I’ve never been a huge fan of the “Twilight” series. I used to think it was just because I wasn’t into fantasy, or vampires, or lengthy descriptions of what a certain person’s facial structure looks like. Now I realize that a lot of my animosity toward the series stems from the gender stereotypes used in the books and movies; a type of gender normativity I could never relate to.
I have to admit, I never read the books all the way through. I stopped 70 pages into the first one, because I simply couldn’t stand listening to Bells (played by Kristen Stewart in the films) gush about her sexual pull to this hot dude, Edward (Robert Pattinson).
When the movies came out, I thought I’d give them a try. Maybe they’d be better, or at least easier to get through.
Well, they were easier to get through, but they were also painful proponents of the same gender stereotypes that had been projected through Stephenie Meyer’s series of novels.
I couldn’t get over the directorial choices to make Bella appear weak. Her opinions were often entirely internalized and hardly ever vocalized, perpetuating the idea that as a teenage girl, she couldn’t speak about what was happening around her.
In the second film, “New Moon,” Bella becomes incredibly depressed and can only be taken out of her stupor when she aligns herself with a male counterpart, Jacob (Taylor Lautner). She becomes entirely reliant upon who could defend her and who couldn’t, and on which man shows her more affection.
In addition to the major components of Bella’s character — solely supporting a gender normative progression — the masculinity presented in the film verges on disgusting. Lautner needs to show off his muscles constantly to prove his masculinity to Bella, but more importantly, to viewers as well.
The choice to make Bella a damsel in distress is emphasized in Stewart’s performance, as well as the efforts to show that Bella will ultimately choose the man who appears most masculine in her eyes. While I can’t comment on the comparison of these film qualities compared to characteristics from the novel, I do know that the visual choices in the film made me hyper-aware of the gender no-nos and atrocities that Meyer originally thought up with her books.
Reach writer Rebecca Gross at arts@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @becsgross
