CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS

THESIS SIGNATURE PAGE

THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE

MASTER OF ARTS

IN

LITERATURE AND WRITING STUDIES

THESIS TITLE: True Love's Bite: The Twilight Saga as Fairy Tale and Media

Virus

AUTHOR: Colette Marie Murphy

DATE OF SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE: November 17, 2010

THE THESIS HAS BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE THESIS COMMITTEE IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN LITERATURE AND WRITING STUDIES.

Dr. Martha Stoddard Holmes THESIS COMMITTEE CHAIR

Dr. Heidi Breuer II I I,.., I '0 THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER ~ Dr. Natalie Wilson dtdJk til JfrL 11117/10 THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER SIGNATURE I DftE

1

Abstract

Regardless of whether or not we read fairy tales or horror stories, we are

acculturated with the structure, motifs, and moral expectations and lessons

that accompany these genres. As the traditions morph over time, society

learns and maintains assumptions about the characters and the plots that are

featured within both types of stories. In the Twilight saga, Stephenie Meyer

creates texts that feature supernatural characters most commonly associated

with horror stories; however, the saga's plot structure is easily mapped onto

Vladimir Propp's thirty one functions of the fairy tale. By manipulating our

expectations of the vampire story and turning it into a fairy tale, Meyer has

written her texts to be consumed by a culture that is primed to be receptive of

this familiar plot structure, which allows Meyer's moral and cultural themes

to infiltrate consumers cultural DNA, and positions the Twilight saga to be

what Douglas Rushkoff defines as a media virus. As the virus spreads,

questions arise as to how the Twilight saga will infect its audience,

particularly the young adult females that make up the primary fan base.

Keywords: Stephenie Meyer, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn,

Midnight Sun, vampires, fairy tales, media virus, Bella Swan, Edward Cullen 2

True Love's Bite: The Twilight Saga as Fairy Tale and Media Virus

Colette Marie Murphy 3

There must be possible a fiction which, leaving sociology and case histories to scientists, can arrive at a truth about the human condition, here and now, with all the bright magic of the fairy tale.

Ralph Ellison 4

Dedication

To Kelly McKinney, Colleen Hosking, and Shawn Murphy For every ticket you bought to see one of the films with me For every page of the saga you read or listened to me read aloud For every crazy Twilight-themed adventure we embarked upon For every rational and irrational idea you listened to of mine For every tear you dried and every laugh you inspired I thank you 5

Acknowledgements

Part of the joy and part of the humor of writing the acknowledgements section is that it has been as much of a process as writing the thesis itself. In fact, in many moments it provided a nice avenue for procrastination. But the truth is that this thesis would have never been written if it weren't for the people mentioned in this section.

To kick it off, I have to thank the woman behind the saga, Stephenie

Meyer. I've never met Meyer, but I am eternally grateful to her imagination.

I'm also thankful she published her "playlists" that she listened to when she wrote the saga; those same playlists served as my background music while writing this piece. So Stephenie Meyer, thank you for bringing Bella, Edward,

Jacob, and the rest of Forks (and Voleterra and Isle Esme) into the world and, subsequently, into my life. I am a changed woman because of it.

I would like to thank my compatriots in the graduate program for their feedback, insight, and most of all, support. I have learned so much from each and every one of you, both in and out of the classroom. To all my fellow consultants in the Writing Center (and of course, to Erin Goldin): you also somehow got dragged in to this. Thanks for letting me read aloud sentence 6

after sentence, paragraph after paragraph, and for asking me insightful

questions along the way.

Next I need to thank my dear friends who were a part of this process

whether they wanted to be or not! To Alexis Barry, April Anderson, Cassie

Lochard Brown, Colleen Hosking, Jamie Ward, Lauren Kubota, Lauren

Mecucci, and Maya Cano - thank you for giving me an outlet outside of

school and away from Twilight (no matter how many times we ended up

talking about it anyway). You are such amazing women, and you inspire me

on a daily basis. I also have to thank all sides of my family (McKinney, Cross,

Murphy, Tillman, and beyond) for your constant encouragement and your

willingness to pick up these books so you could be informed about this crazy

project I kept talking about during gatherings and holidays. Thank you.

To my awesome little brothers, Jay and Michael McKinney- having

you both at CSUSM with me during this process has made this experience all

the more memorable and worthwhile. I love you guys. To my amazing mom,

Kelly McKinney, I can't possibly begin to explain how much your support has meant. Thanks for always believing in every single one of my ideas, no matter how irrational or far-fetched they may seem. And of course, to my 7 amazing husband Shawn Murphy, I have to say thank you for not running away screaming during all of the stressful moments of this process! Even more than that, thank you for feeding this wild obsession and for being okay with Twilight merchandise crowding the shelves (and sometimes walls) of our apartment. Most of all, thank you for showing me what true love looks like outside of a novel and that fairy tales can come true. I love you.

Last, but definitely not least, I have to give thanks to the members of my thesis committee. Sincere thanks go to Dr. Heidi Breuer and Dr. Natalie

Wilson, who spent much of this process encouraging me to think bigger and write better. I have changed so much as a scholar because of your feedback and direction. Thank you both for being part of the journey. Finally, to the chair of my committee, Dr. Martha Stoddard Holmes- there aren't enough words to describe my gratitude for your patience, understanding, support, knowledge, guidance and all around help during the past 2.5 years. Thank you for being a mentor and friend (and for feeding me shortbread cookies!). I hope one day I can change students' lives the way you have changed mine.

-Colette Marie Murphy, Fall2010 8

Table of Contents

Introduction "What if it's All True- the Fairy Tales and Horror Stories?": Becoming Addicted to Twilight and Finding its Place in Popular Culture

Chapter One "And So the Lion Fell in Love with the Lamb ... ": Edward Cullen and Isabella Swan, Fairy Tale Heroes

Chapter Two "Every Cell in My Body Ached to Deny It": Pop Culture's Love Affair with a Vampire and the Transmission of a Media Virus

Conclusion "The Venom Had Burned Ahead": The Irreversible Transformation and the Continuing Twilight Conversation

Works Cited 9

Introduction 11What if it's All True? The Fairy Tales and Horror Stories?": Becoming Addicted to Twilight and Finding its Place in Popular Culture

I am terrified of vampires. I have been since I was eight years old and

I attended the birthday/slumber party of my two friends, Caitlin and Cory.

Around 9:00 p.m., in order to get a group of rowdy second graders to quiet

down, their mother turned on the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Despite the

fact that the movie was a comedy, and despite the fact that we eight year olds

spent most of our time trying to memorize the "How Funky Is Your

Chicken?" cheer, I internalized a grave fear of the undead. 1 From that

moment forward, I hated being outside alone in the dark. So I am still unsure

of what compelled me, twelve years later, to enroll in a course at the

University of California San Diego titled "Vampire Films." I enrolled in the

course with my roommate Colleen. We made it through the original Nosferatu

and Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula. Then we dropped the class,

openly admitting we were simply too scared to continue. 2 Needless to say, I

1 No pun intended. 2 To this day, we both claim that we would have continued taking this class if it had been at a different time (it was originally 7:00-9:50 p.m. in Winter Quarter) or in a different location (it was in Center Hall on the edge of the campus Eucalyptus Grove). But I actually doubt this to be the case; we were really frightened. 10 never would have expected that the thing I feared the most would become the central focus of my graduate thesis.

In late 2007, I heard about a trip my friend Erin had taken to Portland,

Oregon to try and crash a film set of a new teen vampire movie that was going to be released in 2008. I was interested only because I have always wanted to be on a movie set; the topic of the film did not interest me one bit.

When Erin returned she posted pictures of her trip on the social networking site MySpace. The only person I recognized in her pictures was Peter

Faccinelli who had starred in the 1998 film Can't Hardly Wait. I could not comprehend why she and four other women drove the California coast to see someone who had not had a hit film in almost ten years. The captions of

Erin's photos read things like "Bella's Truck!!!" or "I think that's the bio lab."

Not having been exposed to the Twilight saga at all at this point, I didn't understand the significance of these quips nor did I understand the excitement associated with the props and sets.

Erin begged me to read the books. She assured me I would love them. I told her she was nuts. Still, I could not help but notice that every time I entered a bookstore, more and more Twilight merchandise seemed to be 11 popping up. In August of 2008, I heard that both my local bookstores would be hosting midnight release parties for the fourth book in the saga, Breaking

Dawn. I began hearing more and more about the film adaptation of the first book, Twilight, which would be released in November of that same year. It seemed like the more I tried to avoid the Cullens (whoever they were), the more they seemed to appear in front of me. I still was not convinced, but I was definitely more interested.

On August 17, 2008 (my twenty-fifth birthday), I received a gift card to Amazon.com for $75. At this time, I had recently left my full-time job as an academic advisor at UCSD and was preparing to start my graduate program in Literature and Writing Studies at California State University, San Marcos. I wanted some easy summer reading to entertain me during the two week break. By this point, curiosity had the best of me. More and more people I knew were reading (and enjoying!) the Twilight saga and I felt left out of the bigger pop culture conversation. To me, this was simply unacceptable. As a scholar of both Literature and Mass Communication and Media Studies, I pride myself on at least having awareness and understanding of the current pop culture consciousness. The more I heard about the saga, the easier it 12 became to convince myself that a teen love story about vampires couldn't be that scary. Of course, this was the same logic I used to convince myself that I wanted to take a class called "Vampire Films," so I did maintain some level of preparedness to abandon the books the second I got scared. Still, I logged on to Amazon and ordered Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. 3

Since the gift certificate was able to cover the costs, I decided to pay for expedited shipping as well.

The day that the books arrived, my (now) sister-in-law Laura and her friend Elizabeth were visiting. The three of us had decided to spend an afternoon by the pool in my apartment complex. I grabbed the first book in the saga, Twilight, and headed outside. Over the next four days, I read all four books. I stopped only for meals, a small amount of sleep, and once to go to line dancing with Laura, Elizabeth, my (now) husband Shawn, and my (now) father-in-law Patrick. On the third day, at 3:15 a.m., I remember Shawn coming into the living room and asking me if I was planning on coming to bed. I promised I would at the end of the next chapter. I ended up finishing

3 Amusingly, I did order one other book with this purchase. I ordered Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman. How different this thesis might be if I had decided to read that book first. 13 the book (I was reading Eclipse at that point) and not coming to bed until the sun was already rising.

The next week I went to the Graduate Student Mixer at CSUSM. I still had Twilight burning in my brain (in fact, I had already begun rereading the series and was on New Moon again). During the mixer, I asked Dr. Martha

Stoddard Holmes about selecting thesis topics. She assured me that we could choose just about anything relevant to the field of Literature and Writing

Studies. 4 I knew in that moment I would be writing this piece. There was something about Twilight that captivated me in ways I, the self-proclaimed vampire-hater, never expected. I needed to figure out why that was happening. After numerous failed research projects and thesis proposals, I decided to go back to the core of my fear/dislike of vampires and try to figure out why Twilight was different.

There were a few truths about myself that played heavily into what I discovered. One, I hate horror stories. I avoid anything scary at all costs,

4 Per Martha's comments on an early draft of this thesis, it's important to note for current and future LTWR students that she meant "anything within reason." I am absolutely sure that if I came and asked if I could write about Mathematics Education or Graph Theory, she would have advised me to consider applying to a different department ... unless, of course, I could tie Graph Theory to a novel like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime or something ... 14 especially things with vampires.5 Two, I love all things Disney. I love princesses and happy endings. The more I looked at this binary within myself, the more I found myself mapping the Twilight saga against these personal assumptions. My own interaction with the genres of horror stories and fairy tales compelled me to consider how the Twilight saga existed within or between these categories. Much of the general audience response to

Twilight comes from a personal connection to the books or association with the characters. Since the core of this project came from my own personal interaction with the saga, I have chosen to include my first-person perspective and journey with the text because, as a feminist scholar, I believe in the power of the personal voice in scholarship.6 While examining my reaction to the texts, through this process it became apparent to me that

Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn are often mistakenly pigeon-holed into the genre of horror since the main characters of the story happen to be vampires and werewolves. Upon closer examination it appears that the series is more appropriately situated within the genre of

5 Well, until recently, I suppose. 6 See, for example, Rabinowitz, "Personal Voice/Feminist Voice"; Burghardt and Colbeck, "Women's Studies Faculty at the Intersection of Institutional Power and Feminist Values"; and Hart, "Mobilization Among Women Academics: The Interplay Between Feminism and Professionalism" 15

fairy tales, though it blends the tradition of the fairy tale with some of the

expectations inherent to the vampire story.

The Twilight saga closely mirrors the classic fairy tale traditions

defined by Vladimir Propp in Morphology of the Folktale which explains

"functions of characters serve as stable, constant elements in a tale,

independent of how and by whom they are fulfilled. They constitute the

fundamental components of a tale" (21). Propp's assertion is that texts that

are identified as fairy tales follow the same set of character functions in the

same linear order, and that the following of these functions is what identifies

a story as a folk/fairy tale. This is true even for stories by authors like Angela

Carter or Anne Sexton, who invert or challenge the older versions of stories

by the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Anderson. In order for a story to be

classified as a folk/fairy tale, it must follow most if not all of Propp's

functions. These functions as outlined by Propp strongly influence my

assertion that Meyer is disguising a fairy tale in vampire's clothing, which has

contributed to the popularity of the series and the favorable reception of its characters by a predominantly female audience, the same demographic audience that is often targeted with folk/fairy tales. Though it is not just the 16

structure of the fairy tale that Twilight embodies; the morals and themes often

present in fairy tales, and the reactions that the stories inspire in readers, are

also present in the saga. By using my own stories in this document, I will be

providing an example of how female audience members interact with the

novels and movies; this interaction with the texts and the reactions from

audience members are what I assert position the Twilight saga to become

what popular culture theorist and critic Douglas Rushkoff defines as a media

virus, holding the attention of our pop culture consciousness and capturing

international attention.

My own personal struggles with why and how I enjoyed the series

despite my admitted fear and dislike of vampires inspired further

investigation into how Twilight functions as a fairy tale while blending and

borrowing traditions of a horror story. In order to understand how Twilight

operates in this way, it is first important to understand the basic features of

fairy tales, specifically those that feature a hero/heroine on a quest that results in marriage, and horror stories, specifically stories that center on the character of the vampire. While this understanding is grounded in literary tradition, it is also important to understand the assumptions that are culturally inherent 17

and the "knowledge" we as readers may have about these types of stories

and characters even without exposure to the original texts. 7 Without ever

reading or seeing a text featuring vampires, there is a cultural expectation

that vampires are representative of evil and darkness. The representation of

evil assumes a religious foundation; since vampires are immortal, they can

never ascend to heaven. Things that are evil are culturally assumed to be

shrouded in darkness or night, which in the case of vampires is emphasized

by the fact that they are unable to come out in sunlight and sleep in coffins

during the day. Humans have specific means of avoiding or defeating

vampires; vampires are supposedly repelled by garlic and crosses, and can be

killed by sunlight or a stake through the heart. Similar to the assumptions

about vampires, there is what can be best referred to as common knowledge about fairy tales pervasive in Western culture. Some of these most basic assumptions for the fairy tale are that there will be a hero who will overcome a great challenge or series of tests and a beautiful girl who will become betrothed to the prince. Usually, the contract between the prince and the new princess is sealed with what we've come to know as "true love's kiss." There

7 In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Meyer admitted never having read Bram Stoker's Dracula or watching any vampire films, including Lost Boys or Interview with the Vampire (Kirschling n.p.). 18

is also an assumed promise of the protagonists living happily ever after once

the villain is defeated. Above all, there is a magical element present in the

story, elevating the tale beyond the everyday and into fantasy.

While Twilight functions mostly as a fairy tale, it cannot be ignored that

the novels do exhibit some of the traits seen in horror stories about vampires.

In almost all vampire stories, the character of the vampire represents the evil

other. Human characters, for the most part, do not desire immortality, nor do

they willingly seek to consort with the vampire. 8 Sue Ellen Case in /(Tracking

the Vampire" explains that the vampire's position, both in literature and in

society, is seen as that of 11the one who waits, strikes, and soils the living, pure

blood ... who destroys not only himself but his lovers" (386). Case's choice of

the word II soils" is a double entendre. It references the earth itself, bringing

forward images of graves and death. Case's use of II destroys" contributes to

the long held perception of the vampire as sinister. Despite this negative

characterization, there is also an allure and appeal associated with the vampire, since vampire characters usually were wealthy. The first short story

8 This has changed in more recent stories from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Some examples include the interviewer in Interview with the Vampire or the charmingly-named "fang bangers" from Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels and the HBO series True Blood, which is based on Harris's characters. 19

written in English about a vampire, "The Vampyre" by John William

Polidori, was published in 1819. The introduction to Polidori's short story

published by Forgotten Books explains how this tale "transformed the vampire

from a character in folklore into the form we recognize today - an aristocratic

fiend who preys among high society" (vii). The rich, elite vampire can be

contrasted with the prince in fairy tales - a character in a lofty position of

both wealthy and power. A similar type of aristocracy is apparent in the

Twilight saga, as the Cullens are depicted as having extreme amounts of

wealth and privilege.

In addition to presenting specific expectations about the character of

the vampire, vampire stories also served as metaphoric representations about

sexuality and lust. Case explains that when Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's novella Carmilla was published, it was significant because it was "the first lesbian vampire story, in which the lesbian, desiring and desired by her victim, slowly brings her closer through the killing kiss of blood" (386).

Case's description of the kiss as "killing" makes the act seem dangerous or maniacal. The "killing kiss" in the vampire story acts as a foil to the "true love's kiss" in the fairy tale, though as I will explain later, they are merged in 20 the Twilight saga. Case asserts that Le Fanu's novella is said to have heavily influenced Bram Stoker as he wrote his classic novel Dracula, which was published in 1897. Christopher Craft's analysis of early vampire novels in his article "Kiss Me with Those Red Lips: Gender and Inversion in Bram Stoker's

Dracula" recognizes that "vampirism both expresses and distorts an originally sexual energy" (107). Case's and Craft's assertions illustrate that both Carmilla and Dracula are examples of vampire stories that present sex in a devious, scary way. Nina Auerbach in Our Vampires, Ourselves describes Lucy

Westenra' s relationship with the Count in Dracula as "a rape; vampires who appreciate only power and possession participate only in ceremonies of coercion" (98). The act of biting became symbolic for sex; since most of these encounters were forced, the act was invasively violent. This violently lustful vampire contributes to the fear associated with the character. The association of sex with fear is translated into the Twilight saga through Edward's relationship with Bella. Unlike other stories, where the lustful vampire seduces and bites his prey, Edward abstains from Bella in two ways: both literally (no sex) and in line with the tradition's metaphor (no biting). For a teenage female heroine, and in tum the teenage female audience, abstinence 21

complicates feelings about sexuality and lust in ways previously unseen in

the vampire story. By denying Bella sex, Edward replaces fear and invasion

with mystery: he makes the sexual aspect more appealing because it is

forbidden. In return, Bella must negotiate her own desires with Edward's

denial of her.

Beyond sexual undertones, there are additional commonly maintained

assumptions about how vampires operate within society and how to destroy

them. Since the publishing of Dracula, the word "Dracula," in many ways, has

become synonymous with "vampire" and it is from that novel that we in

Western culture develop most of our common myths and beliefs about the

character of the vampire. 9 In Twilight, Meyer discounts most of these

assumptions when Bella and Edward are together in Port Angeles, after Bella

has discovered that Edward is a vampire.

"Don't laugh- but how can you come out during the daytime?"

He laughed anyway. "Myth."

9 This synonymy between "Dracula" and "vampire" is perpetuated today, even with the host of new vampires that have been introduced into the societal psyche. In a recent episode of NBC's new sitcom Community, the character Troy shows up at a Halloween event shirtless wearing a toilet seat cover around his neck with the handwritten word "DRACULA" across it. Another character, Abed, asks him what he is supposed to be. Troy replies, "I'm a sexy Dracula." Abed responds, "You mean vampire?" Troy retorts, "I don't know which Dracula I am" ("Epidemiology 206"). 22

"Burned by the sun?"

"Myth."

"Sleeping in coffins?"

"Myth." (185-186)

This conversation in Twilight shows Meyer's awareness of the general

assumptions about vampires. The questions that Bella asks point to common

stereotypes about the character of the vampire, especially vampires'

weakness in daylight. Edward pointing out that these are "myths" shows

how Meyer plays with the way we as the audience see and understand

vampires, subverting our expectations of their behaviors and their

limitations. Another moment where this occurs is during the first time Bella

visits the Cullen family home.

"You can laugh," he said. "It is sort of ironic." I didn't laugh.

My hand raised automatically, one finger extended as if to

touch the large wooden cross, its dark patina contrasting with

the lighter tone of the wall. (Twilight 330)

Throughout Bram Stoker's Dracula Professor Van Helsing uses a cross to shield away vampires; this assumption - that vampires could be repelled by a 23

cross -has continued as a cultural expectation. The fact that the Cullens, a

family of vampires, have a large cross prominently displayed in their home is

another way that Meyer rewrites the vampire as a character through

disproving the standard beliefs about them. 10

Despite Meyer's subversion of most vampire characteristics, Edward

and the rest of the Cullens do maintain some commonly assumed vampiric

traits. A primary example of this is the fact that "Dracula is not only

unprecedentedly animal-like; he is the first vampire we have met who is not

visibly a corpse" (Auerbach 95). The Cullens all pass as human in most

circumstance~, though they also display animalistic tendencies when they are

surrounded by other vampires. In Twilight, when James- a human-blood

drinking vampire - smells Bella in the field at the baseball game, Bella

describes their movements as "crouching" and the noises as "feral snarls,"

both of which incite animalistic imagery (Meyer 378). Still, regardless of these

select similarities, the vampires in the Twilight saga (especially Edward) are more aligned with characters we expect in fairy tales.

10 Ironically, I think this actually makes the Cullens scarier than other vampires. I mean, if you can't kill them with sunlight and you can't ward them off with crosses, what hope do weak little humans have? And yet, the Cullens are the only vampires I'm actually fond of. To this day, I cannot rationalize this fact. 24

As a tradition, fairy tales began as oral tales told with the intention to

impart social and moral lessons. In their collection of stories and criticisms

titled Folk and Fairy Tales, Martin Hallett and Barbara Karasek explain that

initially the separation between "folk tale" and "fairy tale" was the presence

of a fairy or magical creature, but that over time the distinction between the

genres blurred and the stories that functioned within them are now referred

to as "folk and fairy tales" (17). The most famous collectors of what we in the

twenty-first century now know to be "folk and fairy tales" were Charles

Perrault, who published his collection in 1697, followed a century later by the

Grimm brothers (Hallett and Karasek 19). Horror stories can be said to have a

subcategory specific to vampires. A similar division happens within the

realm of folk and fairy tales; one of the most pervasive subcategories in

Western culture are what I refer to as fair maiden tales, like "Beauty and the

Beast," "Sleeping Beauty," and "Cinderella." These tales center on a young

female protagonist who must complete a journey or task or undergo a

transformation in order to be removed from her initial position in society to be joined with the prince, a similar structure to what we see in the Twilight

saga with Bella seemingly filling the "fair maiden" role. 25

Fair maiden tales share some qualities with vampire stories, namely that these stories are known for presenting issues of love and sexuality in metaphorical ways, which Hallett and Karasek summarize using the three most well-known fair maiden tales. The various incarnations of "Sleeping

Beauty," for example, are critiqued as being "a vivid symbol of feminine passivity" (Hallett and Karasek 63). "Cinderella" stories promote the idea that, through her marriage to a prince, the fair maiden "has risen from obscurity and oppression to success and celebrity, perhaps with the implication that the good fortune is well deserved" (Hallett and Karasek 94).

Finally, in enchanted bridegroom stories like "Beauty and the Beast," the beast/animal mate illustrates the concept that "while marriage represents elevation into womanhood, it brings with it also all the anxieties and even revulsion often associated with initiation into sexuality" (Hallett and Karasek

169). Though each of these fair maiden stories has themes unique to the plot line, they operate together in the way that they teach readers and listeners about social expectations of feminine behavior and the prospect of marriage; in particular, these stories show how a union like a marriage is the desired end result. These same concepts are present throughout the Twilight saga. The 26 sexual anxieties present in the enchanted bridegroom story, which mirror the vampire story's use of the bite as metaphor for sexual penetration, manifest themselves through Bella and Edward's relationship and Edward's insistence that they remain chaste until they're married. A similar type of passivity present in the "Sleeping Beauty" tales is apparent in the fourth book of the

Twilight saga when Bella undergoes her transformation from human to vampire. Finally, by becoming a Cullen, Bella is awarded with similar good fortune seen in "Cinderella" stories. All of these qualities of fair maiden tales are presented in the Twilight saga through the Bella/Edward relationship, which continues to exalt love and marriage; that exaltation is heavily perpetuated through the twentieth century in the form of Disney Animated

Classics.

Influencing the spread and the impact the fairy tale has had since the mid-1900s was the animation of these stories by the Walt Disney corporation, since over "seventy years [after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered], the animated Disney fairy tale is the first, and often only, version with which

North Americans are familiar" (Hallett and Karasek 24). For example, in the original Hans Christian Anderson version of "The Little Mermaid," the prince 27 marries another girl and "unseen [the little mermaid] kissed the forehead of the bride, gave a smile to the Prince, and then with the other children of the air she climbed to a rose-red cloud that was sailing to the sky" (232). In the

Disney version of the same story, however, Ariel (the little mermaid), with the help of her father's magic triton, is able to become human permanently and marry Prince Eric. When discussing the story of The Little Mermaid, I was often met with shock and surprise that the original story did not share the same "Happily Ever After" promised in the animated Disney version. Jack

Zipes, in "Breaking the Disney Spell," theorizes that this shock and surprise is due the fact that "Walt Disney cast a spell on the fairy tale, and he has held it captive ever since" (332). The spell was cast in 1938, when Disney's first animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered. Disney's version of the classic Grimm fairy tale was the first glimpse at the fairy tale prince that would become the standard for romance for many years. He rode a white horse, was handsome, and swooped in with one kiss at the very end to wake Snow White from her slumber, save the day, and lead the audience to believe they were headed for a happily ever after. 11 Of course, this is just an

11 In Grimm's tale, Snow came back to life when a clumsy dwarf trips and jostles the glass coffin, dislodging the poisoned fruit from her mouth. While the ending is essentially the 28 assumption on the part of the audience. As Bruno Bettelheim points out in

The Uses of Enchantment, in written folk and fairy tales, the audience is left with nothing more than the assumption that everything works out for the hero and his beloved once "whatever deed that frees the beautiful princess from her captivity is accomplished" (112). This assumption is perpetuated by

Walt Disney's films.

Most of the original fairy tales did not have the same happily ever after that Disney began to promise. By changing the ending, Zipes claims Disney is able to "transfix audiences and divert their potential utopian dreams and hopes through the false promises of the images he cast upon the screen"

(333). Still, while it is easy to criticize Disney for the alterations the studio has made to the stories, the promise of a "Happily Ever Mter" does resonate with many of the Western traditions of the fairy tale. Alison Lurie identifies these traditions in "What Fairy Tales Tell Us" as she explains that we are taught "a poor boy or girl, through some combination of luck, courage, beauty, kindness, and supernatural help, becomes rich or marries into royalty" (364).

While this is infused in Western culture through Walt Disney's versions of the

same (she lives and is able to marry the prince), the Disney version aligns romance and power. He loves her, so he saves her, and in return, she loves him back (Zipes 348). 29 fairy tale, it also remains present in the Twilight saga; the fact that Edward cannot read Bella's thoughts is what draws him to her, and this unique trait contributes to why Bella is the one "chosen" by Edward to be lifted into a seemingly higher position as a vampire. This is an example of how Propp explains the ways in which folk and fairy tales continue to morph throughout time, and how "the names of the dramatis personae change (as well as the attributes of each), but neither their actions nor functions change" (20).

As consumers of popular culture, we are primed as readers and viewers with expectations that were developed in the literary traditions of fairy tales and vampire stories. Our familiarity with these genres and the characters we anticipate within them can draw us to or repel us from certain texts. When a text seems to blur the line between these genres or subvert the held expectations of the characters in them, we may be likely to be more intrigued by it. One example of this is the contrast between the wealth and security a fair maiden will obtain if she marries a prince and the horror and fear usually associated with vampires. Gary Hendrix of Slate Magazine accurately noticed that by San Diego's 2009 Comic Con, "bloodsucking is so yesterday ... the modem vampire stalks, seduces, sleeps with, and cries over 30 us. They don't eat us" (n.p.). Hendirx goes on to describe how, while vampires enjoyed literary and pop culture fame since the 1800s, it was the vampire character Angel in Joss Whedon's television phenomenon Buffy the

Vampire Slayer that brought this "new vampire" to such popular heights with a wide audience. 12 Unlike previous vampire stories, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was designed for a general teen audience; in fact, it premiered on television with the lead-in of one of the most ubiquitous teen romances of the late 1990s,

Dawson's Creek. It was no longer required to be a fan or aficionado of horror stories and cult classics; vampires became teen romance fodder, which made them the barometer young women began using to measure ideal romantic male partners, blurring the boundary between vampire stories and fairy tales, beginning to build the bridge between these genres.

The kick-off of the recent onslaught of these new romantic vamps was the relationship between Angel and Buffy Summers. The character Buffy

Summers was created by Joss Whedon originally in the 1992 film Buffy the

12 There is an admittedly reasonable argument that this transformation began much earlier, with Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Specifically, critics point to the character of Louis de Pointe du Lac in Interview with the Vampire. However, while Louis does seemed cursed with a conscience and admittedly struggles with guilt, he still maintains more of the monster­ vampire traits as opposed to the prince-vampire traits we begin to see in Angel and Edward. Most significantly, Louis is unable to successfully be around humans or carry on a human/vampire relationship, two things that define Angel and Edward as characters. 31

Vampire Slayer, which in 1998 was adapted for the small screen in a series by

the same name. Buffy is "the chosen one"; it is her birthright to slay the

vampires, though she goes against the plan a bit when she falls in love with

her supposed enemy: Angel, a vampire. For the first three seasons, Buffy and

Angel continue their on-again, off-again relationship. Eventually, Angel

leaves Sunnydale, though he returns occasionally when Buffy needs extra

help, and she never (permanently) slays him. 13 He doesn't hunt her; he assists

her. In this way, Angel more clearly resembles a Disney version of a fairy tale

prince, like Prince Phillip in Sleeping Beauty: seemingly distant until he must

step up to fight the force of evil in order to protect the one he loves. This is

where the broader pop culture transformation of vampires truly begins to

take effect. Hendrix argues that Angel's appearance on Buffy the Vampire

Slayer "launched a sensitive-vampire industry" (n.p.). But the industry grew

from Angel's popularity, which he enjoyed due largely in part to the

perception that he was different from most of the other vampires that popular

culture had been offering. Angel was more appealing not only due to his

13 There is one episode where Buffy slays Angel after he loses his soul; however, the slaying isn't permanent and Angel returns from another dimension later on. After that point, Buffy and Angel remain a team, even though it is at a distance. Additionally, Buffy becomes friends with another vampire, Spike, whom she also lets live throughout the entire series. 32

good looks and charm, but due to his relationship with the human girl -

Buffy. It was Angel's appeal and popularity that laid the necessary

groundwork for a full-fledged media frenzy to take over. That media frenzy

came in the Twilight saga.

Media products, behaving like biological viruses, infiltrate our public

psyche in what Douglas Rushkoff calls a media virus. A media virus is a term

used to describe a product or idea that becomes a significant part of the

public mindset in order to "infiltrate the way we do business, educate

ourselves, interact with one another - even the way we perceive reality"

(Rushkoff 10). Building on Rushkoff' s metaphor, I assert that media viruses

attack what I call our cultural cells. In the same way biological cells determine our appearance or our predisposition for disease, I assert that our cultural cells are what determine our beliefs and our expectations of behavior in society. As those cultural cells are attacked by various media viruses, we change and adapt based on how the cells are affected. Hallett and Karasek suggest that fairy tales "retain a freedom and energy that has survived the transformation" (20), while Auerbach similarly explains "vampires blend into the changing cultures they inhabit'' (6). The rapid spread of the Twilight saga 33

as a media virus can be attributed to the way the series emulates the familiar

structure of fairy tales while blending some familiar attributes of horror.

The Twilight saga offers an appealing protein shell, emphasizing

forbidden love, danger, and desire. As Rushkoff explains of actual biological

viruses, "the attacking virus uses its protective and sticky protein casing to

latch on to a healthy cell and then inject its own genetic code inside ... the

protein shell of a virus is the Trojan horse" (9). In the case of the novels, the

covers act as the viral protein shell; they are minimalist in their design: black

glossy covers with simple red and white photo-graphics that don't really

suggest much about the actual plot of the story. The Twilight saga's protein

shell suggests a less-threatening horror story, since it is shelved in the Young

Adult section. Additionally, in the marketing of the novels, the character of the vampire is tied to the promise of romance. The back cover of the first novel quotes Bella's narration which says:

About three things I was absolutely positive.

First, Edward was a vampire.

Second, there was a part of him - and I didn't know how

dominant that part might be - that thirsted for my blood. 34

And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with

him. (Meyer n.p.)

By placing Bella's love for Edward as the third and final promise of the novel,

Meyer is actually elevating the romance above the horror; Bella being

"irrevocably in love" cancels out Edward's status as vampire and his thirst

for her blood. The protein shell hints at a blend of horror and romance, but a

media virus cannot operate solely on outward appearance.14

In a biological virus, the active genetic material is encased within the

protein shell; once a healthy cell latches on to a protein shell, the material

injects itself into the healthy cell, causing the transformation. Similarly, in a

media virus, the protein shell is what attracts our cultural cells to the product;

in the case of Twilight, the blend of romance and horror on the cover intrigues

us. But it is what is in the shell that actually affects us. Encased within a

media virus's protein shell are memes, which are defined by Rushkoff as

"ideas, issues, and agendas - often purposefully placed - that influence us"

(8). In the case of Twilight, the memes resonate back to fairy tales. The Twilight

14 By "romance" I am specifically referring to the romantic assumptions about a fairy tale. However, there is room for analysis of how the Twilight saga operates not only within the genres of fairy tales and horror, but of romance as well. For further reading on romance, see Janice Radway and/or Tania Modleski. 35

saga's internal codes of self-sacrifice on behalf of family, sexual and

behavioral expectations in a romantic relationship, as well as the promise of a

prospective "happily ever after" are similar to the codes present in fairy tales

and are effortlessly passed on since consumers are primed to accept the

media virus.

This media virus continues to spread at a seemingly unstoppable rate,

and large questions about the series have begun to take shape, particularly

the question of what makes the series resonate so powerfully with its

predominantly female audience. Unlike horror stories, the Twilight saga

makes the world of vampires and werewolves seem wonderful and inviting,

a world that both the characters and the readers desire to become absorbed

in. Most significantly, since Twilight is told from a first-person perspective, readers are able to associate with the human heroine Bella as she embarks on and develops her relationship with the vampire Edward. This relationship is the crux of the entire series, and because Twilight is told through the eyes of an average teenager, it is easy for someone reading the novels to make associations and conclusions about her own life, her moral decision, and the possibility of her own "happily ever after." Vladimir Propp outlines the 36 structure of the folk and fairy tale that ingrained in the cultural cells of our society. I argue that when a text or series of texts, like the Twilight saga, can be near-perfectly mapped along that structure we as audience members are predicated to want to consume the story thus allowing the memes in the saga to penetrate and change our cultural cells. My assertion is that Twilight's positioning within the genre of fairy tale, while simultaneously crossing the boundary into vampire stories, is what makes it such a powerful media virus.

The enchantment of the Twilight saga is the exploration of the possibility of magic in everyday life. In the article "CinderBella: Twilight, Fairy Tales, and the Twenty-First Century American Dream," Twilight critic and scholar Sarah

Buttsworth notes

Bella's story, with its stance on premarital sex, fidelity, self­

sacrifice for a prolife attitude, and the questions it begs about

how young women in a "postfeminist" age are supposed to

"have it all," make Meyer's work very much a fairy tale for the

twenty-first century. (49)

The features of Bella's story that Buttsworth has outlined operate as the memes in the media virus. Because the virus is so powerful, the memes 37 present within the saga are imbedded in our cultural cells, which in tum have the potential to impact the way we see the world and behave in our own relationships.

Chapter One of this thesis, "'And So the Lion Fell in Love with the

Lamb ... ': Edward Cullen and Isabella Swan, Fairy Tale Heroes" positions the

Twilight saga as a moment in which the two seemingly separate genres of folk and fairy tales and vampire stories intersect in order to form a powerful media event. Using Vladimir Propp's Morphology of the Folktale, I map the four novels of the Twilight saga along the thirty one functions of the folk tale in order to align the saga with this familiar structure and show how this positions Twilight to spread through pop culture as a media virus.

Chapter Two, "'Every Cell in My Body Ached to Deny It': Popular

Culture's Love Affair with a Vampire and the Transmission of a Media

Virus," deals most extensively with the memes present in the saga that are spread through the media virus. The memes present in the saga are self­ sacrifice on behalf of family, behavioral expectations in a romantic and/or sexual relationship, and the presumed promise of a "happily ever after."

Once the memes have been identified, I examine additional Twilight products, 38 especially the film adaptations, to illustrate the ways that the saga as a media event has transformed itself in order to continue to infect our social consciousness. This chapter also engages with the predominantly female audience of the saga, the problematic nature of parasocial relationships, and the way that fans of the series are maligned in the media.

In my conclusion, "'The Venom Had Burned Ahead': The Continuing

Twilight Conversation," I pose some questions about what the continuing effect of the series may be, specifically addressing the critical debate about the primary audience of the Twilight saga. I illustrate the way in which the

Twilight saga, which is classifiable as a fairy tale and a media virus, has permeated our pop culture consciousness. I use my own narrative experience to illustrate one way in which a fan of the series may interact with the saga.

Looking at the current impact Twilight has had on society, I offer an analysis of the immediate effects of the virus, and also delve into the problematic nature of media viruses in general, highlighting the fact that the real, lasting effect of the virus cannot be seen while we are living in and experiencing the media event. 39

Chapter One

11And So the Lion Fell in Love with the Lamb ... ": Edward Cullen and Isabella Swan, Fairy Tale Heroes

Once upon a time, in a land very much like this one, there lived a beautiful young maiden. The maiden lived in a modest house with her father, a well-respected town official. While living in the town, the maiden met a mysterious and handsome young man. Intrigued by his unique looks and strange behavior, the maiden spent hours dreaming about this young man.

One day, the maiden suddenly found herself in terrible danger. Just when it seemed like it was going to be too late, the man swept in and saved her. That was when their story truly began.

Though this introduction may sound like an old story, it is actually the beginning events of the novel Twilight, the first book of the Twilight saga, published in 2005. The novel is told from the first-person perspective of

Isabella (Bella) Swan, a precocious seventeen-year-old human girl who chooses to move to Forks, Washington to live with her father Charlie, the

Chief of Police. On her first day at Forks High School, Bella learns about the

Cullens, a mysterious and beautiful group of siblings. Bella becomes fascinated with the Cullens, particularly the seemingly youngest of the 40 bunch, Edward. As the novel unfolds and Bella's infatuation intensifies, we learn what makes Edward and his siblings so appealing and seem so different: they're vampires. 15 Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn tell the love story of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. This love story has become one of the most powerful media viruses in recent history, due largely in part to the fact that their relationship and their individual character developments mirror the tradition of the fairy tale.

According to Maria Tatar in The Classic Fairy Tales, there is a consensus that "virtually every element of a tale, from the name of the hero or heroine through the nature of the beloved to the depiction of the villain, seems subject to change" (ix). However, the basic structure of the plot stays consistent, regardless of location, author, and even century. We in twenty-first century

Western culture are predisposed to a favorable reception of stories that function in this same plot structure. The fairy tale is something we're familiar with; we have our expectations of how it should develop and how it will end.

15 The siblings are not related in the traditional sense of the word. Carlisle (the patriarch) created Esme (his wife), Edward, Rosalie, and Emmett to be vampires. Alice and Jasper were created by other vampires, and joined the Cullens later on. Still, they refer to themselves as family. 41

These expectations come from the following four observations made by

Vladimir Propp in Morphology of the Folktale:

1. Functions of characters serve as stable, constant elements in

a tale, independent of how and by whom they are fulfilled.

2. The number of functions known to the fairy tale is limited.

3. The sequence of functions is always identical.

4. All fairy tales are of one type in regard to their structure. (21-

23)

The Twilight saga is primed to be a media virus because it follows these four

observations as outlined by Propp. As the saga progresses through the thirty­

one functions (in the order as delineated by Propp), Edward and Bella

negotiate and fill various roles inherent to the tradition of fairy tales. The

audience is also exposed to themes and morals originally present in

traditional fairy tales that resurface in the Twilight saga. Propp claims "all

functions fit into one consecutive story" (25). To begin this analysis, I have

constructed a table featuring each of the thirty-one functions are as proposed by Propp and have mapped plot points from the four main books in the 42

Twilight saga, as well as some points in Midnight Sun 16, along these functions.

For simplicity in reading the table, the novels will be referred to by initials in

the table: T for Twilight, NM for New Moon, E for Eclipse, BD for Breaking

Dawn, and MS for Midnight Sun. The page numbers in the column of Propp's

functions are all from Morphology of the Folktale.

Table 1

Comparative Listing of Vladimir Propp's Thirty-One Functions of the

Folk/Fairy

Tale and the Plot Progression of the Twilight Saga

Function Propp's Function Twilight Saga Plot Point Number

One of the members of a Bella leaves Phoenix for Forks (T 4); 1 family absents himself (26). Edward leaves Forks for Alaska (MS 22)

The Cullens tell Edward to avoid Bella (MS An interdiction is addressed 2 32); to the hero (26). Edward tells Bella they shouldn't be friends (T

16 Meyer had also been working on Midnight Sun, the fifth novel in the Twilight saga, when it was illegally leaked online. Midnight Sun tells of the events in the first novel, Twilight, from Edward Cullen's perspective. Meyer posted the .PDF file on her website, stating "I've decided to make this draft available here. This way, my readers don't feel like they have to make a sacrifice to stay honest." ("Midnight Sun"). An interesting personal note about Midnight Sun- I didn't really like it at first. It was too vampire-y for me (and we know how I feel about vampires). But eventually, I remembered it was Edward, so I dealt with it. 74)

The interdiction is violated Edward and Bella go to the meadow together 3 (27). (T264)

James uses his heightened power to track The villain makes an attempt 4 Bella, assuming Edward will stay with her (T at reconnaissance (28). 382)

The villain receives Victoria steals Bella's school record and 5 information about his victim misleads Rosalie and Esme who are trying to (28). follow her (T 428)

The villain attempts to James convinces Bella he's kidnapped her deceive his victim in order to mother, Rene, and tricks her into meeting him 6 take possession of him or of at the ballet studio, hoping the Cullens will his belongings (29). follow her (T 444).

The victim submits to Bella goes to the ballet studio to face off with deception and thereby James, and the Cullens arrive to help her 7 unwittingly helps his enemy which fulfills James' desire to face off with (30). Edward (T 446).

The villain causes harm or James beats and bites Bella during the injury to a member of a skirmish, which results in Bella landing in the family (30). hospital (T 451). 8 One member of a a. a. Bella's desire to become a vampire and family either lacks the problems with her lack of something or desires immortality are made known (T 472). to have something (35). Misfortune or lack is made Bella's mortality becomes a problem at her known; the hero is birthday party when a paper cut causes Jasper 9 approached with a request or to attack her (NM 29); Edward and the Cullens command; he is allowed to leave Forks and Bella is told to forget they ever go or he is dispatched (36). existed (NM 73).

Bella decides to go to Italy in order to stop 10 The seeker agrees to or decides upon counteraction Edward from going to the Volturi (NM 419). (38).

11 The hero leaves home (39). Bella and Alice go to Italy (NM 424).

The hero is tested, interrogated, attacked, etc. Bella faces off with Aro and Jane in Volterra 12 which prepares the way for (NM476). his receiving either a magical agent or helper (39).

Aro gives Edward and Bella reprieve once The hero reacts to the actions 13 Alice promises Bella will eventually become of the future donor (42). immortal (NM 481).

Immortality becomes crucial for the magical agent (Bella's role as the shield) to take effect The hero acquires the use of a 14 in BD; Bella puts her mortality up to a vote, magical agent (43). and Carlisle agrees she will be transformed after graduation (NM 537).

The hero is transferred, Vampires are terrorizing Seattle, which means delivered, or led to the Bella and the Cullens are keeping an eye on 15 whereabouts of an object of the situation there while still waiting for search (50). Victoria (E 21).

The hero and the villain join The Cullens and the Wolves fight Victoria and 16 in direct combat (51). the newborn army (E 537-557).

The hero is branded (52). Bella reopens her arm wound from New Moon 17 a. A brand is applied to (E 550); Bella accepts the engagement ring the body (52). from Edward (E 620). b. The hero receives a ring (52). 18 The villain is defeated (53). Bella and Edward are married (BD 49).

The initial misfortune or lack is liquidated (53). Bella dies as a human and is 19 revived/transformed into a vampire (BD 355). a. A slain person is revived (55). 20 The hero returns (55). Bella awakes as a vampire (BD 387).

Irina of the Denali clan sees Bella with 21 The hero is pursued (56). Renesmee and Jacob and reports her to the Volturi (BD 537).

Rescue of the hero from The Cullens gather witnesses to face off with 22 pursuit (57). the Volturi (BD 583- 628).

The hero, unrecognized, When the Volturi arrive, they do not recognize 23 arrives home or in another Bella as the hero because they are unaware of country (60). her power as a shield (BD 679).

Carlisle and Edward move forward to speak to the Volturi, leaving Bella in the line-up seemingly powerless. Irina attempts to justify A false hero presents 24 the claims she made to the Volturi but is unfounded claims (60). unable to do so. Aro claims Renesmee is still too dangerous to allow her to survive (BD 685 - 700).

Bella learns how to flex and expand her shield, the power that manifested itself once she A difficult task is proposed to 25 became immortal, in order to protect the the hero (60). vampires and werewolves on her side (BD 703).

Bella protects her family using the shield (BD 26 The task is resolved (62). 725-729).

The Volturi realize Bella is the reason their powers aren't working; Bella's use of shield 27 The hero is recognized (62). allows Alice time to arrive back at the field (BD 726).

Alice presents information that discredits the The false hero or villain is 28 Volturi's claims about Renesmee being exposed (62). dangerous (BD 738).

29 Bella and the Cullens strength is recognized by The hero is given a new the Volturi witnesses, who abandon the guard. 46

appearance (62). The seemingly powerful Volturi are reduced to a small group whereas Bella and her family stand numerous and strong (BD 739).

30 The villain is punished (63). The Volturi leave without a fight (BD 740).

The hero is married and Bella and Edward are safe to live happily ever 31 ascends to throne (63). after (BD 754).

As the above table shows, the Twilight saga moves linearly through all of the thirty-one functions.

One feature of the Twilight saga that makes it differ from other fairy tales is the fact that the hero is not clear from the beginning of the tale.

Despite the fact that the story is told primarily from Bella's first-person perspective, throughout the first novel, it seems like Edward is the hero of the story since he shares many of the initial functions of the tale with Bella. The second function, which Propp identifies as the interdiction, is a warning that someone will not follow or a rule they will break (27). A familiar case of this in the classic fairy tales is when Snow White takes a bite from a poisoned apple after being told not to talk to anyone or accept strange items. The interdiction provides a potential point of conflict that will drive the remaining actions of the tale. In the Twilight saga, the interdiction is the same for both 47

Edward and Bella: stay away from one another. Edward needs to stay away from Bella because, if he loses control, he risks killing her. In Midnight Sun,

Emmett Cullen quips '"What's the big deal? ... Either he will or he won't kill her. Might as well get it over with, either way" (Meyer 34). This moment with

Emmett shows the stakes for Edward as to how he will deal with Bella, and whether or not he will violate his interdiction.

The interdiction from meeting one another draws attention to the fact that Edward being a vampire is a problematic undercurrent even as other outside factors threaten his relationship with Bella. As Bettelheim explains, one purpose of the fairy tale is to "take these existential anxieties and dilemmas very seriously and address itself directly to them: the need to be loved and the fear that one is thought worthless; the love of life and the fear of death" (330). In this case, the fear of death begins to operate at the interdiction for Edward; it is not his own death he fears, though, but Bella's death at his hands. This magnifies the love relationship that will ensue between Edward and Bella, but it is also a present feeling even before the two characters begin to fall in love with one another. 48

During this second function, Edward also begins to take on some of the qualities of the Beast character in fairy tales. As Tatar explains, "the

Beast's beastliness is good, even adorable ...our own culture hails Beast's heroic defiance of civilization" (29). Edward's persistent concern for Bella is an example of how he defies the social expectations of a vampire as a destroyer. After Edward prevents Bella from being crushed by the van in the

Forks High School parking lot, he discusses his decision to save her once he is at the hospital with Carlisle. During this conversation, Edward realizes

"somewhere during that short, thoughtless second when I'd sprinted across the icy lot, I had transformed from killer to protector" (Meyer, Midnight Sun

66). Up until this moment, Edward had been unsure as to whether or not he was going to kill Bella; by deciding to save her, he is denying his true nature as the vampire. This makes his existence as a vampire a shell that covers his inner good self, like the Beast that Tatar has described. Max Luthi, in "The

Fairy Tale Hero: The Image of Man in the Fairy Tale," explains that the hero

"as if led by an invisible force and with the confidence of a sleepwalker [ ... ] follows the right course" (321). Saving Bella also makes Edward appear to be the hero in the story, but as the story progresses, Edward stops fulfilling the 49 functions of the fairy tale hero while Bella continues to do so through the next three novels.

Once the interdiction has been delivered, there is "an opportune moment ... for misfortune" when it is violated (Propp 27). The bulk of Twilight is spent leading up to the violation of the interdiction which occurs when

Edward and Bella decide to go to the meadow together. When they are driving home from Port Angeles, before they go to the meadow together,

Bella reveals to Edward that she knows he is a vampire, and tells him "'it's too late"' (Meyer, Twilight 190). It is "too late" because Bella is committed to pursuing a relationship with Edward, regardless of the danger involved.

While she still recognizes the danger, her love for Edward overpowers that recognition. In Twilight, the violation of the interdiction also is a test for the hero. Bella is testing her feelings for Edward, yes, but more significantly she is testing her resolve, since she claims, "I had to keep reminding myself that

I'd made my choice, and I wasn't going back on it" (Meyer, Twilight 251).

Bella is fiercely devoted to Edward by this point, which shows how Meyer has crafted the stakes of the novel around their relationship. The intended 50 effect of this is for the audience to be concerned about Bella and Edward as a couple, not just Bella or Edward as individuals.

At this point, the violation of the interdiction has set up the expectation for Edward and Bella to succeed as a couple by the end; the villain of the story, then, will be anyone or anything that threatens that ending. In the

Twilight saga, the villain does not function as one character; rather, it is a number of characters - almost all vampires - who attempt to destroy the bond between Edward and Bella. In Twilight the villain is James, a nomadic human-blood drinking vampire who tracks and wants to destroy Bella in order to engage in a fight with Edward. Following Propp's functions, when interacting with the villain James, Bella appears to fill the role of the victim, not hero. However, what is at stake in these scenes is the relationship between Bella and Edward. When Edward is with Bella at the hospital, she tries to apologize for the skirmish, but Edward says the only thing she should apologize for is '"for very nearly taking yourself away from me forever"'

(Meyer, Twilight 460). If James had killed Bella, Edward would have had the most to lose, making him the actual victim since not only would the relationship have been destroyed, but Edward would be alone. When James 51

is destroyed it seems that we should have arrived at function thirty where

"the villain in punished" (Propp 63); but again, James is only villain one representation of the villain - the villain is anything or anyone who will deliberately keep Edward and Bella apart.

The moment that propels the remainder of the saga is the sub-function

"one member of the family lacks something," which is connected to the eighth function "the villain causes harm or injury to a member of the family"

(Propp 27-30). The end of Twilight presents to the audience how Bella "lacks something or desires to have something" (Propp 30). Bella's desire to be a vampire (lack of immortality) operates in two different ways in the saga.

First, it ties back to the question as to whether or not Edward and Bella will be together. Second, it connects to the development of Bella as a fairy tale hero, since fairy tales present us with a hero who exemplifies "man's deliverance from an inauthentic existence and his commencement of a true one" (Liithi 317). This transition becomes clearer as the saga progresses. In

New Moon, for example, Bella fills both the roles of the victimized hero and the seeker hero. According to Propp, a victimized hero is someone who "the thread of the narrative is linked to his or her fate" (Propp 36). Whether or not 52

Bella stays human impacts whether or not she will be able to maintain a

relationship with Edward; her fate as a potential immortal determines where the narrative can and will progress.

Most of New Moon exists outside the structure of the fairy tale as outlined by Propp; Edward's absence from the story leaves room for Bella to develop as a character and as hero. At the beginning of the story, Bella is a victimized hero. Once she learns that Edward is going to the Volturi, Bella becomes a seeker hero since Edward's decision causes her "departure from home" (Propp 37). Alice explains to Bella that Edward seeks his own death at the hands of the Volturi but that there is an extreme risk - likely Bella's death

-if Bella tries to stop him. Bella replies, "'This is what's keeping us here?' I asked in disbelief. 'I'll go alone if you're afraid"' (Meyer, New Moon 420).

Bella cares more about finding Edward and saving his life than she does about her own self preservation. This point in the linear progression of

Propp's functions is when "the seeker agrees to or decides upon counteraction ... [where] a volitional decision precedes the search" (38). Bella's decision is that she would rather face her own death than risk Edward losing his. When Bella decides to go to Italy to find Edward, she "has search as her 53

goal... the route followed by the story and on which the action is developed is

actually the route of the seeker" (Propp 39). In Italy, Bella meets the Volturi,

who are "an old, powerful family [of vampires] -like royalty" (Meyer, New

Moon 428). In order to convince the Volturi to let them leave peacefully, Alice

shares a visions with Aro, showing that Bella will eventually become

immortal (Meyer, New Moon 479). After seeing this vision, Aro encourages the

rest of the Volturi to "think of the possibilities! They do not join us today, but we can always hope for the future ... Besides, I'm so terribly curious to see how Bella turns out" (Meyer, New Moon 480). Aro's proclamation hints at who Bella will be after she transforms into an immortal. This further verifies

Bella as the hero of the story since she has outside confirmation that being a vampire is what Liithi would call her "true" existence.

The events at the end of New Moon provide examples of the definition of the fairy tale hero a delineated by Propp, and it becomes apparent Bella is the hero in this fairy tale. According to Propp,

The hero of a fairy tale is that character who either directly

suffers from the action of the villain in the complication (the one

who senses some kind of lack), or who agrees to liquidate the 54

misfortune or lack of another person. In the course of the action

the hero is the person who is supplied with a magical agent (a

magical helper), and who makes use of it or is served by it. (50)

Bella and Edward both stand to suffer from the actions of the villains; they

each face the potential of death and of loss of one another, which makes it

seem like they might be sharing the role of hero. However, while Edward

does end up being the one to fulfill Bella's lack of immortality, he is not the

only one able and willing to do so. Both Carlisle and Alice, previously in the

saga, offered to do it for her. Since Edward cannot solitarily be the one to

"liquidate the misfortune" that Bella faces, he is not the hero (Propp 50). Bella,

on the other hand, is the only one who is capable of fulfilling Edward's lack

of a mate and the Cullens lack of a family member with defensive/protective

powers. Bella is also the only one who ends up being served by the receipt of a magical agent (her immortality); so, while Edward seems share the role of hero with her at parts through the beginning of the saga, as the story progresses (especially in Breaking Dawn), Bella becomes the solitary hero.

In Eclipse, the moment when Edward and Bella face Victoria is when it becomes most clear that Bella is the hero. This moment fulfills Propp's 55

sixteenth function, when "the hero and the villain join in direct combat"

(Propp 51). While Edward is fighting Victoria and Seth Clearwater is fighting

Riley, Bella is the one who turns the tables in the fight. 17 Bella describes the

moment when she

... raked the point of the shard up my arm, yanking my thick

sweater back to expose the skin, and then pressed the sharp tip

to the crease at my elbow. I already had a long scar there from

my last birthday. That night, my flowing blood had been

enough to catch every vampire's attention, to freeze them all in

place for an instant. I prayed it would work that way again.

(Meyer, Eclipse 550)

The scar Bella reopens was received the night she cut herself at the Cullens house and was thrown into a glass table in order to avoid being attacked by

Jasper. This scar is significant because it represents Bella's frailty as a human and the importance of the need of her transformation. By forcing her blood to flow again, she not only distracts the vampires, but she is physically showing her difference and her weakness to the other characters. By reopening her

17 Seth is one of the newest members of the Quileute wolf pack. Riley is Victoria's second in command in the newborn army she creates. 56 scar, Bella is branded, which is Propp's seventeenth function. Branding of the hero can be done two ways: "the hero receives a wound during the skirmish" or when "the hero receives a ring" (Propp 52). Her self-inflicted wound is

Bella's brand during the skirmish; the second type of branding has been implied (when Edward proposed before the battle), and will be complete at the end of Eclipse when Bella asks for the ring to wear permanently.

In order for the initial lack of the story to be resolved, Bella must undergo her transformation from human to vampire, and the process of

Bella's transformation serves as a foundation for blurring the boundaries between both literal and metaphoric representations of sex and sexuality found in both fairy tales and vampire stories. Bella's transformation occurs in stages between the eighteenth function when the villain is defeated and the nineteenth function when the initial lack is resolved. Her transformation begins by marrying Edward, then by losing her virginity on Isle Esme, then by carrying and giving birth to Renesmee, and - only once all the other acts have been completed -having Edward fill her with his venom and transforming from human to vampire. While "Part One" and "Part Two" of

Breaking Dawn center on Bella's transformation and not on her fulfilling the 57

functions of the hero, Bella still follows the rest of Propp's functions in "Part

Three." One element of the next function, the nineteenth, is that "a slain

person is revived" (Propp 55). Bella's human self is essentially slain by giving

birth to Renesmee; as such, she must rely on the magical agent (Edward's

venom) to revive her, only she will be revived in a new form. Jacob, who is

narrating during Part Two of Breaking Dawn, describes aftermath of the birth

scene, when Edward is beginning to transform Bella, as follows:

It was like he was kissing her, brushing his lips at her throat, at

her wrists, into the crease at the inside of her arm. 18 But I could

hear the lush tearing of her skin as his teeth bit through, forcing

venom into her system at as many points as possible. I saw his

pale tongue sweep along the bleeding gashes, but before this

could make me either sick or angry, I realized what he was

doing. Where his tongue washed the venom over her skin, it

sealed shut. Holding the poison and the blood inside her body.

(Meyer, Breaking Dawn 354-355).

18 Which is, going back to the seventeenth function of the fairy tale, where Bella was branded by both her scar from the birthday party and from the self-inflicted rock wound during the battle. 58

This moment is the fusion of the vampire's kiss and fairy tales' true love's kiss. When Jacob is describing how Edward is trying to change Bella, many of the words he uses are romantic and sexual: kissing, brushing, lush, tongue.

The other words he uses are violent: tearing, bit, forcing, gashes, poison. The contrast between the romantic/sexual words and the violent words illustrate the confluence of the two stories' types of kisses. The way this passage illustrates the combination of sex and violence presents the audience with the inherent duality of fear and desire when it comes to sex. The duality present in the novel reinforces common social stereotypes about sex: it is dangerous

(risk pregnancy, disease, and shame or discord), but it is still something to be desired. The moment that Edward turns Bella is the most vampiric act, and yet this is the moment that returns the Twilight saga to following the functions of the fairy tale. The remaining functions of the fairy tale occur in

"Part Three" of Breaking Dawn and are outlined in the table at the beginning of this chapter.

The last chapter of Breaking Dawn trumpets the promise of all fairy tales in the chapter title: "The Happily Ever After." According to Liithi, fairy tales promise "all things are possible ... wish dreams and wishful thinking 59 play a part in fairy tales, just as they do in all human matters, and social tensions and yearnings are also reflected in them" (317). Liithi is illustrating that essential parts of the human experience are brought to life through the fantasy of fairy tales. This is one of the reasons audiences become so attached to them: fairy tales promise that magic is possible in the everyday; you just never know when it will appear. The final chapter of Breaking Dawn fulfills the final function of the fairy tale, "the hero is married and ascends to throne"

(Propp 63). Despite the fact that the wedding occurred in the beginning of

Breaking Dawn, the tumultuous undercurrent of the possibility of Edward and

Bella still being separated prevented this function from being fulfilled. Since the Cullens have forced the Volturi out, the characters are now free to live together in harmony, and "at this point, the tale draws to a close" (Propp 64).

The end of the saga trumpets Bella as the hero of the story, which even she begins to recognize:

The life I'd fought for was safe again. My family was reunited.

My daughter had a beautiful future stretching out endlessly in

front of her ... But most significant in this tidal wave of 60

happiness was the surest fact of all: I was with Edward. Forever.

(Meyer Breaking Dawn 751-752)

Bella's realization inextricably ties family - husband, child, and extended - to the culmination of joy. When Bella says "the life I'd fought for," she is not just referring to the last conflict with the Volturi; she is referring to all of the events of the saga. These events are the fairy tale functions she, as the hero, completed. In terms of identifying the Twilight saga as a fairy tale and explicating the way in which Bella is the true hero of the story (despite appearances), it may seem as though it is time to close this chapter. However, it is important to look beyond the novels themselves to see how what occurs in the novels may influence society as a whole.

Members of Western cultural society are primed to be receptive to fairy tales, since there is an inherent familiarity with the structure of the tales and what the tales will deliver. According to Tatar, "fairy tales are still arguably the most powerful and formative tales of childhood and permeate mass media for children and adults" (xi). While Chapter Two delves more into how the Twilight saga permeates mass media, I am now going to tum my attention to the idea of "formative tales" that Tatar signals in terms of the 61

fairy tale. The focus of this chapter will now switch from delineating how the

saga functions as a fairy tale while blending traditions of the vampire story

into a discussion of the moral lessons present in the tale and how those

lessons may be influencing the audience. As Bettleheim argues, "the question

for the child is not 'Do I want to be good?' but 'Who do I want to be like?' The

child decides this on the basis of projecting himself wholeheartedly into one

character" (329). While Bettleheim presumes a male child, the concept he

presents is more universal. He is arguing, and I agree, that when a person

reads or is told a story, they select a character with which to identify. That

character's actions and beliefs, then, influence the reader or listener's global

perception. In the case of the Twilight saga, the character that the predominantly female fan base associate with is Bella, the narrator of the story. The audience is also likely to treat Bella's actions and thoughts with reverence, since she is the hero of the fairy tale. Additionally, since the novels are narrated in the first person by Bella, the audience is predisposed to associate most strongly with her. By positioning Bella as the hero of the story,

Meyer has created a stronger potential for the main themes of the Twilight saga to be spread culturally as more and more readers identify with Bella. 62

The three main themes of the Twilight saga are the sacrifice of self on

behalf of family, the expectations of behavior in a sexual and romantic

relationship, and the assumed promise of a "happily ever after" are all

manifested in a moral lesson about abstinence. Abstinence seems out of place

in a story about vampires since, according to Auerbach, the vampire

"embodies forbidden ideals of intimacy" (101). Auerbach is referring to the way that a vampire's bite is symbolic of sexual penetration, and that relationships with vampires in other stories are usually not consensual, with the vampire pursing this intimacy with the unwilling human girl. Meyer inverts this in the Twilight saga since Bella is the one who desires and pursues a physical relationship with Edward, but he denies her. Edward claims he is denying this relationship for two reasons: one, he is worried that he would harm her, and two, he wants to protect her virtue (Eclipse 453). According to

Karen Rowe in "Feminism and Fairy Tales," "traditional fairy tales fuse morality with romantic fantasy in order to portray cultural ideas for human relationships" (343). Stemming from Rowe's assertion, in the Twilight saga we can see how the fusion of cultural moral beliefs and standards with fantasy makes the morals more appealing to the readers. Edward tells Bella '"Now, 63

there's a world full of dissention about this, but the vast majority seem to

think that there are some rules that have to be followed"' (Meyer, Eclipse 453).

Edward is referring to the usually religiously-founded belief that it is

immoral to have sex before or outside of marriage. He denies his sexual

desire for Bella by asking her to wait until they are married, which promotes

an ideal of abstinence. For readers of the text, especially young women,

Edward's desire to wait until after marriage to have a sexual relationship

with Bella makes being abstinence more appealing; not having sex becomes

the new romantic fantasy.

The promotion of abstinence, which is developed both literally and

metaphorically in Twilight, is more common in fairy tales than in other types

of stories. Through the first three books of the saga, Edward refuses to have sex with Bella (literal abstinence) and refuses to change her into a vampire

(metaphoric abstinence). It is only after they are married that either of these events transpires and even then they are not detailed in the actual text. Many fans of the novel complain about Meyer's tendency to "fade to black" so to speak before anything sexual happens on the page. This was also the tendency of the Brothers Grimm, who according to Tatar altered one fairy tale 64 in which "the story's hero enters a tower, discovers a naked princess asleep on her bed, and lies down next to her. After his departure, the princess discovers ... that she is pregnant" (367). In this original version of the tale, though the sex is not described in detail, the presence of nudity and the resulting pregnancy are heavily implied. According to Hallett and Karasek, the Grimms "altered the tale substantially between first and last editions, in part to make it less sexually explicit" (170). Though neither Hallett and

Karasek nor Tatar include the full versions of either the "sexually explicit" tale or the Grimms' version, Tatar explains that, in contrast, the edited tale by the Brothers Grimm has a "fully clothed princess and a young man who stands the model of resist and decorum" (Tatar 367). By writing Edward as the character who wants to follow moral conventions, Meyer crafts him in a similar fashion to the male character in the Brothers Grimm tale.

Whether it is handled in a literal or metaphoric way, sex can be used as a warning to the audience. According to Hallett and Karasek, "the prospect of a sexual union with a male stranger was a step into the disturbing unknown"

(169). Many fairy tales focus on the development of the relationship between the young maiden and the man who will be her husband; the Twilight saga is 65 no exception. Before her first sexual encounter with Edward, Bella describes how she felt while she was alone before going to meet him:

How did people do this - swallow all their fears and trust

someone else so implicitly with every imperfection and fear

they had - with less than the absolute commitment Edward had

given me? If it weren't Edward out there, if I didn't know in

every cell of my body that he loved me as much as I loved him -

unconditionally and irrevocably and, to be honest, irrationally -

I'd never be able to get up off this floor. (Meyer, Breaking Dawn

83)

This passage serves a dual function at this point of the saga. One, it resonates with the traditional fairy tale purpose of presenting sex as a negotiation with the unknown. Bella admits that, to her, having sex is scary which is similar the young brides in fairy tales experience as previously described by Hallett and Karasek. This has the potential to resonate with the female audience, especially those who may not have had any sexual experiences. Two, it highlights the intended moral message of abstinence until marriage. Bella's only strength in the moment comes from the love and commitment she feels 66 she now has from Edward because he married her. The warning to the audience, then, is that sex is only safe when you're choosing to have it with your spouse - and even then it's not entirely safe. Despite the fact that

Edward and Bella are fully committed to one another, their sexual encounters result in violence (shredded pillows, broken headboards, and Bella being bruised). This again blurs the boundary between fear and desire; even if sex is bad, you're supposed to want it. This boundary is blurred further by the fact that having sex with Edward while on Isle Esme results in Bella becoming pregnant. For me as a reader, the moment on the island when Bella realizes she's missed her period always takes me back to middle school when our gym teacher had to teach Sex Ed and would tell us, "If you have sex, you

WILL get pregnant!"19 While it seems like this would be a warning against sex, by becoming pregnant with Renesmee, Bella secures the future she initially desired: immortality. Because Bella gets everything she wants, the

Twilight saga can be seen as falling prey to the problems Rowe outlines with traditional fairy tales, which is that the heroine is bound "to hearth and nursery" (342). Bella's vehement desire to carry the child sends as strong a

19 Thanks for the warning, coach. Apparently, you were right. At least, you were right as long as we're having unprotected sex with vampires. 67 message about motherhood as previous actions said about abstinence. Like her initial willingness to die for her love of Edward, she is now willing to die for her baby.

In Western culture, the fairy tale as a form lends itself a receptive form of understanding, which means that the morals and messages within the stories are passed on from text to person and then either from text to additional people, if the first person passes along the initial text, or from person to person, if the first person discusses the text with other people.

Rowe notes "the mass popularity of these fictions- erotic, ladies, and gothic­ testifies to a pervasive fascination with fairy-tale romance in literature not merely for children but for twentieth century adults" (344). Rowe points to a crucial feature of how the fairy tale behaves in society: the more popular it becomes, the more pervasive its moral lessons become. In the case of Twilight, this means that through the use of abstinence, the moral lessons previously seen in fairy tales such as self-sacrifice, virtue, and the promise of a fantasy

"happily ever after," are being reintroduced and spread through twenty-first century audiences, particularly girls and women in the United States. As more and more generations are primed to the reception of the moral lessons 68 of a fairy tale, they also become apt to ingest media products that stem from that fairy tale. These media produces behave like a biological virus that

"spread rapidly if they provoke our interest, and their success is dependent on the particular strengths and weaknesses of the host organism, popular culture" (Rushkoff 10). The more popular a series becomes, the more likely the themes and lessons present within it will be absorbed into our cultural psyche. As the popularity of the Twilight saga continues, so too will the identification with Bella as the hero and the cultural negotiation of the strongest themes present in the saga. 69

Chapter Two

"Every Cell in My Body Ached to Deny It": Popular Culture's Love Affair with the Vampire and the Transmission of a Media Virus

In his 2003 self-proclaimed "low-culture manifesto" Sex, Drugs, and

Cocoa Puffs, Chuck Klosterman describes a particularly difficult break-up he had. The girl he was dating said she wished that the guy she was with was more like Lloyd Dobler, the classic John Cusack character from Cameron

Crowe's 1989 film Say Anything. After their relationship ended, Klosterman decided that "we all convince ourselves of things like this ... about any fictionalized portrayals of romance that happen to us in the right place, at the right time" (3). What Klosterman is referring to is the fact that many people attach themselves to the ideal fictional romantic character and then expect those characters to exist in real life. Klosterman continues, "the main problem with mass media is that it makes it impossible to fall in love with any acumen of normalcy" (4). Whether or not the fictional characters are "perfect" doesn't matter - if it's shown in the media, then that is what love is supposed to look like. Lloyd Dobler was not the only incarnation of this type of fake love; he didn't need to be. Rather, Dobler was popular and that is why he mattered. He 70 continued to perpetuate the idea of fake love, the idea that the male character was both heroic and self-sacrificing, and the idea that in the end, only the beautiful girl matters. Klosterman's book was published in 2003; when I read it in 2008, my first thought was "If he thought Lloyd Dobler was bad, what would he think of Edward Cullen?"

The concept of "fake love" that Klosterman describes is not a new phenomenon, but it is becoming increasingly pervasive. It was not a 1980s staple that first introduced us (and by us, I mean girls and young women) to characters who influence our conceptions of romantic partners. It began in the literary tradition of fairy tales. Fairy tales present us with stories where "a penniless wench becomes wealthy, a maid becomes queen, a disheveled man is changed into a youth with golden hair, or a toad, ape, bear, or dog is transformed into a beautiful maiden or handsome youth" (Liithi 317). These types of stories, where the ordinary at any moment can become extraordinary, provide a renewed sense of optimism for readers. The stories hint at the possibility of magic in everyday life. The idealism that fairy tales create is similar to the idealism of fake love/fictionalized romance that

Klosterman critiques. Lurie explains that fairy tales are something that "we 71

remember and refer to [ ... ] all our lives; their themes and characters reappear

in dreams, in songs, in films, in advertisements, and in casual speech" (359).

Fairy tales began as an oral tradition. Then they were written, performed, and

eventually, turned into films. Because of their immense popularity, audiences

are predisposed to attach themselves to any incarnation of the fairy tale. This

is especially true of those designed by Walt Disney. In "Disney Revisited, or

Jiminy Cricket, It's Musty Down Here" Betsy Hearne observes that "Disney's

modifications originate from accurate readings of our culture ... Popular

culture and art are vital dynamic. The past is always renegotiating with the

present to become the future" (392). As discussed in Chapter One, the

Twilight saga is firmly grounded within the genre of fairy tales. When it was released in 2005, audiences were ready to receive the text and its messages because of common foundational experiences with fairy tales, from the

Brothers Grimm to Walt Disney Animated Classics. So, when a story comes along that fits into the familiar structure, it is quickly absorbed into societal norms, which means that the themes and moral messages present in them are also absorbed. 72

Klosterman's break-up story and Lurie's analysis of social interaction with fairy tales both serve as examples for the way in which audience members not only interact with media, but form relationships with the media and from those fictional relationships develop assumptions about reality. This is especially true for teenagers. Barry Sapolsky in "The Attraction and

Repulsion of Media Sex" argues that adolescents "use the media to help define their values and beliefs about sexuality, attractiveness, dating, and relationships" (300). These beliefs are influenced by the way that teenagers process the messages that are being presented in the books they read and the films they watch. This type of interaction with fictional characters is known as parasocial interaction, which leads to a parasocial relationship. According to communications scholar Phillip Auter, the interaction is "a one-sided interpersonal involvement of the media user with the program's characters" whereas the relationship is the ongoing maintenance of beliefs and values based on the connection the audience member makes with that fictional character (174). By developing parasocial relationships with fictional characters, teenagers (and, particularly, teenage girls) are more apt to absorb 73

the values held by the characters they relate with, and in tum, apply those

values into their own lives.

Rushkoff claims that popular and familiar stories change in basic

appearance over time in order to be reabsorbed time and time again: this is

the basic structure of a media virus. That comes from what Rushkoff defines

as a media virus, in which "media events are not like viruses. They are

viruses ... the only "intention" of the virus [ ... ] is to spread its own code as far

and wide as possible" (9). These media viruses become a part of the mindset

of the public, "infiltrate[ing] the way we do business, educate ourselves,

interact with one another- even the way we perceive reality" (Rushkoff 10).

While Rushkoff describes media viruses as operating as biological viruses, I

assert that these viruses do not change our actual physical cells, but they

change what I call our cultural cells. Cultural cells are our societal perception.

It is my contention that religion, family, upbringing, and education influence

our cultural cells the same way that DNA or genetics shape our biological

cells. While those elements make the foundation, cells can be transformed by viruses later on. Our biological cells are influenced and changed by biological viruses; our cultural cells are influenced and changed by media viruses. A 74

protein shell of a biological virus is the way that the viral cell latches on to the

healthy celt allowing the viral code to be inserted into it. A protein shell must

look innocuous to the body so that the healthy cells will accept it; the same

thing happens with a media virus. Rushkoff explains that the protein shell of

a media virus can be anything "as long as it can catch our attention" (10). A

seemingly innocuous protein shell is what allows the media virus to latch on

to a base audience and then slowly spread throughout society. Once the

protein shell has latched on, then the memes are able to be injected into our

cultural cells.

A "meme" is an "ideological code" that operates the same way as

genetic code in a biological virus: it is the thing that impacts the way our cells

function (Rushkoff 10). In order for the memes of a media virus to infiltrate

society, the virus must continue to spread, and for a substantial amount of time. The more pervasive a type of story or story structure is in our culture, the weaker our immunity is to it leaving our "susceptibility to invasion[ ... ] dramatically increased" (Rushkoff 9). I assert that the weakened immune system Rushkoff refers to is inextricably linked to the communication theory of parasocial relationships. According to Jostein Gripsrud in Understanding 75

Media Culture, readers and viewers are not simply identifying with characters,

but rather they are "relating to them as they would related to people they had

met in the street. They might say hello to them, respond to their dialogue, and

so on" (17). It is my contention that as a media virus spreads there are more

opportunities for the type of interaction that Gripsrud explains, which is

similar in effect to the weakened immune system that Rushkoff describes. If

our cultural immune system is weakened to be more receptive to common

memes like those in fairy tales and in the Twilight saga, then the more

interaction we have with the media virus will increase the likelihood that we

will ingest those memes. The Twilight saga novels, and the following film

adaptations, spin-offs, companion guides, and additional products, are

successful as a media virus because they take advantage of our weakened immune system predisposed to internalizing anything that follows the fairy tale structure.

In Chapter One, I discussed how fairy tales, throughout history, have had a predominantly female audience; the same is true of the Twilight saga.

The series has not stayed within its bookstore designation of "young adult."

The series has "found a receptive audience among teenagers, college 76

students, and adventurous adults" which Rushkoff says is crucial for the

spread of the virus (101). These varied groups have also found a variety of

ways to spread the virus. For example, the popular social networking site,

Facebook, has over one thousand groups pertaining in some way to the

Twilight series that members can join. One of the most popular Twilight­

themed fan sites on the internet is TwilightMOMS. As the "About" section of

the site notes, it is a forum for "Fans of the Twilight series in OUR stage of

life ...OUR world of balancing home, work, family, marriage AND our

Twilight obsession" (TwilightMOMS.com). In order to become a member of the

site and begin posting to the forums, users must electronically verify through a survey that they are either married, have children, or are at least 25 years of age. The site boasts thousands of members, confirming Rushkoff' s assertion that media viruses, like biological viruses, don't discriminate based on age; once the virus is unleashed on society, even if it was geared specifically towards teenage girls, anyone can become infected. TwilightMOMS is just one of the hundreds of fan sites that shows how Twilight is "manipulat[ing] adult culture by doing more than one thing with media at the same time"

(Rushkoff 125). The spreading infatuation with the Twilight saga beyond the 77

perceived intended young adult audience presents an interesting new

direction for media initially oriented towards a teenage population.

The popularity of the novels was society's initial infection with the

virus, but it wasn't enough to cement Twilight as a full-fledged media event.

Twilight was first published in 2005, just five years prior to the time that this

thesis is being written. In that time, there have been four books that Meyer

considers the core of the saga (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking

Dawn), a novella (The Short Second Life ofBree Tanner), a partial web-published

manuscript (Midnight Sun), and a graphic novel based on the first book. But

as Rushkoff points out, "electronic communication is totally destroying

literate civilization" (41). This meant that it was necessary for Twilight to

move off of the bookshelves and into other aspects of the media. The first

direction the virus spread was onto the big screen. Summit Entertainment

gained the rights to translate all four books to film. Twilight was released in

2008, New Moon in 2009, and Eclipse in 2010. At this point, Breaking Dawn is scheduled to be split into two parts with the first being released on November

18, 2011 and the second being released on November 16, 2012 (The Official

Website of Stephenie Meyer). Beyond the films, there are complete illustrated 78

guides, special magazines, clothing, toys, and other products that all bear

images and words from the books and films of the saga. The more prevalent the images are, the stronger the virus is and the more it is able to spread.

A media virus is not simply something that infects fans; it infiltrates society as a whole by "[presenting] us with the most pressing issues of our collective psychic shadow" (Rushkoff 320). Twilight has become ubiquitous; it is being used in ways seemingly incongruent with the saga itself. For example, in Portland, Oregon billboards began popping up featuring the same font used on the covers of the novel with the image of a red and white rose. 20 The billboards read "You are not immortal: buckle up" (Adams n.p.).

Aside from the same font and imagery in a similar vein to the covers of the novels, the billboard itself makes no direct reference to Twilight or its vampire cast of characters. The Oregon Department of Transportation is reliant on the fact that drivers in the city, even those who may have never read the books or seen the movie, will instantly recognize the Twilight parallel. 21

20 Portland, OR is actually where the first Twilight movie was filmed; as such, it doesn't seem too far of a stretch to see these billboards appearing first in this town. However, production has since moved on - almost three years later - and the billboards are just now appearing. 21 I'd really love it if they'd made another billboard that says something like "Don't Drive Like a Cullen," but I'm assuming they couldn't get the rights to do that ... 79

As the Twilight saga spreads a media virus, the potent memes of the

virus that actually mirror the morals and agendas of the fairy tale are spread.

The memes are the part of the media virus that actually impacts the cultural

cells of the audience member. Rushkoff explains that "wherever the cell's

existing codes are weak or confused, the virus will have a better chance of

taking over" (9). Due to the predisposition that audience members have to the

memes in fairy tales, they are more likely to accept the same memes coming

from the Twilight saga. According to Lurie, traditional fairy tales present the

messages that "the best way to grow up fast is to fall in love" and "true love

has the power to soothe a savage heart" (359-360). Both of these memes are inherent in the Twilight saga; they are presented in the way that Bella's relationship with Edward progresses along Propp's functions. The memes of the saga are the core messages which were outlined in Chapter One: self­ sacrifice on behalf of family, behavioral expectations in relationships, and doing whatever it takes to secure the promise of a happy ending. Throughout the novels, Bella consistently acts in ways that follow through on her decision to be with Edward and (eventually) change into a vampire. 80

The memes of the saga are tied to Bella's transition from human to

vampire. This transition to her true self is finalized in Breaking Dawn when

Bella first sees herself in the sunlight post-transformation from human to

vampire. Bella notices how different she appears to everyone else and admits

to herself, and to us as readers, that she was "born to be a vampire" (Meyer

Breaking Dawn 524). Bella, upon transforming, discovers that traits she had

when she was human, such as Edward's inability to read her thoughts, was

actually a power she possessed that came into fruition only after she became

immortal. Bella's transformation from human to vampire is not only a result

of her desire; it is a direct consequence of her decision to carry and give birth

to her daughter, Renesmee. Bella's shield ends up being the most significant

trait to her character and to her family's survival, and it is only when she begins to take control of the situation and of her destiny that the shield is even able to come into existence. By having a positive outcome (gaining new powers, protecting her family) associated with the action of falling in love and becoming a wife and mother, there is a concern that Rowe raises with concern to all fairy tales, that "women may transfer from fairy tales into real life culture norms which exalt passivity, dependency, and self-sacrifice as a 81

female's cardinal virtues" (342). Despite the fact that Bella is the hero of the

story, she must still while unconscious during labor (passively) rely on

Edward (dependent on his venom) to transform her into a vampire

(sacrificing her human/mortal self on behalf of her baby).

A media virus is part of a collective social psyche; even without direct

interaction with the text in question, people develop an understanding or

assumption about it. This is the way the virus is spread. While working on

this thesis, I conducted a small survey in a Women's Studies class at CSUSM.

I asked the students how many of them had seen or heard Sarah Palin give a

political speech or interview, and I asked how many of them watched the television series The Simpsons. Few responded affirmatively to either category.

However, despite the fact that the students did not have first-hand experience with either of these popular media texts, the majority replied that they associated the phrase "I can see Russia from my house" with Palin and the phrase "Eat my shorts" and "Cowabunga, Dude!" with Bart Simpson. This is an example of the fact that, according to Rushkoff, "even those of us who hope to avoid [it] cannot escape updates and promos ... We learn, even against our will, that somewhere something is happening to someone and many feel 82

compelled to stay tuned" (45). Throughout the process of writing this thesis, I

faced the same situation with Twilight. I had friends, colleagues, and

classmates - who had not read the books or seen the films - approach me

with questions: Do the vampires really sparkle? Does the werewolf really fall

in love with a baby? Is Bella as whiny as people say she is? These types of

questions show how popular and pervasive Twilight is, which means that the

memes outlined above have a greater potential of spreading and infecting our

cultural cells.

One of the still lingering questions about the impact of memes and of

media viruses in general is whether or not "media viruses good or evil?"

(Rushkoff 320). In the case of the Twilight saga, it may be too early to tell.

There is a promising feeling of optimism and a renewed faith in positive outcomes in the series, which may contribute to what Entertainment Weekly notices is "that visceral, obsessive amour for everything in Stephenie Meyer's literary universe" (Sperling 36). However, the memes in the saga also signal audiences to be receptive of the way that fairy tale heroines, like Bella, are

"rewarded for, but never rescued from, their patience, passivity, and pallid beauty" (Buttsworth 49). It is my assertion that Twilight has the potential to 83

do both: present potentially compromising messages about behavior while

also encouraging a renewed sense of faith in love and family. So where is the

line between the problem and the benefit? Klosterman claims at the end of his

rant about fake love,

We don't need to worry about people unconsciously

"absorbing" archaic secret messages when they're six years old:

we need to worry about all the entertaining messages people are

consciously accepting when they're twenty-six. (9-10)

What happens though, when something like Twilight comes along and

presents the same messages we could have absorbed at age six again to those readers and viewers who are sixteen, or twenty-six, or forty-six? This debate can be influenced by the study of parasocial relationships. According to Tim

Cole and Laura Leets, parasocial relationships are found to be strongest in individuals with anxious-ambivalent attachment styles, which is seen in

... people who tend to hold a more negative view of the self

while idealizing their relational partner. These individuals

believe in falling in love easy, are more likely to seek extensive 84

contact with their partners, and experience more emotional

highs and lows. (550)

Cole and Leets go on to explain that this type of attachment style is seen in

young women. Young women are the primary audience of the Twilight saga.

Additionally, according to Rebecca Rubin and Michael McHugh, strong

parasocial relationships are often formed with media personae with whom

the audience member has "shared experiences" (280). Therefore, if an

audience member has an anxious-ambivalent attachment style, she is more

likely to develop a parasocial relationship, and she is more likely to develop a

parasocial relationship with a character with whom she has similar

experiences. 22 The fact that the character Bella Swan could be defined as having an anxious-ambivalent attachment style could influence why a large percentage of audience members form a parasocial relationship with her. As a result, the memes in the media virus that are illustrated by Bella's story have a higher likelihood of affecting those audience members.

22 For more examples see: Cohen, "Parasocial Relations and Romantic Attractions: Gender and Dating Status Differences"; Horton & Wohl, "Mass Communication and Para-social Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance"; Overbeck, "Popular Culture Affects Teen Sexuality'' 85

Part of the difficulty in interacting with media viruses and parasocial

relationships is the fact that, while they are at their peak of popularity and

relevance, the actual result of the spread of memes is all speculative. When

the H1N1 flu virus that impacted North America during 2009, no one could

predict how dangerous it would be or how it may spread. In 2010, though

vaccines are still highly encouraged, there are still a large number of

questions about how this virus is behaving and what sort of lasting impact it

will have overall. Media viruses operate in the same way: while the virus is

still spreading, the permanent effects of the virus cannot be measured.

Despite the fact that Stephenie Meyer has claimed she has ended the series as

told from Bella's perspective, she also admits on her website that "maybe part

of me is protecting those secrets because I'm not ready to leave my vampires

behind" (The Official Website of Stephenie Meyer). Additionally, Meyer has written The Complete Illustrated Guide to the Twilight Saga, which is set to be released on April 12, 2011 and is already available for preorder on

Amazon.com (The Official Website of Stephenie Meyer). As such, the virus shows no signs of weakening, at least for the foreseeable future. 86

Conclusion 11The Venom Had Burned Ahead.": The Irreversible Transformation and the Continuing Twilight Conversation

One of my favorite moments in Twilight is when Bella conducts

Internet searches after Jacob tells her about "the cold ones" when she visits La

Push beach. More times than I can count during the process of writing this

thesis, I, like Bella, "made it to my favorite search engine ... and then typed in

one word. Vampire"(Meyer, Twilight 133). In fact, there have been many times

throughout this thesis writing process when I have found myself seemingly

wearing Bella's shoes. When I first read Twilight, I instantly became a fan.

And once I started the grad program, I knew I wanted to write my thesis on

Twilight, much like the moment at the prom when Bella describes her decision

to become a vampire: "I'd already made this decision, and I was sure. It

didn't matter that my body was rigid as a plank, my hands balled into fists, my breathing erratic ..." (Meyer, Twilight 498). Like Bella, outwardly I was sure I wanted to transform from fan to scholar, and that I was more than willing to take on this new identity. But inside, I questioned my choice. Was I willing to give up my unabashed adoration for the books? Could I face my own Volturi of naysayers and critics? Or should I settle for simply being a 87

fan, like Bella almost did for Jacob in New Moon when she compares their

relationship to Juliet and Paris: "Maybe she should have tried to settle into

the leftover scraps of life that were left behind. Maybe that would have been

as close to happiness as she could get" (Meyer 371). But no, it wasn't enough.

So I started telling my peers I would be writing on Twilight. I wrote

papers about the first book and film for other classes. I started seeing who

might be interested in being on my committee. This verbal affirmation, this

social assignment of myself to the role of "Twilight girl" was my equivalent to

when "he once again slid my ring into place on the third finger of my left

hand. Where it would stay - conceivably for the rest of eternity" (Meyer,

Eclipse 620). And in the same way that it wasn't Bella's engagement or

marriage or honeymoon or loss of virginity that assured her becoming a

vampire, this commitment to the topic was not enough to confirm my own

transformation from fan to scholar. But, much in the same way that Bella

seals her fate by choosing to give birth to Renesmee, by the time my thesis proposal was approved by my committee, there was no turning back; I was 88

going to transform from fan to scholar or simply die in the process. 23 My own

fandom has also been a point of contention. While I own "Team Edward" t-

shirts and squealed with delight when I opened a set of Breaking Dawn-

inspired red and white chess piece bookends, I also have to disengage with

my own parasocial interactions with the text in order to objectively analyze

the memes within the texts and the impact of the saga on society in general.

In the fall 2010 semester, while I finished writing this thesis, I also took

a dramatic writing course; the course was a workshop. On the first day of

class, our instructor asked us to introduce ourselves to the group as a whole.

We were to share our name, our major, and an interesting fact about

ourselves. When my tum came around, my "interesting fact" was the topic of

my thesis: Twilight. I was met by such a strange amalgamation of noise: some

sighs, some boos, some laughs. Fracturing away from introductions, the class

began to discuss their love and/or hate and/or indifference to the Twilight

saga. About a quarter had read the books, slightly more than half had seen

the movies, but all of them had very strong opinions about my favorite

vampire coven. "Huh," I thought to myself, "so this is what Rushkoff is

23 Okay, maybe not die, but you get the idea. And trust me, if you've ever been or known anyone going through the thesis writing process, the amusing allusion to death isn't all that far-fetched. 89 talking about." As it became clearer to me that the virus was spreading, it also became clear that the virus was mutating.

The mutation of the Twilight saga as a media virus behaves like any other virus. The mutations use the Twilight saga as their protein shells, and as

Rushkoff explains, "the attacking virus uses its protective and sticky protein casing to latch on to a healthy cell and then inject its own genetic code inside ... the protein shell of a virus is the Trojan horse" (9). The more pervasive Twilight becomes, the more our cultural cells are infected and transformed by the memes of self-sacrifice, abstinence, and optimism.

However, the mutations do not necessarily embody the same memes. Some of these mutations include parodies, such as the novella nightlight by the

Harvard Lampoon or the film Vampire's Suck. Imagery from the Twilight films have been used on television or websites to signal subject matter that may seem to be associated with some of the themes present in the Twilight saga, though not actually the saga itself. For example, the website ]ezebel featured a post about a British study on altruism; the title of the post was "Being Selfless

Could Help Get You Laid"; the inset photograph was from New Moon and showed Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner on the beach, which is the scene 90 from the film when Jacob saves Bella from drowning (and from Victoria) after she dives off a cliff at the La Push reservation. The article begins with the point "a study shows that altruism may have evolved because people tend to chose mates who help them out from time to time" (North n.p.). But what of the incongruent message between this post's text and the photo? If we are to choose mates that help us out from time to time, why doesn't Bella end up with Jacob instead of Edward? This seeming contradiction is too a feature of media viruses. For one, "the fact that media tends to promote stories about itself is more than coincidental. It's not just a random expression of chaotic self-similarity" (Rushkoff 317). The website Jezebel is manipulating the present media virus of the Twilight saga in order to draw in infected readers and thereby infecting them with alternative stories and perspectives that are not in the saga itself.

From Disney's versions of classic fairy tales to Meyer's new fairy tale heroine, Bella Cullen, we are presented continually with the story that

Bettelheim illustrates where "the unlikely hero proves himself ... until eventually he frees the beautiful princess, marries her, and lives happily ever after" (111). The four books of the saga reiterate that it is _not enough, in this 91 fairy tale, to slay the dragon (or the Volturi) with swords and might. There

must be true love ever present, or the "good guys" will lose; that fact then motivates the choices made by the characters, especially the heroine Bella, which promotes the viral memes of the saga that one must be self-sacrificing for family and must meet certain expectations in romantic and sexual relationships, which then promises the potential of a "happily ever after."

Stephenie Meyer was able to create and sell this vampire love interest with the same foundational techniques as used to craft fairytale heroes which in tum unleashed a strong media virus. Society has been bitten by these new vampires, and that is a transformation that cannot be undone. No longer will we wait to hear the coming hoof beats of a white horse bringing Prince

Charming; instead, we're listening for the low engine rumbling of a shiny silver Volvo, hoping that Edward Cullen is behind the wheel.

And in case you're wondering, I am still terrified of vampires ...except for the Cullens.

Twilight again. Another ending.

No matter how perfect the day is, it always has to end.

Edward Cullen 92

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