Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga took the world by storm, creating a phenomenon of Young Adult literature all centered around romance and the supernatural. The series garnered an audience of teenagers and adults alike who flocked to the story of Edward and Bella. However, the Twilight Saga also grew a group of critics and, for lack of a better word, haters. Twilight was hated by so many who couldn’t seem to understand the appeal, or were annoyed by its popularity. 

Upon the height of the books’ popularity, the 2008 film Twilight, an adaptation of the first book was released launching the careers of its actors into A-list celebrities. One such actress, Ashley Greene would later start a podcast in 2022, dedicated to what she calls “The Twilight Effect”. She and her co-host study the effects of the franchise on people, trying to figure out what the Twilight Effect really is. The podcast contains re-watches and recaps of the Twilight series, and other episodes where Greene interviews her former co-stars like Kellan Lutz, who plays Emmett, Peter Facinelli who plays Carlisle, as well as the visionary director of the first Twilight film, Catherine Hardwicke. Greene describes her own experience, of going from a small-time actor to being followed by hoards of crazed fans, and the reactions she’s gotten from self-proclaimed “Twi-Hards”.

Twilight brought together people, as evidenced by its enormous fan base and subsequent copies and successors. The book remains a staple of 2000’s Young Adult fiction, and the films still garner attention, even after 10 years of being released. The movies have recently been released onto the streaming application Peacock, the NBC official platform, and previously the films were part of the Netflix line up, and instantly becoming part of their top 10. The films may be hated, but hate-watching is the new movie night favorite.