Summary and Notes

Twilight reads as a social allegory. Paralleled with the story of white cowboys and Native Americans. Twilights race representations reveal how racial identities are constructed. White=goodness, heroism, superiority. Vampires are awarded more privileges. Whiteness works as a hidden system of advantage. Lifestyle of Edward and Jacob represent racial differences. Wolves are referred to as uncivilized pack versus the Cullens clan. Physical vs. mental dichotomy. Racism is the most naturalized of ideologies. Jacob is very degraded in the series.

Response
I read the Twilight series a few years ago, and although it is not my favorite series, I cannot pretend that I was not interested. However, I never had a thought of racism or underlying meanings that were pointed out in this chapter. I am a little upset because I would like to not see racial allusions all over the place. However, the examples given are very clear and I have no rebuttal for them. I dont really know how to respond did Stephanie Meyer realize what she was doing when she created the characters and chose to describe them in these specific ways? They are all assigned very specific roles. Surely she had to realize, but what does that say about her? An even scarier thought is that she did not realize at all; this prejudice is so innate that we do not even realize it is happening anymore. This is just another representation of our cultures faulty thinking.

Sams Response I never read the Twilight series, or knew much about them. However, after these points were mentioned by the writer (not Stephanie Meyer), I still have discontent for it. Good job. Draft You bring up both distinctive and vital points about monster characteristics with regard to Jaws and Chucky. I am curious to know what your impression of the movies The Dark Knight and Untraceable would be. Would those people count as different kinds of monsters?

Reflect I am glad to have given Sam some insight into the Twilight series, and something to consider even though he has never actually read the novels. Regarding my draft, I have never seen the movie Untraceable, but I would definitely consider the Joker and Harvey Dent to be monsters related to Chucky. Both of them have societal issues, fitting perfectly into my nurture aspect of my paper. These two beings were raised in our world and in the end, somewhere something went wrong.