Pattinson’s non-aggressiveness is key — like Justin Bieber, he represents a sex…but without the act, infused with romance, which can be enormously comforting/attractive to a teenage girl (or grown woman, as the case may be).

Pattinson’s choice of roles as he distances himself from Twilight will be key — it seems, for now at least, that he’s choosing pretty mainstream, quasi-Edwardian roles, as evidenced by his current role in *Water for Elephants.*

I have two observations about the case study of Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson. I think your argument astutely addresses how, to the non-Twilight fan, Pattinson seems such an unlikely idol. But from the POV of a Twilight researcher, I have a hard time disentangling Lautner and Pattinson from their characters in the Twilight Saga. Lautner’s easy-going and sun-shiney personality fits right within the bounds of Jacob Black. So he is the industry’s golden child of teen idol-dom because he is so smooth and polished, but he is able to do this without appearing as schmaltzy as Cameron and Schroeder b/c we would expect nothing less of Jacob Black.

Likewise, Pattinson’s awkward personality and pasty physique are forgiven by fans who so desperately want him to be a stand-in for their adored Edward Cullen. Fortunately Edward, like Pattinson,is misanthropic and sometimes esoteric and who has little patience for human trivialities. (Like Pattinson and his publicity trivialities.) And the “allergic to vaginas” comment is, out of context and from an objective point of view, offensive. But fans who conflate Pattinson as Edward forgive this comment; Of COURSE he is allergic to vaginaS. He only wants one vagina: Bella’s, I mean, just as good, Kristen’s. 🙂 In this vein, Pattinson gets away with a lot. I loved Kristen Stewart’s comment on this to EW:

You could say, “I just took a s*** on the Queen’s face,” and people would be like, “Oh, I love him! I love him!”

My other observation about Pattinson is that his endless self-deprecation and awkwardness also work for him because they make him accessible to young girls, probably more accessible than Brando and even Depp. He is the opposite of aggressive masculinity. Rather, he is “aggressively humble” as Pattinson described his character Edward, to Oprah’s producers. In effect, Pattinson humanizes Edward.

I am fascinated by how all of this is playing out, and I am wondering when (or if) fans are going to react as Pattinson continues to distance himself from the franchise. Thank you for an intriguing post!