The Lego Brick effect he’s talking about is called “Masking“, and is extensively explained in Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, a book I highly recommend everyone read. I think the video’s definitely on the right track with this approach, but it’s more complicated than this. After all, Stephanie Myers is hardly the first person to use this technique- the Japanese have been using it for 60+ years! No, Ms. Myers definitely managed to tape into something deep in the female psyche and give women the same high men get from a perfect action movie, or perhaps porn.
>Ms. Myers definitely managed to tape into something deep in the female psyche and give women the same high men get from a perfect action movie
The action movie analogy is a good one. Both hit the major beats, but leave everything else completely empty so’s that the reader/watcher can read into it whatever they want. In both cases the emptiness even pre-empts stuff like narrative, logical outcome, plot, pacing…. Complete fan-wank, with none of the consequences.
Don C.
There is more to it. Myers could teach pickup artists a thing or three about dating headgames and manipulative lines. Her main character isn’t just awkward, she’s vicious, but because it’s a story, she can still get true love. There’s a lot of power fantasies that get played into it. That said, it’s based on early teen fears, not late teens, and women who are locked in that. There’s a Buffy vs. Edward video out there that shows the differing maturity levels.