{"id":34260,"date":"2022-06-26T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-26T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=34260"},"modified":"2022-06-25T19:16:45","modified_gmt":"2022-06-25T23:16:45","slug":"my-voice-the-not-so-dreamy-parts-of-twilight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/entertainment\/2022\/06\/26\/my-voice-the-not-so-dreamy-parts-of-twilight\/","title":{"rendered":"My Voice: The Not-So-Dreamy Parts of Twilight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have been a fan of Stephenie Meyer\u2019s “Twilight” almost as long as I have been alive. I remember sitting in my brother\u2019s bedroom, watching the first film, and being absolutely mesmerized by what I saw. I eventually received both the book and film sets as gifts. It was not until a few years ago \u2013 with the help of other fans \u2013 that I came to recognize some of the uglier sides of this pop culture phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the many issues of Twilight is the exploitation of Indigenous people and their culture. \u201cTruth vs. Twilight<\/a>,\u201d a page created by Dr. Deana Dartt-Newton and Tasia Endo in conjunction with Seattle\u2019s Burke Museum, highlights several ways in which the Quileute people (and Native Americans as a whole) have been harmed. For example, the Quileute boys are sexualized and depicted as angry, violent creatures rather than human beings. In this discussion of race and class, Dartt-Newton and Endo discuss the vast differences in which the vampires and werewolves live. While the (white) Cullen vampires own multiple cars and a mansion, the Quileute people have \u201cmodest homes, tattered clothes, and\u2026 ubiquitous and dysfunctional relationships.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of the early 2010s, when the \u201cTruth vs. Twilight\u201d page was created, the Quileute people have not received any of the profits from this extremely successful franchise. To add insult to injury, Twilight merchandise sold in its rising years (the Burke Museum uses Nordstrom and Hot Topic as examples) featured appropriated Native artwork \u2013 both in design and in the story behind it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Two members of the Quileute Tribe (Flickr: U.S Department of Agriculture)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Fans and critics also often bring up the misogynistic aspects of Twilight. <\/em>From the beginning, Edward gaslights Bella, forcing her to believe and do whatever he says. On the other hand, some of the other female characters are forced to be \u201ccruel\u201d and manipulative, as Dartt-Newton and Endo explain:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUsing their sex as power, Victoria and Maria exemplify the femme fatale archetype and consequently subvert the acceptance of sexual empowerment in women.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Victoria and Maria in the Twilight films<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps one of the most chilling problems with Meyer\u2019s creation is the predatory relationship between Jacob Black and Renesmee Cullen. As soon as the baby is born, Jacob feels drawn to her. As viewers and readers will later learn (or maybe already know), this is due to the \u201cimprinting\u201d that occurs among the Twilight werewolves. Many found it unsettling that such an event would occur with a child (let alone the child of the girl he was in love with). This is not the only time it happens, either. Quil imprints on two-year-old Claire. This relationship is also framed as one like siblings but considering the other imprinter\/imprintee pairings in the universe, a romantic connection is not out of the question.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n


There is so much more wrong with Twilight <\/em>than I can explain in just a few hundred words. However, this conversation is important, and I hope it continues whether the franchise does \u2013 because it is possible to both love and critique a work simultaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carly Webster<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staff Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been a fan of Stephenie Meyer\u2019s “Twilight” almost as long as I have been alive. I remember sitting in my brother\u2019s bedroom, watching the first film, and being absolutely mesmerized by what I saw. I eventually received both the book and film sets as gifts. It was not until a few years ago […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10416,"featured_media":34265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2104,2112,3524],"tags":[5309,5455,5453,5454,5452],"class_list":["post-34260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-films","category-my-voice-2","tag-carly-webster","tag-deana-dartt-newton","tag-quileute","tag-stephenie-meyer","tag-twilight"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Twilight-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-8UA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10416"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34260"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34266,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34260\/revisions\/34266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}