Let me preface this post by saying that I don't believe that Stephenie Meyer wrote the saga with the intention of writing feminist horror. However, I believe that is what she's created, and reading the books through a feminist Gothic horror lens is a rich literary experience.

The books take every aspect of the female experience and reflect them through a monstrous lens. Heterosexual dating, marriage and motherhood are depicted as literally horrific. Let's go book by book and look at some examples. (Trigger warning for abuse and violence)

Twilight

1. Equivalence of lust and violence. Women are taught that male sexual attention comes with the danger of becoming a target of male violence. In Twilight this is represented as literal bloodlust - Edward's attraction to Bella comes with a barely-controlled desire to literally kill her.

2. Female responsibility for male sexual appetite. There's a belief that men "struggle to control" themselves sexually, and women are trained to moderate their behaviour to avoid triggering this "loss of control" and getting hurt. In Bella's case, the risk is that Edward will literally kill her if she triggers him sexually. He almost kills her when she first tries to kiss him, and she's told that he would definitely kill her if she tries to have sex with him.

3. Stalking. James's behaviour follows classic stalking patterns, but made even more monstrous and terrifying because of his tracking powers. Once he becomes obsessed with Bella, he can track her to the ends of the earth and there is no way for her to escape him.

4. Male strength. Most women are very conscious of the physical strength differential between men and women, especially in dating and sexual situations. This is amplified a hundredfold in Twilight - Edward could literally snap Bella like a twig without the slightest effort, and is considerably faster too. It's highlighted when he asks "do you think you could outrun me? Do you think you could fight me off?"

New Moon

1. Horror of aging. Bella develops a horror of becoming even one year older. There is a nightmare sequence that consists solely of her developing wrinkles and white hair. She wants nothing more than to stay eternally young and beautiful as a vampire.

2. Male rage. The shifters can be triggered into extreme uncontrollable violence if they experience anger. I see this as an alternative version of the vampires' bloodlust. Instead of playing on the idea of men "losing control" of sexual desire triggering violence, instead this plays on the idea of men "losing control" of their temper and being unable to resist violence.

3. Domestic violence. Related to the previous point... Victims of domestic violence are often made to feel guilty and pressured to forgive their abuser because "he couldn't help it". This is exactly what happens to Emily - her whole community tells her that the incident which scarred her isn't Sam's fault and he "couldn't help" his temper. The wolf mythology means that rejecting this explanation means rejecting her culture.

4. Monogamy. This book takes monogamy to an extreme that becomes horrific. On the vampire side, we learn that they can only fall in love once and there is no moving on afterwards... to the point that Edward becomes suicidal when he thinks Bella is gone. On the shifter side, monogamy takes a different horrific form, imprinting. This goes even further than vampire monogamy - imprints undergo a complete personality change and basically become a willing slave to their imprintee.

Eclipse

1. Marriage. This book is intensely concerned with the commitment of marriage, and in the saga this is amplified due to vampirism. Heterosexual marriage for women is typically associated with an identity shift: changing her name, going from Miss to Mrs, and in many cultures becoming the "property" of a husband instead of a father. It's also often marked out by cosmetic signifiers like different clothing or accessories. For Bella, marrying Edward goes along with the biggest possible identity shift of literally changing species and becoming a vampire. She will become physically unrecognizable. And not only will she leave her family on a conceptual level, she will literally become "dead" to her parents and never see them again.

2. Male jealousy. Another major theme of this book is male sexual jealousy, possessiveness, and protection. Again, Stephenie Meyer delivers this in a more heightened and monstrous form by making Bella a physically helpless pawn caught between these two monsterised forms of male violence: Jacob wants to protect her from Edward and Edward wants to protect her from Jacob, and she's in danger from both (as well as Victoria, the ultimate crazy wronged woman). She becomes an artefact of the Quileute-Cullen treaty, literally treated like a piece of property to be argued over.

Breaking Dawn

1. Pregnancy. Bella's pregnancy with Renesmee is such a horrific twist on many of the realities of pregnancy... the fetus literally drains her to the point of death. Instead of normal cravings she craves human blood.

2. Childbirth. The way Renesmee is delivered is a more horrific version of the most traumatic C-section... her spine is broken and her uterus literally gets ripped open with hands and teeth. She then experiences paralysis during anaesthesia when Carlisle gives her morphine, being unable to speak or move but fully able to feel the pain of vampire transformation.

3. Mommy makeover/bounce back/cosmetic enhancement. Bella is able to immediately "bounce back" after her pregnancy (and actually becomes more beautiful), but at the price of a horrific ordeal which feels like literally being burned alive for three days. When she wakes up, she experiences an"uncanny valley" experience looking in the mirror, where she is barely able to recognize herself.

4. Motherhood as martyrdom. The ideal of motherhood is that women are expected to sacrifice everything for their children without complaining, up to and including their life and health. When Bella becomes pregnant it almost seems like she undergoes a form of mind control where she has no care for her own life and is happy about the prospect of dying for her child. She becomes a perfect smiling mother-martyr. I think it's meaningful that we see this part of the book through Jacob's perspective and to him it really seems like Bella has been lobotomized.

All the violent and coercive aspects of patriarchy are represented in the books, but made even more violent and horrific through the use of supernatural metaphor. And all of this is underpinned by the extreme forms of gendered violence and trauma that pretty much all the female side characters experience. From Alice's institutionalisation and stalking, to Esme's domestic violence and postpartum depression, to Rosalie's violent sexual assault, to Emily's physical abuse, to the gender dysphoria Leah experiences as a shifter, to the Quileute third wife whose only form of agency is suicide.

Does this take on the books resonate with anyone else, and does anyone else enjoy reading the saga through this lens?

I bought this Alex & Ani Twilight charm bracelet. I love it! I like how it's subtle. 🥰

I have an opinion about the first film, (never read the book fully so please don’t crucify me lol) but that scene where The Cullens + Bella were playing football and get interrupted by Laurent, Victoria & James, James obviously sensed something was off about Bella as we can see through his attention and body language, yet he was willing to back off before the gust of window gave Bella’s scent away. HOWEVER, and this may not even be unpopular or untrue, I believe James was going to still hunt Bella even before he got her scent, she was prey from the beginning when exposed to him. While when he got a whiff of her, he completely freaked out and tried to attack so that done debunk my theory about him knowing she’s a human all along and still going through,

BUT, what if after they all left & let the Cullens continue their game, he stalked them because of his suspicion and then followed Bella home after that? I could totally see that happening. Him getting away from Victoria or Laurent with whatever excuse, then secretly watching the Cullens play from the woods or somewhere in the distant until it’s time to go. I do wonder if he’d wait & stalk her for a bit because of the thrill or just go all in? Idk, just a run theory!

I know her blood “sings” to him, so maybe he would still like her. But putting that aside, would Edward have been interested in Bella if he had access to her thoughts all along?

I think they have some shared interests and he’d still be physically attracted to her.

But, without access to her thoughts, Edward can project whatever he wants to on to her. He can imagine her thoughts to be anything. He can more easily create a fantasy of her, whereas he sees other people for exactly who they are.

He thinks other girls are annoying and/or have shallow thoughts, but Bella has many of the same thoughts as them. How would he feel if he knew how similar Bella was to other girls around her?

Basically, do you think her being the only “mysterious” person in his life attracts him to her or do you think he would genuinely care to get to know her regardless?

I finally managed to put movies on my iPod 7th gen and I just love watching twilight on this device. Like a really good throwback…

The Cullens move from town to town but do they always pick smaller cities or less populated areas? It seems to me that being in a bigger city would attract less attention.

After finishing midnight sun, I have to say it was more interesting than the Twilight book. Edward's mind reading gave more depth to characters than the previous books.

Bella is actually portrayed as more interesting. Her personality and kindress shines better in this book Jessica's character however got completely assassinated, which seemed to be a theme for the women in this book.

The insights of the Cullen family is fascinating. They dont seem to me as...close as we previously thought. It seemed less like a 'family' and more as mates staying in a coven of their creators making. Most do obviously care about one another such as Edward with Alice, Emmett, Carlilse & Esme.

The Rosalie & Edward like/hatred dynamic was interesting everytime it came up.

Rosalie's vanity and cruelty got written to ridiculous levels and part of me wonders if it was Edwards old fashioned and self important bias or Stephanies anti blonde bias that portrayed her this way. Either way I was completely team Rosalie 100% of the way and agree with her that bella should have either died, turned or be left alone as per the volturi rules.

Esme is just pure boy mom. Her favouritism towards Edward was uncomfortable at times. I always assumed it was Carlisle who favoured him, but I believe Esme would sell out all the other of her "children" out for Edward if made to choose.

Carlisle seemed...almost the most seperate from humanity for me for some reason.

His virtue and kindness was preached for many however there just seemed something...off about him. (Him drugging a woman and leaving her on the side of the road is a whole other story)

The explanation of Alice and Jasper's gifts were brilliant. It really shows how valuable and dangerous Jasper's gift could be.

As for Eddie....hes just a moody 17 year old boy that happs to have lived for centuries without really growing up any and has no care of people's mental or physical boundaries.

I know it's been said on the sub and on a lot of other fan sites that I've seen, but I don't think that charlie, and bella, could stop Renee from finding out that Bella was okay and/or about having a granddaughter in Renesmee. I can see a picture of Bella and Charlie together, or even Bella, Charlie, and Renesmee made together, leaking somewhere on social media in an AC unit and somehow getting brought into the circle. I think that would be rather disastrous if that happened because her name is not the kind to keep her mouth shut if she sees something odd. However, I think if she wanted to keep her daughter safe, she would make a great effort to. What do you guys think?

Just finished learning the whole song, I hope you enjoy!

Wanted to share this here! Currently firing a couple Jacob mugs. 🙈

Hello is anyone going to twilight rave tomorrow?
I’m going alone ,would be cool to join some group or someone going alone🫶🏼

For context, I read these books when I was around 12/13. My mom bought me the books bc she as a general rule bought me all the books I asked for bc reading was always something that was highly praised in my home. The books were a hit with teenagers, the movies were coming out, she didn’t really give it much thought (I’m not blaming her or anything). In the past few weeks, it came back into my life via book club, and I’ve dissected it with my friend. I now realize that it normalized for me some behaviors that now at age 29, I recognize as being so fucked up (mostly Bella and the way she does not advocate for herself and will fold to Edward in order to keep him…even sex, which is something she wants, he only gives as part of a negotiation to get marriage). I don’t have kids myself, but in consideration of my hypothetical offsprings, I would not let a young impressionable mind read this, I’d view it or read it with an older teenager as a cautionary tale…but I absolutely would not let my kid just read this without adding in my two cents on everything that’s wrong with it. That being said I’m a huge fan and wanna go to the forks experience, so, just take this as my midnight musings.

the weirder the better as I could do with a good laugh! I’ll go first to get the ball rolling ….

- lowkey ship Carlisle and Bella (yeah I admit the scene in New Moon film may have swayed this for me) but we have to remember that Carlisle is actually 23 in the books so not MASSIVELY older than Bella, however Bella being a minor obviously does change things so idk maybe that’s kind of weird the more I think about it, in my mind she would be maybe about 18/19 to make it less weird.

- DON’T ASK ME WHY but I would love an alternate storyline where Edward is able to turn human.

- I can’t explain it but I feel as if Mike would always just smell, not of body odour just a sort of musky smell idk

I did a twilight cake and it was a success!!

I saw a clip used in a video essay on YouTube but I cannot find the full interview it anywhere. Reverse image search brings up a completely different Time interview. I'm starting to wonder if this interview ever happened at all. Is the Mandela Effect real? It seems to be lost media but I can't imagine why.

I was thinking about the fact that they don’t sweat, or have any bodily fluids that could soil clothing. They also don’t have to worry about germs and getting sick. Dust comes from mostly dead skin cells which they don’t shed - and might even be gone in the wind with how fast they run.

They also don’t seem to make a mess while hunting.
In Breaking Dawn, Bella states “I brought down a large buck, making nearly as much of a mess as I had with the lion. He’d finished with two
before I was done with the first, not a hair ruffled, not a spot on his white shirt.”

I wonder if Carlisle washes more often because of his profession, and possible patient germs spreading. I’m not sure how well/long germs can live on clothing.

Wait now that I’m thinking about clothing, did they just go through tons of shoes from running? lol

Mckenna Grace as Rosalie?

Hi everyone! I tried posting this yesterday but I am somehow ill-equipped to do much on Reddit besides scroll and comment once in awhile. So this is technically my first ever post and I only sorta know what I'm doing (please be kind)! I've been thinking for awhile about Twilight movie casting, if it were remade for 2026.

What do you all think of Mckenna Grace as Rosalie? When I see her in the Katniss-inspired wedding dress for her Hunger Games Sunrise on the Reaping tour (she plays Maysilee Donner), it especially reminds me of Rosalie in her (revenge) wedding dress.

On another note, I did go to the Twilight and New Moon premieres in Westwood back in the day and would love to chat about that, maybe in another post.

Hi I’m 26 now and I’ve been loving the world of twilight since I was a teenager. I use to have those cosy watch partys when movies came out. I didn’t appreciate the story as much back then as I do now. I especially love the whole vibe and the cosy feelings I get from the small town in the fall. I hated the rainy and cold seasons but because of Twilight I started appreciating them more. I met the actors last weekend and I’m thinking about getting it tatooed (what they drew for me). And that made me think, how would other people react to this.
Twilight is after all a story for young adults. How do you guys feel about loving the saga as much as you do now you’re past the age ‘it’s okey’ to love it?
I feel some sort of shame around it, thats why I wanted to discuss this, maybe I’m not the only one.
It’s weird because if a friend came to me and told me they liked something that’s for a younger audience, I would encourage it. But it feels really vulnerable, because it means so much to me.
I would love to hear what your experience is and if you have any advice its more than welcome

Let's be clear. Throughout the saga, the Volturi have been portrayed as an ancient, ruthless, calculating, and terrifying mafia that rules the vampire world with an iron fist. They destroy entire clans and massacre anyone on the slightest suspicion of jeopardizing the Statute of Secrecy.

But if you stop to analyze their decisions—starting with New Moon—you realize they're laughable villains with a tremendous lack of tactical vision, solely focused on protecting the protagonists' plot armor.

If Aro were a real, Machiavellian leader, he would consider this:

>Bella's threat: In Twilight, it's revealed that Edward's gift doesn't work on Bella, and we already know where that leads. A fragile human being stands before Aro, and if she's turned into a vampire, she develops a mental shield that nullifies all psychic powers (Jane's pain, Alec's blackout, Chelsea's control, or Aro's mind-reading). If you're an ancient dictatorship whose power rests on absolute control and the tactical advantage of your gifts, an anti-missile individual like this is a direct threat to your empire, no matter how shiny a Pokémon they are.

>The Cullens are a headache: a large clan, with pretensions of being a moralistic family, who do whatever they please, play at being eternal teenagers in a public school, and risk their secret every time the sun shines. The joke writes itself!

>The masterstroke Aro should have made: A competent leader doesn't say, "Oh, what a fascinating shield, how adorable this vegetarian family is." If Aro were a true strategist, the move was crystal clear:

Get rid of Bella right there before she becomes an uncontrollable problem.

Edward becomes collateral damage if a fight is started. It's a shame to lose the mind reader, but the Volturi don't really lose anything because Edward would never have agreed to join their ranks anyway xDD

You take Alice hostage, using Chelsea's gift to manipulate her emotions and ensure the rest of the Cullens stay quiet and don't do anything foolish for fear of losing their sister.

Problem solved. The Volturi maintain their hegemony, and the vampire world remains safe from uncontrollable anomalies.

Instead, they prefer to spare their lives, ignore the enormous risks, and let some immune "teenagers" constantly make fools of them. Let them play house, have a wedding, and all that! Wonderful! The Cullens have an unbearable level of group Mary Sue, but the villains suffering from chronic stupidity for the sake of the plot is just the last straw.

Am I the only one deeply bothered by how utterly inept the supposed "masters of the vampire world" are?

I’m rewatching the films and in Breaking Dawn part 2 I’m lowkey getting the impression that Bella doesn’t really care about Renesmee that much? She’s too busy being a vampire and shagging Edward while everyone else takes care of the baby. I know there’s probably a risk as Bella is a newborn vampire and the baby has blood circulation, but at the same time i just don’t get the vibe that there is any bond between Renesmee and her parents. Thoughts?

just read twilight for the first time and enjoyed it. how recommended is it to read the saga in order?? new moon isnt my favorite but idk if skipping around would be confusing. also would midnight sun be a good read next or is going in release order better? im so curious about that book!

created a new reddit account to join this sub lol

What are some moments/scenes in the movies, whether or not it‘s cringe, intense, awkward, uncomfortable, etc. any scene that you feel a certain way, that you can’t bear to watch or look away immediately when it happens? On first watch and rewatch. And still can’t bear to see/hear on rewatch?

I can't put my finger on exactly/specifically what it is. I watched the movies for the first time in many years a few weeks ago and I literally can't stop thinking about it. She's clearly a very beautiful woman but something about the scene where we first meet her has me absolutely captivated, like she is the most beautiful human or vampire in the whole series here. I know I sound like a weird simp, I'm an adult woman with a husband but yeah I don't know why I am so captivated by this. Just breathtaking. This is probably a little weird to post but I wanted to see if anyone else had that same reaction. I rewinded to watch it multiple times because my jaw was on the floor and I'm literally still thinking about it regularly weeks later 😭