10 reasons for the popularity of 'Twilight' -- and the number one reason will probably surprise you

April 13, 3:09 AMBook ExaminerMichelle Kerns

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Stephenie Meyer is the undisputed bookish queen of 2009: she's in the running for Time Magazine's list of the world's most influential people; the DVD release of Twilight sold over three million copies within the first 24 hours, making it one it one of the fastest selling first day DVD releases in history; and USA Today has just announced that a whopping 16% of all books sold in the first quarter of 2009 were written by Ms. Meyer, with the bulk of the sales dominated by the four books of the Twilight series.

Wow.

How did the Twilight series do it? Bookstores and libraries are overflowing with well-written, fascinating books, yet few of them -- and even fewer of their authors -- ever manage to reach the rarefied heights of glory that Ms. Meyer and her angst-ridden lovers have attained. Why? Let's dissect the phenomenon, shall we?

10 reasons for the popularity of Twilight

1. Harry Potter

Before the Dursleys, before Hogwarts, before Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, before He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, children's book publishing was languishing in a state of petrificus totalus: book sales were down and the only people who could muster up any interest in books for children were librarians and elementary school teachers, bless their hearts. Kids certainly weren't interested.

Sure, there were brief spurts of enthusiasm for light-weight confections like the Goosebumps series or Sweet Valley High (argh), but when it came to anything even partially weighty, forget it. Great stuff was being churned out every year, but you couldn't get the average kid excited about those tomes if you held a loaded revolver to their heads. The Giver? Boooring. Sarah, Plain and Tall? Too sappy. Jacob Have I Loved? Give me a break.

                                 The Boy Who Started It All

In 1997, Harry Potter burst onto the scene like a scream in the middle of Easter Sunday mass. Practically overnight, kids who had never willingly read a book before in their lives were standing in line at midnight for the next installment, dressing up to go to opening night of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, writing volumes of fan fiction, and starting Potter-themed bands with names like Gilderoy and the Lockharts, Accio Brain, and (my personal favorite) Umbridge and the Techicolor Kittens (take a look at more here and videos of Potter-themed and Twilight-themed bands).

As a result, the New York Times best seller list added a Children's Book section for the first time; the internet exploded with sites devoted to Ms. Rowling, the characters, ponderings on the plot, Hogwarts swag, you name it; and the world was introduced to a new kind of celebrity -- the author as superstar.

It's enough to make everyone except petrified scrooges like Harold Bloom giddy with pleasure.

How did all of this contribute to the success of Twilight? Easy: Harry Potter created a thirst for young adult fiction that everyone -- young, old, in between -- could read and enjoy. It made reading hip and, what's more, reading, as part of a devoted crowd, the cool thing to do. Anyone who attended a midnight release of one of the Potter books could see that at a glance. The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows release I was at was so crowded you could barely swing a wand. The camaraderie, the bookish goodwill, the feeling that, "Yeah, we are part of an elite crowd of fans here," was palpable. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that? Harry Potter did more for reading and for the coolness of reading than a thousand Newbery Medals could have.

Would Twilight have succeeded if it had come before Harry Potter? It would have probably done o.k. and nothing more. Twilight's theme -- romance under duress -- and its female narrator, are undeniably more attractive to female readers. Twilight would have been a nine-day wonder with girls of a Certain Age and not much of anything else. Because Harry Potter had assembled the troops, as it were, who were ravening for another bookish obsession to take up, Twilight fit into the void perfectly.

But what about all the other books written during that time, you say? Why didn't the shrieking masses latch onto another tome as opposed to Twilight? Because Twilight did more than plug up the hole left by the end of the Potter series: take a look at what else it struck a home run on.

2. Twilight tapped into the "Beauty and the Beast" romance fascination.

While Harry Potter focused on two of the most moving and basic of human tales -- the coming of age and hero story -- Twilight took up what is probably the third most fascinating story plot: the Beauty and the Beast romance.

Literature is rife with Beauty and the Beast symbolism, from the original French fairy tale to Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester, to untold millions of Harlequin Romance novels, to even Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy. In these tales, the wild, uncontrollable man cannot be brought to heel by anything except the love of the one woman he adores and will change everything he has once held dear to win and keep her love. It's sappy, it's eye-rollingly predictable, and it makes irresistible reading.

Twilight takes the whole thing one step further, with the love of Bella taming not just a vampire but a werewolf to boot. And this takes us into the third reason for the popularity of Twilight: Bella as boss.

 

3. Bella as the lady in control.

Geoffrey Chaucer was on to something when he wrote, through the Wife of Bath in The Canterbury Tales, that what women want above all things is "sovereignty over their husbands." Substitute "boyfriend" or "lover" or "suitor" for husbands there and you've got another reason that Twilight is so addictive: it features a seemingly vulnerable young woman with power over not just one male creature of the night, but two.

Edward, as is endlessly spoofed in Twilight joke videos, is impossibly fast, impossibly strong and immortal. Jacob, as Mr. Werewolf, is a ruthless killer. Yet both are rendered powerless at the feet of the super-powerless Bella who alone makes the decisions on what she will do, who she will love, and who she will marry. And, even after marriage, Bella is clearly the one calling the shots. Show me a woman who would turn down that kind of power and I'll show you an ice goddess.

In Boris Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago, Mr. Pasternak says that, in romantic relationships, "the strong are dominated by the weak," because they are made vulnerable by the very vulnerability of the one they love. Twilight is an excellent example of this.

4.  Ms. Meyer's decision to use Bella as the first person narrator.

Books written as first person narrations can be powerful stuff. The reader -- particularly if they can identify with the feelings of the character they are reading about -- can bond with the narrator faster and stronger than with a third person narration. For all of her writing faults (as enlarged upon by Stephen King), Ms. Meyer did a bang-up job conveying the feelings of a young girl caught in the throes of a powerful first love. In the first half of Twilight, I was absolutely bowled over by how well Ms. Meyer managed to pin down those feelings into words, and I think most female readers felt the same way and were committed to the series for the long haul because of that.

5. Edward Cullen as the ideal boyfriend/man.

He's protective; he's ridiculously good-looking; he couldn't care less about any other woman walking the face of the earth; and he doesn't want to get into your pants. In fact, you practically have to beg him to get into your pants. What's not to love?

Savvy gentlemen across the globe should be feverishly taking notes when it comes to Edward Cullen -- he epitomizes nearly everything women want in romance and in a man: devotion, stability, and mystery.

Ready for more? Take a look at the #6 - #10 reasons for the popularity of Twilight here.

It's not too early to start planning your New Moon movie release bash. Take a look at ideas for invitations, decorations, and Twilight-themed foods here.

Did you love the Twilight movie? Hate it? See Team Disappointed face off with Team Loved It in the Book Examiner Twilight movie debate.

Which series do you think is better -- Harry Potter or Twilight? Take a look at Team Potter and Team Twilight in a polite and very brainy literary fracas in the Book Examiner Harry Potter vs. Twilight debate.