For the past month or month and a half, I have been caught up in the latest book craze to hit the tweens, teens, and adults who love a good, quick and highly addictive read. What I'm referring to is the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. She's a young, unknown writer who graduated from BYU and dreamed up this wonderful story that is as normal as a story could be when it involves vampires and werewolves. What amazes me is that she never even visited the place where the story is set until after she finished the first book. Her descriptions are spot-on based on everything I've read about the area in Washington that she wrote about, and I even have a friend who has been there, and she agrees. Anyway, I consider this a cultural phenomenon because I find it absolutely fascinating how quickly the entire United States and Canada has made this series a household name. It's almost like Harry Potter, but I think people in the U.S. are embracing it because this time the stories are written by an American, and also because it's just different enough from the Harry Potter books that it really draws people in....at least it did me! I, much like I did with the Harry Potter books, resisted at first, because after all, who would find a series of books about vampires even mildly interesting? Well, after enough times of going into my local Chapters bookstore and seeing the Twilight display getting much larger each time, as well as seeing the initial movie trailers, I decided I would just give in and jump right on the bandwagon. After just a few short pages, I did not regret my decision. I hate to keep comparing the books to HP, but Stephenie Meyer draws the reader into her domain so quickly and it's almost like you're standing right there as the story plays out. There were so many nights that I really REALLY did not want to put the book down to go to sleep. I read all four books so furiously that now that I'm finished, it feels like something is missing and I can't wait for another one to be released! Problem is, the fifth book WAS in progress, and then somehow a draft of it got leaked on to the internet. The author took major offense to that, and now she has put the release of the book on hold indefinitely! I am so bummed. I know I sound like I'm ten years old with the way I'm talking about these books, but seriously, try them on for size for yourself. You'll love them. And the movie is coming out next month......that is a major bonus. I hope they stick true to the story and don't leave out too much, that would be a MAJOR disappointment.
The hypothetical question that's raised from of all this: What makes something a cultural phenomenon/fad/trend? Who decides what succeeds and what fails? Is it strictly based on the general public, or is a lot of it from the marketing that goes along with the product? I just find things like this fascinating....they may be pointless in the grand scheme of things, but fascinating nonetheless.
A link that I found interesting that relates to this story talks about all of the tourism that these books have generated for the small little town in which they are set (Forks, Washington). This author has done the economy of this town a major favor!!
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/283197/136/
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