Before we begin this article, I must emphasise my personal stance on Twilight. I am an outsider to the franchise. I have flicked through the first book and was dragged to the cinema to see Twilight: Eclipse with some friends, but otherwise I am detached from the series. It doesn’t interest me, therefore I don’t go and see it.

 But it has been impossible to ignore some of the hate vendettas that people have for the series. Mentioning a passing comment about Edward and Bella to the wrong person can result in mock retching and a roll of the eyes. Therefore, I delved into the subject to extract why people have decided to treat it in such a way, rather than letting the fans (Twi-hards, according to the internet), simply enjoy the films.

3 – THE ACTORS

The films may be getting the abuse, but the three principal actors seem to be the bulls eye on this dartboard of hatred. It’s as if some people truly believe that Robert Pattinson and Kirsten Stewart wrote and directed the movies themselves. OK, I admit Taylor Lautner could be the worst actor to ever grace the red carpet, but that’s no reason to hate a franchise. In fact, it kind of makes the film amusing for all the wrong reasons.

Kristen Stewart is by no means, a fantastic actress, but part of me believes she has been given the wrong roles. I seem to remember that the literary Bella was also an annoying character, so maybe Kristen Stewart has in fact pulled the role off incredibly well. And as for Robert Pattinson: the guy is phenomenal. Some people have slated him for being a part of this film, but why shouldn’t he be in it? The films are making so much money and fame, they have the ability to propel him into the best roles for the rest of his career.

When the affair between Kristen Stewart and Rupert Sanders came out, people jumped onto the story, like sharks on a bleeding seal. Now, I don’t want to go into the ethics of whether what she did is right or wrong, because that is not what my article is about, but Kristen Stewart, at the end of the day, is a child actor – that’s tough for anyone. Rupert Sanders was the 41 year old married man, yet Kristen is still stuck with the majority of the abuse. It seems that people used this story to attack Twilight, which is definitely wrong.

2 – THE VAMPIRES

Most of the abuse for Twilight is centered on the film’s depiction of vampires. They sparkle in the sunlight rather than burn, they are fairly emotional characters and mainly, they aren’t killing everything in sight. That last point isn’t even correct, as it is just the good characters who hold back on the human slaying, but as far as people who just want to abuse the franchise are concerned, that doesn’t matter. I’m mildly irritated at this version of vampires, but the books are romance novels. Of course, the vampire lead was going to fall in love. That was the entire purpose of the novel. Yet people are still concerned that the franchise is killing the horror genre.

1 – THE FANS ARE HARDCORE

The main reason, in my opinion, for why Twilight gets abuse is the bandwagon that surrounds the movies. The Twi-Hards are willing to queue up for hours at the cinema, wait in the rain for the star’s autographs and come to the fancy dress parties overly-dressed as the characters. The remainder of the public feel threatened by this: the films they love aren’t getting that reception. No one goes mad over the Mission Impossible series. Therefore they revolt.

There is also a certain element of hating the mainstream, like certain voters always changing parties, because their favourite part of politics is insulting the current Prime Minister. This happened on a smaller scale with the Harry Potter franchise. I also believe that Twilight fans do make themselves easy targets for abuse: it is hard not to insult teenage emo kids who think they’re vampires.

Basically the whole affair, I find, ugly. It makes no sense to me to hate a film, because it doesn’t meet your interests. That isn’t the same as a bad movie. So give the Twilight fans a break, people! They’re humans too.