I actually loved 50 Shades of Grey and Twilight when they came out. Yes, I'm aware of the critiques of both series; in fact, I have many of my own! However, I come from an era of reading people's LiveJournals and bad slash on Blogspot (aka Blogger)– even creating my own!-- so I was totally primed to enjoy both! For me, reading 50 Shades was like nostalgia bait for the Twilight series, and was a bridge for the romance I consumed in my youth and the dark romantasy/erotica I enjoy now. Also, let’s be real, a lot of media from yore primed many of us to view romance in very problematic ways, and many of our closest adult influences weren’t any better in the love game. Thus, I thought this pumpkin-spiced spooky season would be a great time to create a list of my favorite characters across media that give me a hit of Twilight and 50 Shades nostalgia, which I periodically crave. I'm going to try to steer clear of obvious media like 365 Days, although hats off to Michele Morrone!

The List

The Fall (TV series) – This stars Gillian Anderson and Christian Grey himself, Jamie Dornan. Dornan plays Paul Specter who is a grief counselor by day and a serial killer by night. Gillian Anderson plays Stella Gibson, the lead detective tasked with catching him. Given that Christian Grey comes off as a serial killer, it makes sense that Dornan was chosen to play Grey.

This series has a smorgasbord of problematic faves, but the big papa of them all is Fitz! Fitz single-handedly made me watch and rewatch a ton of Tony Goldwyn movies, especially Ghost, Kiss the Girls, and Love Matters. I dare say Fitz is the final form of characters like Edward and Christian Grey.

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Reality Bites, Scream, and The Faculty

Listen, Troy, Billy, and Zeke walked so Edward and Christian could run! I don't think anyone understands that these men primed so many to like pretty dung beetles. I'm certain that if I dug up my old Livejournal and message board posts where everyone was mentioning who their dream person was, some version of these men would be what I was looking for. I remember being so mad at the ending of Scream because Billy was found out to be a sour egg sandwich of a man.

Batman Franchise

Harleen, Batman: Harley Quinn, and the Batman Adventures: Mad Love– I will die on the hill that Harley Quinn pre-Joker breakup is the natural conclusion to the female leads of many Twilight and 50 Shades-esque media. Additionally, while the male leads in many romantic media are often presented as Bruce Wayne/Batman types, most seem like Joker with the barcode stripped away. Basically, they are Batman himself, Christian Bale as, Patrick Bateman.

The Playlist

I did have some honorable mentions, but ended up jamming to some tunes while writing this so, I think this list deserves a mixtape to end on:

1. Christian Women by Type O Negative
2. Razorblade Kiss by HIM
3. Spank by kidneythieves
4. Wanna Be by GloRilla and Megan thee Stallion
5. Tear You Apart by She Wants Revenge
6. Doll Parts by Hole
7. #1 Crush by Garbage
8. Heavenly Surrender by Queenadreena
9. Love and Caring by Crystal Castles
10. Possibly Maybe (Lucy Mix) by Björk