did the survey

lecter | March 14, 14:56 CET

I may have got a bit ranty in my response. Still, might give them a bit of a laugh.

SoliloquyGirl | March 14, 15:11 CET

Did the survey. I pointed out that reading one of the books was asking too much of myself, though I did it - any others within a single lifetime would be excessive for any hope of retaining any sort of composure. Yes, I may have been a touch extreme.

Gill | March 14, 15:24 CET

SoliloquyGirl: I think I managed to restrain myself, but I'm not sure how. Twilight? ugh. Read a great Mormonism/Twilight spoof of the series some years back, though. That was hilarious.

Scraggles | March 14, 15:33 CET

I really wish people would stop comparing Twilight with Buffy like I wish they'd stop comparing Batman with The Avengers. It always ends up being brought up in discussion or comments on articles. There should be a word ban in the fandoms :)

eddy | March 14, 15:45 CET

I did the survey, and I actually did 'read' all of the Twilight books (okay, after hating the first one I skimmed the rest to see if they improved... which they didn't). Nothing will ever persuade me to watch any of the movies, ever.

Comparing Twilight to Buffy is just ridiculous: Belle is a weak clingy suicidal character, I don't think I've ever read a worse one (even Tess of the D'Urbervilles had a little more self respect). The books are badly written with hackneyed characters in a thin plot, I suppose the short sentences with vocabulary that wouldn't challenge a ten year old is a plus? I haven't any curiosity to see if the movie makers managed to make any of that mess interesting.

embers | March 14, 15:53 CET

Wow, that's like the dinner bell to Elmer Fudd hunting Bugs Bunny ("Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits")... KIDDING! I loathe even the thought of Twilight and yet, I found as I took the survey there were some substantive things/examples I could impart that would, I don't know, hopefully be of some assistance as to my perception of what that series means. I was pressed for time since I'm leaving for a work thing so did the best I could.

Tonya J | March 14, 16:41 CET

I look at Twilight with the eyes of someone who watched the film crew vandalize a street lamp in his neighborhood and then never to this day have it repaired.

The One True b!X | March 14, 16:53 CET

completed the survey.

CrystalSC | March 14, 17:00 CET

Did the survey.

I don't really like the assumption that my dislike Twilight stems from loyalty to Buffy, which is sort of how that reads to me. I picked up Twilight because the book cover caught my attention and the story sounded interesting. This was way back before there was a movie; I'd never heard of the book until I saw the display at the book store.

I barely managed to finish the book. I thought it was poorly written. I didn't bother with the rest of the series. I was shocked at the level of popularity it gained, with adults no less. But none of that has anything to do with the fact that I'm a Buffy fan.

Candace | March 14, 18:02 CET

Haven't read the "Twilight" books/seen the films, but that has nothing to do with "Buffy" fandom - "Buffy" is a supernatural superhero story and "Twilight" is supernatural teen romance. To me, they're barely the same genre; the vampires function so differently that if they weren't called "vampires," I'm not sure anyone would equate the "Buffy" species and the "Twilight" species. I haven't watched "Twilight" because it doesn't sound like something I'd enjoy, but that has nothing to do with "Buffy." I happily watch "True Blood," "Being Human," "The Vampire Diaries," "30 Days of Night," etc.

Shapenew | March 14, 19:56 CET

Candace, that's probably the one thing of Twilight that I thought was done extremely well: the book's cover. It was a very arresting and evocative image. Sadly, I found the cover the best bit. Buffy, weirdly, actually had to sort of overcome the title (which always seemed a little tongue in cheek to me) in order to get its genre truly clear.

Meltha | March 14, 20:08 CET

I'll second what Shapenew said. I love a lot of vampire shows/books/media. But Twilight isn't about vampires. It may use the word, but its really not the same.

pgnbri | March 14, 21:31 CET

Wow. I've just discovered how deeply I've been offended by Twilight over the years. I really surprised myself with the ferocity of some of those answers. I do feel much better though!

Egghead | March 14, 22:24 CET

Holy. Did you see the blurb about author's presentatation called "Worthy of Whedon"? I did not see it until now, and now I almost regret completing the survey, as it now seems to be presumptious in terms of linking my Buffy-love to my Twilight-hatred.
I love Buffy because it's smart, challenging, tongue-in-cheek and with TONS of juicy stuff about everything from religion to sexuality to popular culture and ethics (Giles killed Ben!)(Oops. Spoiler alert.)
I loathe Twilight because I find it to glorify abusive relationships to impressionable young minds as well as to perpetuate the (sparkly) beautiful white hero/Savage Indian crud. Not to mention that the writing is heavy-handed, cumbersome, and void of humor, irony and self-awareness.

(I don't consider myself terribly Whedon-elitist, either -- I enjoy Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Supernatural and a splash of True Blood every now and then. But there's gotta be some kind of meat on those bones.)

Carnelionne | March 14, 22:36 CET

@embers: Tess of d'Urbervilles is a great character, very genuine and honest and proud and just a victim of terrible sexist double standards of her time, in a great novel. Please don't compare her to Bella. Ugh.

I haven't read any of the Twilight books, but I did see the first two movies on TV, and they have made me not want to read any of the books, especially since I know the rest of the story which is even more cringeworthy (i.e. what happens in Breaking Dawn).

I wonder if there is any fandom that likes to be compared to Twilight? (Similarly to the most certain way to annoy a Buffy fan, the most certain way to annoy a The Hunger Games fan is to compare THG to Twilight [which is an even more absurd comparison, since there is even no thematic similarity, but an even more popular one among the lazy journalists]). Twilight seems to be a curious case of a franchise that has many passionate fans, but outside of its own fandom it's widely despised. Someone has recently argued that the stars of Twilight are box office poison and that their other movies fail at box office because people see "Ugh, that Twilight actor is in it?!" and decide not to watch it. I don't know if that's true, but it is certainly true that being in Twilight has done nothing good to the reputations of actors who starred in it.

TimeTravellingBunny | March 14, 23:27 CET

Survey appears to no longer be available. Disappointing.

Hera | March 15, 01:09 CET

"I look at Twilight with the eyes of someone who watched the film crew vandalize a street lamp in his neighborhood and then never to this day have it repaired."

The One True b!X

Meeeeooow, Damn bix.

[ edited by roddikinathome on 2013-03-15 01:45 ]

roddikinathome | March 15, 01:36 CET

"But none of that has anything to do with the fact that I'm a Buffy fan."

Candace

Twilight is Mary sue fanfic, scaled up. Buffy/Ang. et al is hero's journey myth. Beeeg diff.

roddikinathome | March 15, 01:44 CET

After reading further in the comments, I'm glad I cut and pasted the whole survey and my responses to a Word document. Now I can't be misquoted.

Tonya J | March 15, 02:16 CET

Darn. "No longer accepting responses". What, "Twilight sucks rocks and should NEVER, EVER, be compared to an actual story, let alone Buffy" wasn't the overall response they were looking for?

Rowan Hawthorn | March 15, 13:49 CET

@Tonya J:

Ha! Did the same thing.

Egghead | March 15, 15:35 CET