Jezebel 
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New York, 5:04 AM
Thu Nov 26
64 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/16/09
...I don't have any issue with the fandom itself.
Stories connect differently to different people. Clearly something about this resonates with a lot of women of different ages. My personal opinion is because it's overwrought, adolescent, romance...the girl gets to be special, the boys get to be ogled, and it keeps up the tension by not sexually consummating until what, the last book? It's a relatively safe fantasy with the promise of undying love and eternal youth and life. Themes that people have glommed onto for as long as stories have been told, I'd imagine.
I think there are problems with it, mostly in the perpetuating troubling cultural gender issues arena. And the fact that it's difficult to have an analytical discussion about it without someone freaking out that you dared critique it, or someone else just deciding it doesn't matter enough to look at. Something that's this significant a pop culture phenomenon seems important to me, though.
I do not, by the way, have anything against the literary version of brain candy. Sometimes we just want something that makes us feel nostalgic. And the promise of adolescent romance and angst is pretty powerful stuff.
I just hope it leads to better fare. You can still have all those things and actually get solid social critique in, too. #twilight
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I really have the hardest time responding to this without out right saying the writing sucks and then sounding like a book snob. However, I am a book snob, so maybe I should start being a little bit more forthright with that fact. #twilight
11/16/09
It's at the point where Twilight fans at work refuse to discuss Twilight in front of me because I just can't stop myself and they don't want to hear their bible being trashed. #twilight
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I was obsessed w/vampires many moons ago as a teenage girl and, basically, and hugely disappointed that I didn't write it... #twilight
11/17/09
I think where it succeeds is appealing to overwrought adolescent emotions. But I'd rather watch Buffy. :} #twilight
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And the thing is, we don't really know what else they went to. This past year was packed, and this coming year has already mostly sold out 4 day tickets. It's November.
And considering how non-girl friendly the comics industry in particular has presented itself to be for literally decades, I'm not surprised. Even though lots of women work in the industry creatively, actively, and visibly...the industry still acts like a boys club when it suits it, and gets bent out of shape whenever something new drops in.
Comicon has evolved. Either we accept that and move on, or stew in our nerd rage. I really don't see the point.
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Considering comic book sales compared to Twilight book/movie/merch sales, I'd think you'd want to find ways to get them in. To appeal to them. They're buying a ton more Twilight stuff than anyone is buying comics. #twilight
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I don't know what numbers of them actually visited the rest of the Con, and I don't think anyone else does either. But there wasn't much effort made to entice them, and the attitude that "you can't sell comics to a teenage girl who only wants to make out with an ice cube" is pretty dismissive. They're fans of a genre story. There's a lot of room for crossover there if anyone bothered to try it. Lots of teenage girls like Manga, for instance. And I can see plenty of crossover with Twilight and Shoujo.
And frankly, "the average Twilight fan" appears to be teenage girls, tween girls, and adult women. That's actually a pretty broad fandom in terms of interests and experiences and buying power. They're also the demographics comics as an industry has the most trouble appealing to outside of very specific creators.
My point is that they COULD be comics fans, if anyone bothered to view them as something more than annoying. If you're only selling to people who already like something (ie. comics as a storytelling medium) then you're limiting your audience needlessly.
The question should be: How do we get the Twilight fans to check out the rest of Comicon and maybe buy these books?
Not: When are they going to go away, they're wounding my comic geek sensibilities with their fandom? #twilight
11/16/09
To be quite honest though, the fangirls seemed more upset then the fanboys about comic con. I think it's a feeling of "We're different. Twilight has gone mainstream but we aren't and this is our space, are you are in it" and also "We have to prove our selves enough. We have to prove that we are just as dedicated and worthy as male geeks and you're holding us back" not that it's right but that sentiment does exist.
11/16/09
Most fangirls in comics are 1. used to marginalization 2. supportive of fandoms in whatever form and 3. too busy being actively engaged in the industry to complain about Twilight.
I just find it hilarious that people would rail about the "obsessiveness" of Twilight fans when there's barely a fandom out there that doesn't have a rabid element. There's something really threatening about the audience for this by some elements of the status quo. #twilight
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I suspect a lot of the issues with Twilight is the quality of the books, rather than the fans. There's not a fangirl alive who hasn't read something truly shitty and enjoyed it, so, to my mind, those that you've encountered doth protest too much. Especially since a lot of comics fangirls are into fanfic or slashfic.
And really, you can't resent Twilight fans for being more "mainstream" than comics fangirls, because it's a fandom of girls. They aren't marginalized within their own fandom. They're just dismissed by other fandoms.
I get that other fangirls would like to get treated more seriously, and not have to deal with the screaming teen fan stereotype. But that was there before this anyway. Girl fandoms are not widely respected no matter what the object of obsession is. They're treated as either "crazy" or too marginal to pay attention to. #twilight
11/16/09
"I don't always like the way Star Wars fans get into heated arguments about Jar Jar."
We'll have to agree to disagree here however because I find it absolutely hilarious. #twilight
11/16/09
The question of 'how do we get the twilight fans to go to other parts of the con' isn't fully valid. The con organizers book twilight related things all day, and because of the sheer number of twilight fans there, most of these people send their entire day waiting in line to get into a panel or (as discussed earlier) camping a panel. You can't even show a property to someone who isn't curiously wandering the con floor.
And since there is a finite number of passes to comic con, if 1/3 of those are a fandom of people who isn't even visiting the floor, then that's 1/3 less people to a presumably sold-out show who I can talk with. Does that mean no one was there at the comics end of the con? My goodness, no. It's a massive event.
I talked to a number of twihards at the con, and none of them were rude or 'wounded my comic geek sensibilities' (thx for being mildly insulting) they're simply there for Twilight stuff. Comic Con is expensive and I can't blame them for showing up to spend their money only on the thing they're totally crazy about.
That thing just happens to not be comics. : )
I'm sorry you took any of my comments as dismissive of a fandom. #twilight
11/16/09
But he's also the dad of a little girl who's into Twilight, and seeing people treat his daughter like she's less than them pissed him off. #twilight
11/16/09
Oh, Jar Jar. Kids love him. Some of us wonder if he's really just the alien version of a minstrel show...etc. I laugh as well, until the upteenth time you have to sit through one. And then it's like, come on folks, let's just pretend those prequels were a bad dream. #twilight
11/16/09
I edit comics, I'm well aware of having to stay ahead of that sort of thing. Vampires are perennials, those kinds of stories (like zombies, and a lot of horror) tend to appeal to the same folks. But they're not the only thing. Twilight is as much teen angst/romance as it is vampire. And there are tons of comics that fit that description, vampires or not.
As far as the panels go, that's a Con organization problem. Not a fan problem. And panel camping has been an issue for years, it's not new to Twilight. So having to be online all day is true of nearly any popular fandom that's there. I know people who had to wait all day to go to a panel on The Office last year. So unless you're into something really obscure, chances are you're stuck. Scheduling, overbooked rooms, and lines, are just part of the routine of Comicon. So while I get the annoyance from some, it's misdirected. Twilights not responsible for any of that. And this last year, I think most everything was scheduled on one day. So if those fans were really only interested in Twilight, then they likely only bought one day passes. So unless all 4 days of Comicon had/are having big Twilight events, that doesn't explain why those ticks, and the ones for the Wed. preview night, are already sold out, unless some of those folks are seeing other things. And considering the swing of Comicon being a pop culture convention, rather than comics at this point, that's been true for awhile.
Again, Comicon has been catering to things other than comics for way longer than Twilight got involved. Maybe people minded less when there was more presumed crossover, but Twilight isn't the first non-comics event. Most of the con isn't about comics anymore, right or wrong.
I was making a statement about the attitude being presented about this fandom, which does smack of comic geek sensibility wounding. I didn't say you said that, I posed that one question is more helpful than the other. Although I'm not sure how else I should read the comment that the fans just want to make out with an ice cube. Or the following statement about hoping they'd just go away. Instead of, say, figuring out ways to get even a fraction of that buying power into comics.
Look, I'm not a Twilight fan. I couldn't possibly care less about the books themselves. But the fans of Twilight are precisely the elusive fandom comics has been failing to reach for a long time now, especially in those numbers. It seems shortsighted to me to dismiss those fans, or assume they couldn't get into something else that actually interested them. I'm not saying they necessarily will, either. But since there are...what...4+ books to make into films? We might get to find out. #twilight
11/16/09
Twilight sex results in nothing but creepiness. #twilight
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I'd say it's a small price to pay for being, like, totally HAWT. #twilight
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Yeah. Soooo not going there. #twilight
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Two hetero teens who are all pining and no play is boring.
An obsessed stalker who breaks into a young woman's bedroom to watch her sleep is disturbing.
I'm glad for people who now want to have sex with their partners because of this book. I really am.
But I'm also worried about the cultural implications of treating stalkers as romantic figures. I'm not saying teen girls are suddenly going to think stalking is cool, but I do think cultural memes can alter us in ways that are surprisingly subtle. #twilight
11/16/09
when I was 17, but somehow that was impossible.) If I have to get up early in the morning, pay taxes, and wear boring clothes to work, I'm sure as hell not going to apologize for liking ridiculous sparkly vampire novels.
I will, however, cheerfully admit that they're ridiculous and that Charlaine Harris is a much more palatable guilty pleasure. #twilight
11/16/09
The Twilight books target that time before adulthood. When you could moon over boys most of the day and night because homework was probably your biggest responsibility. #twilight
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Likewise, this got linked on a snark site I read and I literally had nightmares. All I'm going to say is "sous-vide."
[www.fanfiction.net] #twilight
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We know that's you, Anna Wintour! #twilight
11/16/09
I wouldn't mind people being so obsessed with these books if they were examples of high-caliber writing or inventive storytelling. They have demonstrated themselves to be neither, as far as I'm concerned.
And I can't really explain my distaste as lucidly as you all have here, when my boy's sisters (who are adults) are all, "Have you read it yet? Huh? It's great! You'll love it! Read it. Come on." And I have nothing but, "Vampire stuff just isn't my thing..." and becoming very interested in the baseboards to fall back on. #twilight
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Obviously the hype is a little annoying, but I don't understand the energy wasted on the backlash either. #twilight
11/16/09
This is where they lose me. Bella Swan isn't drawn up as "average and normal." She moves to this new town and suddenly every boy loves her, including this vampire kid. She is the encapsulation of many a teenage daydream, in that she's "ordinary" in so far as she's not the homecoming queen or the head cheerleader, but she's still the girl every boy wants to date. She's Regina George without the fangs, really, wearing a gothier expression and drab clothes.
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BTW, my mom replaced the romance novels with Stephen King horror novels and murder mysteries. #twilight
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Has anyone else grown to absolutely hate the word "pure"? #twilight
11/16/09
I don't see a lot of criticism levied against middle-aged men for geeking out over fantasy baseball or playing Wizards of Warcraft or still buying comic books. Why can't women have the same fun? #twilight
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2. Why is manga an issue for a late 30 something woman. I've been trying to get my mom and aunt who are both late 40 something to read comics (ok graphic novels but they are comics) for years and they both finally gave in and LOVED all that I shared.
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And trust me. I know this: I spent eighteen months moderating one of the largest Harry Potter discussion forums online, and even the nuttier shippers could keep a sense of perspective about it. It helps that the central elements of HP aren't romance-focussed, while Twilight most definitely is- and that most of the fans aren't quite as mad about the movie actors or don'i identify their real life personas quite as strongly with their characters.
Nothing wrong with geeking out, honestly. Just keep your head on while doing it, is all I ask of any fan. #twilight
11/16/09
I'll give you another example, my husband's first cousin and wife are both avid WOW players. His wife gets way more dirision from the female members of our family than his male cousin.
11/16/09
I'm trying to get the children's librarian at my branch library to read manga. She is so resistant. I think it's the misperception that manga can't be literary. #twilight
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Oh, and if you really need a lust object, Captain Will Lawrence (or even John Granby) is a much better one than, well, sparklevamp. (sorry to sound like a fangirl but I discovered the series just a few months ago and have been geeking out ever since) #twilight
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Also we're supposed to look stunning all the time but not spend any time or money doing so, because that would divert our energy from SERVING MENZ.
Didn't you get your memo?
11/16/09
Don't spend much time on LJ, then? #twilight
11/16/09
Also, the HP craziness remained online (even the worst of the shipper wars didn't make newspaper headlines or anything). It was a bit of a factor in keeping the fandom less annoying, really. #twilight
11/16/09
But I will continue to chastise my 40-something aunt for saying Jacob/Taylor Lautner is "hot". That's cringe-inducing. #twilight
11/16/09
RIGHT THERE is where I call bullshit. Bella is a flat character designed to be a blank canvas upon which any woman, young or old, can project her personality. Edward is not in love with her, he's obsessed with her. Sex is inextricably linked with violence, and her love for him is based on her repeated helplessness and his tireless rescuing.
If you like the books, like them. Don't try to tell me that the characters are in any way unique or complex, or that the series is a brilliant exposure of young love between pure teenagers. It's about dirty and dangerous sex; just go with that. #twilight
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