Girlz 'N' Games #43: Twi-lite

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In a Season 12 finale of South Park, called The Ungroundable, the Goth kids are horrified when the school is flooded with vamp kids, who share the Goths' look but none of their rebellious, cynical sensibilities - the vamp kids don't smoke or drink coffee ("caffeine is bad for you!"), they're popular, they get good grades; in fact most of the vamps are the school's top achievers.

I don't think it's a stretch to say that this contrast is shared by fans of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series.

You see, Twilight is to veteran vamp lit readers (like myself) what Harry Potter is to to oldschool fantasy fans. It's "Twi-lite," simplified, audience-friendly and generally "safe" all around - a starry-eyed, supernaturally flavoured romance for teenage girls and like minded women.

I've yet to read my copy of the first book in the quadrilogy, or watch the film, but I'm pretty sure that at no point in the novels does Edward Cullen embark on a bisexual affair, lust after his mother, become a rock star, rape someone, lap up Bella's menstrual blood or sink his fangs into the throat of Jesus Christ. Anne Rice (even with her recent re-embracing of Christianity) is still one crazy lady!

Anyway, this Girlz 'N' Games comic also gave me the chance to highlight the fact that GNG's female protagonist, Erin, is far from the usual "geek babe" who pops up in so many gaming-themed web comics. Erin may roll her eyes at the antics of the assorted boy-men around her, but she's hardly the unflappable voice of reason 24/7. Given the right triggers she's just as capable of irrational, very juvenile behaviour.

As a sidenote, for anyone interested, it turns out the plagiarism allegations against Stephenie Meyer were tabloid rubbish spread across the Net by bad journalists and over-eager bloggers. Meyer herself explains the situation on her official site (21 April blog entry).

Oh, and if you like this GNG comic, please spread the word and/or join the Girlz 'N' Games Facebook group. It's open to all.

Comments

MJenks said…
I don't know if I'd make the comparison of Harry Potter to Hard Core Fantasy fans.

Maybe the Eragon series. I think Harry will end up doing a lot more for the Fantasy genre than Twilight will do for the vampire genre.

But that's just my opinion as a unabashed Harry Potter supporter.
10:12 PM
Pfangirl said…
You're probably right there, MJenks about Eragon. Harry Potter was at least originally intended as a series for children, whereas Twilight and Eragon are more for slightly older readers.

What I would be very interested to see is some sort of survey where people indicate if their reading of popular fantasy-lite has inspired them to check out other series in the genre. Or were they happy to leave their reading there, and not venture further?
12:52 PM
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