The Resurgence of the Twilight Fan Community on TikTok

The modern success of transmedia franchises is largely due to the strong fanbases that they develop. Story worlds that present something new and enticing to a hungry target audience are likely to grow a vast and dedicated fanbase that stands the test of time. One of the best examples of a transmedia franchise with a dedicated fanbase is the Twilight Saga. Upon the annual releases of the Twilight films beginning in 2008 and ending in 2012, the popularity of the series skyrocketed. The targeted demographic of the new-age vampire romance series were adolescent girls, and their dedication to the saga began to manifest in many different ways. Midnight screenings, fan conventions, fanfiction, and Twilight merchandise were popular ways that young women could be a part of the notorious fanbase. Though never falling into obscurity, Twilight and its fans lost the public interest in favor for newer content throughout the latter half of the 2010s. However, through my time online during the past year, I have noticed a resurgence of the Twilight fanbase that is likely caused by the COVID-19 quarantine, during which many people have had time to revisit old series and reinvest their time. In this paper, I will argue that the rebirth of the fanbase centers on the video sharing social media platform TikTok, and that the features of this platform have allowed for new interactions between fans and the series and the larger fan community. 

Prior to delving into the different ways in which the Twilight fandom utilizes the platform of TikTok, it is important to establish the new fan demographics and why TikTok works extremely well as a method of communication. As previously noted, the original fandom of the saga were primarily adolescent women or others who enjoyed young adult literature. These initial fans are now, generally, in their early to mid-twenties. These fans revisiting the series are the primary group who have caused its revival of popularity. The use of TikTok, a fairly new social media platform, as a primary means of communication creates fan communities quite well. The way that TikTok functions relies chiefly on its algorithms. When first logged in, users of the app are presented two different viewing methods: the “For You” page and the “Following” page. The “For You” page is unique to TikTok in comparison to prior social media platforms as it is constantly pushing new, never repeating video content to the user. Based on the user’s level of interaction with the TikTok, whether it be view time, liking, commenting, sharing, or following, the algorithm learns and constantly adapts to the indicated content preferences. This leads to the same type of TikToks being suggested in the future. The behavior of the algorithm and its learned segmentation of viewers has led to what is colloquially known as different “sides” of TikTok, many of which are based on certain fandoms. One of these countless sides of TikTok is known by its users as “Twilight TikTok.” Should a user simply interact with a TikTok about Twilight, more content will be pushed towards them, making finding the community and becoming an active part in it extremely easy. In addition, the comment section for every video allows anyone to add commentary, and a large part of fan interaction occurs in these comment sections. It becomes clear that TikTok’s algorithms are proficient in community building, but it is important to mention how trends on the app function as well. Just about any type of video can be posted to the app, but trends are usually defined by the use of a certain sound, whether it be music, a dialogue track, or otherwise, that give meaning to the video. The use of sounds for popular trends allows for thousands of possibilities, and with new sounds gaining popularity daily, there is no shortage of fresh content. Although this is a brief summation of how TikTok functions, one can understand that the platform’s structure promotes the creation of different communities and the lifespan of these groups are prolonged due to continually changing trends.

With this established, we can now begin looking at how the Twilight side of TikTok has successfully used the platform and revived the fanbase. Throughout the time I have spent immersed in the community, there are three main methods that the community expresses their fan identity: comedic content, analytical content, and other content which showcases longstanding dedication to the series. We will now dive into further detail about these modes of fan behavior in order to understand the extent to which the fandom has been revived.

 Comedy has long been an effective means of communication in fandoms as the lighthearted nature allows people to communicate their love for the series without worry. Furthermore, comedy is a simple yet productive way to draw people’s interest and bring them into a fan community, which merits its discussion first. Since its initial popularity, Twilight has been the subject of many memes and jokes, and fans on TikTok have shown to embrace jokes about the series and create their own. There are a wide variety of jokes made about Twilight, but a user that I have encountered many times provides great examples of how comedic interpretations lead to fan interaction. User “smallestkyle” has a following of over half a million people, making their content quite relevant in the community. The most significant content they produce in this regard are interpretive sketches of Twilight characters and funny conversations they might have. For instance, they created a multipart series entitled “Twilight Characters at a Sleepover” in which the characters have non-sensical conversations and their relationships are not limited to the official Twilight story. The fourteenth part of their series, posted on February 15th, 2021, features the characters chatting about what happens after death, but with outlandish hypotheses made by the comedic characters Emmet Cullen and Seth Clearwater.[1] This TikTok demonstrates how the platform allows a fan to interact with the series in a new way, as well as how it leads to communication between fans. Some of the comments on this particular video read, “I love you digging into their psyche beyond what anybody asked for,” “omg I didn’t know I needed this side of Twilight [heart emoji] sucked me right back into the fandom again,” and “this is amazing and [I] genuinely want to write a twilight fanfic but with your idealized versions of the characters?!?”[2]Reading these comments, one can see how these videos entertain people, grow the fanbase, and inspire others to create Twilight content themselves. 

 On the other hand, the next fan practice that takes up a large space on Twilight TikTok is much more serious in nature: literary and filmic analysis. As previously mentioned, a large part of Twilight TikTok consists of young adults who are revisiting the series they liked as children. This creates a yearning to understand the series critically. Much of the discourse surrounds confronting biases in the series due to the alleged worldviews of the author, Stephanie Meyer. Once again, looking at specific examples will show how critically thinking about the series is important to the community. The first significant user is “sapphicswan” whose content and perspectives are important as a female person of color who also hosts a podcast on Twilight. In addition to posting her own thoughts on the series, she also poses questions to her followers that encourage discussion in the comment section. For instance, on March 10th, 2021, she uploaded a TikTok responding to another’s question about Stephanie Meyer depiction of female characters. In it, she discusses how Meyer wrote all her significant female characters with tragic backstories to create their personalities and strength, when this is not a prerequisite for strong female characters and can be a harmful way to understand things.[3] The comments engage in the discourse, with one user mentioning how Meyer wrote every blonde character as “man stealers” and that shows her bias towards blonde women. Another prevalent discussion is based on a collective discovery that Stephanie Meyer is Mormon, and the series can be read as an allegory of the story of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, and the religious group as a whole. A recent discussion was sparked by user “gnoccutie” in their TikTok posted on February 26th, 2021 where they illustrate just how deep the allegory goes. They were questioning why Rosalie, a member of the Cullen family of vampires, is from Rochester, New York instead of Manhattan, which would make more sense.[4] However, the founding patriarch of the Cullens, Carlisle, can be read as an allegory for Joseph Smith. In Mormon beliefs, Smith found the golden plates, from which he translated the Mormon holy scripture, in Rochester, New York. Carlisle discovering a blonde Rosalie in Rochester, officially making the Cullens a group, is then allegorical. Responding to this video, user “juliagoestotexas” explains how with this allegorical reading, the antagonistic Volturi, an ancient group of Italian vampires who exercise control over the vampire universe, is representative of the Catholic Church.[5] This is supported by the traits of the Volturi in both the novels and films. So, Carlisle’s coven standing apart from the Volturi is representative of the Mormon Church. Other fans have been using this allegorical reading to explain smaller details. User “sarahelizabeth327” posted a series of videos about the unattractive outfits that the characters are described as wearing in the books. In her TikTok posted on February 27th, 2021, she talks about the outfit that Bella, a human, wears to meet Edward’s family of ethereal vampires: a blue blouse and long, khaki skirt.[6] Though she makes no mention of it in this video, many commenters stated that in their experiences with Mormonism, Bella’s outfit, and many of the others described throughout the series, resembles what Mormons would wear to church. 

Indeed, this topic could merit a whole separate paper, but these few examples are brought up to illustrate the depth of analysis takes place on Twilight TikTok. The analysis of the series signifies a feminist ethos in the fan community in line with the concept discussed in Matthew Freeman and Charlotte Taylor-Ashfield’s article “‘I read comics from a feministic point of view’: Conceptualizing the transmedia ethos of the Captain Marvel fan community” where the authors essentially describe that the new changes in the Captain Marvel brand and image encourage a feminist ethos in the fanbase.[7] Similarly, there are changes in Twilight’s image and fan base that bring forth the feminist ethos. For a long time, Twilight was not taken seriously by critics and media consumers because the series appealed to young girls, and there was a sense of shame that came along with being a Twilight fan due to this. Now adults, these fans on TikTok are reclaiming and embracing their love for the series and looking at it critically. They are able to recognize the shortcomings and biases of the author and the series without discounting their love for it. 

The final main method of fan expression on Twilight TikTok relates to the digi-gratis ethos also discussed in the article by Freeman and Taylor-Ashfield. The digi-gratis fan ethos relates to the mixture between fans supporting the official market around a transmedia text and creating their own markets of paratextual items to showcase their fandom.[8]In other words, it is the merging of gift and market economy in fan communities. The consumption and creation of Twilight related texts makes up a large part of fan content on TikTok. A wonderful example of fans bonding over the consumption of official market goods is TikTok user “emilytrossarello” who has made a great deal of content with it. First, throughout the last couple months, she went live every night to read the entire Twilight saga, in the background of which she placed her collection of the novels. Recently, she has posted a series of her ‘becoming’ the characters based on the official director’s notebook for the films, which garnered a lot of attention.[9] Many other users make similar content, displaying their vast Twilight merchandise collections or showing their followers evidence of their previous obsession with the series as adolescents. At the same time, there are people who create new, unofficial Twilight content. One example is user “cherishdanae” who is using her experience as a singer and songwriter to release songs based on Twilight. Another case is user “tyler_warwick” who has been slowly recreating the Twilight series on TikTok, playing all the characters and recreating the soundtrack. He has garnered enough of a following that he is able to sell merch depicting him as the Twilight characters with specific quotes from the films. These different forms of engagement on the platform create a market for paratextual merchandise that allows these creators to profit off their content. In addition, fans are able to exhibit their longstanding dedication to the series by calling attention to the monetary investments they have made throughout the years. Overall, it is clear that the digi-gratis ethos is an important aspect of the Twilight fan community on TikTok.

Ultimately, this in depth look at the Twilight fan community on TikTok indicates how significantly fan demographics and behavior can change over time. TikTok is a platform that allows these changes to manifest and invigorates the creation of large fan communities with its algorithm and features that promote discussion between users. The different segments of the Twilight fan content on TikTok, ranging between and combining aspects of comedy, analysis, and displays of monetary investment in the series show that the fan community continues to thrive. Looking forward, the revival of the Twilight fandom along with the many other communities on TikTok puts forward new standards for fan consumerism and behavior of which transmedia franchises must be aware.

[1] SmallestKyle, “Twilight Sleepover - Part 14,” TikTok, February 15, 2021, https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSUKaP3/.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ahjée Sapphicswan, “Female Characters in Twilight,” TikTok, March 10, 2021, https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSUv88o/.

[4] Gnoccutie, “TikTok,” TikTok, February 26, 2021, https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSUGL7s/.

[5] Juliagoestotexas, “TikTok,” TikTok, March 1, 2021, https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSUc2Ua/.

[6] Sarah Elizabeth, “Bella's Khaki Skirt,” TikTok, February 27, 2021, https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSU7qNv/.

[7] Matthew Freeman and Charlotte Taylor-Ashfield, “‘I Read Comics from a Feministic Point of View’: Conceptualizing the Transmedia Ethos of the Captain Marvel Fan Community,” The Journal of Fandom Studies 5, no. 3 (January 2017): pp. 317-335, https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs.5.3.317_1.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Emily Trossarello, “Becoming Bella Final Results,” TikTok, February 2, 2021, https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSUqPD9/.

Bibliography

Freeman, Matthew, and Charlotte Taylor-Ashfield. “‘I Read Comics from a Feministic Point of View’: Conceptualizing the Transmedia Ethos of the Captain Marvel Fan Community.” The Journal of Fandom Studies 5, no. 3 (2017): 317–35. https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs.5.3.317_1.

Gnoccutie. TikTok, February 26, 2021. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSUGL7s/. 

Juliagoestotexas. TikTok, March 1, 2021. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSUc2Ua/. 

Sapphicswan, Ahjée. “Female Characters in Twilight.” TikTok, March 10, 2021. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSUv88o/. 

Sarah Elizabeth. “Bella's Khaki Skirt.” TikTok, February 27, 2021. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSU7qNv/. 

SmallestKyle. “Twilight Sleepover - Part 14.” TikTok, February 15, 2021. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSUKaP3/. 

Trossarello, Emily. “Becoming Bella Final Results.” TikTok, February 2, 2021. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeSUqPD9/.