discussion on Twilight (and Eragon)

ok, so as I understand it many people don't seem to like twilight. The primary reasons being the flat characters, unimaginative plot line, and drab writing style. And I get that. But I think they are looking at it the wrong way.

We are judging it from our perspective. That of writers, or at least avid readers. But thats not who the books were written for. They were written for, and I say this with all respect, girls who want a love story about a perfect guy and the normal girl. The intended audience doesn't care that Edward has no personality (my personal opinion), only that he is the 'perfect' guy, that just so happens to be immortal (and sparkly). they dont look at books the way we do.

ok, this is turning into a rant quickly, and one I guess on writing for an audience as much as twilight.

but anyways, what are your thoughts- why do you like it, or why do you hate it, and what not. Also feel free to talk about Eragon if you want.

BUT KEEP IT CLEAN. I don't want any flaming or anything like that. This is a discussion. State your opinion and argue it civilly, but dont criticize someone else for theirs.

I admit I like Twilight, I'm a fan. And what you say is true, the book is for certain audience.There are some...issues in the book but just to feed imagination, a teenage girl imagination, is perfect. Just for a summer read or something.
I love reading I've read tons of books but just the idea of the bampire perfect guy and the normal girl resetted everything. I say it's an interesting book to read.

Now, Eragon, well, Eragon, at least for me is a different story. The first book, I enjoyed it, it had something, although I didn't like how the plot developped. Then the second one, well, I have no comments.Or actually I do, I found it boring and the plot is lost in the woods of Ellesmere. Eragon's character did not improve much, either.

i completely agree on everything you said, but im still going to finish Eragon out of dedication.

They were written for, and I say this with all respect, girls who want a love story about a perfect guy and the normal girl.

Be that as it may, the intended audience does not erase the fact that Edward and Bella's relationship is portrayed as the ideal, when in fact it is unhealthy, abusive, and based on superficial qualities, none of which make for a real tried-and-true love. The number of teenage girls who now use Edward as their standard for finding their significant other shocks and worries me. I understand the imagination/daydream aspect of the story, but the effect that Twilight is having on the 10+ female population is not a good one. Women over age 13 have ended relationships "because he just isn't Edward". That's my greater issue with Twilight. Yes, the writing is completely shoddy, and I've seen better characterization on cereal boxes, but the cultural ripples it's making are what really bug me.

As for Eragon...I hope this isn't harsh, but I want to have a nice coffee date with Paolini so I can thwap him with his Bricks of Varying Color and ask him what he was thinking. There is one intriguing character in the entire cycle, and that's Murtagh, who, sadly, suffers from the fate of so many good characters: he's trapped in a book that's determined to make him Teh Evul Baddie #2 who must redeem himself through death. (Which, by the way, is the most boring and ineffective way to have a character atone for wrongdoing.) It is practically shoved in our faces that Eragon is the unequivocal hero of Umlautgaesia, and yet he never behaves in a heroic manner. He treats Sapphira, his supposed soul-bonded partner in life, like little more than an intelligent dog, has no regard for the countless soldiers he sends to slaughter in his wars, and is capriciously cruel. He feels no remorse for the hundreds of lives he takes. Or if he does start to feel remorse, Sapphira or Arya magically make all the monsters go away.

Eragon doesn't so much have plot holes as it does plot canyons, which is what you get when your MC can cure CANCER with a 2 second thought, but can't heal his own wounded soldiers of a few minor infections. (if we had a *headdesk* smiley, I would use it here... )

and i was completely unaware about that twilight-ripple effect, but it is wrong ad disgusting.

as for eragon, i agree, and murtagh is the only decent character. My only comment to Paolinis credit is his age, which isnt really saying much since most of us are much younger than him.

The Twilight Effect is really pretty scary. My best friend who finally got out of her emotionally abusive relationship (Thank God!) keeps trying to convince me that Twilight is "cute and romantic". The daughter of my mom's friend is obsessed with Twilight, and currently in an abusive relationship. My own mother, who went through an abusive first marriage, sees all the signs of it in Edward and Bella. Definitely not healthy for the psyche!

Paolini's age is really only an excuse for Eragon. By the time he was writing and publishing Eldest, he should have known better. He's older than I am by only about 4 years, and if it's not too bold to say, I think I write far better than he does.

Wow...I had never looked at it that way, but in the way you say it, well, I think I should consider it. I agree with you in that just leaving your boyfriend becuse he isn't Edward is really ridiculous. That's really what I don't like about it, people are now just bewitched by him, by that's story but they don't read between the lines. First he is not real, second it ...would be freaky. And thirdly, there is no such perfection in the real world.

And for Eragon, well, I think I liked the prologue of the first book, it was the most solid part in the story. Then, YOu're right in Murtaugh's.

But well, leaving Edward behind is such a hard thing to do.

I'm fairly at peace with Eragon and the rest of the colored bricks. I'm willing to allow them to continue to exist and even read them sometimes for the kicks and giggles, but I recognize that they are pretty much headdesk inducers on major league steroids. I think its because I was once a fan. Yes, I find the veganism soapbox preaching (yes, your life choices are fine, but don't spend an entire book in the middle of a series preaching about not taking animals' life for food when you are ruthlessly slaughtering hundreds of human beings) annoying and Eragon should be strung up by his toes and stuffed with apricots, but I'm willing to let the books exist.

I find Twilight and its demon spawn sequels to be incredibly scary in terms of the cultural impact. I have teachers - i.e. fully grown, middle-aged women - who love the books and squee like teenagers over Edward. I know a friend who's obsessed and just finally got out of an unhealthy relationship (but only because he dumped her). I was pointed out the unhealthy relationship signs from the beginning and couldn't understand how anyone else could't see it. Sure, Twilight's fun to bash because of bad writing, but even if G.K. Chesteron himself had written them, I would probably still find them scary. It is just so unhealty and yet painted as the best thing on earth.

I'm not into the Eragon genre very much, so I can't say much about that, but I can offer my (stock) opinion on Twilight. xD

The characters *do* bother me, and the writing stinks as well, but my basic problem with it is the message that it's been sending out to girls my age. You know, things like, "You can give it all up for a high school romance as long as he's hot and sexually attracted to you." and, "Stalking = romantic as long as the stalker is hot and sexually attracted to you." and the fact that the vampire romance aspect is treated as, "OMGOSH ETERNAL LURVEEEEEE." when I don't think a romance based upon attraction would work for a few years, let alone the rest of eternity.

You make a good point about the target audience, but that still doesn't change the fact that Twilight has *seriously* influenced young girls, sometimes in a negative (cult-like) way. XD Did you hear about the "Twilight Proms" in which you had to be a character look-alike to win entry? Some girls *physically* broke their legs so that they could match Bella Swan on her prom night. The author, on her website, merely praised this as "attention to detail".

One of the most frustrating things about Twilight for me is that it had so much potential to be just cool, and it collapsed like a flan in a cupboard. The basic idea of vampire-obsessed-with-mortal is really old and works really well when done right. I think if the stakes had been higher, I might have been able to enjoy the story. If, for instance, Bella's soul was at stake, and turning her into a vampire wasn't just SM's version of Paolini's naked Elftwin Deus Ex Machina ceremony.

I'd like to do that idea right someday...

as far as the immortal vampire in love with human, the only one ive seen done well is Buffy, and thats amazing.

Actually, I've seen nothing wrong about Eragon, Eldest or Brisingr.

I've told my opinion on Twilight far too many times, and I think Harry Potter would make a better boyfriend than Edward Cullen. Period.

There are many, many reasons why I hate Twilight, but the main reason is that it could have been so good. There could have been amazing action and the characters had a lot of potential, and it really could have been a good book. But all Meyer did was turn the entire thing into a pointless romance. The first 300 pages of Twilight are all about Bella obsessing over Edward, and then Meyer rushes in the whole James thing at the very end. The sense of danger with James just never seemed real, and the whole reason why he wanted to kill Bella was just ridiculous.

Plus there's Edward. He's controlling, he has anger management issues and jealousy problems, and he's fighting the urge to kill her. And since when is crawling into windows and watching girls sleep considered romantic?

Jack-a-Lynn wrote:I'd like to do that idea right someday...

But that's the problem: *any* vampire romance to hit the market from now until--well, at least a year or two after the last movie is made--will be compared to Twilight. You'd need to have it fit a certain *formula*, you know? Like, a fangirl could pick it up and be like, "Oooh, a vampire romance~! Squee! Oh...wait. How can I relate to this main character? She's getting in trouble due to her *own flaws*, and her boyfriend isn't perfect..."

I -as many people already know- love Twilight, and you can totally tell. I personally don't understand why like people don't like it. I thought the plot was amazing it kept me wanting to read more and more. That the characters were amazing!!! They had a personality and you could tell what that personality was.

I like the fact that she made a perfect guy with a mysterious kind of look. I like the way how she like took the average love story and twisted it in a way that vampires and werewolves and all that are included. Cuz I like personally don't really like those average cheesy romantic novels. I like fantasy and magic and mythological creatures and like I said before I like the way she took the world and made into a love story.

I don't know why like people don't like it but that's there opinion and I can't change it. To me the books were amazing and I still want more. All the twists the drama the action it was all amazing to me. The fact that Bella had to choose between the "perfect guy" Edward and the happy funny Jacob (which is my perfect guy) was very awesome!! I like the books and that will never change.

And Eragon I like um liked the movie better than the books. Sorry