Last Wednesday, English instructor Natasha Whitton gave a lecture as part of the Fanfare series comparing the “Twilight” series to works of great authors such as Jane Austen, the Brontà sisters and even Shakespeare. I confess that this piece was originally conceived with the intention of arguing why “Twilight” should not be mentioned in the same breath as such classic literature. I have disliked “Twilight” for years, long before it became cool to do so. A friend pressed the first two books upon me, certain I would love them as much as she did, but I found myself unimpressed with the characters, story and even the quality of the prose.
When I hear “Twilight” compared to “Pride and Prejudice,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” or my all-time favorite novel “Wuthering Heights,” I cringe. When someone says the bland Bella Swan is anything like the fiercely independent Jane Eyre, I’m the first to draw up counterarguments. However, after listening to the lecture, I came to realize two things: firstly, it’s not controversial to hate “Twilight.” Any argument I could give as to why I think Stephanie Meyer’s books are not anywhere near the brilliance of Shakespeare’s or Austen’s are ones most readers will have already heard. Secondly, the hate for these books is intense, so intense that it’s actually hurting people. And I’m not talking about Meyer or Kristen Stewart getting hate mail; I’m talking about the fans themselves.
Whitton mentioned how a girl in her class confessed that she liked the series the first time she read through them but when re-reading them a second time, realized how bad they were. It’s not rare for someone to have a new outlook on a piece of fiction when they revisit it, but the professor suspected that this new view may have been influenced by the rampant “Twilight” backlash that sprang about once the books became bestsellers. Let’s face it, if you’re over 14 and admit to liking “Twilight” as something other than a guilty pleasure, then you’re likely to be mocked.
I never thought about how the fans must feel about all this hate. I’m ashamed to admit that I had an abstract image of a crazy mob every time I thought about the “Twilight” fan base previously, but when I heard Whitton speaking of how those who love the books are forced “underground,” I felt awful. They’re not allowed to freely celebrate their fandom without being snickered at or viewed with contempt. How sad is that?
Whitton also shared how some English majors, outraged that there was a class on “Twilight,” attempted to take down all the course’s advertisements in the hopes of it being canceled. That’s a bit shocking for English majors of all people, who are some of the biggest advocates of reading. On this campus, it seems everyone agrees that no bit of knowledge should be suppressed nor any book be banned. When we read of the Nazis burning books that disagreed with their ideology back in the early 1930s, we were outraged. Yet when there are book burnings of “Twilight,” we applaud and laugh. Isn’t that a touch hypocritical? After all, books are books, even if you don’t think said books are good.
At the end of the day, I don’t like “Twilight.” I find the central relationship regressive and the characters flatter than my flat screen back at home, but just because I dislike it does not mean that others do not see merit there. Just because I dislike it does not give me the right to demean those that do. Let’s all just read what we love and civilly discuss what we cannot stand.