delicious little nobody

ohh could you elaborate a bit more on the “Stephenie Meyer has cool ideas but is afraid to commit“? I‘ve also thought that but I‘d love to hear a more in-depth take on it by you

Oh yes I can definitely talk about this. This got really long, I apologize, but I have a lot of complaints.

Stephanie Meyer does have an interesting imagination, I will give her that. I personally like sexy and romantic fantasy—none of that Lord of the Rings shit (no offense to those of you who may like it!!). So I appreciate Twilight for what it contributes to the fantasy genre in terms of making it sexy, romantic, and focused on readers like me, young women.

That being said, she could’ve taken these elements farther. For example, vampires are ~so beautiful~ and immortal and in general have high sex drives,,,and all of them just mate for life with one partner and that’s it??? There’s no polyamory??? What???

Yes, I know Twilight is for teenagers primarily, so we’re not going to get graphic orgies in the books, BUT the vampires could’ve been so much more interesting in how they create relationships with one another. (also there could’ve been lgbtq+ vampires!!!) She gave the foundation for some really interesting stuff, but was too afraid to commit to it. Instead, she stuck with what was safe to her, which is of course, the very christian concept of a “nuclear family.”

The few characters that do go outside this narrative are barely mentioned. Example: the Denali sisters. So you’re telling me they seduce human men to the point that there is a cryptid based on them, AND THATS NOT A PART OF THE PLOT??? It’s just in there for a quick laugh or something??? Tell me more!! I want to know more about these women!! So, again, Smeyer has a cool idea, then didn’t follow through.

Not all of these ideas are sexual or romantic in nature, of course. Another example of a cool idea is Edward killing rapists. This is...such an interesting concept to pursue. Like as a mind reader who can’t mistake people’s intentions, I’d say that filling that role would make him objectively a good guy! Vampires have a parasitic relationship with humans—they in general contribute nothing to their livelihood and instead just take. However, if Edward used his powers to do GOOD, that turns this dynamic around. Suddenly, both parties are contributing something good to one another: Edward gets a meal, the humans have one less dangerous person to worry about. Win win—even if it were to make him feel guilty for taking any life at all. But, Smeyer was, once again, a coward! She could have explored these ethics and emotions as Edward wrestled with good versus evil, but instead, she just reduced his stance on the matter to “killing is always bad” and made him a vegetarian. That’s the lazy way out if you ask me. interesting back stories don’t make a character interesting if there is no follow through.

And building on that—the characters are underdeveloped across the board, especially the Cullens. They’re given static personalities which could be summed up in 2 sentences and....that’s it. Don’t get me wrong—I think some of their backstories are very cool ideas. BUT, where’s the depth? “Carlisle is just all around good:)” okay what else? why? he’s just Like That? BORING. give me a motivation! give me a flaw! what if carlisle had bitten someone and it had gone horribly wrong and he felt deep guilt over it, resulting in this desire to do good? that’s far more interesting and provides opportunity for an actual character arc.

Speaking of arcs, I think almost every character is the same—they’re all static. By the time the series starts, they are who they are, and they don’t really change. Bella falls in love then physically transforms into a vampire. And that’s the total of her “arc.” She doesn’t even wrestle with her desires—it’s all so straightforward and she never changes opinions or develops new values along the way as she decides what she wants. All the cullens are simple like this. Edward falls in love. Emmett is big and fights bears. Alice is obsessed with controlling things. Jasper is still proud to be a confederate. Esme loves her children. Rosalie is by far the most interesting, because she actually does undergo some changes and has complicated motivations, especially in eclipse and the first half of breaking dawn. However, in the second half, all of that is basically ignored and she once again is just kind of there—she’s no longer someone who in any way actually drives the plot. Because of Smeyer’s lazy characterization, the Cullens are BORING! No depth, no character arcs, just immortal, unchanging shells of people. They’re cool in concept, and once again, boring in execution.

Another thing that comes to mind is Bree. How would Bree have changed the cullen family’s dynamic? How would Bella have felt about having a new vampire join the family before she could? How would she have felt seeing a newborn struggle with her thirst? We’ll never know bc smeyer killed her off. Good idea, half-baked execution once again!

And don’t even get me started on the Wolf Pack. The found family dynamics which could’ve been explored...unmatched. I am in many ways glad she didn’t write more about them bc she’s so racist already in what she did write, but at the same time, there’s so much potential. How does suddenly becoming your community’s supernatural protector change you? How do you view your own agency as a result of this? We kind of see this with Jacob and Leah, but smeyer so racist in her narrative that the portrayal is disappointing.

Honestly though, jacob is one of the only dynamic characters—too bad smeyer wrote him like that to make edward the obvious choice for bella!!!! jacob deserved an actual arc which explored his true character—not one which was purely plot driven and then cut short by imprinting on a damn demon baby. you know, i do think that the concept of being permanently tied to something half your mortal enemy is interesting if (a big if!!) it is written correctly, in a way which doesn’t result in abuse or unhealthy power imbalances. HOWEVER, the power dynamics set up between the cullens and the native characters (and by this i mean, a colonizers/colonized relationship) coupled with the fact that it’s a teen and a BABY tied to one another make this situation irresponsible, unethical, and all around bad writing. It’s not romantic or a cute enemies-to-lovers scenario; it’s abusive to both jacob and resume, just for different reasons.

So the wolf pack has some interesting (though problematic) lore, a lot of potential for fun characters, and some actual character arcs, but smeyer is so racist and accepting of pedophilia that most the effort she puts into these characters is unsatisfactory and often quite harmful. so again, a few good ideas, and disappointing/harmful follow through—as well as a bunch of just plain shitty ideas. the native character deserved so much better.

And this last gripe is personal....WHY ARENT THERE MORE SUPERNATURAL BEINGS? So we’ve got vampires, shapeshifters, and literal werewolves (which, again, were mentioned but not in any way developed!)....what else??? Mermaids??? Angels??? Tell me more!! How did she just throw in the fact that there are LITERALY werewolves and NEVER EXPLORE THAT??? That just makes no sense to me at all.

In conclusion, Twilight is a bunch of cool (and also a lot of shit) ideas duct taped together with a half assed plot. Smeyer isn’t stupid or entirely unoriginal—she’s just so lazy and cowardly that she is unable to follow through on any of her moments of legitimate interesting writing. If she wasn’t so dedicated to making her characters upstanding, moral, perfect people while simultaneously having a fucked up code of ethics and morals herself, she may have written a series which was good. But as is, fanon is more interesting than canon bc fanfic writers aren’t afraid to explore complex topics, and twilight canon is incredibly problematic, unsatisfying, and harmful.

i’m gonna keep blogging about it tho🤡