaction was, perhaps unsurprisingly: Hell no! I find it difficult to fathom someone being SO in love with me that they DIDN'T want to have sex. Then again, I'm not a tween. At all. Although I probably fall somewhere between that and the "adult women" readers you refer to. I keep thinking one day I'll wake up and realize I'm an adult... Perhaps when I graduate?

I'm rambling again. In any case, that's my contribution. Thank you for writing this entry. It's always nice to know I'm not alone in my nerdyness.

And I also love the re-design. Excellent. Be well, friend.
S.

Anonymous said...

I did not know the author is Mormon... I don't know anything about her actually. That is interesting.

Anonymous said...

Hah! Across an ocean we seem to be on the same wavelength. I, too, felt compelled to address the Twilight phenomenon. But it fared badly with me as it had to risk comparison with a great new HBO vampire series we have in the US called "True Blood".

It left me concluding that a Southern Vampire can lay a powerful amount of whoop-ass on any mopey teen vamp:

http://leftcoastcowboys.com/2008/11/22/my-vampire-can-hand-your-vampire-a-big-ol-can-of-southern-whoop-ass/

Jodi said...

I love love love vampire stories. I read the first two books in the series. I do not care for them. Why did I read the second? Because I love love love vampire stories. They were making such a big deal about the release of the 4th book, I thought they would get better.

I skimmed the last two, read synopsis online, and armed with only that, I can tell you I do not care for where the series goes. They actually brought out the feminist ire in me, which is pretty rare. (I'm a rather laid back feminist)

In fact, I'm buying this shirt right now.
http://www.jinx.com/women/shirts/geek/buffy_staked_edward_womens.html?catid=1&cs=19&csd=buffy