Theorizing Twilight

Since the publication of Twilight in 2005, Stephenie Meyer’s four-book saga about the tortured relationship between human heroine Bella Swan and her vampire love Edward Cullen has become a world-wide sensation—inciting screams of delight, sighs of derision, and fervent pronouncements. Those looking deeper into its pages and on screen can find intriguing subtexts about everything from gender, race, sexuality, and religion.
The 15 essays in this book examine the texts, the films, and the fandom, exploring the series’ cultural reach and offering one of the first thorough analyses of the saga.

Maggie Parke completed her doctorate in film and digital media at Bangor University, Wales. She has published in the Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds and is currently the head of development for Elfin Productions and a freelance consultant for fan management and script development.
Natalie Wilson is a professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Cal State San Marcos in San Diego, California. She writes and teaches in the areas of popular culture, film, television, horror, women’s literature, and feminism.

Edited by Maggie Parke and Natalie Wilson
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 253
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2011
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6350-3
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8912-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      v
Introduction      1

Part I. Twilight as Pop Cultural Artifact: Pilgrimages, Fan Culture, and Film Adaptations
The Vampire Capital of the World: Commerce and Enchantment in Forks, Washington
TANYA ERZEN      11
Fanpires: Utilizing Fan Culture in Event Film Adaptations
MAGGIE PARKE      25
The Hero and the Id: A Psychoanalytic Inquiry into the Popularity of Twilight
HEATHER ANASTASIU      41
Someday My Vampire Will Come? Society’s (and the Media’s) Lovesick Infatuation with Prince- Like Vampires
COLETTE MURPHY      56
Team Bella: Fans Navigating Desire, Security, and Feminism
ANANYA MUKHERJEA      70

Part II. Once Upon a Twilight: Fairy Tales, Byronic (Anti) Heroes, Post- Feminist Romance, and Growing Up in a Twilight World
“How Old Are You?” Representations of Age in the Saga
ASHLEY BENNING      87
Read Only as Directed: Psychology, Intertextuality, and Hyperreality in the Series
ANGELA TENGA      102
Torn Between Two Lovers: Twilight Tames Wuthering Heights
SARAH WAKEFIELD      117
Rewriting the Byronic Hero: How the Twilight Saga Turned “Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know” into a Teen Fiction Phenomenon
JESSICA GROPER      132
A Post- Feminist Romance: Love, Gender and Intertextuality in Stephenie Meyer’s Saga
HILA SHACHAR      147

Part III. Twilight Through an Intersectional Lens: Patriarchy, White Privilege, Heteronormativity, Rape Culture, Religion
Maybe Edward Is the Most Dangerous Thing Out There: The Role of Patriarchy
MELISSA MILLER      165
Denial and Salvation: The Twilight Series and Heteronormative Patriarchy
ASHLEY DONNELLY      178
It’s a Wolf Thing: The Quileute Werewolf /Shape- Shifter Hybrid as Noble Savage
NATALIE WILSON      194
Violence, Agency, and the Women of Twilight
ANNE TORKELSON      209
Un-biting the Apple and Killing the Womb: Genesis, Gender, and Gynocide
LINDSEY ISSOW AVERILL      224

About the Contributors      239
Index      243

“useful and engaging…a worthy addition to any collection”—Feminist Collections.