Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Twilight Fan For Life

DISCLAIMER: This isn't pointed at anyone specifically although recent comments are bringing me to say this. I love you all and I just can't sit idly by anymore while I feel so bashed/while something I love is being bashed.

Yes I'm talking about Twilight. And Nerdfighteria. And Harry Potter Fans. And the whole We Are A Tribe thing (click the link if you don't know what I'm talking about).

I always thought the greatest things about Nerdfighters were the high levels of acceptance and tolerance. I thought we were a level 4 tribe, which is basically correct if I look at the group as a whole. When I look closer, at the individuals or at the smaller groups (like Harry Potter lovers) within the whole, I see that there is a lot of level 3 mentality going on. And it makes me really sad. No fandom or series is better than another. They are all differently fantastic, which would make the whole world a lot better if we all banned together and supported each other.

This is particually evident when I see what people say about Twilight and the fans. I typed "twilight is" into Google and the first suggestion was "twilight is horrible". "Twilight fans are" insane, retarded. What the heck world. What the HECK.

I'm not going to defend the quality of writing in the series (it is pretty bad) because if you take that away or if more capable hands penned the books, but the characters and the story were the same, I'm pretty sure that a lot of the current twilight haters would feel very differently.

It is a good story. When you read it with an open mind, you care about the characters and you want to know what is going to happen in the end.

"Now and again a fantasy world comes along that is so engrossing and exciting and intoxicating that you don't even stop to think like 'you know isn't it a little bit you know criminal for a 107 year olds to have relationships with 16 year old girls?'... You just want to keep turning the pages because while you're reading the book nothing matters more to you than the question of whether or not they will finally *awkward pause* do it.... It's fun, it distracts me from the pain and brokenness of the world, and it argues that true love will triumph in the end, which may or may not be true and if it's a lie, it's the most beautiful lie we have." -John Green.

All that, right there, is why I love Twilight. It doesn't matter to me that Edward is an old creeper, or that their love is totally irrational, or that the whole situation is ridiculous, or that Stephenie has bad grammar, or that the story couldn't be more cliche.

Ok, so all that said, it bugs the CRAP out of me when people, especially people I know, say bad things about the books and the fans. ESPECIALLY if they never even gave it an honest chance to begin with and claim that the fans are stupid. I understand that everyone has a right to express themselves but at least come up with original thought and have the decency to present an unbiased opinion.