Exploring Feminism in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight

When Twilight was initially published in 2005, it received the attention of young adult readers of predominantly female due to the plot of the novel; charting the life of Isabella “Bella” Swan, a teenager who relocated to Forks, Washington to live with her police chief father, Charlie Swan. The storyline gradually develops when Bella meets a vampire named Edward Cullen and falls in love with him, often jeopardising her human side throughout the journey of their complicated romance. With the success of the first book, this fantasy romance novel written by Stephenie Meyer becomes a tetralogy series for her readers to indulge in.

Definition of Feminism

In regards to the novels’ popularity, several debates and criticisms are raised upon their releases. One issue that will be focused in this essay is feminism. According to Bryson (2017), Meyer definition of feminism is that “it is purely about a woman being allowed to make her own choices, regardless of what they are.” With this definition in Meyer’s mind, it is then visualised in the form of Bella, a female protagonist who deems to be a representative for feminism. However, I argued that the portrayal of Bella Swan does not correspond with this definition of feminism; advocacy for women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes. In other words, feminism means that women have the same rights or opportunities as their men counterparts in every aspect of society including challenging the ‘societal label’ that they have. Even so, Bella Swan is seen as regressive in regards to this feminist idea. Renfro (2017) also notes the controversial portrayal of women in literature and media, that Meyer’s Twilight is “no exception”.

Lovely (2015) also claims that Twilight writes about the women’s stereotype and how the patriarchy has control over the society, which supports the anti-feminist definition. Anti-feminist advocates traditional gender roles, where men are still in authority over women. Petersen (2011) also asserts that even though she acknowledged the several feminist oppositions to Twilight, it does attempt to explain the crucial tensions within feminism today by emphasising the difficulties in determining what it means to be a feminist. Although Twilight may be portrayed as a feminist text in correlation to the author’s conviction, I argued that Twilight is an anti-feminist text in several aspects that are Bella’s decisions, her conformity to traditional feminine roles and Edward’s domination in their relationship.

The heroine still lacks in the ability to choose or decide for herself due to the existence of Edward Cullen, her supernatural significant other. In the means of anti-feminism, Wilson (2014) stated that the core of anti-feminism is contra-wise which is simply dismissing a woman’s acts over the reason that she is a woman. This is what Bella struggles throughout book series and that her decisions still revolve around Edward’s wellbeing, in order to please him. This also implies the superiority standpoint that Edward has over Bella, repressing her from deciding for herself as she is constantly being asked to do something. For instance, when Bella confesses to Edward that she is hoping that he changes his mind to change her into a vampire; “a dozen of emotions played across his face. Some I recognized: anger … and pain …”. Perhaps, it shows that Edward has yet to accept the idea of Bella becoming more powerful than him despite willing to sacrifice her human life just to be with him. Moreover, it seems that he does not believe with the ideology that men and women should have equal power. If Bella is powerful than him, it emasculates him and he is trying to prevent that by not allowing Bella to change into a vampire.

Conformity to Traditional Feminine Roles and Labels

The other anti-feminist aspect of Twilight is Bella’s conformity to the traditional and stereotypical feminine roles, such as cooking. In the scene where Bella discovers that Charlie couldn't cook much besides fried eggs and bacon as well as having an insufficient food supply in the house, Bella said: “So I requested that I be assigned kitchen detail for the duration of my stay.” This demonstrates that she lives in a patriarchal environment that normalises respective gender roles, where household duties are considered as feminine and women should always be in charge for it. It is considered as anti-feminist because she is submitting to the ideal women conduct and it is a part of her most proactive decisions. As what Eddo-Lodge (2013) states, Bella is not a liberal character due to her lack of defiance towards regressive gender roles and instead she conforms to it.

Furthermore, the point of view of the book is gynocentric. As the book focuses on Bella’s outlook, her thought processes are scrutinised which shows the vulnerability side of the female’s mind. This somehow leads to the oppression of Bella’s behaviour that is being depicted as insecure and impotent which fits the common stereotypical view of women. Furthermore, having a female antagonist and a female writer as well as providing a ‘happily ever after” or “happy for now” ending which some feminists sought for is still not sufficient enough to justify it as a feminist text.

Edward’s Domination in Relationship

Besides that, Edward’s dominance towards Bella has an influence on how their relationship develops when Edward finally succumbs to the temptation of interacting with Bella despite meeting each other countless times. The pair ultimately communicates at Mr. Banner’s Biology class, where Edward introduces himself despite sitting at a distant from Bella and says “I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Bella Swan.” This scene fits the conventional act where it always the male who initiates a conversation with a female. Even after not talking to each other after a half-dozen weeks, Edward explains to Bella that it is better if they are not friends and to trust him on this matter. Ironically further towards the story, Edward admits that he follows Bella to Port Angeles and that is not the first time he does it; showing his lack of trust on her. This specific scenes further support the anti-feminist argument, as Edward tries to have control over Bella which inevitably strains their relationship as one-sided.

Although Bella has the right to express herself verbally, Edward often disregards her. This is evident in several scenes of Twilight particularly where Bella says she is glad that Edward craves her company excessively, and he harshly dismisses that idea. Her ‘freedom of speech’ is somehow constrained and it is frequently Edward himself that has the final say. Bella is depicted as a “damsel in distress” while Edward is a “knight in a shining armour” who has to save her due to his better psychic abilities as a vampire. Bella is deemed as powerless, always requiring reassurance or protection from another masculine figure such as her father and Jacob, another male interest in the book. She is clearly not allowed to develop thus making her character stagnant and questionable to be considered as a feminist figure. Her dependency also refutes the feminist role that Meyer is presumedly trying to portray, that even the simplest act such as keeping her balance can be difficult for her and needs assistance from Edward several times. According to Fetters (2012), Bella is the personification of submissive passivity, allowing men to decide what is desired for her. She is naive enough to allow men to manipulate her which affects her self-determination.

In addition, Bella as a love-struck teenager and her obsession with Edward are the main elements of the story. As she is seventeen, Bella is still naive over the concept of relationship. Due to being inexperienced, she does not realise the toxicity of her relationship and Twilight romanticises this which against the feminism idea. Bella is already emotionally unstable and Edward further abuses this by acting distant and often prioritising himself first. With this in mind, it can be argued that this particular text supports the ideology of men dominance over women in a relationship making the text as anti-feminist.

Furthermore, there are also several instances where Bella views Edward as physically more superior than her, pointing out his physical features as beautiful which she frequently fantasises. Bella’s descriptions of Edward are mainly emphasising her infatuation on him as if he is flawless. An obvious instance is when Bella describes Edward in the sunlight: “His skin, white despite the faint flush from yesterday's hunting trip, literally sparkled, like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in the surface.” his superior appearance is over-idealised by Bella, which implies the significance he has in her life and the extent of control that he has over her.

To summarise, the definition of feminism that is being applied here is equality for both genders, including challenging the ‘societal label’ that women have. Twilight is considered to be an anti-feminist text by taking into account several elements of the book that are Bella’s decisions, her conformity to traditional feminine roles and Edward’s domination in their relationship. It is indisputable that Twilight gathers numerous criticisms from feminists and anti-feminists alike due to the clashes in their definition of feminism. Hence, viewing Bella Swan as a feminist character role that other females should identify with may not be verifiable as she still lacks in the essence of how women in the post-feminism era should be.

References

• Bryson, S. (2017). Feminism and Vampires in Stephanie Meyer's The Twilight Saga: Bella Swan's Ability to Make Her Own Choices (Doctoral dissertation, Appalachian State University).
• Eddo-Lodge, R. (2013). The anti-feminist character of Bella Swan, or why the Twilight saga is regressive. Kritikos, 10(1).
• Fetters, A. (2012). At Its Core, the ‘Twilight’ Saga Is a Story About. Retrieved 7 March, 2019, from https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/11/at-its-core-the-twilight-saga-is-a-story-about/265328/
• Lovely, M. (2015). WOMEN’S STEREOTYPE AND MEN’S DOMINATION AS REFLECTED IN STEPHANIE MEYER’S THE TWILIGHT SERIES. Vivid Journal of Language and Literature, 2(1).
• Meyer, S. (2005) Twilight. New York: Little, Brown, and Company.
• Petersen, H. A. (2011). That Teenage Feeling, Feminist Media Studies, 12:1, 51-67, doi: 10.1080/14680777.2011.558348
• Renfro, A. (2017). Time to Set Bella Down: A Feminist Critique of Twilight. Retrieved 7 March, 2019, from https://medium.com/@ashleyrenfro_31357/time-to-set-bella-down-a-feminist-critique-of-twilight-b695a728556e
• Wilson, N. (2014). Seduced by Twilight: The allure and contradictory messages of the popular saga. McFarland.