Twilight: Does Anyone Actually Remember This?

[CharlesPhipps]

I think Twilight is something that gets a lot of shade and it does have its downsides but it's a bunch of YA romance fiction.

The shade it gets is ridiculous and we all have our guilty pleasures.

[Mabus]

Robert Pattinson's hate of the film series is legendary. He had no problem tearing apart the story and even his own character in behind the scenes interviews, all while the films were still being made. I have a feeling most of the actors in the film felt the same, some of the cast have said in the interview that their experience with the film have not been the best, but Pattinson alone must have realized that taking the role was a huge mistake for him and tried to pull a Robert Beltran to get kicked out of the movie, and just like in the latter's case, his strategy didn't work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFA6Ycch1EM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr6SCArHwco
My favorite ones are:
"If Edward was not a fictional character and you met him in reality, you know, he's one of those guys that would be an axe-murderer"
"When I read it, I seemed like I was convinced that Stephanie was convinced she was Bella, and it was like a book that wasn't supposed to be published, you're like reading her sort of sexual fantasy about some... especially when she says 'it was based on a dream and it's like oh I had this dream like this really sexy guy' and she writes this book about it, and like some things about Edward are so specific, it was like, I was just convinced, it's like this woman is mad, she's completely mad and she's in love with her own fictional creation, and like sometimes you like feel like uncomfortable reading this thing"
"What am I doing with this kid [Bella], I'm 108 years old?"
"I remember I stopped reading it when said 'even in the rain he looked like he was in an underwear commercial' or something"
"It's a lot of stuff that in the Twilight world that doesn't make any sense"
I feel like Pattinson's roasting of Twilight is the only good thing to have come out of the film series/franchise.
Also, Rob and Kirsten's DVD commentary is hilarious (though I could only find fragments of it on YT):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lab_eJ-WxK4

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I'm fairly certain the general take is that he was playfully lambasting the effeminate nature of the whole thing, as you wouldn't be exactly shocked to find someone of his demographic having some degree of indifference towards the setting of the story.

[Frustration]

The stereotypical form of porn for men is images: photos and video.

The stereotypical form of porn for women is text: usually romance novels, sometimes other word-heavy products.

When people try to create female-oriented porn in, say, movie form instead of novels, they usually center around emotionally-intense conversations rather than erotic visuals, and they concentrate on a few 'buttons' they can push over and over. Female fantasies tend to be different from male for obvious evolutionary reasons, and low-grade erotica aimed at women showcase fantasy differently than male. Compare James Bond to Titanic.

[hammerofglass]

The stereotypical form of porn for men is images: photos and video.

The stereotypical form of porn for women is text: usually romance novels, sometimes other word-heavy products.

When people try to create female-oriented porn in, say, movie form instead of novels, they usually center around emotionally-intense conversations rather than erotic visuals, and they concentrate on a few 'buttons' they can push over and over. Female fantasies tend to be different from male for obvious evolutionary reasons, and low-grade erotica aimed at women showcase fantasy differently than male. Compare James Bond to Titanic.

That is a very good point I had never considered.

[Frustration]

In all seriousness: are you being sarcastic? It's harder for me to determine that in a text-only medium.

[hammerofglass]

In all seriousness: are you being sarcastic? It's harder for me to determine that in a text-only medium.

I was serious. It matches my own observations and makes sense but I hadn't made the connection. I always get tripped up on "I don't care what happens to these people" personally so it never occurred to me to compare them to porn instead of romance.

[Frustration]

Okay, then.

There are a lot of tropes in female porn that people only familiar with male-style porn would find surprising. One is "man is seriously injured, woman takes care of him, they fall in love/lust". Incredibly popular. The man has little active agency, so isn't a potential threat or at least can't pursue the woman, leaving the development of romance entirely at her discretion. (A form of this trope accounts for why women found the character of Spock so attractive - he expressed no sexual interest so women experienced no pressure or threat from him.)

Another is the "woman raped by man after she refuses sex she secretly desires; the man becomes obsessively devoted to the woman while she enjoys it". You'd think that would be a male trope if it existed at all, but it's a mainstay of certain subtypes of female porn. It seems to be popular because 1) it's entirely a fantasy, 2) the rapist is perceived as desirable by the woman, 3) the woman feels a conflict between her desires and standards she must maintain, and the rape lets her have cake and eat it. Sort of the way submissives are supposed to dominate encounters while the dominants play out roles desired by the submissive.

People are weird.

[hammerofglass]

Sounds like the first one is a fantasy for tops, second one is a fantasy for bottoms.

I have one friend who keeps recommending reverse-harem stuff, that's my only real exposure to the book-length smut format.

[Beastro]

The stereotypical form of porn for men is images: photos and video.

The stereotypical form of porn for women is text: usually romance novels, sometimes other word-heavy products.

When people try to create female-oriented porn in, say, movie form instead of novels, they usually center around emotionally-intense conversations rather than erotic visuals, and they concentrate on a few 'buttons' they can push over and over. Female fantasies tend to be different from male for obvious evolutionary reasons, and low-grade erotica aimed at women showcase fantasy differently than male. Compare James Bond to Titanic.

Don't forget that the harlequin romance novel industry dwarfs the porn industry.

Okay, then.

There are a lot of tropes in female porn that people only familiar with male-style porn would find surprising. One is "man is seriously injured, woman takes care of him, they fall in love/lust". Incredibly popular. The man has little active agency, so isn't a potential threat or at least can't pursue the woman, leaving the development of romance entirely at her discretion. (A form of this trope accounts for why women found the character of Spock so attractive - he expressed no sexual interest so women experienced no pressure or threat from him.)

It's not just that, but that the man is in a position of vulnerability and can't help but be exposed.

It's in such a situation that the guy can symbolically "open up" and show his real self, not just be an independent tough guy.

Another is the "woman raped by man after she refuses sex she secretly desires; the man becomes obsessively devoted to the woman while she enjoys it". You'd think that would be a male trope if it existed at all, but it's a mainstay of certain subtypes of female porn. It seems to be popular because 1) it's entirely a fantasy, 2) the rapist is perceived as desirable by the woman, 3) the woman feels a conflict between her desires and standards she must maintain, and the rape lets her have cake and eat it. Sort of the way submissives are supposed to dominate encounters while the dominants play out roles desired by the submissive.

There's also the element of "I can change him" in it. A vile rapist is turned into a devoted partner.

This is why I chuckled at the thread proposing that Beauty and the Beast was some secret trans story. It's quintessentially heterosexual from the standpoint of female fantasy with a monstrous, wounded man healed and made into a balanced, normal male by a woman's love.