Did 'Twilight' ruin the vampire genre? How the series broke the rules – for the better

Dracula, Nosferatu, Carmilla.

As long as we've been reading books, we've been enchanted – and terrified – by vampires. But if you want to talk about the ageless impact these garlic-fearing creatures have on the mainstream, you'd be remiss not to mention "Twilight." 

Stephenie Meyer's breakthrough paranormal romance series, published 20 years ago in October 2005, quickly became a craze for teens and adults alike. The movie adaptations starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner only furthered the already-heated Edward vs. Jacob debate.

But as with any media that flies too close to the sun, "Twilight" was not without its haters. 

Pattinson, who starred as the sullen, immortal teen Edward Cullen, revealed to GQ Spain in January that he still gets flak for the vampiric juggernaut. "I love that people keep telling me, 'Man, 'Twilight' ruined the vampire genre,'" Pattinson told the Spanish outlet.

But did "Twilight" really suck the blood out of vampires? Well, the answer isn't so simple.

Did 'Twilight' ruin the vampire genre?

Ashley Schumacher, the author of "Twilight"-inspired "Say It Out Loud," self-identified as a literary "snob" in high school. When her classmates started carrying around "Twilight," the bright red apple popping off the glossy black cover, she thought it was stupid.

Then she folded. And she was hooked.

Books marketed to female readers are often dismissed as low-bar, "fluff" or "chick lit." But "Twilight" has literary value worth discussing, even 20 years later, Schumacher says.

 "Jane Austen would really like 'Twilight,'" Schumacher says. "Jane would have had all of the merch. Jane would have been writing 'Twilight' fan fiction."

But some vampire enthusiasts were turned off by a love story between a high schooler and a 100-year-old teenager. Others didn't like the new vampire elements, like sparkly skin.

Schumacher points out, though, that "Twilight" couldn't have ruined the genre because vampire stories, in and of themselves, are already a little bit ridiculous.

"The monsters have always, always evolved and people were just pissed off that this one had romance. People were mad that (the vampires) were being de-fanged," says Schumacher (Meyer previously said her vampires didn't need fangs because of their indestructible physiques).

"I don’t question it too much, because it's just fun."

How vampires sank their teeth into readers

Monster theory says we use paranormal characters as a device to tap into the zeitgeist and probe the dark underside of the human condition.

"They are great stories that allow us to tap into fears, fantasies, desires, anxieties in what seems to be a way of displacing it," says Karen Winstead, an English professor at Ohio State University. "You can use a vampire story to talk about things like abusive relationships or racism or homophobia. And it can be entertaining literature, whereas if you talked about these things directly, it would just be horrific."

Bram Stoker's "Dracula," for example, explored themes of race, religion and gender. Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla" touched on homosexuality and female empowerment. "Nosferatu," the 1922 silent German film, addressed existential fear and occultism.

Meyer's "Twilight" was no different, with an intense, obsessive bond that "became a catalyst for having conversations about relationships that I think ultimately were valuable," Winstead says. 

It was an early example of female-led young adult novels that let young girls see themselves as heroes and protagonists.

How vampire lit can empower young readers

Instead of being terrified of these menacing predators, vampire literature made us fall in love with them. And for young readers today, the appeal can even border on self-empowerment.

"Young people are the protagonists, the victims, the heroes," Winstead says. "And in modern vampire literature, you have either the vampire slaying story trajectory, where the vampires are the predators and they have to be defeated and killed, or the vampires are the romantic interests. And either way, the young people come out on top. It is their story."

"Twilight" may have been the catalyst for the current wave of paranormal bestsellers, after it endeared the monster heartthrob to a new generation. TikToker and books commentator Kenzie Deerin, who was introduced to the series in middle school, says the vampiric tale sparked her love for the fantasy romance genre.

"Looking back on it, I can acknowledge that it was definitely not the peak of vampire literature and there are definitely a lot of problems within the series," Deerin reflects. "But I think the forbidden love and the constant back-and-forth between good versus evil is just very captivating to someone, especially when you are an adolescent trying to understand those things within a real-world perspective as well."

The Cullens threw out the rulebook, inspiring new vampire lore

"Twilight" isn't your mother's Dracula either.

Modern-day vampires are bending and breaking the rules of what classic canon dictates, inspired, in part, by Meyer's sparkly skinned heroes.

"Twilight" and "The Vampire Diaries" influenced Ethiopian-born, Australian-based author Tigest Girma to pen 2024’s "Immortal Dark" and its upcoming sequel "Eternal Ruin." She loved vampire stories growing up but never saw any that centered on Black vampires.

"Vampires have always been white; they come from Romania, they come from Dracula, those are the myths that we stick to," Girma says. "And then I started trying to push back against this idea."

Girma drew inspiration from native mythology for her reimagining, which trades wooden stakes for animal horns and uses the sun as a source of power. The ultimate validation? She has the same publisher as "Twilight."

'Vampires have always been really queer'

It's not just "Carmilla" anymore; vampires are getting queerer.

"Dead & Breakfast," an upcoming murder mystery by Kat Hillis and Rosiee Thor, follows the misadventures of vampire husbands Arthur and Sal. "Vampires have always been really queer to me," Thor says.

In their book, they make the subtext the text. "Whether the authors or creators of those projects agree or not, all along queer people have been recognizing ourselves in these outcasts to society," the author adds.

Author Annie Summerlee also found "Twilight" and the metaphor of forbidden, taboo love to be a way to "explore queerness even when I didn't realize it."

Her upcoming "The Book of Blood and Roses" is an obsessive love story pulled straight from Edward and Bella's playbook. Now that vampire fiction is more prevalent, there is more space for LGBTQ+ characters to thrive, she says.

The vampire genre is sparkling after 'Twilight'

The grown-up Twihard generation is also expanding the vampire lit canon, creating something of a multiverse in which new protagonists have a meta relationship with the touchstone series. 

Schumacher’s "Say It Out Loud" is a direct take on the fandom culture birthed by "Twilight." Her characters are cast to record an audio adaptation of a wildly popular vampire romance series that defined their teenage years, just like The Twilight Saga defined hers.

"It's like your favorite songs from high school ... that capture exactly where you were at the time. And what is it like to revisit that as an adult?" Schumacher says. "Are we all vampiring ourselves and we're stuck as 17-year-olds because that's when we all read these books?"

Hillis and Thor also pay homage to the cultural impact of "Twilight" in "Dead & Breakfast." At one point in the novel, one of the characters orders a bottle of "glitter lotion," so that he can "be his best Cullen self."

But aside from providing pop culture easter eggs, "Twilight" has left the door wide open for culturally rich vampires, ones that reflect the worlds they were created in. 

"I'm excited to see other people take on the mantle of vampires and do something unique with it," Thor says. "Somebody write about vampires in space."

Contributing: Ed Symkus, The State Journal-Register