Author Stephanie Meyer burst onto the literary world with her novel, "Twilight" in 2005. The novel chronicles the tale of one Isabella Swan who falls for a century old vampire by the name of Edward Cullen and her eventual discovery of a world of vampires and werewolves hidden from human eyes. Meyer's novel struck a chord amongst a primarily young teen female reader base and would evolve into a worldwide phenomenon with sales well over an amazing amount of 100 million books sold. Meyer eventually wrote three sequels and a novella which further added fuel to the fire.
It wasn't long until the film industry starting knocking and the fledging company called "Summit Entertainment" snapped the rights up and released the first film, Twilight in 2008. As of the year 2011, Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse have been quite successful at the box-office. The fourth book, Breaking Dawn is being filmed as a two part movie and the first of the two films will be released during the Fall of 2011. The second part of Breaking Dawn will be released in 2012.
By all appearances it appears that the Twilight phenomenon is a strong one, but appearances can be deceiving. For a movement to gain actual longevity as a fan phenomenon, the material must contain multiple layers that can be examined and dissected by fans. This notion must especially be applicable to the filmed material where most popular fan based groups revolve around. A popular comparison would be "Star Trek". Star Trek grabbed fans of all ages with hidden story meanings, colorful and powerful characters and an imaginative premise. It is these elements that must be addressed if this particular franchise can ever really hope to grow its fanbase.
This Examiner.com columnist has attended a fair amount of Twilight conventions and has witnessed the enthusiasm and good will of the predominently female fan base at Creation Entertainment conventions. An examination of this fan base is in order and the latest conventions catering the fans that prefer the term, "Twi-hard" to describe themselves is the ideal arena to do so.
The Creation Entertainment group always features an excellent amount of guests at their conventions and this particular gathering held just before St. Valentine's Day would also prove to be the case again. Attending the three day event were stars such as Kiowa Gordon, Booboo Stewart, Tyson Houseman, Tinsel Korey, Bronson Pelletier, Gil Birmingham and Jodelle Ferland. The actors each had an opportunity to present and recall stories from filming the Twilight films. These panels were enthusiastically received by the fans and several notable guests broke out of the group as fan favorites.
Actress Tinsel Korey who portrays the scarred Emily in the films dazzled the audience with her humor, genuine gratitude and approachable personality. Indeed,throughout her panel appearance, she would often jump off of the stage and question fans about their reaction to the films and where they might wish characters to end up.
Actor Gil Birmingham who has the part of Billy Black in the films is a regular to these conventions. Despite that fact, Birmingham has an amazing ability to keep each appearance remarkably fresh. His natural sense of humor illustrates his keen mind and he also proved to be an adept guitar player by playing a guitar handed to him by a fan. He treated the fans to an impromptu musical performance on a unknown guitar.
BooBoo Stewart is still a young teenager, but he displays a very mature approach to his fame and ever growing fan base. Stewart is also a musician and singer who plays music with his sister, Fivel in an unsigned group. Stewart displays an effortless charm which should continue to land him decent roles in the future which should also contribute to his ever spiraling fan base.
Predicting the future of emerging talent is a tricky and expensive proposition for film studios. Studios can rest easy with the emerging talent known as Jodelle Ferland. Ferland's role as a new vampire named Bree in Eclipse was brief, but outstanding because of Ferland's subtle acting which hinted on the character's state of mind and emerging mental deterioration. An incredibe performance made even more so by the actor's scant screen time. The next round of fame from actors that have appeared in these films should be led by Jodelle Ferland who demonstrated humility and graceful charm as she happily conversed with the fans in attendance.
Despite the impressive guest list and other entertaining activites such as the "Volturi Vampire Ball", attendance is starting to dwindle at the Twilight gatherings. The high quality content of the conventions remains, but it appears that the Twilight fan base might have hit its plateau in terms of numbers. The fans themselves remain as likable and enthusiastic as ever, but there are no new fans entering the fray. A fair number of fans who first picked up the book in 2005 have not taken the books with them to 2011 and beyond. It is these two factors that is behind my assertion the Twilight phenomenon may in fact be just a fad and not an actual fan based movement with longevity. Of course all speculation is just that, speculation. It is my hope that I am completely off the mark with my examination for it would be a shame if fandom in general reverts to its roots of being a boy's club where the only female faces will once again belong to the convention booth girls. Can Twilight endure the test of time and retain its heavily female fan base that has enlivened convention going? Time will be the final judge, jury and perhaps, executioner of this potential fan movement.
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