In Defense Of TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN
When you consider your own obsessions, it may cause you to evaluate the Twilight Saga less harshly...
Over the years, its become cliché to despise the Twilight Saga of novels and films. Just about everyone has an opinion on the series and if youre not a fan, its highly likely you have a contemptuous idea of whats going on in this story. However, many of the most vicious attacks come from people who havent read the books or even seen the movies. Its not hard to watch a movie. At this point, the first two of the series are in regular rotation on cable movie channels; nobody is asking anyone to part with hard earned cash, but if youre going to insult something, you might as well familiarize yourself with it enough to actually understand what you dislike. I have personally seen the first two movies and read the first half of the first book. (True story: I was reading at a good pace for a couple of days and right around the time the story begins to take shape and she actually discovers Edward is a vampire I came down with acute pancreatitis and spent three days in the hospital. Coincidence? Perhaps, but Im still afraid to ever pick up the book again.) I concluded they were laughably horrible, but mostly harmless. Certainly low in artistic merit, but probably on the same level as most fiction aimed at young adults. Yet I took the time to check them out and actually see what all the fuss was about. When you consider your own obsessions, it may cause you to evaluate the Twilight Saga less harshly. A grown man who dresses like a bat and solves the organized crime problem by punching people in the face; an ancient order of magical monks who wield laser swords and arent allowed to love; a boy who gets bitten by a radioactive spider who not only doesnt die of radiation poisoning, but actually prospers. These are just some of the things I love that are absolutely ridiculous. Sure Twilight may seem like nonsense to some people, but to others The Matrix is just a big, dumb action movie. 
It would be simple enough to just ignore Twilight and all of its fandom. I do a great job of ignoring things like Naruto and Sex and the City and Im sure others do the same. Perhaps there is something specific about Twilight that makes people want to tear it down. The fact of the matter is this: people are afraid Twilight might actually appeal to them. When I was in high school, a friend of mine sat me down and told me to watch some relatively obscure Canadian show called Degrassi. Within five minutes I began to moan and demanded something else be put on. I thought the show was the worst type of forced teenage melodrama and everything about it seemed awful. However, my friend refused to shut it off and by the end of the episode I was actually hooked. I ended up nursing a severe Degrassi habit for the next three years. At first glance it seemed like something I would hate, but upon further investigation it turned out I actually loved it. This potentiality is possible with Twilight as well and it can be quite unsettling. Its also possible that there is a certain level of misogyny involved. Many will allow certain movies of low quality to pass by unscathed (people should be expressing much more rage over movies like Jack and Jill or Zookeeper than over Twilight), including the terrible blockbusters aimed at men, but seeing girls having their own fun with their own over-the-top franchise inspires the wrath of many. Especially because the Twilight Saga has stolen the werewolf and vampire toys from the horror genres toy chest and used them in its own way. Its always perfectly fair for men to have our clubs tailored specifically for males, perhaps going so far as to bar women completely, but when women create something similar for themselves its always met with contempt and dismissed (To be clear, I am not saying that every male who doesnt like Twilight actually hates women. I would be condemning myself as a misogynist, too. What Im saying is there may be, on some level, for some people, a mild, subconscious misogyny - based mostly on the generic bias against women our society has in general.) People who claim to hate Twilight, without having actually seen it, are really saying more about themselves. The silliness of the series holds up a mirror to our own foolish obsessions. What is the difference between my beloved superheroes and the supernatural nature of Twilight? Quality? Thats subjective. History? Twilight will gain that eventually. The truth is theres no difference between me with my Superman shirt and some Twihard sporting a Team Jacob hoodie. These people who insist the movies MUST be terrible just by virtue of the fact that theyre aimed at young females and refuse to ever watch them are uncomfortable with the idea that several million fans are actually right - that theres something to this Twilight thing. Do yourself a favor; watch the first movie (preferably for free) and see whats actually there. Either youll hate it and be able to pat yourself on the back for being right the whole time or youll actually enjoy it and become a huge fan yourself. No matter what, youll be happy. 
Twilight: Breaking Dawn is released in cinema's today. Our review is coming soon.