I’ve long hated the twilight series. Loathe is the word best to describe my general tenor towards that writing. I loathe it because of the fans it gets and the copies it sells and the millions the writer makes off of it. I loathe it the way a kid hates his friend’s shiny new PS4–because he doesn’t have one. I consider the writing and think, ‘I could’ve done much better. I could’ve told a better story with more developed characters’. Then, I take a deep breath, exhale, and decide that I’m completely wrong. Sure I could’ve written something along the lines of Twilight, but I could not ever have written that book because of the way I was taught, and the stuff I read. I would’ve written the version of Twilight that didn’t sell and didn’t reach so many people and compel them to read.
Twilight is not Faulkner. It isn’t the lost works of any dead white guy or Ellison or Neruda in long form or any of that. Twilight is a fun trip into the mind of teenage girl who is being pursued by incredible men. In that lives the stories simple pleasure. In that lives the reason why it is so compelling. So many of us want to be wanted by others and stepping in the shoes of Bella allows us to be wanted and to imagine what we would do in a similar situation. Because she is little more than a shell character, it is very easy for a multitude of readers to impose their own ideas upon her and in that become her. I submit that the same holds true for the actress who plays her in movies. All this Team Edward vs. Team (whoever) crap is merely an extension of the basic premise of choice. The followers of one team are only there because that is the team they would chose had they been given the choice themselves. There is the beauty of reading–the freedom to choose and in that choice extrapolate a meaning for the book that the author might not have ever intended.
So, I write this to say thanks to Bella and all of the published characters that bring more readers into the fold. I’ve much enjoyed the chance to watch new readers grow and learn and it is an experience I won’t soon forget.