Twilight and Philosophy

ffirs.indd vi 8/12/09 10:07:17 PM TWILIGHT AND PHILOSOPHY ffirs.indd i 8/12/09 10:07:16 PM The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series Series Editor: William Irwin South Park and Philosophy Batman and Philosophy Edited by Robert Arp Edited by Mark D. White and Robert Arp Metallica and Philosophy Edited by William Irwin House and Philosophy Edited by Henry Jacoby Family Guy and Philosophy Edited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski Watchmen and Philosophy Edited by Mark D. White The Daily Show and Philosophy Edited by Jason Holt X-Men and Philosophy Lost and Philosophy Edited by Rebecca Housel and Edited by Sharon Kaye J. Jeremy Wisnewski 24 and Philosophy Terminator and Philosophy Edited by Richard Davis, Jennifer Edited by Richard Brown and Hart Week, and Ronald Weed Kevin Decker Battlestar Galactica and Heroes and Philosophy Philosophy Edited by David Kyle Johnson Edited by Jason T. Eberl Final Fantasy and Philosophy The Offi ce and Philosophy Edited by Jason Blahuta and Edited by J. Jeremy Wisnewski Michel Beaulieu ffirs.indd ii 8/12/09 10:07:17 PM TWILIGHT AND PHILOSOPHY VAMPIRES, VEGETARIANS, AND THE PURSUIT OF IMMORTALITY Edited by Rebecca Housel and J. Jeremy Wisnewski John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ffirs.indd iii 8/12/09 10:07:17 PM This book is printed on acid-free paper. Copyright © 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans- mitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, record- ing, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750–8400, fax (978) 646–8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748–6011, fax (201) 748–6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and the author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and spe- cifi cally disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fi tness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profi t or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. For general information about our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762–2974, outside the United States at (317) 572–3993 or fax (317) 572–4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Twilight and philosophy : vampires, vegetarians, and the pursuit of immortality / edited by Rebecca Housel and J. Jeremy Wisnewski. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-470-48423-4 (pbk.) 1. Meyer, Stephenie, 1973- Twilight series. 2. Meyer, Stephenie, 1973— Philosophy. 3. Vampires in literature. 4. Immortality in literature. 5. Immortality (Philosophy) 6. Philosophy in literature. I. Housel, Rebecca. II. Wisnewski, Jeremy. PS3613.E979Z89 2009 813'.6—dc22 2009030809 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ffirs.indd iv 8/12/09 10:07:17 PM To Twilight fans of all ages, both living and undead. ffirs.indd v 8/12/09 10:07:17 PM ffirs.indd vi 8/12/09 10:07:17 PM CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Supernatural Humans We Can’t Live Without xi Introduction: Undead Wisdom 1 PART ONE TWILIGHT 1 You Look Good Enough to Eat: Love, Madness, and the Food Analogy 7 George A. Dunn 2 Dying to Eat: The Vegetarian Ethics of Twilight 25 Jean Kazez 3 Can a Vampire Be a Person? 39 Nicolas Michaud 4 Carlisle: More Compassionate Than a Speeding Bullet? 49 Andrew Terjesen and Jenny Terjesen PART TWO NEW MOON 5 Vampire-Dämmerung: What Can Twilight Tell Us about God? 63 Peter S. Fosl and Eli Fosl vii ftoc.indd vii 8/10/09 7:44:46 PM viii CONTENTS 6 To Bite or Not to Bite: Twilight, Immortality, and the Meaning of Life 79 Brendan Shea 7 Mind Reading and Morality: The Moral Hazards of Being Edward 93 Eric Silverman 8 Love and Authority among Wolves 107 Sara Worley PART THREE ECLIPSE 9 Bella Swan and Sarah Palin: All the Old Myths Are Not True 121 Naomi Zack 10 Vampire Love: The Second Sex Negotiates the Twenty-fi rst Century 131 Bonnie Mann 11 Edward Cullen and Bella Swan: Byronic and Feminist Heroes . or Not 147 Abigail E. Myers 12 Undead Patriarchy and the Possibility of Love 163 Leah McClimans and J. Jeremy Wisnewski 13 The “Real” Danger: Fact vs. Fiction for the Girl Audience 177 Rebecca Housel PART FOUR BREAKING DAWN 14 Twilight of an Idol: Our Fatal Attraction to Vampires 193 Jennifer L. McMahon ftoc.indd viii 8/10/09 7:44:46 PM CONTENTS ix 15 Bella’s Vampire Semiotics 209 Dennis Knepp 16 Space, Time, and Vampire Ontology 219 Philip Puszczalowski 17 For the Strength of Bella? Meyer, Vampires, and Mormonism 227 Marc E. Shaw 18 The Tao of Jacob 237 Rebecca Housel CONTRIBUTORS: Ladies and Gentlemen, Introducing the Stars of Our Show, Humans, Vampires, and Shape-Shifters Alike 247 INDEX: For Those Who Can’t Read Minds 253 ftoc.indd ix 8/10/09 7:44:46 PM ftoc.indd x 8/10/09 7:44:46 PM ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Supernatural Humans We Can’t Live Without Jeremy and Rebecca would like to collectively thank the contributors of this book for their extraordinary efforts, the team at Wiley who made this project come to life, including Connie Santisteban and Lisa Burstiner, and of course the series editor, William Irwin, for his incredible edito- rial instincts as well as his pop culture and philosophical prowess—are you sure you’re not a Cullen? Jeremy thanks his posse for their willingness to put up with endless nonsense and equally endless obsession. Thanks, Dorothy and Audrey. (He’d also like to thank his new son, Lucian Xavier Wisnewski, just because he wants the boy to be thanked in a book—it’s an auspicious start.) Jeremy also wants to thank Meg Lonergan for her patience with proof- reading and her toleration of quirks. She’s been a great help over the past couple of years. Rebecca conveys hearty appreciation to Laura Smith- Savoca and Jenny Geissler for prepurchasing Twilight tick- ets, getting to the theater early, and patiently waiting in line with all the tweens and teens so Rebecca could see the movie opening day—what an experience! She also thanks Stephenie Meyer for creating the Twilight universe, Stephen King for xi flast.indd Sec1:xi 8/10/09 7:44:08 PM xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS being a literary inspiration, and J. K. Rowling for helping to expand the possibilities of the middle-grade/young- adult genre. Abigail Myers gets a shout-out along with Derek Harrison, Ethan Schwartz, Jaime Freedman, and Marguerite Schwartz. Thanks to Mary Conley-Thomas and Eva Schwartz-Barson for being inspirational women who instill a love of story in all their grandchildren and great- grandchildren, and last but certainly not least, Gary, Bob, and Bell for all you do! flast.indd Sec1:xii 8/10/09 7:44:09 PM INTRODUCTION Undead Wisdom Freud once claimed that love and death mark the driving forces of human existence. Having fallen in love with the undead of Twilight , we might well say the same thing about this vampire tale. The Twilight books confront love and death, and so much more, in a way that facilitates a strange recognition — that the dead are indeed wise, and that they are sometimes wise in matters of the heart, even when that heart doesn ’ t beat. The strange beauty of Twilight lies here, as elsewhere: we are all faced with death, and we all desire to love. These two facts — one deeply unpleasant, the other quite pleasant — are evident in Twilight. This makes for great reading, and as you will soon see, it also provides great philosophical opportunities. Death is everywhere. It is between any two syllables, waiting to choke the fi nal breath out of you. It is a force like no other: inescapable, ineffable, and absolute — at least for mere mortals. Death captivates. It haunts. The thought that some- how death might not master us enchants the mind until we fi nd ourselves drawn again and again to the hope that we might escape our fate — by being made immortal vampires, 1 cintro.indd 1 8/10/09 7:45:44 PM 2 INTRODUCTION or fi nding an afterlife, or through a scientifi c “ cure ” for death. There is little as powerful as the thought of death, and probably little that motivates us in the way that our mortality does.

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