Why doesn’t Twilight have a Team Bella?

Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic explores the lack of interest in Bella Swan:

If you know even a little bit about Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga, you have probably heard there's a Team Edward (fans who want heroine Bella Swan and undead Edward paired off in blood-slurping bliss) and a Team Jacob (those who favor Bella hooking up with Jacob, the werewolf).

But there doesn't appear to be much call for a Team Bella.

Fandom, it seems, is more about hoping the guy gets the girl and less about what the girl wants.

"Bella exists almost solely as an author insert or reader proxy to enjoy the relationships with these two guys, whichever one you like better, in a story that is really geared toward wish fulfillment,” said Cleolinda Jones, a 31-year-old Twilight fan from Birmingham, Ala.

Now that may be because it's nearly impossible to tell who Bella herself wants at any given moment — or it might just be because Bella is annoying. Many who have been sucked into the books freely admit that Meyer's heroine is quite possibly the most unlikeable character in the series.

The books are written about Bella's life and through her perspective — taking the reader through the teen's innermost thoughts about love, death, vampires and unnecessary cold medications. But even that intimacy fails to engender sympathy for a character who comes off to many as whiny, self-involved and weak.

"Never have I read a story written in the first person where I really cared less about the person who is doing the talking," said Sharmila Badkar-Bhan, 33, of San Francisco. Badkar-Bahn described Bella both as "a girl who was born to whine" and also "the worst female protagonist in the world of fiction."

And Bella "comes across as a weak, boring thing who always needs to be rescued," said Catherine Shattuck, 36, of San Francisco.

(Via MSNBC)