Advance Search

A vampire and a damsel in distress: A postfeminist analysis of selected female South African viewers’ perceptions of the romance between Bella and Edward in the film Twilight (2008)

A postfeminist analysis of selected female South African viewers’ perceptions of the romance between Bella and Edward in the film Twilight (2008)

Michele Tager
University of Johannesburg
Lauren Nell
University of Johannesburg
Keywords:
Copyright and Licensing:
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Share:

How to Cite

A vampire and a damsel in distress: A postfeminist analysis of selected female South African viewers’ perceptions of the romance between Bella and Edward in the film Twilight (2008). (2022). Communicare: Journal for Communication Studies in Africa, 35(1), 77-93. https://doi.org/10.36615/jcsa.v35i1.1603
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC
  • Articles
  • Submited: October 14, 2022
  • Published: October 17, 2022

Abstract

The film Twilight produced by Wyck Godfrey, Mark Morgan and Greg Mooradian and directed
by Catherine Hardwicke, enjoyed global box office success, and proved particularly popular
with female filmgoers. Despite the commercial success of the film, it was derided specifically
by feminist critics for its portrayal of women and heterosexual relationships. Within the context
of postfeminist views of gender roles, this article explores how selected female South African
viewers’ between the ages of 18 and 45 living in Johannesburg perceived the romance between
Edward and Bella in the film Twilight (2008). Participants were divided into age-determined focus
groups and each participant completed a questionnaire containing a list of questions around the
genre of the film, their feelings about individual characters and their reasons for watching the film.
Interview data in the form of quotes from individual participants has been included in the article.

pdf
pdf

Article Metrics Graph

Article Views | PDF Downloads
Chart Graph | Range Graph

References

  1. Adams, L. (2010). Bitten. Horn Book Magazine, 86(1):58-64.
  2. Ang, I. (1985). Watching Dallas: Soap opera and the melodramatic imagination. London: Methuen.
  3. Ang, I. (1996). Living room wars: Rethinking media audiences for a postmodern world. London: Routledge.
  4. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203289549
  5. Anonymous. (2010). Retrieved January 16, 2011, from http://www.womeninaction.co.za/statisticson-domestic-violence-inSouth-africa/
  6. Backstein, K. (2009). (Un)safe sex: Romancing the vampire. Cineaste, 35(1):38-41.
  7. Bethune, B. (2008). Love at first bite. Maclean's, 121(29):53-55.
  8. Bode, L. (2010). Transitional tastes: Teen girls and genre in the critical reception of Twilight. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 24(5):707-719. doi:10.1080/10304312.2010.505327
  9. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2010.505327
  10. Bolle, S. (2008, December 14). Why Twilight isn't for everybody. L.A. Times. Retrieved November 19, 2011, from http://www.latimes.com
  11. Branch, L. (2010). Carlisle's cross: locating the post-secular Gothic. In A.M. Clarke & M. Osborn (Eds.), The Twilight mystique: Critical essays on the novels and films (pp. 60-79). Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
  12. Brown, M.E. (1990). Conclusion: Consumption and resistance - the problem of pleasure. In M.E. Brown (Ed.), Television and women's culture: The politics of the popular. London: Sage.
  13. Campo, N. (2009). From superwomen to domestic goddesses: The rise and fall of feminism. Bern: Peter Lang.
  14. Croteau, D., Hoynes, W. & Milan, S. (2012). Media/society: Industries, images, and audiences. (4th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.
  15. Esposito, J. & Happel, A., (2010). Vampires, vixens, and feminists: An analysis of Twilight. Educational Studies, 46(5):524-531. doi:10.1080/00131946.2010.510411
  16. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2010.510411
  17. Genz, S. (2010). Singled out: Postfeminism's "New woman" and the dilemma of having it all. Journal of Popular Culture, 43(1):97-119. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5931.2010.00732.x
  18. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5931.2010.00732.x
  19. Gill, R. (2007). Gender and the media. Cambridge: Polity.
  20. Gillespie, M. (2005). Media audiences. London: Open University Press.
  21. Gobo, G. (2008). Doing ethnography. Los Angeles: Sage.
  22. https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857028976
  23. Godfrey, W., Mooradian, G., & Morgan, M. (Producers) & Hardwicke, C. (Director), (2008). Twilight. [Motion Picture]. USA: Summit Entertainment.
  24. Groper, J. (2011). Rewriting the Byronic hero: how the Twilight saga turned 'Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know' into a teen fiction phenomenon In A.M. Clarke. & M. Osborn (Eds.), The Twilight mystique: Critical essays on the novels and films (pp. 132-146). Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
  25. Harnois, C. (2008). Re-presenting feminisms: Past, present, and future. NWSA Journal, 20(1):120-145.
  26. Hobson, D. (1982). Crossroads: The drama of soap opera. London: Methuen.
  27. Housel, R. (2009a). The "real" danger: fact vs. fiction for the girl audience. In R. Housel & J.J. Wisnewski (Eds.), Twilight and philosophy: Vampires, vegetarians and the pursuit of immortality (pp.177-190). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
  28. Huffman, D.J. & Mann, S.A. (2005). The decentering of second wave feminism and the rise of the third wave. Science & Society, 69(1):56-91.
  29. https://doi.org/10.1521/siso.69.1.56.56799
  30. Jenson, J. (1992). Fandom as pathology: The consequences of characterization. In L.A. Lewis (Ed.), The adoring audience: Fan culture and popular media. London: Routledge.
  31. Katz, E. & Liebes, T. (1993). The export of meaning: Cross-cultural readings of Dallas. (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Polity Press.
  32. Kinser, A. E. (2004). Negotiating spaces For/Through third-wave feminism. NWSA Journal, 16(3):124-153.
  33. https://doi.org/10.2979/NWS.2004.16.3.124
  34. Klein, E.R. (2002). Undressing feminism: A philosophical expose. St Paul, MN: Paragon House.
  35. Kokkola, L. (2011). Virtuous vampires and voluptuous vamps: Romance conventions reconsidered in Stephenie Meyer's 'Twilight' series. Children's Literature in Education, 42(2):165-179. doi:10.1007/s10583-010-9125-9
  36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-010-9125-9
  37. Lezra, G. (2009, December 4). Feminism, Twilight and the end of the world. The Wesleyan Argus. Retrieved July 15, 2012, from http://wesleyanargus.com
  38. Mann, B. (2009). Vampire love: the second sex negotiates the Twenty-First Century. In R. Housel & J.J. Wisnewski (Eds.), Twilight and philosophy: vampires, vegetarians and the pursuit of immortality (pp.131-146). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
  39. McRobbie, A. (2009). The aftermath of feminism: Gender, culture and social change. London: Sage.
  40. Mendick, R. & Sawer, P. (2010). Success of Twilight films leads to boom in sales of fantasy novels. The Telegraph. Retrieved November 11, 2011, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk
  41. Miller, M. (2011). Maybe Edward is the most dangerous thing out there: the role of Patriarchy. In M. Parke & N. Wilson (Eds.), Theorizing Twilight: critical essays on what's at stake in a post-Vampire world (pp. 165-177). Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
  42. Morley, D. (1992). Television, audiences and cultural studies. London: Routledge.
  43. Myers, A.E. (2009). Edward Cullen and Bella Swan: Byronic and feminist heroes…or not. In R. Housel & J.J. Wisnewski (Eds.), Twilight and philosophy: vampires, vegetarians and the pursuit of immortality (pp.147-162). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
  44. Negra, D. & Tasker, Y. (2005). In focus: Postfeminism and contemporary media studies. Cinema Journal, 44:107-110. doi:10.1353/cj.2005.0012
  45. https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2005.0012
  46. Orr, C.M. (1997). Charting the currents of the third wave. Hypatia, 12(3):29.
  47. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.1997.tb00004.x
  48. Petersen, A.H. (2012). That teenage feeling. Feminist Media Studies, 12(1):51-67. doi:10.1080/14680777.2011.558348
  49. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2011.558348
  50. Pomerantz, D. (2010, June 28). Inside the Twilight empire. Forbes. Retrieved January 16, 2011, from http://www.forbes.com
  51. Press, A. (1995). Class and gender in the hegemonic process: Class differences in women's perceptions of television realism and identification with television characters. In O. Boyd-Barret & C. Newbold (Eds.), Approaches to media: A reader (pp. 420-429). New York: Arnold Press.
  52. Radway, J. (1984). Reading the Romance: Women, patriarchy and popular literature. North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press.
  53. Sax, L. (2008, August 17). 'Twilight' sinks its teeth into feminism. (Review of the motion picture Twilight). The Washington Post. Retrieved February 4, 2010, from http://www.washingtonpost.com
  54. Scanlon, J. (2009). Sexy from the start: Anticipatory elements of second wave feminism. Women's Studies, 38(2):127-150. doi:10.1080/00497870802634812
  55. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497870802634812
  56. Shachar, H. (2011). A post-feminist romance: Love, gender and intertextuality in Stephanie Meyer's saga. In M. Parke & N. Wilson (Eds.), Theorizing Twilight: critical essays on what's at stake in a post-Vampire world (pp. 147-161). Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
  57. Showden, C.R. (2009). What's political about the new feminisms? Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 30(2):166-198.
  58. https://doi.org/10.1353/fro.0.0056
  59. Taylor, A. (2012). 'The urge towards love is an urge towards (un)death': Romance, masochistic desire and postfeminism in the Twilight novels. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 15(1):31-46. doi:10.1177/1367877911399204
  60. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877911399204
  61. Taylor, J. (2014). Romance and the female gaze obscuring gendered violence in the Twilight saga. Feminist Media Studies, 14(3):388-402. doi:10.1080/14680777.2012.740493
  62. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2012.740493
  63. Turner, G. (2001). Cultural studies and film. In P. Church-Gibson & J. Hill (Eds.), Film studies: Critical approaches (pp. 193-199). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  64. Whelehan, I. (1995). Modern feminist thought: From the second wave to 'post-feminism'. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
  65. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748632084
  66. White, A. (2008, November 21). Twilight: Bronte never dies. (Review of the motion picture Twilight). New York Press. Retrieved November 13, 2011, from http://www.nypress.com
How to Cite
A vampire and a damsel in distress: A postfeminist analysis of selected female South African viewers’ perceptions of the romance between Bella and Edward in the film Twilight (2008). (2022). Communicare: Journal for Communication Studies in Africa, 35(1), 77-93. https://doi.org/10.36615/jcsa.v35i1.1603

Send mail to Author

Send Cancel

Custom technologies based on your needs

  • ORCID
  • Crossref
  • PubMed
    • Clarivate