Lets pick appart the ever dreamy edward cullen

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I know this is so 2010 but I was thinking the other day of Edward Cullen phenomen, is he a nice guy or Bad boy?
From what I gathered from movies: He's handsome, stalker, over-controlling, selfish, helicopter-bf, old-fashioned, jealous, "nice" to her but bad against others, and he acts like he's Bella's brain. Bella on the other hand is just s brainless damsel in distress with no personal goals except him.

Yet, he is probably the fiction character who got the highest female fandom among girls and even women.

What about Harry potter? He's not handsome, genuinly nice, clever, loyal, *egalitarian* as he never favored a gender over other in helping and aiding others and even in friendship, he had the balls to quit his gf Cho who betrayed him.

Yet this character gathered very low female fandom compared to the Vampire. Hmm.

Edward Cullen isn't a nice guy. He's a vampire with the power that could rip someone in half. He can crush a car. He makes men flee in fear before him. He's Rich. Edward Cullen was a character created so that girls fell in love with him. The same cannot be said for Harry Potter.

I have read both the series and watched both movies. There is a massive difference. Better looking men than Robert Patterson have gathered a much smaller female fandom, much similar to Harry Potter or even less, simply because their role is not designed to make women fall in love with the idea of them.

Ahh yes, I think this reflect well what many women really want, it confirms many generalizations said by members here too.
You're right, Edward is the new Knight in shining armor, he's handsome, strong, wealthy and courageous.

Wasn't its popularity a slap in the face of feminism somehow?

I wouldn't know or care. I'm not a feminist.

Obviously a lot aren't, otherwise Edward wouldn't gather that much fandom among a lot of girls ( and even some women, It's not just the teens). Christianity in them is strong indeed, after all Twilight projects strong Christian concepts on relationships and gender roles.

That's funny.

Vampires scream, burn and shrivel at the touch of a cross.

I don't actually like twilight by the way. It's a terrible book, and I would rather eat leaves and make animal noises then read the series again.

topic split from nice guys discussion.

It wont let me add with the faceofboo due to character limit on thread titles.

Just imagine its there.

^and just imagine faceofboo as a vampire too, ladies.

I tried watching the first Twilight film but there was far, far too much moping so I gave up about half way through. I think the Cullen character is very much in the Romantic vampire mould, though. A very interesting figure, and often used as a way to talk about sex without talking about sex.

Harry Potter is a very different sensibility/register to Twilight, I would think.

Not sure about the feminism angle. You'd have to get a sense of what (and why) it was that girls and women liked.

Potter is a more believable character, even his love is more believable, and he does have female fans but he's never portrayed as a sexually-appealing character (even to the young ones) - while Edward is described by his fans (who are 99% females I bet) as a very sexually-romantic appealing character.

Edward follows the same pattern as plenty of "romantic" characters in the past.

Meyer liked to say that she was heavily inspired by Jane austen's work because twilights main character wants to be with bella but knows that he shouldnt(just like Mr Darcy according to her)but that was probably just her way of attempting to make it sound like a somewhat mature read

This is spot on.


To quote Pattinson on the premiere he was scared he would be judged for doing a performance that differed so much with the image of the character all this teenagers had fallen in love with.

He wasnt concerned about the critics, he wasnt scared about anyone thinking he wasnt a serious actor from then on, he knew his main obstacle was making those girls believe that he was the real deal

I've read analysis by feminists regarding the Cullen phenomena, and from what I gather even them are not understanding this women mania .

Maybe it's the forbidden love thing? Maybe many women still love chivalry? To be submissive and controlled? After all, Edward totally guides Bella the way he wants, the friends she should have, where to go and where not, he even removed her car's engine so she can't see her guy friend. .
He's really abusive in many ways.

Here is a group of males that attempt to display the characteristics you described, and have been shamed for doing so repeatedly, discussing the book(someone thought it needed to be discussed)

http://www.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comm ... ok_series/

Not my sort of thing but it may be an interesting read for you

I don't think it's all true but this was a funny read .

When you say you're not a feminist, in what sense are you saying that? I'm genuinely interested to hear what being a "feminist" means to young women such as yourself. Because it has to mean something different from what I think it does.
Because when a woman says "I'm not a feminist", to me it means "I want a man to take care of me. My goal in life is to be a good housewife. Women should stick to an old-fashioned traditional gender role." And I'm sure you are not like that. ...are you?

It's kinda like the word "Pagan" means "devil worshiper" to some people.
So I want to know what people associate the word "feminist" with nowadays.


EDIT: Actually, there is nothing wrong with wanting to be a housewife, if that is her choice.
So, to be more accurate, "not a feminist" sounds to me as "I want men to decided everything for us women".

Last edited by Yuzu on 13 May 2014, 8:37 am, edited 1 time in total.