I Could Kill You Quite Easily, Bella, Simply by Accident : Violence and Romance in Stephenie Meyer\u27s Twilight Saga

This thesis argues that Stephenie Meyer\u27s Twilight saga is an exemplification of rape culture due to its valorization of romantic relationships that are psychologically abusive, violent, and ultimately destructive. In my analysis, I use a postmodern feminist framework to examine the four main books in the series: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. Specifically, focusing on how the female protagonist, Bella Swan, is portrayed, I interrogate the interactions with her two love interests, Edward Cullen and Jacob Black. I found that the romantic developments between Bella, Edward, and Jacob are depicted as violent and dangerous affairs that echo non-physically abusive relationships, ignore consent, and rely on implied threats of psychical violence to control Bella. In addition, these destructive aspects of the relationships are romanticized through their normalization, belittlement, and religious sacralization. Due to the series\u27 cultish following, the implications of marketing love as obsessive, violent, and all consuming is damaging to its audience when these relationships are being championed as reflections of true love