Recently, I read an article on here written by a true Twilight fan, where she expressed her anger with the fan-community of this beloved series.
After reading - a long with reading some other articles too - I began to think about what it means to be a true Twilight fan, a Twilighter if you will.
In my opinion a true fan of anything appreciates every element of whatever that person is a fan of - in this case Twilight.
A true Twilighter looks at this series and doesn't see just a love story between a vampire and a human, but they see the struggle between good and evil. They see a story with dynamic characters who all have been developed to have depth and personality. They see questions of fate and destiny and true love. They find themselves swept away into a world where vampires can be vegetarian, werewolves roam the land, and something evil is always lurking around the corner. They begin to believe that fictional characters are actually real. They love every character for who they are and love all of their imperfections - yes, I did say imperfections. : ]
Now another type of fan has emerged in the empire of Twilight. That other type of fan is a Fangirl - or boy if you like.
What classifies a Fangirl? Well in my opinion, its one of those people who only care about the main characters, which in this case would be Edward and Bella. They only see the love story side or this epic saga. They overlook the amazing elements brought to the story by people like Jacob Black, because they believe he is just bent on Edward and Bella destruction. They don't see that true love isn't going to just come with no problems. They only see the perfect side of the characters, and don't believe there could be an imperfection. Then when an imperfection becomes very open, they freak out and begin the horrible thing we know as character bashing.
So when it comes down to it, what kind of fan do you want to be? Do you want to be the type of fan that loves the story for everything that it is and loves all the characters for who they are? Or do you want to be the type of fan that only looks at the pretty side of the novel, trying to disregard the actual human elements of the story?
When I think about Stephenie Meyer and how she literally had an amazing dream, wrote it down, and shared it with the world, well she put a lot of work into it. She took time to discover each character, get to know them, and explore every level of their personality. She developed an epic story of love, courage, destiny, fate, fantasy, and the eternal battle between good and evil. When I think about this I can't help but want to be the best fan I can. I want to be a true Twilight fan - a Twilighter.
What about you?
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We see a disturbingly large number of "fangirls" (or fanboys) - those that cannot see past the obvious. Now, that could be attributed to:
1. the age of the fangirl/boy - If the reader is, say, between the ages of 10 and 12 (now do't get me wrong, there are mature 10 year olds too who have deep thoughts), it would be hard to expect them to be mature enough to see the true value of the series. They will likely only see what is written in black & white, i.e. the obvious
And god help those who are older than 12 who act like they're tweeners. Kids in this age group "should" know common courtesy, but we all now younger kids can be brutal with their personal opinions.
2. have a disability that hinders their comprehension skills - if a reader has this disability, they can hardly be blamed for not understanding the books completely. Still, a little respect and courtesy should be expected - unless they have Tourette Syndrome, but how can we ever identify which fangirl/boy has such a disability?
3. are just immature and/or challenged in the personality arena (or lack thereof) - these types are simply hopeless. I can't even be bothered to comment much on them.
With such a broad age bracket in the Twilight fan population, it might be easy to dismiss the fangirls/boys as being any of the above, but what about the Harry Potter series?? Did we have this many "Haters" there? It didn't seem that way. Maybe the fans of Harry Potter (young or old) are just more mature?? That's the only plausible explanation.
they are all highly appreciated!
cowgirlfromhell - im happy to know you liked it!
kctjohnson - i completely agree with everything you said!!! I never read HP, but it would make sense that the readers of that may be a little bit more mature. It seems to me that those books are a harder reading level.
Saul_Mikoliunas - That means sooo much to me for someone to say that!! Thanks!
i_luv_twilight - thanks! i just really got to thinking about the differences and just decided to write them down. : ]
I could go on and on. Every single character had good and bad qualities. You are a true Twilighter if you are able to see this. But like ktcjohnson said, maybe the only true Twilighters are mature readers.
Also, unlike Twilight, the focus of Harry Potter was not the love story, but friendship, family and acceptance (not that Twilight isn't about these things). So, there aren't as many crazy fangirls/boys in the HP fandom because those types of people need romantic relationships to obsess over.
PEOPLE: do you see how fed up some of us are? Even now there are still hostile fans who post RIDICULOUS things on here.
I propose a mass movement. Report the people/posted items that are offensive (anti-anything). Now don't go report-crazy. Talk to the poster first. Try to settle it before reporting.We don't want to turn into the gestapo.
This spans passed fanpop too. Speak out against these people on all sites. Let's be heard. We are sick of the hostility.
When the movie gets out, this fandom is going to get bigger. Let's show new members we aren't petty people.
and i am a TWIlIGHTER :)
I totally agree with you! There are some bonkers people on this spot and on other forums. They are hostile and aggressive! God help you if you say the wrong thing to them! "irritable grizzlies are nothing compared to ..."
But it's quite easy to distinguish between the twilighters and the fangirls/boys! which makes it easy for everyone i suppose! :)
I've also noticed what someone pointed out earlier- the Harry Potter fandom wasn't this abject. Which is weird, because I assumed they were basically the same fans. But also as someone said, it takes romantic realtionships to build people up.. [haha, fighting over ships]
So why don't anti-jacob people just except Jake for what he is as a character? Then they wouldn't have to flame and bash this fictional character.
You're right people are entitled to their opinions. They can choose whether to like Jake or not. But as the saying goes, if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.
There's a difference between "I don't like Jacob, he annoys me." and "DIE Jacob DIE."
And it's a misinterpretation of the fandom. Not everyone is as loud and vulgar as those people. And we feel like it's a crime that outside people see us as such. In every interview that mentions us, the media asks the actors/crew about how crazy/obsessed we are. That's sad!
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