It seems like we were only just talking about Twilight back in 2014. Since then, the young adult vampire romance series has sold over 300 million copies worldwide and been made into a feature film, a Broadway musical, and a French cooking show. While many fans remain devoted to the books and movies, an increasing number are looking for ways to live the romance of their favorite fictional characters. Some are even taking it further and meeting the people behind the stories they love.
One of the biggest romantic novels of all time is Twilight. The series follows the lives of young humans who fall in love with vampires, learning to coexist and even trust one another as a result of their increasingly dangerous relationship. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Twilight, the franchise’s biggest fan turned up the heat by launching a social media initiative dubbed ‘Ten Years Later’. So in partnership with Little Bird Marketing, a social media agency specialising in content strategy and marketing for millennials, we decided to bring the two together and ask the question: Could you really survive a fortnight with a vampire?
The idea behind the campaign was to ask young adults to go on a virtual reality date with a vampire character they might recognize from the series. We wanted to see how committed they were to the romance compared to the real world and how well they could act/behave like their favorite character(s).
We chose to pair up Stephenie Meyer’s iconic vampires with some of the most recognizable faces from the cast of Twilight. Our aim was for these celebrity vampires to appeal to a millennial audience, many of whom have grown up with the series and immersed themselves in its world. We knew this was a risky venture as there is certainly some creepiness to be found in this endeavor. But we also envisioned this as a fun and unique opportunity to inspire fans to live their best lives. And we were right!
What we found most surprising was how deeply the participants immersed themselves in the experience of a ‘Twilight date’. Users were more than willing to give it a go and were excited to try out new things, even if it was just for a day. It was amazing to see how much these young adults wanted to live out their favorite passion – not just for a couple of days but for the entire duration!
“One of the main reasons I wanted to try it was because of the costumes,” said Emile. “I thought it would be really funny to pretend to be a vampire for a day. It’s a really cool costume and it would be cute to walk around in a circle, drain people’s blood, and not have to explain to anyone why I’m doing it. That would be funny.”
While the overall campaign was a roaring success, with many users having a blast, not all of them were able to pull off a perfect scenario. For those that did it was quite an experience, and one that they will not soon forget.
Is This the Fiancee You’ve Been Waiting For?
But is this actually how you would behave if you met your perfect match and decided to spend the rest of your life together? Would you give up drinking blood and going on raids with your fellow vampires?
In the interest of transparency, let’s look at the couple’s past. Over the years, Robert Pattinson has been linked to multiple women. In 2016, he publicly acknowledged that he is engaged to be married and will spend the rest of his life with his fiancé, Kristen Stewart. Since then, the pair have been very hands-on-ceremony-ready, showing off their blooming romance on numerous occasions. They have had a fair amount of press around the wedding and the following birth of their first child together in May of this year. And, most recently, the ‘Downtown Abbey’ star graced the covers of both Vanity Fair and Marie Claire.
One would think this would be the perfect opportunity for a soap-opera ending…except that Stewart has yet to be fully committed to the idea of wedded bliss. As she told Marie Claire, “It’s hard to find the right person, you know? I feel like I’m just going to keep looking until I find that person.”
The same can be said of Pattinson. In a recent interview with Esquire, he admitted, “I don’t know if I’ll ever feel 100 percent ready to commit to one person for the rest of my life.”
Romantic Comedy Or Vampiric Gothic Story?
While the actors in Twilight aren’t necessarily romantically compatible, they have all agreed to play along for the sake of the fans. In a sense, this is what you would call ‘acting out fantasy’. And what’s more, it’s a fantasy that many of these younger adults want to try for themselves. In 2017, we will see the rise of ‘millennials’ who are growing up with video games and social media, constantly bombarded with romantic imagery and inspiration.
Whether this was intentional or not, the result is that today’s millennials are developing a romantic attachment to fictional characters and the lifestyles they portray. The question is, is this a good thing? Should we be worried about the effect these ‘likes’ and ‘follows’ have on young adults’ psyches?
One of the biggest questions that fans have been asking since the beginning is: Is Stephenie Meyer’s vampire world really meant for humans? At first, it seemed like an impossible task to bring these two worlds together. But with each passing year, more and more people are finding ways to do it. And while the idea of a vampire-fiancee may not seem realistic to some, perhaps it’s time that we should embrace the magic of fiction and give these characters a chance to live their best lives.