There’s this website called My Life Is Average. People submit “average” things that happen to them during their day, and they all appear in one giant list for people to read. For example:
“Today, I dropped my pen in math class. I was suprised not to hear it drop so I looked down to see it standing up-right inbetween two tiles in the floor. New favorite ninja pen? I think so.” MLIA
It’s suprisingly addictive to read about all of the average things that happen to other people. I’m kinda jealous – if “average” means watching old men do wheelies in their wheel chairs and meeting hot boys because one randomly picked you up and carried you across the street, then heck, i wish my life was more average! (okay, I would only wish for that last one if I were still single. And I would wish that that hot boy was Nathan.)
I have noticed that there are two topics that pop up more frequently than others on this website. One is anything to do with making fun of Miley Cyrus, and the other is anything where the underlying message is “Harry Potter is waaaay better than Twilight”.
Baby oh baby, who wouldn't want to fawn over him? The multitudes, apparently.
I have to wonder why this is. While Harry Potter could no question kick Edward Cullen’s literary ass, I am curious about the overwhelming desire for people to disassociate themselves from Twilight.
In the last month, hundreds, thousands of Twilight haters have shown up out of nowhere. Of course, on sites such as MLIA, along with Facebook, Twitter, etc, lets face it – we only post what we want others to know about us, what we believe will make us appear awesome in the eyes of others. And it seems like the multitudes are dying for us to know that they are definitely anti-Bella and Edward.
When did it become a faux pas to admit to enjoying the books (or movies)? When I went to buy the second book in the series, New Moon, last summer, I had to make several stops before I actually found it; it was sold out most places. I had the “have you read it yet” conversation with a lot of friends, and when I finally found the book and was paying, the cashier told me emphatically that she thought it was a really good book. In short, people liked Twilight, and they admitted it.
Well. Here’s a shocker for you: I like Twilight. I do. Not in a buy-the-t-shirt-and-movie-poster way, and not even in a wow-what-a-great-story! kind of way. I like it because it was entertaining. That’s it. It was an easy story to get into, easy to slip into and escape for an hour or two at a time. A story doesn’t have to have a Pulitzer Prize or Oscar Award stamp of approval in order for me to admit that I found it enjoyable. Sheesh.
But it seems to me that it is something more than a predictable story and slightly cheesy characterization that’s prompting the great anti-Twilight debate. Perhaps subconsciously, people think that the story is too popular for how mediocre it is. Doesn’t really explain the giant shift in public opion though. Or maybe the movie did a too-shabby job of translating the story in the books, and all of the nay-sayers are basing their opinions on sappy trailers?
But I’m curious. Any ideas out there? Because I haven’t been able to figure this one out yet.
Flotsam & Jetsam 