Cool. I'm looking forward to Avatar myself. That looks like it's going to be one heck of a movie.
That's pretty much where I'm at.
Why Does It Bother Us That Twilight is So Popular?
- Thread starter Andonagio
- Start date
That's pretty much where I'm at.
I'm not bothered by it being popular. I couldn't care less. For me it's no different than being on the outside of the popularity of previous things such as nuBSG, Harry Potter, Firefly and more recently the Abrams' drek known as ST09.
Good stuff, and I agree with much of it.It's called Hype Backlash. Pretty much anything that's insanely popular with experience it.
I don't really like "Twilight" and don't understand why it's called "science fiction". Vampires and warewolves are NOT sci-fi! What's with all the vampire/warewolve movies these days anyway? Why are THEY so special? Yes, I did see "Underworld" and enjoyed it but didn't understand the vampire/warewolf craze. It's too insane for my taste and isn't my cup of tea!
I consider sci-fi to be about space ships, stations, or scientific matters..*cough*..Star Trek!...*cough!* Anyway, the "Twilight" saga, I think, pertains to a more teen audience and it's not my cup of tea by any means at all. I won't watch it and don't intend on watching it anytime soon. Little girls love that movie..not me!
I consider sci-fi to be about space ships, stations, or scientific matters..*cough*..Star Trek!...*cough!* Anyway, the "Twilight" saga, I think, pertains to a more teen audience and it's not my cup of tea by any means at all. I won't watch it and don't intend on watching it anytime soon. Little girls love that movie..not me!
This.
And that it promotes paedophile predatory stalking as a good thing that young girls should appreciate.
Madness.
I get annoyed with it. Not only is it badly written, incredibly derivative, cringe-worthy and ridiculous, but now the rest of us have to hear about it, all the time.
You can't turn on the news without seeing a piece about thousands of obnoxious girls lining up around the block to catch the newest movie, or check your e-mail on a site like Yahoo without having to navigate past half a dozen stories about the movie's Abercrombie and Fitch werewolves.
You're correct in that it shouldn't bother me, but it does.
Part of the reason it bothers me, I think, is because there are so many brilliant books and brilliant authors who barely get the recognition they deserve, while something like Twilight, with apparently no redeeming value, has become an obsession on the level of the Beatles or something. It's just insanity.
But then again, I suppose that culturally, all the garbage rises to the top. Reality TV, Kim Kardashian, diet books on the NYT bestseller list, Jerry Springer, Soulja Boy, TMZ, etc, are proof of that.
You can't turn on the news without seeing a piece about thousands of obnoxious girls lining up around the block to catch the newest movie, or check your e-mail on a site like Yahoo without having to navigate past half a dozen stories about the movie's Abercrombie and Fitch werewolves.
You're correct in that it shouldn't bother me, but it does.
Part of the reason it bothers me, I think, is because there are so many brilliant books and brilliant authors who barely get the recognition they deserve, while something like Twilight, with apparently no redeeming value, has become an obsession on the level of the Beatles or something. It's just insanity.
But then again, I suppose that culturally, all the garbage rises to the top. Reality TV, Kim Kardashian, diet books on the NYT bestseller list, Jerry Springer, Soulja Boy, TMZ, etc, are proof of that.
I think the media had a bit of genre confusion with shows like Buffy and Charmed and never really got over it. Their subject matter would previously have got them labelled 'horror', but they weren't horrific at all. 'Fantasy' in the LotR movie era conjured up the totally wrong image, so they kind of got stuck with 'sci-fi' as their tag even though it was completely inappropriate, because they fitted in best with science fiction shows on the air at the time - cult hour long shows who generated geeky fanbases and universes crafted with 'technobabble' of a sort.
My son (14) is one of these teens who loves Twilight. We watched it last night as he is psyched about seeing New Moon. It's like Harry Potter, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. It is a movie/series with a devoted fan base. To me, I give the movie 3 out of 5 stars. Too much angst for me but overall it was OK.
I don't like this crap, but I dont waste my time running around being upset by it. I just ignore it and realize in a few years it will start to lose its popularity and all those emo chicks will be into something else.
I'm just as annoyed that Transformers 2 made a ton of money. Why can't more GOOD movies make hundreds of millions?
Lord I miss the Beauty & the Beast tv series*. It was sappy, and overly romantic, but at least Catherine had a mind of her own and was a good role model.
*Edited. Sorry for the confusion.
Lord I miss the Beauty & the Beast tv series*. It was sappy, and overly romantic, but at least Catherine had a mind of her own and was a good role model.
*Edited. Sorry for the confusion.
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You're trying to compare the "Role Models" of a Disney Animated Cartoon Movie geared for kids 12 or younger, to a movie about vampires, romance, violence, etc. that's geared for teenagers and adults
Fascinating.Heck why bother to watch CSI, Bones or anything like that when we should be watching Full House or Family Matters!!??
Why watch Ninja Turtles or Dragon Ball Z, when we got the Care Bears?
I wonder how much more harm is done to a child's development when all they're exposed to in life has all to do with bubbily happiness and good intentions? The world isn't perfect and certainly not the people within this world. Shutting out all the bad stuff from your kids and keeping them in some innocent bubble world away from all the dangers and negative things in life shows you have no faith in your child's own abilities to understand the real world and fantasy, you do them an diservice by trying to shelter them from the things you don't think they need to be exposed to.
All this does is keep them filled with ignorance of the world around them and unprepared for these type of situations that will come their way in life..... it keeps them afraid of the unknown or things/people who are different, which then breeds intollerance..... which rolls down the hill to make a bigger ball the longer is continues.
You can try and force your kids to watch and enjoy/follow certain Role Models, but in the end, they will determine for themselves.
I think he may have meant the live action TV series called Beauty and the Beast. You know, with Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton...
Its fantasy. Its a lovestory the way most women want it to be - their man being out of their reach yet the man loves them. I personally don't care about Twilite but for people to say it promotes unhealthy relationship practices is just stupid. When it comes to things that we men like but are thrust upon by others, hardcore porn for example, it always gets arguments for its favor When its something that women like its 'unhealthy'. Give me a friggin break.
Its fantasy. Its a lovestory the way most women want it to be - their man being out of their reach yet the man loves them. I personally don't care about Twilite but for people to say it promotes unhealthy relationship practices is just stupid. When it comes to things that we men like but are thrust upon by others, hardcore porn for example, it always gets arguments for its favor When its something that women like its 'unhealthy'. Give me a friggin break.
You think there's nobody out there criticising porn ? Really ?
Oh there are, I am not saying there aren't. But the proponents for porn come out afterwards and tear the criticisms and critics a new one. Ever watch the Penn and Teller Bullshit episode? It is not just about the critics and criticisms but about the hypocrisy that is attached to them. For years we have looked out from the inside and said "they don't understand Star Trek." Now that we are looking in from the outside we are supposed to understand?
Nope, that escapes my memory at this time.
Oh there are, I am not saying there aren't. But the proponents for porn come out afterwards and tear the criticisms and critics a new one. Ever watch the Penn and Teller Bullshit episode? It is not just about the critics and criticisms but about the hypocrisy that is attached to them. For years we have looked out from the inside and said "they don't understand Star Trek." Now that we are looking in from the outside we are supposed to understand?
Exactly.... It's all the same stuff, just with different tastes being focused on.
Oh there are, I am not saying there aren't. But the proponents for porn come out afterwards and tear the criticisms and critics a new one. Ever watch the Penn and Teller Bullshit episode? It is not just about the critics and criticisms but about the hypocrisy that is attached to them. For years we have looked out from the inside and said "they don't understand Star Trek." Now that we are looking in from the outside we are supposed to understand?
As I said very early on here, I don't care if the girls watching this watch it for the same reason as other people watch porn, just be honest about it. Be honest about the fact that the men in Twilight are about as realistic as the women in porn. For starters, at some point in a romantic relationship, the guy's going to want to have some sex - the opposite of what Twilight will tell you. We're not all only after one thing, but that doesn't mean that one thing isn't one of the things we're after.
I quite happy for teenage girls to fantasise about some pathetic girly vampire if they want to but only if we're willing to accept that they have the ability to distinguish fantasy from reality. I'm only willing to give them that much credit if we're also willing to give the same amount of credit to teenage boys and stop telling them that video games are turning them in to mindless killers and that it's not okay to read comic books where the women aren't drawn realistically. If it's okay for girls to like the guys in Twilight, it's okay for boys to like Power Girl, okay ?
Unlike most others here, I'm not going to say it's bad for a woman to enjoy being sexually submissive, either, as long as it's not presented as being the default. I've encountered plenty of women in my time who enjoy being submissive and none of them would particularly appreciate being told that what they enjoy is wrong. Telling a woman how she should enjoy her sex life isn't exactly the feminist ideal.
The Beauty is called "Belle" in the Disney version and "Catherine" in the TV show. So he must mean the TV show.
It is porn. That's something I've been saying for a while now.
A female friend gave me her copy of Dead Until Dark, and I was surprised at how many of those elements -- the perpetual damsel-in-distress, the idea of many handsome men competing for the attentions of one girl, the endless drama -- were stripped away for the TV adaptation. Whereas Dead Until Dark is a woman's fantasy, True Blood attempts to appeal to both genders through a mix of the aforementioned elements and darker, more violent themes that appeal to men.
The difference is, the Twilight movie kept those elements, and girls responded with hysterical enthusiasm.
Whereas conventional porn is aimed at stimulating men visually (because that's how we ARE stimulated), franchises like Twilight stimulate women emotionally.
One form of porn is considered vulgar by society, the other is merely annoying or ridiculous. But there's no question, both are porn.
That's not a bad assessment. The women I work and associate with who read the books and are ga-ga over the movies talk about them like they do romance novels and soap operas and their friend's lives. It's about sex and it's about gossipy relationship stuff (OMG WHO'S SHE GONNA PICK!?) and on more than one occasion I've heard woman say the books made them "hot".
These are women that run the gambit from teachers to lawyers to call centre supervisors and one electrician. None of them are dumb or shallow individuals as far as I can tell. I know I'm stereotyping but women simply looooove to talk about sex and relationships, and they are much more easily aroused by romanticism and the idea of sex than most men, who typical require more direct stimulation. This seems to be the truth for almost every woman I've ever spent any amount of time with.
Twilight basically pushes every single button that arouses women from 12-62 year of age, grats to the creator even if she's only a mediocre writer from a technical point of view.
These are women that run the gambit from teachers to lawyers to call centre supervisors and one electrician. None of them are dumb or shallow individuals as far as I can tell. I know I'm stereotyping but women simply looooove to talk about sex and relationships, and they are much more easily aroused by romanticism and the idea of sex than most men, who typical require more direct stimulation. This seems to be the truth for almost every woman I've ever spent any amount of time with.
Twilight basically pushes every single button that arouses women from 12-62 year of age, grats to the creator even if she's only a mediocre writer from a technical point of view.
