The Twilight Phenomenon
Wherever you are on the Twilight spectrum, from a devoted Twi-hard who proudly wears their Team Edward shirt to the midnight showing of each new movie to someone who passionately detests the whole phenomenon as a writer, you must take into consideration why these books and films have become such a huge part of our culture and what about these stories elicits such strong emotion from audiences. It’s rare that a series of books generates an entire subculture of true fans, rather than just people who enjoyed the story. Not since Harry Potter have books appealed so widely to teenagers and adults, and created cult followings that defied the conventions of pop culture.
For full disclosure, I’ll say that, as embarrassing as it is for this 29 year old who formerly considered herself to be a literary snob to admit, I fall much more in the Twi-hard category. I don’t own any Twilight-themed apparel, but I did pre-order my tickets for the midnight showing of Eclipse several months ago.
If you haven’t been paying attention to this craze, or, like I did, consider yourself too intellectual or sophisticated to buy something made for teenagers, I urge you to give it a try. Come to the sparkly side. It’s not all bad and if you leave your prejudices against liking something everyone else likes at the door, you might actually have fun. Because, there is always a reason why a story appeals to mass audiences and creates such fervor, and it’s all too easy to dismiss a popular movie by saying it simply appeals to the lowest common denominator. There’s more here than just teenagers (okay and adult women) with crushes on Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. They worship these idols not just because they’re good looking, but because they’re Edward and Jacob. With or without those abs, the fans would have adored any competent actor, because they are already so enamored of the stories.
But why? What can you as a writer learn from Stephenie Meyer’s enormous success? The stories are nothing groundbreaking. The writing is meant for teenagers and thus overly simplified, at times trite, and not even close to great literature. The story is nothing new, it’s just a creative twist on the classic star-crossed lovers and love triangle paradigm set in the familiar vampire genre. The books even make self-referential commentary on Romeo and Juliet and Wuthering Heights. But once again, this story model proves itself to be compelling, fascinating, with a timeless quality that resonates with readers and viewers.
I believe the success is due to several factors. The characters, the story and the genre. Whatever you think of K-Stew, read the books and you’ll love Bella. She is instantly relatable to anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider, and awkward new kid, or someone who just doesn’t fit in with everyone else. She’s clumsy, awkward, and uncomfortable in her own skin. She falls deeply and illogically in love at first sight, something most of us can relate to because it has either happened to us (probably as teenagers) or we hope it will. The stories are told from her perspective, so we live them through her. And that is the most important thing a writer-any writer, screen or page, can do. To make your audience relate to the character so much so that they feel that they are living the story with them, experiencing every emotion with the lead, is the ultimate way to elicit an emotional response in your audience. For more on how to do this check out my article: Creating Heroes your audience will like, and Michael Hauge’s article: Desire.
