Twilight, Robert Pattinson, and the Enduring Appeal of Broody, Pale White Dudes

What is it about vampires that so capture the imagination of young girls?
Perhaps it has something to do with the onset of menses and the complexity of emotions that are part and parcel to the experience. Along with the blood comes an understanding of mortality as well as the ability to bear life - this all ties in with the gestalt of the vampire. He has the power to both give life and take it by penetrating virginal skin and sucking out the viscous crimson. Psychologically it all makes sense…

…or maybe they just like broody, pale white dudes like Robert Pattinson.

When I was in High School, the ‘broody, pale white dude’ du jour was Robert Smith (lead singer of The Cure). He was the poster-boy of the whole Goth movement which included such notables as Siouxsie and the Banshees; the Sisters of Mercy; Joy Division and Bauhaus. Technically it was a pretty fringe group back then, but it had a following that was as possessed and die-hard as they come. In those days, if you were a sensitive outcast who much preferred reading comic books to playing football, your only hope of ever getting laid was to find yourself a Goth chick. I tried my best, donning the obligatory Doc Martens along with the clumsily applied eye liner stolen from my mother’s make up case. Unfortunately, it never panned out for me. I was far too surly to ever truly be broody. Besides which, I was a Billy Joel fan which automatically restricted me from full membership to the club

20 years later, it’s all about Robert Pattinson and “Twilight,” which I just don’t get. Of course, I’m obviously not remotely the proper demographic for this stuff as I’m neither gay nor a 12 year old girl, but still… To me the guy looks like an effeminate, pouty pugilist, who’s taken one too many socks to the punim. His whole look is so overly stylized and contrived, I mean, what’s with the hair?

As far as his acting skills are concerned, from what I’ve seen he’s kinda like the bassist in Spinal Tap - luke warm water. Neither here nor there, just egg shell white, wall paper mundane-ity. Still, this kid is the hottest tween sensation since Kirk Cameron and that’s fine by me. Hell I’m no party pooper, let the little chicklets enjoy their new found messiah to their hearts content. However, it does give me pause. If our heroes are a direct reflection on ourselves as a society, then what does it mean when they’re all surface and no substance? Robert Smith set a legion of disaffected young ladies hearts a twitter with his rats nest hair and smeared lipstick, but underneath the cultivated façade was a genuine artist. Robert Pattinson is just another pretty face, which I fear is all anyone wants to aspire to be anymore.

Just something to ruminate on I suppose.

As far as the whole romantic Vampire/Goth aesthetic is concerned, I personally could never really get with that program anyway. I mean, the ‘undead’ should be be creepy not kissable after all. To me Nosferatu will always be the ultimate “Prince of Darkness.” Now THAT guy was bad-a$$!


I liked this one.
Even if he is kind of an @ss,I have to give the guy credit for what he wrote.
There's some truth in it.

I find Pattinson ugly; I much prefer Daniel Radcliffe (I'm referring to this article).

I'm not attracted to Pattinson at all, but I can't call anyone ugly. I get the overall point of the article, though.

I think his send off was well-wrote:

If our heroes are a direct reflection on ourselves as a society, then what does it mean when they’re all surface and no substance? Robert Smith set a legion of disaffected young ladies hearts a twitter with his rats nest hair and smeared lipstick, but underneath the cultivated façade was a genuine artist. Robert Pattinson is just another pretty face, which I fear is all anyone wants to aspire to be anymore.


There was a time when the youth wanted to learn how to do something extraordinary, and it would make them become famous: an athlete, a drummer, a painter, an actor, an astronaut, a singer, an author. These were the dreams of children, and their desires would become the means to an end, which would become fame. However, now the aspirations of the last generation is to simply be famous, and the vague notion of people paying attention to you is thought to be this. It is why things like MySpace, YouTube, Guitar Hero, Blogs, Rock Band, Celebutaunts and all the awful Reality Shows are so "important" to our society. People look at these a$$holes on these forms of media, thereby creating the "fame" of these people. Then they hope to one day be an a$$hole on a Video Blog or VH1 show too, so that other a$$holes can watch and talk about them.

It's a vicious cycle of self-fulfilling prophecies and the hollowing of dreams in our world.

I'm not really a fan of anyone mentioned... The Cure had talent, but I just never got the taste for their music...

Though Spooky stated it very well in regards to the current mindset... "Must be famous!! Who cares about talent!"...

I still stand by my statement of burning all the mainstream/teenies and taking our creatures back.

This reminds me of a lol I made a while back...

http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2009/6/22/128901299977294332.jpg

And Spooky, I totally agree with your sentiments.

That article and spooky did make a good point!


Though, I must say, I like Nsanes' Idea:
"I still stand by my statement of burning all the mainstream/teenies and taking our creatures back"