By now, the fanfic-to-novel pipeline has been well established. Many of these stories have also been adapted into movies. Fifty Shades of Grey is the most famous example, but The Mortal Instruments has its roots in Ron-Ginny from Harry Potter fic. And what is Good Omens if not a Bible hurt-slash-comfort story? Inspiration is a slippery fish, and it’s hard to say where ideas actually come from. Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn has been likened to The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Secret History, and other works of “noob enters a secretive and sexy demimonde” fiction. But watching it last night, I was struck with a wild surmise about the characters’ potential origin. To crib from Jacob Elordi’s other show, is this fucking play about Twilight?
First off, nobody is crying plagiarism here. It’s unclear whether Fennell has seen or read The Twilight Saga. And there’s no scene in all of Twilight in which someone fucks a grave. (Although both Saltburn and Breaking Dawn Part 1 have scenes that end with a character smiling while their faces are covered in blood.) But once the thought This is Jacob-Edward slashfic enters your brain, the parallels do not stop parallelling.
Obviously, Oliver is Jacob. An outsider, contemptuous of the new toff world he finds himself in. Let’s assume this is a college AU where neither Jacob nor Edward ever met Bella, and both boys find themselves in Oxford. Jacob knows no one, having matriculated at the rez school, and this is Edward’s seventh time going there. Edward is tall, cheekbones for days, and so at home in Oxford that Jacob can’t help but notice. He develops hate-love feelings for Edward and cons his way into an invite to his home, the Cullen mansion, so iconic and covetable that it will soon be sold as Lego.
From there, the thing keeps mapping out perfectly. Farleigh is Jasper, Edward’s “cousin” and a born hater (Confederate soldier). Elspeth is Carlisle, radiantly blonde and semi-oblivious to how their version of being helpful actually does a lot of damage. Venetia is Rosalie, completely unmoored without Emmett. Duncan is, oh, let’s say Charlie Swan. They both frown a lot. Pamela might be Bella Swan, the old charity case getting shoved out of the way for the hot new thing. It would be very fanfic-y to take a story centered around a female protagonist and shunt her into a scant ten paragraphs of a boylust opus.
I know I sound insane right now. But consider this: Just like Bella’s 18th in New Moon, everything goes tits up at Oliver’s party. And Saltburn’s “Lucky I’m a vampire” scene. Does that happen in a story that doesn’t have its origins in a vampire-novel series? It’s a playful nod to the source material, duh! It all fits together, and they made it so easy.
