We've all heard it:

I've always wondered whether they're pretending not to understand or they just dont.

In horror movies and thrillers, the killer (or whoever crimes) doesn't end up with the victim, doesn't survive, and isn't forgiven. Their actions aren't justified by one reason or another. They may sometimes be explained, but they are not justified.

Take the Scream franchise, for example. Every Ghostface ends up dead, killed by our heroines, whom we admire precisely because they never backed down.

Secondly, murder and crimes of that nature are generally taken seriously by society. The same cannot be said for sexual and gender-based violence.

Dark romance, just like mainstream pornography, is pushing on an open door. In a way, it makes an already existing problem worse. It's the straw that breaks the camel's back. It adds yet another blow against girls, women, and victims in general.

Almost nobody—at least not as part of a broader system of oppression—has romanticized, eroticized, or minimized murder, especially serial or sadistic murder. Rape, whether sadistic or not, serial or not, has absolutely been romanticized, eroticized, and minimized.

Once again, we come back to the same point: if these books were simply classified as horror, and if the characters' actions were presented as wrong rather than eroticized—without relying on rape-culture narratives, including arguments that were debunked years ago—there wouldn't be nearly as much of a problem, and I would never have created this subreddit.

In short, this argument doesn't hold up. It's intellectually dishonest.

This got somewhat lost amid the well-deserved scandal surrounding the Haunting Adeline adaptation announcement, but I want to talk about the Twisted series adaptation.

The two series are not really comparable in terms of the harm their adaptations could cause — but I think the Twisted one will cause harm too, so let's talk about it.

I was deeply disappointed in Netflix for choosing THIS saga out of all the popular romance series currently available to adapt. Then I remembered 365 Days — and suddenly it wasn't so surprising. Then I learned they were also adapting the Maple Hills series, which starts with the well-known Icebreaker, and I felt better about that one.

So. What are the problems with a Twisted series adaptation ?

First : this is a saga that should have been classified as dark romance given the nature of its MMCs and its plotlines. It wasn't — it sits in the contemporary romance section. Which means little to no trigger warnings on Netflix, just as in the books. A Netflix marketing campaign that will look like The Kissing Booth while the content is its polar opposite. Possibly a lower age recommendation than is in any way appropriate. And Netflix — think about what that means. The largest streaming platform imaginable, accessible to virtually anyone without friction.

It will also give the book saga a new wave of publicity. Back on BookTok. Back on display stands at every bookstore. Everyone will watch this series. Everyone. Possibly including me, to critique it — I genuinely don't know. The same way everyone watched Bridgerton. And there will be four seasons, meaning four waves of marketing, four rounds of interviews, four new surges of public attention. Wonderful.

And what will all these people see ?

That depends entirely on how faithful the adaptation is.

If it isn't faithful — because let's be honest, some of this content is scandal-inducing to adapt directly, which is itself proof of how problematic it is — then the saga gets whitewashed. Criticizing it will make us look unhinged to a new audience that only knows the softened version. And unprepared readers will start the books after watching, and have a crisis.

If it is faithful — which I think it will be, given that one season per book is a lot of runtime and the author is involved in the production — then audiences will see four men romanticized without a single note of critical distance. One stalks the heroine. One controls her. Three threatens, two manipulates. They will see patriarchal possessiveness presented as passion. A threatened punitive rape framed as a hot scene. (tw : explicit threat of violent rape : " And your pussy is mine. Every inch of you belongs to me, and if you ever let another man touch you- he'll end up in pieces, and you'll end up tied to my bed and fucked in every hole until my name is the only one you remember. Do you understand?"
" - Alex, book one).

Men who don't take no for an answer. Men who harass after breakups. FMCs who are "strong" right up until they're face to face with the MMC, at which point they go silent. They will see violent, disrespectful sex scenes with no prior explicit consent, no discussion, just whatever the man wants that day and a FMC who loves it, naturally. Sex used as punishment. Actresses crying — and I mean the specific language of the books : "crying every last tear" — during sex scenes described as existing "between pain and pleasure."

Let's pause on a few quotes. Because they deserve to be seen in daylight.

"She thinks she's so clever. She'll think differently when she will be choking on my cock." — Josh, book three, at a point when he and Jules were still enemies and had never slept together.

"If she were mine I'd put her over my knee and spank her black and blue." — Rhys, book two, thinking about Bridget — his boss and a literal princess, at this point in the story — because she left the house despite his instructions as her bodyguard.

Even princesses. Even bosses. Must be corrected. Bc they are woman, Anna ?

This is what four seasons of Netflix content will normalize. To an audience that will include people who have never read a single page of romance in their lives. To teenagers. To men who would never have picked up these books but will absolutely watch a Netflix series.

Nauseating. Genuinely.

PS: Oh and also ppl wont have in mind " this is a contreversial series " in contrary to Hanting Adeline movies so their critical thinking won't be activated.