What role does Twilight play in the story of women in horror?
The Twilight book and film franchise is one of the most incendiary and divisive pieces of media of the 21st century. It’s unique in countless ways, from it’s characters to its impact. At it’s core it’s a coming of age story that sits atop of a horror-inspired backdrop. Written by a woman with a woman as it’s main protagonist, I wanted to talk about Twilight regardless of how quote unquote good it is. I find Twilight interesting because it both follows and ignores popular and effective horror tropes, as well as asks us to really try to figure out what a feminist character really looks like.
So. What role does Twilight play in the story of women in horror?
A quick disclaimer. I’m not here to decide once and for all whether Twilight is feminist enough or counts as horror, and whether it’s even very good. I have my own beliefs and opinions and I know there are staunch supporters of all sides of all of those arguments. We’ll touch on those notions, but I’m eager for everyone to listen to this armed with their own preconceived notions, ready to potentially have them challenged.
Let’s start with the things Twilight gets wrong, the ways in which it fails to portray women or horror very well.
To start with, Twilight sort of fails to be horror in the first place. Author Stephanie Meyer herself has said that Twilight is more of a romance than anything else. But she places an interesting conundrum on herself by choosing to write a horror romance… two genres which both complement and contradict each other. I believe most of this conundrum comes from her lack of research and knowledge about the tropes of horror in the first place. She has said herself she doesn’t really like horror fiction or films, and doesn’t read or watch them. The extent of her knowledge into vampire lore extends a few chapters into an Ann Rice novel. As a result, we have a supernatural romance with horror elements that don’t mesh as well as they should. Which is a shame, since vampires and romance in many ways go hand in hand and have for decades. But we’ll get into that a little later.
And while Meyer argues that Twilight is mainly a romance… can it be? When vampires such as Edward rely on manipulation – mind reading, overpowering strength, powers of suggestion and glamors – can romance be possible? Can true love be possible when one party exerts so much control and influence over another?
Look at Dracula’s Lucy and Mina – these are women who fall under a vampire’s spell. They are led to act out of character. To even want to become vampires themselves. It’s pretty cool that as the Twilight books progress, Bella begins acting out of her typical character for Edward and eventually… becomes a vampire herself. Mirroring these two classic characters. But Meyers paints Bella as a hero rather than a victim. Is that accurate? Can we say that these were empowered choices if they were not completely her choices?
This goes for other parts of the novels and films. We have vampires and werewolves as main set pieces: decidedly “horror” genre elements. But while Meyer’s flirts with and skirts around the genre, she doesn’t hold to most of the cornerstones of gothic literature that typically accompany a good vampire tale, mostly because she doesn’t understand them. That sort of makes sense as a choice – we’re telling a modern story about a modern girl. But it feels like a missed opportunity not to take so much of what made a story like Dracula work and use it here.
Author and critic Douglas Winter said, “Horror is not a genre, like the mystery or science fiction or the western. It is not a kind of fiction, meant to be confined to the ghetto of a special shelf in libraries or bookstores. Horror is an emotion.”
Unfortunately Twilight rarely evokes the kind of horror emotions that we would want from a story about vampires and werewolves. There are remarkably few moments or situations or acts that can be described as horrific within the story. In some ways, I think that’s why Twilight has been so commercially successful. It offers much of the allure of a good vampire tale without actually being all that scary, and so is more palatable to lots of readers who ordinarily pick up something in the horror section. It’s failures make it ironically different and special. Edward kind of sucks as a vampire, but he’s memorable as his own type of vampire. Women can see themselves in Bella because she’s complicated and doesn’t fully “fit” into the damsel in distress box or the strong feminist hero box either.
Which leads me into my next point: there is a lot of debate about whether or not Twilight is feminist.
Many portrayals of women in horror are not feminist. We still absorb and love the content. But Twilight is interesting because of it’s see-sawing list of evidence about whether or not Bella is a feminist character.
So much of your argument about this will depend on your very specific definition of feminism. How you interpret Bellas choices and motives. How you interpret Edwards choices and motives. Meyer herself argues that Bella is feminist because of her insistence on making her own choices, but like I touched on, there is an argument to be made that Bella has no choice or power at all, that it’s all manipulation. Are Bella and Edward really in love, or is it all just immature possessive infatuation and obsession? That’s actually some of the most powerful horror to me in the story – that none of it is real and Bella undergoes all she does for the illusion of love that she is too young or inexperienced to understand. Some say she is feminist because she often disregards her own welfare and puts herself in danger for the one she loves. Some say she ISN’T… because she often disregards her own welfare and puts herself in danger for the one she loves. I’m not here to pretend I know the answer. But as a character, Bella asks us to what degree a character needs to be “feminist” for us to like her and root for her.
The themes of control and abuse in these stories are pervasive and hard to argue against. There is real horror in the idea that the wants and needs of a man or men can be so all encompassing that women feel the illusion of choice without the reality of it. Is Bella eventually becoming a vampire “growth” or is she becoming more like the thing that was manipulating her? IS it feminism if the woman just acts like a man?
And the arguments extend beyond Bella. Looking at Renesme, Bella’s daughter. Let’s for a moment put aside for a moment the disturbing child-sexualization which isn’t even played as horror but as more romance – she is a female character with no choice and that lack of choice is presented to us as supernaturally romantic. Jacob decides for himself that they are meant for each other, and she has no say in the matter herself. Meyer seems to accidentally make an interesting statement about love and the idea that it’s based on destiny or fate vs choice.
Now, I’m not here to bash this series. I do think that the story is in fact full of contradictions, and a lot of what I just identified can be argued. Twilight accomplishes almost as many attempts as it fails.
Even if it does so clumsily and without much subtly, the story does hold well to certain horror tropes that we know and love. We’ve got a steamy Dracula-esque love triangle which is a pretty darn strong trope for romances. The use of vampires and werewolves specifically compliments the ideas of intense romance; both monsters have elements of consumption to them and represent one side of a person that ordinarily they may keep hidden. Lending these characters to an air of secrecy and mystery which complements the romance genre very well.
Romance and horror have always complemented each other. And it’s funny to me that romance is typically a softer, gentler genre and horror is usually darker and more violent or intense… and that contrast can help them go so well together. We’ve had Interview with a Vampire and the Suki Waterhouse series has past examples of woman-focused romance content hitchhiking a ride on the vehicle of horror. But Twilight stands out. Unlike Interview with a Vampire, we view it all through a woman’s eyes. And while Suki Waterhouse was successful, it wasn’t until Twilight that True Blood as an adaptation cropped up and found massive popularity.
One thing I do enjoy about the existence of Twilight is that the horror elements of the story appeal almost exclusively to women, which is so incredibly rare. It’s horror for women and by women. We can argue that it’s not horror enough, I get that. In my definition of things, Twilight IS horror. Vampires and werewolves say yes. Supernatural life-threatening elements, body horror, say yes. And those things are very powerful tools to teach us, through Bella’s eyes, what it means to be a woman. It’s complex and it’s dangerous. Women’s bodies are both coveted and hated, just is Bella is. And the lives and destinies of women are often very very much dictated by the wishes of men, just as Edward and Jacob hold enormous sway over Bella’s every move and thought.
I think there is success in the way horror is used to portray an all-encompassing love. It is horrific to think that you can love someone so much you lose sense of who you are or become someone else. Edwards powers are a metaphor for the all-consuming, mind-altering obsessive love that so many of us have experienced at least once, usually when we are young. And we tend to look back at that infatuation with horror at how irrational and out of ourselves we seemed.
Throughout Twilight I see examples of the horror of attraction and simultaneous repulsion. When your adolescent body is changing and you’re experiencing unfamiliar desires. Director of Twilight Breaking Dawn parts 1 and 2 Bill Condon explains it well. “It’s through her point of view that we experience things. Horror of what’s growing inside you. The horror of being invaded, along with your desire to be invaded.” The things we fear are the things we want, which is such a common and powerful idea in so much horror content.
Within the context of the history of women in horror, Twilight arguably does give us an unusually feminist story. This is a more overt than usual, more in touch with your feelings, way to examine the relationship between sex and horror. It’s a teenage girl’s analysis. While Edward is often over-possessive and predatory, in almost just as many ways he is overprotective and uses his powers to do more than the average man to ensure Bella’s safety. In this story, sex is something to be feared. In this case, it’s dangerous, in the act and the consequences… And in many real cases, yes, sex (especially reckless teenage sex) is dangerous. And while feminists all over the internet have condemned the “wait till marriage” approach that Edward and Bella take, you can argue it’s a decision they make as a result of their unique circumstances, not arbitrarily or because their parents or religion told them to. It’s something Edward insists upon to protect his relationship with his partner, rather than a manner of control. And Bella chooses to stick around and wait for him.
I could probably do a whole episode on the degree to which Stephanie Meyer’s Mormon background bleeds into Twilight, telling us things about her thoughts about abstinence, marriage, children, and the choices women do and do not have. Though she’s said it was unintentional, Mormon references and lessons dot the entire story, particular those that refer to women and family. There’s an incredible Huffpost article that picks out every single one. Whether she set out to explore her religion through this story or not, they are present and they matter. They feel like her way of examining the life and teachings of Mormonism through this supernatural lens and I love that.
Some say Bella is a feminist character because she consistently maintains the desire to make her own choices and is resilient toward Edwards mind reading and therefore much of his influence. She chooses Edward, consistently. She chooses to put herself at risk because she loves him. She chooses to marry him, chooses to have a child with him even though she knows it’s life-threatening. There are themes here of growth and self-actualization as she changes from shy and meek to being a murderous strong vampire herself, white still having a glitzy wedding and becoming a mom. One of the main conflicts of the story, a storyline folks know about who haven’t even seen Twilight is about Bella making a choice between Edward and Jacob.
The story uses a woman’s POV to explore burgeoning sexual and romantic empowerment. And what I love about the “yes Bella is feminist” argument is that she’s not perfect. So much of feminist content insists that a truly feminist character must be this perfect balance of masculine and feminine. She must be someone’s ideal of what a feminist character is. She shouldn’t have flaws, or if she does, they’re ones that we find acceptable like being too bookish or clumsy. But I argue you can have a feminist character that isn’t a role model. We have a woman in a romance novel (romance doesn’t equal non-feminist, but many argue it does) who displays how complex and contradictory being a woman is. It frustrates me personally that people discount a character as feminist if she loves and emotionally relies on a man. Isn’t feminism the ability to choose whether or not to do that in the first place? And by the end, Bella becomes a monster. Perhaps stronger and more vicious than Edward. And honestly, good for her.
To wrap up I wanted to discuss the effect Twilight has had on women and horror via it’s commercial success.
There is an assumption that the Twilight franchise has done well because of the hot shirtless men and the vapid female protagonist that women can see themselves in because of how empty she is. While I don’t think those things have nothing to do with it, I also see that assertion as a bit of an insult to the millions and millions of intelligent women (and men) out there who find a significant connection to this franchise.
Personally, I believe that much of the power of art comes from not what the creator meant it to be, but what it becomes to the person consuming the art. I believe Meyer did a poor job of writing a good horror story and writing a feminist female character. But what I think doesn’t matter. Because people love this story, and have found empowerment and happiness in it. There is good in it, and as a result, much more (perhaps better things) can come from it.
Melissa Silverstein, writer for the Women and Hollywood website says “The part that shocked Hollywood was that the film’s stunning success was fuelled by ‘girl power. The general consensus in Hollywood is that films and books made for men and boys are seen as ‘universal’, and things that are made for women and girls are somehow seen as ‘other.’ Women are seen as a ‘niche’ audience. This ‘nichification’ of women has been one of the most enduring problems facing the much-maligned chick flick.”
While we can’t necessarily point at Twilight and say ‘that’s where it all began’… the commercial success of the Twilight films in particular came at the very beginning of a slew of strong-leading-woman stories, particularly focused on young female audiences. Maybe you want to argue that Bella is not a character young women should emulate. But she has made way for other characters that are better suited for that role.
Twilight director Christine Hardwicke says this about the film’s long term effect. “Twilight changed the perception, the idea that a movie about a girl wouldn’t be popular, wouldn’t make a lot of money. It blew it out of the water. A novel written by a woman, a movie directed by a female. We broke records. People can use that for ammo – when another female director goes to a meeting, they are gonna say, ‘Well, I don’t think you can do this,’ and they can respond with, ‘Well, Catherine did it, Twilight did it.’ You use it as a building block to the next thing and the next thing.”
There are plenty of mediocre horror movies and books out there about men that become popular and make a lot of money. Feminism, to me, is the fact that Twilight – a mediocre horror movie and book series about a woman – can almost become popular and make a lot of money. Sounds like equality.