“…disregarding the root truth of vampires, which is that they are demonic and evil, and depicting any of the lot of them as capable of love for humans is irresponsible, and at the very least, ludicrous. As such, Meyer not only successfully bastardized the nature of vampires, but worse, she also encouraged (though I’d imagine unwittingly) a shamefully false sense of truth about that which is wholly good and that which is wholly evil.”
The Problem with Twilight
– April 9, 2010
The Problem with Twilight: “…disregarding the root truth of vampires, which is that they are demonic and evil, and depicting any of the lot of them as capable of love for humans is irresponsible, and at the very least, ludicrous. As such, Meyer not only...
About the Author
Richard Clark (Co-Founder/Editor-in-Chief) has spent his entire life writing, reading, listening, and playing. He has a Bachelors in Theology from the Baptist College of Florida and has a Master of Arts in Theology and the Arts from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He lives in Louisville, KY where he is the classroom technology manager at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In addition to writing at Christ and Pop Culture, he is also a staff writer for Kill Screen Magazine's website and has written for various other outlets such as Paste, Gamasutra, and Collide.
Email: deadyetliving [at] gmail [dot] com. Twitter: @deadyetliving. Xbox Live: deadyetliving 
“Bastardized the nature of vampires.”
That was rich. Because fantasy creatures of folklore are stone-set in character, origin, and use. This is why I hate Tolkien—because he took traditionally evil creatures like elves and bastardized them by making some of them noble.
Seriously, wow. I read a lot of stuff entirely disconnected from reality every day (I do have Facebook friends after all), but that might be the chart-topper for this month. They’ll give anyone a column these days. In Cacopardo’s world there is apparently no room for imagination, creation, or re-creation. Please, nobody let him get a hold of Hellboy—he might go apoplectic with indignation that Mignola had the nerve to write about a demon that wanted to be good.
Yeah, I think I probably feel the same way. I find themes of overcoming one’s assumed nature really intriguing, and I’m not sure that he really leaves room for those things.
I’m with the Dane on this one. I was going to post something witty along the lines of the real problem with Twilight being that vampires don’t actually exist, and it’s kind of hard to bastardize something that doesn’t exist, but now I’ll just leave it at this.
That being said, I have some more problems with his article. Regarding mounting sexual tension, say, Edward isn’t the one wanting sex. That’s Bella. Edward quaintly (and biblically, I guess!) wants to wait until marriage..
the real problem with Twilight has nothing to do with the nature of vampires (if we can really say anything about that), but with how it portrays borderline abusive romantic relationships as normal and desirable. That is why my potential kids aren’t getting their hands on Twilight without me giving them a Talk about love. Not because of a shift from evil to good.
I think this author has established a whole new watermark for the phrase “taking himself too seriously”.