Laura Byrne-Cristiano is a co-owner of The Twilight Lexicon, the longest continuously operating Twilight Saga fansite on the web. You can read her Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn column here on Movies.com every other Thursday beginning June 9th.

One thing that every Twilight fan embraces is loving our franchise for what it is. In other words, despite some potshots from various corners of the Internet, the fans know that we aren’t talking Academy Award winning material here when it comes to the screenplay and acting. The thing is though, that’s fine by us because we’re cool with what it does offer us: escapist fantasy, romance, and enough washboard abs to scrub our laundry on for a year…not that I ever fantasized about doing that or anything.

I suspect fans of traditionally male-dominated franchises feel much the same way about what their beloved series offer. They also have the escapist fantasy, but those washboard abs are usually replaced by female body parts slightly more north. Really, we aren’t so different in the end. Fortunately for all of us, there are actually awards shows that embrace both heart-stopping kisses and break-neck car chases. The MTV Movie Awards that aired on June 5, 2011 gave us our latest fix.

The Twilight Saga franchise has come a long way since its first appearance at an MTV awards show. Back in September 2008, before Twilight hit the big screen, several cast members attempted to promote the soundtrack band Paramore at the MTV Video Music Awards. It didn’t go so well with host Russell Brand cutting off Robert Pattinson before he could finish the band’s intro. Flash-forward to the Spring 2009 MTV Movie Awards, and it was a whole different story. Twilight had everyone’s attention as the number seven movie of the year, Robert Pattinson’s face was plastered on everything from bed sheets to glitter, and no one was cutting anyone from Twilight off.

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via Twilight Lexicon