Twilight: The Glamorization of Abuse,

Codependency, and White Privilege

DANI EL L E N. BORGI A
I
N THE MILLENNIUM UNITED STATES, BESTSELLER FICTION HAS TAKEN A
gothic turn. Romance novels with vampire protagonists, part of a
growing genre labeled paranormal romance, have grown im-
mensely popular in the last decade. Women authors including Char-
laine Harris (whose Sookie Stackhouse novels form the basis for the
current HBO series True Blood), Kim Harrison, L. A. Banks, Chris
Marie Green, Jennifer Armintrout, Ellen Schreiber, Christine Feehan,
and Laurell K. Hamilton dominate this middlebrow ction character-
ized by trilogies and longer series that cultivate fans by establishing
readers sympathy with the supernatural main characters, as well as
providing the sexual titillation of the romance novel. The most popular
of all, however, has been Stephenie Meyers Twilight series, consisting
of four novels, Twilight (2005), New Moon (2006), Eclipse (2007), and
Breaking Dawn (2008). The Twilight saga has spawned movies, a wide
range of merchandized products from clothing and jewelry to duffel
bags, and a huge fan base largely comprised of middle-class teenage
girls and their mothers, who avidly blog on sites such as twilighters-
anonymous.com and twilightmoms.com. This trend demands a serious
critical reading of the ways that paranormal romance produces cultural
meaning, especially of the way that the Twilight saga in particular
promotes inegalitarian gender roles, obsessive, codependent romantic
relationships, racial hierarchies, and elitism.
Twenty-rst-century female-authored US vampire romances such as
Twilight differ greatly from nineteenth-century male-authored English
and Irish vampire classics. These earlier English-language tales expand
The Journal of Popular Culture
r 2011, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5931.2011.00872.x.
153
, Vol. 47, No. 1, 2014
on the folk legend of the vardoulacha from Eastern Europe (specically
Romania, Hungary, and Greece), starting with John Polidoris The
Vampyre of 1819, featuring the malevolent Lord Ruthven.
1
At the
end of the century, Bram Stokers Dracula (1897) captured readers
attention with the now-popular image of the aristocratically aloof,
unfailingly elegant, and invariably merciless vampire (Rice 436). Lord
Ruthven and Count Dracula are Eastern Europeans who threaten the
lives of young, innocent British women who are engaged or married to
British men. The symbolism of the blood-sucking vampire, from the
early to the contemporary tales, alludes to forbidden sexualities. For
example, the female-centered world of Sheridan LeFanus lesbian ad-
olescent vampire in Carmilla (1872), whom the story vilies as a pre-
dator, and the more sympathetic homoeroticism and pansexuality of
Lestat and Louis of Anne Rices popular Vampire Chronicles trilogy
(1976, 1985, 1988), represent contrahegemonic sexualities through the
Gothic trope of vampirism which could not have been so widely received
if they had been written in realistic prose.
2
The Twilight series follows
this employment of vampirism as the symbolic conguration of contra-
hegemonic sexuality, but with a much more conservative message. In
stark contrast to Stokers narration of the intelligent plans of Mina, who
leads a group of men to outsmart and destroy the evil Count Dracula, and
her contemporary US counterpart, Buffy of Joss Whedons successful
feminist television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (19972003), Meyers
Twilight novels relate more to US vampire lms such as Nosferatu (1922)
and Tod Brownings 1931 Dracula starring Bella Lugosi, which largely
portray the female character as passively welcoming her predators sexual
aggression, and later lm reincarnations of Count Dracula which portray
the females as willing victims. A notable example is Francis Ford Coppolas
1992 adaptation, Bram Stokers Dracula, in which Mina falls in love with
Count Dracula rather than leading the plot against him as in Stokers 1897
novel.
3
The Twilight series of the millennium, despite its careful cen-
soring of explicit sexuality, portrays its teenage female protagonist as
actively seeking to become the vampires victim based on her sexual desire.
Indeed, the disturbing messages of Twilight stem from this switch in
its characterization of predator and prey: the deadly vampire is the one
who deserves the readers pity, and the woman he imperils is cast as the
one who puts him at risk.
Through the charisma of the seventeen-year-old Edward Cullen, the
beloved Gothic vampire, and his love for the human Bella Swan, Meyer
154 Danielle N. Borgia
spins a romantic narrative that congures racialized gender roles in a
way that the contemporary US mainstream reading public would not
be inclined to accept unless veiled with the cloak of the supernatural.
Twilight, like other contemporary vampire romances, employs the
haunted genre of the Gothic not only to promote conservative gender
roles that demand womens submission to dominant male partners, but
also to idealize and romanticize abusive relationships.
4
Weak, depen-
dent women who enable their male partners abuse cannot openly be
portrayed as sympathetic in the context of the US millennium. Likewise,
the hypersexualization of the mainstream US imaginary would have made
a straightforward promotion of Meyers Mormon-inuenced value of ab-
stinence before marriage unmarketable. Therefore, Twilight shrouds its
reactionary congurations of gender in Gothic ambiguity: Edward hurts
his human beloved, Bella, only accidentally due to his supernatural
strength, and refrains from having sex with her for fear of killing her. His
extreme dominance of his female partner is characterized as ideal mas-
culinity. The vampire therefore becomes the hero, not the villain, due to
his attempts to suppress his dangerous sexuality; moreover, this is based
on the exaltation of his wealthy white privilege. Bellas narrative of pas-
sionate love as the most central narrative of life, justifying any weakness
of character, positions Edward as her Byronic hero, glamorizing womens
love for abusive men.
5
The irresistible allure of the vampires beauty and
privilege also problematically depicts his white skin and his elite world as
justifying her subordination to his superiority.
Twilights romanticization of Edwards interactions with Bella relies
heavily on dominant narratives of the Byronic hero. Edward, like his
elite English namesake from Jane Austens Sense and Sensibility (1908),
is moody and elitist in Twilights opening scenes, the difcult man that
the woman must redeem. Edwards superhuman vampire powers of
strength, speed, and mindreading symbolize his elite status in the
small town of Forks, Washington. He possesses the ability to shape his
world to suit his interests, like the Byronic hero Mr. Darcy of Pride and
Prejudice or Mr. Rochester of Jane Eyre. The Twilight series repeatedly
represents the dark-haired, mysterious Edward as a charismatic leader,
not just in his relationship with Bella, but also among other vampires
and werewolves, in his commitment to use any means necessary in his
pursuit of a goal. Stephanie Mendoza, in her study of Edward as a
Byronic hero, argues that one of the distinctions between the Byronic
hero of today and that of yesterday is that the severity of their crimes
The Antifeminist Subtexts of Twilight 155
has signicantly lessened, and their capacity for being absolved of them
has grown (Mendoza). Meyers Twilight makes the vampire more sym-
pathetic than his predecessors through his amazing capacity for re-
straint. Edward disdains others laws to live by his own noble code; this
Byronic ethic that dees vampire conventions leads him to drink blood
only from animals, due to his reverence for human life. The fact that
Edward lives with a supportive vampire family who taught him this
creed increases the readers sympathy for him. Yet, like Heathcliff and
Mr. Rochester, he has a dark past: as a young, thirsty vampire, he did
drink the blood of humans. These early victims were chosen only from
vile criminals, the novel is careful to explain, but this history conrms
his lurking capacity for human destruction.
Twilight portrays the mutual infatuation of its teenage protagonist
Bella and the breathtakingly handsome vampire Edward with a sexually
charged tension that quickly leads to his complete domination of the
young woman, which she eagerly embraces. The vampire appeals to the
young heroine based on his brooding, aloof Byronic mystique. Bella, like
Jane Austens Elizabeth, bristles when the handsome stranger rejects her.
Their rst meeting occurs when Bella, new to Forks and its small high
school, is assigned to sit next to Edward in biology. Like Austens Mr.
Darcy, Edwards rigid body posture betrays his hostility: During the
whole class, he never relaxed his stiff position on the edge of his chair,
sitting as far from me as possible. I could see his hand on his left leg was
clenched into a st, tendons standing out under his pale skin (Meyer T,
24). Bella, who has been ocked by admirers all day, is fascinated by this
hatred. Her eyes steal towards him again, only to note that Edward was
glaring down at me again, his black eyes full of revulsion. As I inched
away from him, shrinking against my chair, the phrase if looks could kill
suddenly ran through my mind (Meyer T, 24). Perversely, Bella desires
his attention because of his hostility. As she persists in pursuing him,
insisting that he reveal himself to her, explain who he is, and introduce
her to his family, the narrative demonstrates that Bella loves the challenge
of his inhumanity. His unfriendliness intimidated me, she admits
(Meyer T, 64). Yet this is precisely what intrigues her: I was consumed
by the mystery Edward presented, Bella asserts, in one of her rare mo-
ments of self-reection. Like Jane Eyre and Elizabeth, she nds herself
more than a little obsessed by the Byronic hero (Meyer T, 67).
Despite the novels romanticization of him, Edward is an obsessed
stalker with no interests or friends other than his family (six other
156 Danielle N. Borgia
vampires) and Bella. He lures her with money, cars, and clothesall of
which she claims she does not wantto isolate her from connection
with others. She openly acknowledges the way he mesmerizes her, a
word that codes Bella as overwhelmed by their physical attraction and
in love with the idea of love. The narrative emphasizes her total ab-
sorption in Edward:
It was too easy to get wrapped up in our own private, tense little
bubble. Do you truly believe that you care more for me than I do for
you? he murmured, leaning closer to me as he spoke, his dark golden
eyes piercing. I tried to remember how to exhale. I had to look away
before it came back to me. Youre doing it again, I muttered. His
eyes opened wide with surprise. What? Dazzling me, I admitted,
trying to concentrate as I looked back at him. Oh. He frowned. Its
not your fault, I sighed. You cant help it.
(Meyer T, 20809)
Bella attributes Edwards supernatural manipulation of her in scenes
such as this to a divine deliverance (Meyer T, 162). The young
heroine refers repeatedly to Edward as an angel when she describes
his face, his voice, and by implication his presence in her life.
Edwards immortal lack of a need for rest enables him to extend his
protection by watching over Bella as she sleeps. While many readers
have critiqued this codependency as eerie, Bella herself nds it com-
forting. Edwards vigilance allows her to let down her guard with
relief; his unwavering protection, in her mind, resembles the func-
tion of a guardian angel. Even though she acknowledges him as a
destroying angel, Bella quickly comes to regard Edwards orders as
divine command, enabling her to give up responsibility for her own
actions. She lets go of accountability for her own life, entrusting it to
her dangerously abusive, loving male partner. Therefore she normal-
izes his volatile behavior as inevitable due to his inhumanity (read:
virility). These spiritual justications of her Byronic narrative lead
Bella to display extreme behavior herself, eventually renouncing her
family and friends in her quest to become a vampire and fulll her
dream of the promise of Edwards eternal love. This renouncing of her
humanity portrays a willingness to trade the individuality of her hu-
man life in order to become one of the Cullens, who are the most
beautiful, rich, and admired clique of teenagers at the high school. The
irresistible appeal of both Edwards Byronic love and the acceptance
The Antifeminist Subtexts of Twilight 157
into his elite circle imbues the novels with an alarming validation of
female subordination and social conformity.
The irtation of the vegetarian vampire Edward Cullen and the
mortal Bella Swan appeals to readers sympathies based on the corre-
lations between lust and death that characterizes the Gothic, and now
the paranormal, romance. The literal murder of Bella that Edwards
barely controlled vampire nature yearns for symbolizes, as in most
vampire ction, his desire to deower the young virgin female. The
simultaneous titillation and discipline of the reader through this lust,
while it relates to nineteenth-century English vampire narratives, greatly
differs from earlier versions in its portrayals of female sexual agency. The
Meyer novels focus on Bellas aching lust for Edward, and describe the
young woman almost entirely in terms of the indivisible emotions and
physical sensations she experiences. When Bella rst sits next to Edward
in biology class, her desire for him overwhelms her: I was stunned by the
unexpected electricity that owed through me, amazed that it was pos-
sible to be more aware of him than I already was. A crazy impulse to
reach over and touch him, to stroke his perfect face just once in the
darkness, nearly overwhelmed me (Meyer T, 219). This sexual tension
only intensies, such as the rst time he drives her home:
. . . our eyes held, and the silence deepenedand changed. Flickers
of the electricity Id felt this afternoon began to charge the atmo-
sphere as he gazed unrelentingly into my eyes. It wasnt until my
head started to swim that I realized I wasnt breathing. When I drew
in a jagged breath, breaking the stillness, he closed his eyes. Bella, I
think you should go inside now.
(Meyer T, 225)
This extreme effect that Edward has on Bella, his unrelenting manip-
ulation of it, and most of all her thrill at surrendering to these feelings
without thinking through the consequences, guide the reader to a similar
surrender to the pleasure of uncritically absorbing the ideas of others
through the rapid consumption of the printed words on the page. This
pleasure in surrender, and the privileging of lust over respect, common
interests, and intellectual connection promotes female subordination to a
controlling male partner as highly attractive and rewarding.
These novels consistently represent lust as enthralling, but proscribe
the consummation of love outside of wedlock as weakness. The con-
servative ideology of the Twilight narratives, attributed by Meyers to
158 Danielle N. Borgia
her adherence to Mormon doctrine, portrays lust outside of marriage as
a loss of free will that causes a spiritual death.
6
The Book of Mormon
describes the doctrine of free will as the choice not to sin:
And the Messiah cometh in the fullness of time, that he may redeem
the children of men from the fall. And because that they are re-
deemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good
from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be
by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to
the commandments which God hath given.
(2 Nephi 2:4, 26)
This passage bears a striking resemblance to Spinozas theory of affects,
found in Part III of his Ethics (1677), that makes a similar division
between the positive value of being prompted to actions based on internal
forces, rather than allowing oneself to be controlled by external forces or
passions, by which a person passes to a lesser perfection. The passion of
lust must be safely conned to marriage; abstinence before the marriage
ceremony proves the couples exercise of free will in entering the bond.
The appeal of vampire couplings is that they are eternal, like the
temple marriages of endowed Mormons consecrated by God. When
Bella expresses her wish to become a vampire and therefore able to live
with Edward forever, he insists that they must marry as a crucial part of
this immortal commitment to each other. To counter eighteen-year-old
Bellas objections to marrying as soon as she graduates from high
school, Edward points out that you will soon be leaving time behind
you altogether (Meyer E, 278). As an immortal vampire, her convic-
tions about when it makes sense to get married will no longer be
pertinent. Bellas insistence on becoming a vampire, read in this light,
parallels her desire to be endowed, a Mormon ceremony that establishes
an individuals commitment to God, which then also enables her spirit
to be bound to Edwards for all eternity through vampire coupling, or
temple marriage. Correspondingly, during their wedding ceremony,
Bella feels that her life seemed to settle into its proper position. I saw
just how silly Id been for fearing this . . . nothing else mattered but
that I could stay with him (Meyer BD, 49). Bellas transformation into
a vampire, like being endowed in a temple, enhances her security about
her marriage even more than the civil ceremony: he was mine. Noth-
ing could separate me from him now. I was too strong to be torn from
his side, she asserts after she becomes immortal (Meyer BD, 425). Her
The Antifeminist Subtexts of Twilight 159
description of their vampire marriage seduces the reader not just with
its romance, but also because immortal passion includes perfect, in-
terminable intercourse: I was never going to get tired, and neither was
he. We didnt have to catch our breath or rest or eat or even use the
bathroom; we had no more mundane human needs (Meyer BD, 483).
Breaking Dawn portrays Bella as achieving the impossibly perfect love
that she soughtby leaving her human life, community, and indi-
vidual identity behind.
This sexual tension between Bella and Edward makes the reading of
the Twilight saga enjoyable to its fans. Mimi Schippers argues that
Twilight appeals to adolescent girls desires to be recognized as sexually
desiring (and desirable) but not to risk having sex.
7
Twilight casts
Edward as the tempting sex object; his physical appearance is described
in detail. The reader is drawn into Bellas lust, which she is free to
express because she knows that Edward, with his beliefs in preserving
his virginity until marriage, will not give in to her sexual advances.
Bella constantly pursues more physical intimacy with Edward, who
repeatedly retreats from her embraces, as Bellaand the readerad-
mire his superhuman restraint that sets him apart from other young
men. Twilights constant reiteration of his self-control paints Edward as
the virtuous, moralistic character, justifying Bellas complete submis-
sion to him. Schippers argues that for young female readers, Edwards
appeal is that he recognizes Bellas subjectivity, and withholds sex out
of respect for her. What Schippers does not acknowledge is that Ed-
wards abstinence ultimately is self-preserving; he believes that he must
abide by traditional morals in order to avoid divine punishment.
Schippers reading absolutely captures Twilight fans conscious re-
ception of the series, but the consequences of their unconscious ab-
sorption of its glamorization of Bellas submission to Edward are far
graver. Her obsession for Edward comes to occupy the majority of her
own identity; she refers to the rst days she met Edward as the true
beginning of my life (Meyer E, 398). This implies that her relation-
ships with family and friends, as well as her sense of self, before she met
her lover were meaningless and unimportant. Her marriage therefore
becomes the dening aspect of her identity. In addition to their en-
dorsement of emotional codependency, these narratives promotion of
abstinence robs young women of sexual agency by placing all decision-
making regarding marriage and birth control squarely in the hands of
the male partner. Bella, through the symbolism of the vampire, jus-
160 Danielle N. Borgia
ties her surrender of the control of her body and fertility as necessary
to secure the proof of Edwards love for her. Her desire to have him
make her into a vampire exemplies this belief: There was just some-
thing about him being the one to make the choice . . . I wanted his
venom to poison my system. It would make me belong to him in a
tangible, quantiable way (Meyer BD, 324). Bellas desire for Edwards
venom is revealed as a desire for surrender: she wants him to dominate
her physically as well as emotionally, and she regards the idea of becom-
ing pregnant with his child as the ultimate sign of their mutual devotion.
Edwards love depends on Bellas sacrice of her freedom. His ob-
sessive physical control of her deepens as their relationship progresses.
Edward gives his sister Alice a Porsche as an incentive to babysit
Bella in his absence, conning her to the Cullen estate and never
leaving Alices watchful eye until he returns. Bella herself reacts with
disbelief at this extreme behavior, which purportedly intends to pro-
tect her from other vampires. Seeing the new car, she puzzles, He
gave you that just for two days of holding me hostage? When she
realizes Alices reward is for every time hes gone, Bella gasped in
horror (Meyer E, 146). I was being held against my will, she realizes
(Meyer E, 147). She objects at rst: Alice, dont you think this is just a
little bit controlling? Just a tiny bit psychotic, maybe? (Meyer E,
146). But Bella allows Alice to soothe her fears, as she assures the girl
that she is only watching over her as a cautionary measure: Edward has
no way to know if youre safe. You shouldnt be so reckless (Meyer E,
147). Despite this apparent fear at Edwards increasing possessiveness,
when he later apologizes, Bella purrs, You can hold me hostage any
time you want, convincing herself that she was upset only because she
was separated from him (Meyer E, 189). She asserts that she is more
than happy to give up her free willas long as it is her lover she
surrenders it to. In this way, the vampire convention allows Twilight to
justify womens submissiveness as romance, validating women with a
complex about trying to x men who are abusive and promoting this
kind of rationalization in young female readers.
The Twilight series romantic portrayal of Edward showcases the
male protection of women as alluring and normative. This chivalrous
quality, however, becomes dangerously abusive. Even though Twilights
discourse casts Edward as protecting Bella by watching over her and
constantly rescuing her from physical harm, in fact he is the one who
endangers her, both by his own lurking desire to kill her, and by
The Antifeminist Subtexts of Twilight 161
bringing her into contact with other vampires who lust for her blood.
Yet Bella insistently believes in her romantic fantasy that Edward
cannot help his savage desires to hurt his weaker and more vulnerable
partner. The most disturbing thing about this relationship is the way
that Bella loves Edwards cruel nature, which fascinates and attracts her
with its very danger. Moreover, the way that the ideal Twilight reader
vicariously thrills over Bellas power to change Edward, eliciting as-
pects of him never imagined to exist, eerily resembles the enabling
psychology of an abused partner (Mendoza 19). The young woman is
proud that her love for Edward enables him to change, to refrain from
his natural desire to hurt a weaker creature. In Bellas mind, Edwards
unprecedented devotion to her offsets his threat to her well-being. She
continually denies the peril that his proximity causes her: I refused to
be convinced to fear him, no matter how real the danger might be. It
doesnt matter, I repeated in my head (Meyer T, 243). Yet this persistent
danger, not just Edwards ability to control it, continues to attract
Bella. Readers consciously accept Bellas justications that Edwards
uncharacteristic restraint displays his true love for her because of his
literal characterization as a vampire; but what are the unconscious
repercussions of young women embracing this narrative that mens
attractiveness stems from their ability to physically overpower a lover
and a sexual desire they can barely control?
Bellas idealistic hopes for her immortal marriage, however, do not
change Edwards abusive nature. After Edward and the still-human Bella
marry in the fourth book of the series, Breaking Dawn, the violence and
passivity of their interactions escalate. Edwards physical threat to Bella
materializes in the severe bruising on her body after their wedding night,
in the pattern of partners who batter and then immediately initiate
intercourse with their lovers. When Bella wakes up on the rst morning
of their honeymoon, she sees that . . . large purplish bruises were be-
ginning to blossom across the pale skin of my arm (Meyer BD, 89).
Surprised, she continues to survey her physical state: [m]y eyes followed
the trail they made up to my shoulder, and then down across my ribs
(Meyer BD, 89). Like any abusive partner, Edward is repentant when he
confronts the effects of his love-making. I am more sorry than I can tell
you, he morosely whispers (Meyer BD, 89). The young womans re-
sponse, as always, is extreme denial.
When Bella tries to minimize the damage, claiming, Ive never
been better than I am now, Edward forces her to acknowledge what he
162 Danielle N. Borgia
has done to her (Meyer BD, 88). Look at yourself, Bella, Edward
argues, referring to the bruises. He continues: Then tell me Im not a
monster (Meyer BD, 88). However, like any abusive partner, by plac-
ing the blame on himself, Edward enables Bella to absolve him of guilt
(and herself of complicity in the cycle of abuse). She insists upon her
loyalty, trying to convince Edward that she did not feel him
accidentally hurting her because she was so captivated by nally con-
summating their love affair. She succeeds in convincing herself: I tried to
remember thisto remember painbut I couldnt. I couldnt recall a
moment when his hold had been too tight, his hands too hard against me.
I only remembered wanting him to hold me tighter, and being pleased
when he did . . .. (Meyer BD, 89). This unhealthy denition of passion as
pain and delity as sacrice is championed throughout Twilight.
Edwards treatment of Bella is recognized as abuse by the people that
love her. Bellas father, his friend Billy Black, and Billys son Jacob
assert that Bella loves what is worst for her. Overprotective, isnt he?
observes Jacob about Edward, who doesnt like Bella going to LaPush,
the Native American reservation where Jacob lives. When Jacob invites
her to a bonre with other teens and Bella responds that shell ask
(Edward, not her father), but she doesnt think she can go, Jacobs
indignant reaction reects the view of the Forks and LaPush commu-
nity. They regard the relationship as a form of imprisonment: is he
your warden now, too? he mocks her (Meyer E, 224). Meyers nar-
ratives justify this close surveillance through the convention of the
vampire, who must constantly watch over the vulnerable human.
Bellas characterization of his possessiveness as tender protectiveness
and his expression of passion rationalizes her communitys opposition
to the intensity of her codependent teenage relationship as their lack of
understanding of Edward and his immortal love. In her eyes, Edwards
perspective is the only one that mattersbecause he sees her the way
she wants to be seen. By singling Bella out, Edward makes her feel
privileged based on his attentions to her. Being connected to him is
exciting not only because his initial rejection of her increased his value
in her eyes, but also because she views him as her superior in talents,
wealth, and morals. Thus the love of the pale beauty Edward, with his
privileged status in Forks, has the power to turn the girl who sees
herself as the ugly duckling, into a swanhence her name, Bella Swan.
The blatant subordination of Bella has led other Mormons to cri-
tique Meyer. The young female protagonist is needy, weak, unobser-
The Antifeminist Subtexts of Twilight 163
vant, and almost ridiculously dependent, as Jana Riess has rmly as-
serted. Reiss criticizes Bellas need to be constantly rescued by her partner
and her willingness to lose a good portion of her identity in a rela-
tionship.
8
Another Mormon critic, William Morris, does not agree with
Meyers own claims that Twilight champions the Mormon doctrine of free
will. Bella doesnt so much choose as have choices denied her, he com-
ments.
9
Indeed, Bella does what Edward commands her to do, even when
it contradicts her own instincts, tastes, and cultural norms.
As these critics have articulated, Bellas codependency is a prob-
lematic attribute for a young female pop culture heroine. The Twilight
novels repeatedly portray Bella as unwilling to direct her own life.
Without a male at its center, she becomes lost. She becomes catatonic
in New Moon after having been temporarily abandoned by Edward.
Without her obsession, Bella becomes a living zombie that everyone
stops talking to. The novel pointedly skips the months between
Edwards disappearance and the beginning of Bellas next male com-
panionship as unworthy of narration. The only way she can regain her
senses is to spend time in the company of Jacob, who obviously has a
crush on her. This revival, however, only seems to work when he is
physically present: the warmth of Jacobs presence was fading and, in
its absence, the anxiety grew stronger (Meyer NM, 150). In this re-
lationship, Bella, despite her platonic feelings for Jacob, becomes the
stalker, calling her new companion as many as eleven times a day and
going to his house daily. Her inability to function normally without
codependence on a man is made explicit, and sympathetic: I felt
hideously empty, and I wanted to see Jacob. Maybe I was developing a
new kind of sickness, another addiction, like the numbness before. I
didnt care. I pushed my truck as fast as it would go as I barreled
towards my x (Meyer NM, 162). This characterization of a romantic
dependency as a drug justies Bellas desperate inability to cope with
being single as something innate that she cannot control. Bella is
barely able to exist without a man to give her life direction, and
incapable of real happiness until the one true love who dominates her
completely returns to her.
Bellas regard for the elite, chivalrous Edward as saving her life
from pointlessness continues a tradition of hegemonic romance. The
rescue narrative of the Twilight novels is glamorized repeatedly, often
through the texts allusions to British classics such as Romeo and Juliet
and Wuthering Heights. Bella, unable to fend for herself due to her
164 Danielle N. Borgia
human (i.e. feminine) frailty, repeatedly surrenders to her apparent
doom. At the end of the rst book, the villain who tells her that he has
kidnapped her mother summons her to go to him without alerting
anyone, so she does; this sacricial act would have led to her death had
not Edward come to her rescue. In New Moon, without her beloved,
Bella races a motorcycle with no helmet and jumps off a cliff just to
provoke Edward into returning, to try to get him to save her. Jacob,
the substitute male hero, drags her out of the ocean when Edward fails
to appear. The teen protagonist deliberately and repeatedly thrusts
herself into the role of the weak female who needs to be saved. Her
recurrent dependence on rescue guides Bellas choiceschoices which
she knows endanger her life. The narration encourages the reader to
empathize with Bellas desire for rescue and its fulllment of the he-
gemonic romance narrative.
Intertwined with its glamorization of female subordination and its
justication of abusive romantic relationships, the Twilight saga pro-
motes reactionary attitudes towards race and class. The wealthy white
privilege of the vampires goes beyond Meyers intentional symbolism
of the color white as sexual purity, becoming an overt homage to white
supremacy and rationalizing the inferiority of people of color. The
Twilight series, set in the small town of Forks in Western Washington
(a town of roughly three thousand people, 82% of whom are white)
consistently exalts whiteness and class privilege as desirable and sex-
ually attractive.
10
Bellas excessive praise for the beauty of the pale,
white skin of the vampires in Twilight expresses a thinly veiled homage
to whiteness as physical, cultural, and social superiority. The extreme
whiteness of the Cullen teenagers is the rst thing Bella notes about
them: [e]very one of them was chalky pale, the palest of all the
students living in this sunless town. Her admiration of the Cullens,
who she sees as all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful aligns with
discourses of racial privilege (Meyer T, 18).
Twilights signicant modication to the vampire legend of being
burned and/or killed by sunlight enables a metaphorical tribute to the
dominant race. The pivotal scene of the novel, in which the vampire
nally allows her to see him in the sunlight, reveals Bellas attraction to
Edward as connected to his skin color. Bella admits being entranced by
the pale beauty of his skin, which literally sparkled, like thousands of
tiny diamonds were embedded on its surface (Meyer T, 260). She
objecties Edward in terms that emphasize the purity of his white skin.
The Antifeminist Subtexts of Twilight 165
Bella sees him as [a] perfect statue, carved in some unknown stone,
smooth like marble, glittering like crystal (Meyer T, 260). This lu-
minosity makes her lover too beautiful to be real (Meyer T, 260). Her
visual delight in his whiteness compels Bella to touch his body, after
which she marveled again at the perfect texture, satin smooth, cool as
stone (Meyer T, 261). The young woman thrills at his translucency: I
lifted his hand, turning it this way and that as I watched the sun glitter
on this palm. I held it closer to my face, trying to see the hidden facets
in his skin (Meyer T, 262). His skin, indeed, is so light that her eyes
can discern the faint pattern of bluish veins inside the crease at his
elbow (Meyer T, 261). Id been staring at him all afternoon, Bella
sighs, because in Edwards reected whiteness, [h]ed never been less
human . . . or more beautiful in her eyes (Meyer T, 260, 264). This
white beauty causes Bella to fall more deeply under the vampires spell,
and quickly triggers her resolve to become one of them (which she does
in the nal book in the series, Breaking Dawn). According to fan blogs,
this series has triggered several high school readers to stop going out-
doors as much as possible in order to make their skin paler, to become
more like the vampire protagonists of Twilight. This persistence of
whiteness as a predominant factor in US identity is not acceptable in
other forms of discourse; yet the Gothic trope of the vampire enables
this reactionary value to reenter the mainstream.
Edwards attractiveness to Bella consists of all aspects of racial
privilege, including wealth, status, and the ability to manipulate oth-
ersall of which, by singling her out as his partner, he offers to Bella
as well. The allure of this privilege surfaces in Bellas awe at her rst
visit to the Cullen home. Bella stands in awe of the beautiful, white
house, noting that its walls, high-beamed ceilings, the wooden oors,
and the thick carpets were all various shades of white (Meyer T, 322).
The emphasis on the white color purposely symbolizes the sexual and
moral purity of the Cullens, but also references their racial privilege.
Bellas reaction to its furnishings reects her desire for what George
Lipsitz has termed the possessive investment in whiteness. She envi-
ously takes in the details of Edwards room, which was better stocked
than a music store. In the corner was a sophisticated-looking sound
system, the kind I was afraid to touch because Id be sure to break
something (Meyer T, 34344). This intimidation at the Cullen
wealth escalates as Bellas eyes wandered to the beautiful instrument
on the platform by the door. I suddenly remembered my childhood
166 Danielle N. Borgia
fantasy that, should I ever win a lottery, I would buy a grand piano for
my mother (Meyer T, 324). Edwards privilege also provides him the
ability to develop talents. Bella is attracted by his accumulated cultural
capital, such his knowledge of history. His ability to play music is
particularly seductive: his ngers owed swiftly across the ivory, and
the room was lled with a composition so complex, so luxuriant, it was
impossible to believe only one set of hands played, I felt my chin drop,
my mouth open in astonishment (Meyer T, 326). The leisure necessary
to cultivate such a talent results from wealth.
Edwards elite position also intrigues Bella for the way it liberates
him from most sources of teenage angst. He does not suffer from a lack
of authority. He does not even have to go to school when the weather is
beautiful. His dazzling skin would betray him as a vampire in the
sunlight, so his father excuses all of his children from school to go
camping during the rare days of beautiful weather in Forks. Edward
does not display a crippling, awkward nervousness or resort to com-
municating through her friends when asking for a date with Bella like
his male peers do. In addition to his looks, the self-assuredness that
stems from his wealthy white privilege makes him highly desirable to
Bella and the other girls at her high school. The Cullens are envied
because they openly defy regulations, norms, and social conventions
that others wish they did not have to obey, yet maintain their social
hegemony. This reveals that the Twilight series popularity rests, in
part, on its uncanny ability to combine the pleasures of conformity
with the nominal guise of rebellion.
Even more problematic than Twilights exaltation of whiteness and
social privilege is its exoticism and devaluation of people of color. The
Quileutes, Native Americans living on the LaPush reservation thirteen
miles west of Forks, are cast in the Twilight series as werewolves,
shape-shifters who change from humans to wolves in order to combat
vampires. These characters are portrayed as largely controlled by their
bestial nature. Whereas new vampires are only slaves to their in-
stincts for a year or so, the wolf-men continue to have outbreaks of
uncontrollable emotion after they mature. These volatile emotions
unconsciously cause them to phase from human to animal form,
suggesting that their instincts, rather than their rational thoughts and
conscious emotions, control them. The narrative showcases the besti-
ality of these characters by illustrating one werewolfs involuntary
phase when he becomes angry:
The Antifeminist Subtexts of Twilight 167
Paul seemed to fall forward, vibrating violently. Halfway to the
ground, there was a loud ripping noise, and the boy exploded. Dark
silver fur blew out from the boy, coalescing into a shape ve times
his sizea massive, crouched shape, ready to spring. The wolfs
muzzle wrinkled back over his teeth, and another growl rolled
through his colossal chest. His dark, enraged eyes focused on me.
(Meyer BD, 325)
The novels focus on the werewolves in their animal forms, highlighting
their paws, claws, and ears, and the way that shifting exposes their
nudity (a sign of inferiority in colonial eyes). Moreover, the plot centers
on their animalistic communication through howling and whining as
well as the involuntary telepathy among the wolves of the pack, which
forces them to conform to the mandates of their Alpha leader, Sam.
Jacobs thoughts often reveal that the way they relate as a pack su-
percedes their human abilities to think rationally. The primitive core
of my wolf-self tensed for the battle of supremacy, he describes as he
prepares to break with Sams control and abandon his pack (Meyer BD,
211). In stark contrast to Edward and the other Cullens self-control,
this innate primitivity often overrides the Native American were-
wolves conscious attempts to exercise their free will that is champi-
oned as such a virtue through the character of Edward.
The Quileutes interactions with the vampires position the latter as
the civilized ones who are domesticating the werewolves, providing
them with clothing, showers, blankets, and human food, despite the
wolves preference for sleeping outdoors and feeding in their animal
form. The head or father vampire, Carlisle, reveals both his normal-
ization of the vampires and his exoticism of the Quileutes when he tells
Jacob I nd your species fascinating . . . Your familys divergence from
humanity is much more interesting. Magical, almost (Meyer BD,
237). Jacobs snide retort, bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!, shows his resent-
ment of Carlisles colonial interpellation of his people.
The Quileutes form of romantic partnership, called imprinting, is
also characterized as inferior to vampire marriages. When a werewolf
imprints on his soul mate, she may be only a few years or months old;
he immediately spends every moment by her side, protecting her until
she matures and becomes his companion. For the shape-shifters, there
are no rules that can bind you when you nd your other half, as Jacob
explains (Meyer E, 123). By contrast, the rigid laws of the global
vampire leaders, the Volturi, require Bella to become a vampire to
168 Danielle N. Borgia
marry Edward and live with the Cullens or face execution. The in-
voluntary nature of the werewolves mating and its indifference to
social sanction makes it exotic, foreign, and inferior in the vampires
eyes. Edward clearly relates this distinction to Mormon doctrine when
he confronts the lead werewolf, Sam: You are bound more differently
than we are, Edward snapped. We each still have our free will. (Meyer
BD, 559). Sam has no response, because he inadvertently mauled the
woman he imprinted on, Emily, when he was in wolf form, leaving her
face heavily scarred. Edward clearly asserts the hierarchy of rational
choice over involuntary passion when he tells Bella that the imprinting
of Sam and Emily is very nearly as strong as the way I feel about
youin other words, a lesser kind of love (Meyer E, 418). The mates
of the werewolves do not have to undergo the dramatic change that
Bella does in order to ensure an eternal marriage; indeed, they do not
have this option, as the shapeshifters do eventually age and die.
The most salient conrmation of the racial hierarchies in Twilight,
however, manifests in Bellas desire. Although Bella seeks the emotional
attention of the Quileute Jacob when Edward abandons her and becomes
attached to him, she is not attracted to him physically. The rst time
they are physically close to one another, Bella pulls away from Jacobs
embrace and makes it clear that they are just friends. He immediately
draws her attention to the difference in their skin color. He calls her a
porcelain doll, a reference to her fragility and need for protection as
much as her race. Bella, surprised, watches as Jacob stretched out his
russet arm next to mine and tells her Ive never seen anyone paler than
you . . . well, except for . . .. (Meyer NM, 17980). The Quileute rec-
ognizes that Bella is so perfectly white, she belongs with the Cullens.
This passage indicates Jacobs realization that his race is a main reason
that Bella is not attracted to him.
11
His respectful treatment of her, the
way he values her freedom and interests, also makes him less domineer-
ing, and therefore less virile, in her eyes.
Like its promotion of abstinence before marriage, the exoticism of
the werewolves in Twilight and the idealization of the vampires white
masculinity is a legacy of Mormon doctrine. The Cullens, due to their
rejection of drinking human blood and having sex outside of eternal
marriage, exercise the free will that is a gift of God. The Quileutes, due
to their Alpha leaders physical control over them, do not have the free
will granted by God to his chosen people in the Book of Mormon (the
Nephites). Meyers characterization of the Quileutes animalistic nature
The Antifeminist Subtexts of Twilight 169
stems from Mormon associations of dark skin color with blasphemy.
The Book of Mormon recounts the branching of humans in the Holy
Land, the House of Israel, into the Gentiles (Christian non-Mormons),
the Jews, and the descendants of Lehi. The majority of these sons of Lehi,
the Lamanites, refused to listen to their brother Nephi, who followed
Gods will; instead, they persecuted him. The Lamanites were cursed by
God for turning away from his Word, spread by Nephi. According to the
Book of Mormon, Christ punished the Lamanite nonbelievers who con-
spired against Nephi by turning their skins black:
And he had caused the cursing to come upon [the Lamanites], yea,
even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had
hardened their hearts against him, and they had become like unto a
int; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and
delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the
Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.
(2 Nephi 5:21)
Thus, the darker skins of the Native American Quileutes indicate their
paganism, construed as moral inferiority.
Moreover, the Lamanites are believed to be the ancestors of indig-
enous Americans in Mormon theology. The introduction to the book of
Mormon reads:
The book was written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of
prophecy and revelation. Their words, written on gold plates, were
quoted and abridged by a prophet-historian named Mormon. The
record gives an account of two great civilizations. One came [to
America] from Jerusalem in 600 B.C., and afterward separated into
two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other
came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the
Tower of Babel. This group is known as the Jaredites. After thou-
sands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are
among the ancestors of the American Indians.
The crowning event recorded in the Book of Mormon is the personal
ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ among the Nephites soon after his
resurrection.
12
Thus the wicked Lamanites who turned against God are Jacobs an-
cestors, characterizing him as morally as well as racially and nancially
inferior to Edward. This doctrine underscores Twilights encouragement
170 Danielle N. Borgia
of the continued possessive investment in whiteness that reserves social
and cultural power to European Americans.
In addition, the possible redemption of the Lamanites predicted in
the Book of Mormon is hinted at by the promise of miscegenation that
bonds the vampires, werewolves, and humans at the end of Breaking
Dawn. The second book of Nephi explains that if the Lamanites/sinners
return to Mormon beliefs, their scales of darkness shall begin to fall
from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them,
save they shall be a white and a delightsome people (2 Nephi 30:6).
The racism of this narrative caused the word white to be changed to
pure in the Third Edition of the Book of Mormon in 1981.
13
This
portrayal of redemption as the restoration of whiteness parallels the
imprinting or sacred bonding of the Quileute Jacob to the infant
offspring of Edward and Bella. The future marriage between the Native
American Jacob, now an Alpha leader, and the white half-vampire half-
mortal baby Renesmee secures peace between the vampires and the
shapeshifters, and enables Bellas father to accept the supernatural at-
tributes of both groups. The future offspring of Jacob and Renesmee
promises to redeem the Quileutes through their whitening.
In these ways, Stephenie Meyers reconguration of the Gothic nar-
rative of the vampire in the Twilight series allows the idea of whiteness
as a predominant and highly desirable factor in US identity to reenter
mainstream discourse. The Twilight series subtexts of white supremacy
interact with its conservative gender ideologies to promote womens
subordination to white men, described as protection and romantic love.
The Twilight novels ability to glorify self-sacrice as passionate desire
obscures their encouragement of womens subordination, passivity, and
conformity. Twilights promotion of female subordination, abusive re-
lationships, and its glorication of white privilege makes its wide
appeal disturbing and problematic to those who advocate social justice.
Notes
1. Polidori based his short story on an oral tale told by Lord Byron in 1816 at Lake Geneva.
Incensed and estranged from Polidori, Byron quickly published his own print version of the
tale, simply titled Fragment, which greatly differs in its characterization of the vampire.
2. Rice later continued the saga of the characters from this popular trilogy with seven more
volumes, the last of which was published in 2003. Notably, she ended this work when she
embraced Christianity and began a series of novels based on Biblical events.
The Antifeminist Subtexts of Twilight 171
3. See Stephanie Mendoza, From Dawn to Twilight: The Byronic Hero, for an analysis of the
different portrayals of Dracula in lm and how the Coppola versions vampire most closely
resembles Edward Cullen.
4. My ideas about Twilight as articulated here are indebted to collaboration with Christina Toy,
Danielle Hidalgo, and my Summer 2009 Feminist Studies 150 class at U.C. Santa Barbara.
5. This denition of the Byronic hero originated with Peter Thorslevs The Byronic Hero. Types
and Prototypes (1964).
6. In Meyers interview published in a Mormon journal, she admits, Unconsciously, I put a lot
of my basic beliefs into the story. Free agency is a big theme, as is sacrice. William Morris,
Interview: Twilight author Stephenie Meyer.
7. Mimi Schippers, Twilight: A Movie Review Marx in Drag (November 25, 2008) http://
marxindrag.com/Marxindrag/Blog/Entries/2008/11/25_Twilight__A_Movie_Review.html
8. Jana Reiss is a Mormon theologist, author of What Would Buffy Do?: The Vampire Slayer as
Spiritual Guide, Jossey Books, 2004 and The Book of Mormon: Selections Annotated & Explained,
Skylight Paths, 2005. She has famously traced Mormon elements in Battlestar Galactica.
9. William Morris, Stephenie Meyers Mormonism and the Erotics of Abstinence. Other
Mormon critics have described the novels support of female martyrdom by reading Bella as a
Christ gure who redeems Edward by anchoring him to the human world. Many others have
rejected Meyers unequivocally. Anneke Majors declares I would much rather my teenage
sisters read novels that would elevate their worldviews and deepen their respect and appre-
ciation for human intimacy than see them swooning over the abusive, controlling vampire
character of Edward Cullen. http://www.motleyvision.org/2008/squeaky-clean/
10. Forks City, Washington Fact Sheet. Census 2000 Demographic Prole Highlights.
11. The brief moments in which Bella enjoys Jacobs physical proximity toward the end of the
series (likely to please Jacobs many fans) are later explained by Jacobs imprinting on Bella
and Edwards child, thus absolving Bella of indelity.
12. The Book of Mormon. The Ofcial Scriptures of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
13. The next verse predicts that the Jews will all be redeemed if they convert to Christianity.
Works Cited
Book of Mormon. The Ofcial Scriptures of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. Intellectual Reserve, 2006. Web. 17 Apr.
2008.
Bram Stokers Dracula. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Columbia Pictures,
1992. DVD.
Forks City, Washington Fact Sheet. Census 2000 Demographic Prole
Highlights. US Census Bureau. 2000. Web. 2 May 2008.
Grossman, Lev. Stephenie Meyer: A New J.K. Rowling? Time 24 Apr.
2008. Web. 22 July 2008.
Kirschling, Gregory. Stephenie Meyers Twilight Zone. Entertain-
ment Weekly. 5 July 2008. Web. 30 July 2008.
Lipsitz, George. The Possessive Investment in Whiteness. Philadelphia:
Temple UP, 1998. Print.
172 Danielle N. Borgia
Mendoza, Stephanie. From Dawn to Twilight: The Byronic Hero.
Theocrit: The Online Journal of Undergraduate Literary Criticism and
Theory 1.1 (Spring 2009): 924. Print.
Meyer, Stephenie. Twilight. New York: Little, Brown, 2005. Print.
. New Moon. New York: Little, Brown, 2006. Print.
. Eclipse. New York: Little, Brown, 2007. Print.
. Breaking Dawn. New York: Little, Brown, 2008. Print.
Morris, William. Interview: Twilight author Stephenie Meyer. A
Motley Vision: Mormon Arts and Culture. 26 Oct. 2005. Web. 24
July 2008.
. Stephenie Meyers Mormonism and the Erotics of Absti-
nence. A Motley Vision: Mormon Arts and Culture. 2 May 2008.
Web. 24 July 2008.
Reiss, Jana. Young Vampires in Love: A Review of Twilight. The
Review Revolution: Improving Culture Through Kvetching. 4 Oct. 2005.
Web. 24 July 2008.
Rice, Anne. The Vampire Lestat. New York: Random House 1985.
Print.
Stein, Atara. The Byronic Hero in Film, Fiction, and Television. Carbon-
dale: Southern Illinois UP, 2004. Print.
Wootton, Sarah. The Byronic in Jane Austens Persuasion and Pride and
Prejudice. Modern Language Review 102.1 (2007): 2639. Print.
Danielle N. Borgia currently teaches in the departments of Womens Studies
and American Cultures at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. She
earned a PhD in Comparative Literature with an emphasis in Feminist Studies
from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2009. Her current research
includes a book project linking Gothic and Fantastic literatures of the
Americas and recovery work on women authors of the Borderlands.
The Antifeminist Subtexts of Twilight 173