7. Twilight
Summit EntertainmentLet's face it, it's pretty easy to beat up on the Twilight film franchise. Unless you're an obsessive teenage Twihard girl, dreaming of the day you're going to marry either Robert Pattinson or Taylor Lautner, you will not find too many people who are going to vigorously defend Twilight as an amazing work of art. Without simply piling on the hate though, it is worthy to illustrate the negative aspects of today's film going experience that we have Twilight to thank for. While I'm reticent to begrudge any young females who wish to be "heroes" just like their male counterparts, there is something a bit disconcerting about these female-centric action/romance flicks made popular with the Twilight series. On the one hand, they indulge certain narcissistic tendencies (already an issue in contemporary society) by setting up a protagonist who is seemingly a normal young girl, but is secretly super important to the survival of the world. On the other hand, while trying to maintain the importance of being "independent", the female protagonist inevitably gets caught up in a love triangle with two boys who seem to have nothing better to do than pine over the girl, simultaneously sending the message to girls' that their worth comes from what men think of them, and yet again indulging their ego by making it seem every man wants them. Putting too much social-political importance into fiction aimed at young adults is perhaps more annoying than the popularity of the fiction itself, so it may be best to take it a bit easy on the Twilights, Hunger Games, and Divergents of the world. However, at the very least, it's safe to say the increasing vapidity of cinema owes a thing or two toward the Twilights of our world.