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.

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments     

Introduction     


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     

Fanpires: Utilizing Fan Culture in Event Film Adaptations

MAGGIE PARKE     

The Hero and the Id: A Psychoanalytic Inquiry into the Popularity of Twilight

HEATHER ANASTASIU     

Someday My Vampire Will Come? Society's (and the Media's) Lovesick Infatuation with Prince- Like Vampires

COLETTE MURPHY     

Team Bella: Fans Navigating Desire, Security, and Feminism

ANANYA MUKHERJEA     


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     

Read Only as Directed: Psychology, Intertextuality, and Hyperreality in the Series

ANGELA TENGA     

Torn Between Two Lovers: Twilight Tames Wuthering Heights

SARAH WAKEFIELD     

Rewriting the Byronic Hero: How the Twilight Saga Turned "Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know" into a Teen Fiction Phenomenon

JESSICA GROPER     

A Post- Feminist Romance: Love, Gender and Intertextuality in Stephenie Meyer's Saga

HILA SHACHAR     


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     

Denial and Salvation: The Twilight Series and Heteronormative Patriarchy

ASHLEY DONNELLY     

It's a Wolf Thing: The Quileute Werewolf /Shape- Shifter Hybrid as Noble Savage

NATALIE WILSON     

Violence, Agency, and the Women of Twilight

ANNE TORKELSON     

Un-biting the Apple and Killing the Womb: Genesis, Gender, and Gynocide

LINDSEY ISSOW AVERILL     


About the Contributors     

Index     

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.