"But I wanted to. I can walk like a man, but I'm not one. I wanted to kill you tonight."
"I so very nearly took you then. There was only one other frail human there — so easily dealt with."
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One of my favourite sports is "scurvekano-baiting". This is where you take one of my best friends from high-school, say something that provokes a response, and see how long you can keep going till one or the other of you gets bored or so offended that you feel sorry. Following both of us on Twitter must make people weep for humanity.
Recently, I hit the motherload. I commited an heretical and treasonous act. I implied that Joss Whedon's cult favourite, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, shared a lot of the qualities that Twilight, enrager of nerds, gets attacked for. I was asked to justify that statement.
Now, I've already described my views on the Twiglet books. I find them mildly amusing, above averagely written (NB. above average does not mean good, it means readable), and I quite like the fact that it's not treating teen angst as a massive joke. Yes, I recognise that Bella's a lousy role model, but if you're taking Twilight as a bible on how to live, I'd assume you have bigger issues than your choice of reading material.
Whereas Buffy remains one of the best "cult" tv shows broadcast. Clever, funny, with some great dialogue.
But both draw from the same source material, and both share a heck of a lot in common, nowhere more so than in their male leads, Edward and Angel.
The top 10 comparisons:
1) On first appearance, he's supposed to be mysterious. We don't know his back story, and he's not explaining anything.
2) We immediately know he's a vampire. Could not be more obvious if he was not drinking... wine.
3) The heroine is immediately attracted to him in that oh so teenage girl "he's really annoying... but soooo hot" way.
4) This leads to rows and snark.
5) Then saving the girl and romance.
6) Then tormentedness and "You think I want anything to happen to you? You think I could stand it?" nonsense.
7) Sex leads to bad things. In Edward's case, everytime they get close, he loses control of his instincts and tries to bite Bella. In Angel's, they actually do it (but not before the twilesque line "I love you. I try not to, but I can't stop."), at which point Angel goes psychopathically crazy and tries to murder everybody. He gets better eventually. (oh... SPOILER... sorry, but it's been 10 years)
8) This then puts Ed and Angel in much the same position: "God, I want to sex you. But I can't... because of my horrible curse. Look at this handsome face. This is the Cursèd Face of Brooding Celibacy. Broooood."
9) Finally, they both leave the love of their life in order to keep her safe from their dark and brooding urges, breaking her teenage heart apparently being an acceptable bonus.
10) They also both get involved in awesome fights, although in Edward's case he fights a bear (offscreen), and then he gets his ass handed to him by Wednesday Adams and Lurch.
Incidentally, I am not the only one to notice the similarities:
Now, I've agreed to read "Twilight: Eclipse" on a bet. If Edward flips out and tries to wipe out Bella's family and friends, before starting a detective agency, I will find that HILARIOUS. (Spoilers: He does not)
With thanks to neloo.com for the Buffy quote archive: http://www.neloo.com/lines/quotes.htm
And twilight-quotes.com for the Edward Cullen lines. http://www.twilight-quotes.com/characters/cullen-edward
This was written with all possible respect to people who actually get excited and write stuff.
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"You deserve more. You deserve something outside of demons and darkness. You should be with someone who can take you into the light. Someone who can make love to you."
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