This is great.

But.

Will there ever again be anything written about BtVS that doesn't bring up/compare it to Twilight?

shpedoinkel | August 31, 13:33 CET

Wait... so, our writing of fanfic (where, by "our", I mean lots of other competent people and not me) *increases* the value of their franchise by keeping it alive so that tie in merch continues to sell and make them money -- we keep it above critical mass?

Naaah; that *can't* be right.

Cause they'd stop chasing people about derivative copyright, if that were true.

Baylink | August 31, 13:52 CET

I don't mind this comparison to Twilight, considering the writer calls Twilight "overly juvenile".

Comparing Whedon to Stephanie Meyer is like comparing aged sharp cheddar to processed non dairy cheese spread.

iwearthecheese | August 31, 14:07 CET

Baylink - well, the sad part about current copyright law (in the U.S. anyway) is that failure to defend can be seen as abandonment of rights and the definition around what exactly that means is fairly uncodified (how often? how vigorously? etc.). That being said, they should ignore not-for-profit and fanfic stuff and we should have some copyright and patent reform.

zeitgeist | August 31, 14:17 CET

Haven't seen Twilight nor have I read the book. I guess it is popular among teenagers but I don't happen to know any teenagers.

A lot of teen-oriented material has a narrow appeal to people in that age group at the time of its release. The fans eventually outgrow it and move on to other things. The next group to grow into teenagers likely will latch onto something new that they feel is 'theirs'.

Unless Twilight is something special, and nothing I have heard about it suggests that it is, I suspect it will fall by the wayside as its current audience outgrows it. Therefore, we will probably not have to hear Buffy compared to Twilight forever and ever.

wouldestous | August 31, 15:55 CET

shpedoinkel IMO, they will only compare BtVS to Twilight until the Twilight fad has passed. Which should be any minute now. The reason they compare current fads with time tested benchmark classics is because you have to have a reference point for greatness.

For example, when will they stop using Animal House as the prime example of hilarious juvenile frat house movies? When something else defines that niche. Right now Buffy defines that niche.

alexreager | August 31, 15:59 CET

Yep. Anne Rice novels were pretty popular when I was a college student. Their time seems to have passed and you don't hear of Buffy being compared to Anne Rice so much even though both works contain vampires.

wouldestous | August 31, 16:03 CET

I was at a panel on the weekend on SF and the Mainstream, and the comment was made that Twilight was a gateway to the good stuff. One panelist said she'd rather read Twilight than Judy Blume.

But if the Twilight fans are going to graduate to Buffy, more power to them.

redeem147 | September 01, 15:03 CET