Commutation test: Twilight gender-flipped in new Meyers book

Meyers has issued a 'fan fiction' (so-called despite being written by her, as it expresses a common fan trope) rewrite of Twilight which reverses the gender roles, with a drippy bloke clinging onto a purposeful chapette. Still sounds horrible, but it is another example of a growing trend of gender reversals, helping to add impetus and freshness to the unceasing torrent of often stinking remakes (another example, Battlestar Galactica, being a rare upgrade on the original), reimaginings - just think Ghosbusters...

Gender swapping is a powerful way to analyse the gendered nature of fiction. The more original and surprising the reworking is, the more tired and cliched the original almost certainly was. If it feels astounding to have a young guy besotted with an older, powerful woman, that is because the reverse was something we’d seen a thousand times before.

Gender-swap Twilight should expose the flaws in the original – I can’t wait.