Anonymous1: My interest in Twilight fizzled out a long time ago, but I still totally see the appeal. When I read the books, I did what a lot of girls probably did, which was insert myself into the story. But even as a teenage girl who had zero romantic experience, I was completely aware that it was all just fantasy. Escapism. Obviously, I can't safely say the same for most other girls. Not trying to paint myself as "not like other girls," just saying I'd have no way of knowing what others took away from the books. Although I think it wouldn't be unfair to say many people recognized these books for what they were. For anyone familiar with the Fandom Entertainment youtube channel (formerly Screen Junkies News), they have an awesome documentary about the Twilight fandom and the annual convention they hold in Forks, WA. At the end, it touches on a few of the deeper reasons some people cling to these stories, like the themes of immortality in the books when they might've lost people in real life, or the primitive need to feel safe (financially, physically, etc).
These types of books simply appeal to a fantasy many women have about being intensely desired, even if you're unremarkable and an everygirl type (which, cmon, is most of us bc most of us are just everyday people who don't really stand out in any particular way). I won't go into the whole depiction of bdsm, though, 'cause that's just a whole other story and I know extremely little about it.
As long you're able to separate fiction from reality (as in, escaping through stories purely for the escapism and not with the intent to glean some sort of message or lesson), then I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to enjoy these books or films. There are a lot of films that romanticize violence and crime and we still watch those.
These types of books simply appeal to a fantasy many women have about being intensely desired, even if you're unremarkable and an everygirl type (which, cmon, is most of us bc most of us are just everyday people who don't really stand out in any particular way). I won't go into the whole depiction of bdsm, though, 'cause that's just a whole other story and I know extremely little about it.
As long you're able to separate fiction from reality (as in, escaping through stories purely for the escapism and not with the intent to glean some sort of message or lesson), then I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to enjoy these books or films. There are a lot of films that romanticize violence and crime and we still watch those.