Twilight cleanup

As I discussed here, the pages for The Twilight Saga are a bit of a mess. Clearly created when the hatedom was at its height, the pages (and subsequently, many, many of the wicks to the pages) are full of the following issues:

• General complaining and bitching, including some nastiness towards fans or the author.
• Character-bashing.
• Shoehorning in complaints about the series everywhere.
• Natter.
• Several ZCEs.

Basically, I'd like to start a project to get the pages to be less... vitriolic. It's not 2012 anymore, we've all calmed the fuck down about Twilight, we can all be normal about a book series, let's change the pages to reflect that.

Obviously, a lot of the criticism towards the series is warranted. I'm currently reading the first book and... I'm enjoying myself, but woof. But a lot of the hate piled onto the series is rather out of proportion for what it actually is.

I'll be using this thread to document my quest. Any help is GREATLY appreciated. Given how many tropes there are, and how often this series is mentioned on the wiki, this'll take awhile.

Edited by AdelePotter on Apr 1st 2024 at 10:01:23 AM

I've been here too long. Regretting choosing this screenname ten years ago.

Updated the A's on the main series page!

• Added context to All Women Are Lustful and commented out a ZCE that I couldn't add to.
• Removed some assumptions about Stephenie Meyer under Author Appeal and Author Avatar.
• Removed some Natter throughout.

I've been here too long. Regretting choosing this screenname ten years ago.

Now the B's.

• Added context to Badass Longcoat, The Beautiful Elite, Big Bad Ensemble, and Brother–Sister Incest.
• Removed some Meyer-bashing in Being Human Sucks and Broken Aesop.
• I removed the following from Broken Aesop:
  • The Cullens are portrayed as saintly vampires who value human life and therefore maintain a "vegetarian" diet of animal blood. But they never once object to other vampires killing humans — the closest they ever come is politely asking some non-veggie vamps who are staying with them to go out of town to feed, which has little to do with protecting human life and more to do with not blowing their cover. When there's a huge murder spree going on in Seattle caused by a vampire army, the Cullens never lift a finger to help until they realize the vampires are coming for them.
    • And worse still, some of the deaths the Cullens cause are glorified, the most obvious example being Rosalie murdering her fiance and his friends. This would otherwise be a pretty badass moment, if it weren't for the fact that Carlisle is supposed to be an absolute pillar of morality; if he's so moral, why did he stand by and allow his new adoptive daughter to murder humans, something he's so strongly against?
    • In the first novel Edward briefly mentions that before he went full "vegetarian" he was sort of a vigilante vampire superhero; he would make meals out of muggers and rapists when they were in the middle of attacking someone. This is presented as wrong because he's inevitably still killing, despite the fact he would also often be saving people who would have otherwise been murdered, assaulted, or raped. The option of remaining a vigilante and just not feeding on the criminals he captures is never even considered.
    • Also building on Carlisle's supposed status as a pillar of morality, the reason he saved Rosalie's life was he saw her lying raped and dying in the street and thought it would be a shame to let beauty such as hers go to waste. And then he tried to give her to Edward as a girlfriend.

Unlike the other examples under this trope, this isn't so much a lesson that gets undermined by the narrative as inconsistent characterization. (Plus, while Carlisle not trying to stop other vampires from eating humans is a bit hypocritical, I think it's fair to say him standing aside to let Rosalie butcher her rapists is a little different. After all, he wants to preserve innocent lives.)

I've been here too long. Regretting choosing this screenname ten years ago.

About time. I may take a crack at... (gulp) the YMMV stuff. When I'm less sickly

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

You are the bravest among us, godspeed.

I've been here too long. Regretting choosing this screenname ten years ago.

The C's!

• Removed The Clan since it's not really an example.
• Added context to Compelling Voice, Cool Car, and Creepy Child.
• Removed complaining from Cool People Rebel Against Authority and commented it out so someone can add more context.
• Removed natter from Creepy Child.

I've been here too long. Regretting choosing this screenname ten years ago.

FandomRivalry.Literature has a weird entry concerning the saga:

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• To a greater extent, fans of other vampire-centered media, especially those of the Buffyverse and Anne Rice fans. Just go to the trope page for Your Vampires Suck, where more than half the potshots are aimed at how Twilight portrays vampires.

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We should probably take that as a complaining cleanup hint.

"As long as I have my comrades with me, I can do anything!" (She/Her) (Current Focus: Cleaning Hell Is That Noise misuse)

D's!

• Removed natter and added an example for Deus ex Machina.
• Removed fan-bashing in Double Standard. Also removed a dig at Bella that says she's unrepentant about manipulating people. In the first book, at least, this isn't true; she does feel guilty for flirting with Jacob for information, and feels outright scummy for hurting Charlie to protect him. It's true that other characters who do similar things get no such redeeming moments, however.
• Removed Downer Ending; it's more Esoteric Happy Ending and Fridge Horror.
• Added context to The Dulcinea Effect.

I've been here too long. Regretting choosing this screenname ten years ago.

Does anyone mind if I add a link to the cleanup thread on the complaining cleanup sandbox?

"As long as I have my comrades with me, I can do anything!" (She/Her) (Current Focus: Cleaning Hell Is That Noise misuse)

My bad, just saw this! (Getting over a cold.) Go ahead!

I've been here too long. Regretting choosing this screenname ten years ago.