Why Are Teens Wild About Stephenie Meyer's 'Twilight Saga'?

By Amrisa Niranjin -- School Library Journal, 8/1/2008

The wait is over. The final volume in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn, goes on sale at 12 a.m. tonight, and many stores across the country are planning midnight parties with a vampire theme. Maybe it’s a fascination with the supernatural, its sexual energy, or its nail biting plot, but teens are raving about this series. Professor Amy Clarke of the University of California, Davis, and an expert on teen literature explores this fascination.

Why was the Twilight series inititally under the radar for a lot of teens? 
Meyer was an unknown author when the first book came out, and she had to build a fan base from scratch. But more than that, the subject matter probably contributed. Readers might have thought they would have no interest in books about vampires and only read them when other people recommended them. That was my experience, with students telling me I should read them "even though" they had vampires in them.

What's the draw to these books?
The biggest initial draw is the sexual energy that runs throughout the books; considering that they are abstinent. Edward and Bella do have some fairly steaming scenes, not to mention the one between Bella and Jacob. Edward and Jacob are both powerful, intriguing characters as well. But there is a good deal more to it, including themes of family, free will, and the possibility of myths intermingling with the real world. Meyer also captures the intensity of young love and writes in a way that is hip but not ironic.

Can you explain why teens find the supernatural so appealing?
That's a hard question to answer because this kind of literature has been around for a long time. Is it more popular now because of the Lord of the Rings films and Harry Potter?  Or is it answering some kind of need?  I do think that the world we inhabit is kind of discouraging, probably kind of frightening for children (and adults!). In the supernatural realm there is the possibility of attaining magical powers—like Harry Potter finding out he is a wizard, or Bella not only getting to date a guy with superpowers, but possibly being able to get them for her own. That may be too easy an explanation—I think a lot of kids just find this stuff really cool.
 

Do you think Isabella Swan could become the next Harry Potter?
If you mean in sheer popularity, I would say no. I think the audience base for Harry is much broader than for Bella, drawing in far more male readers and having a variety of characters to whom the audience can relate. The Twilight series so far has more appeal for female readers—whether teens or grown women. 
But if Meyer continues the series, for example publishing the book she has been working on that is told from Edward's point of view, that could change. She is only just getting started as a writer as well, so it remains to be seen how she will evolve as a storyteller.

On a character level, Harry and Bella are quite different. He fits the hero/quest story very well, whereas Bella's story arc is more about coming of age. 

Which fictional character would you compare Bella to? 
I think that Jane Eyre and Elizabeth Bennet are more apt comparisons, in terms of the niche Bella fits into—despite the vampires, she is really a romance character.  Having said that, I don't think that Bella has the complexity to become a legendary character.  She has many good qualities, including loyalty and bravery, but she doesn't dig very deep intellectually or engage moral questions. 

What are the educational benefits of this book? 
Besides just getting kids to read—and these are real page turners—the books can be used
educationally by looking at questions the texts themselves bring up (why are they so popular and is it good for girls to be identifying with Bella?) as well as linking them to other things we might be teaching, like religion and mythology.

Bella's character, what she is modeling for young women, is a good thing to explore.  On the one hand, she seems to represent a step backward in terms of role models. She will marry very young, she is willing to exchange her humanity for an eternity with her boyfriend, she gets pushed around quite a lot, and she needs to be rescued frequently.  On the other hand, she has redeeming qualities including her intelligence, her willingness to put her life on the line to save her loved ones, and her total acceptance of people society would label monsters. 

There also seems to be a blending of myths in the book. 
I also am intrigued by Meyer's blending of the werewolf myth into Native American mythology—the mythic aspects of the text are fresh takes on old legends and in some ways seem to me to be very American.  For example, the vampires choose not to kill human; they have the very American trait of believing they can be what they choose to be.  If Bella does choose to become a vampire, it will be an act of free will, an opportunity to change her destiny completely. 

There is also the question of what all of this means in a religious context.  One of the vampire characters says that he believes in God despite what has happened to him—how does that square with vampires as immortal or boys turning into werewolves? 

As with Harry Potter, I always like to look at why and how something like this becomes so popular—looking at the fan sites and fan fiction associated with the series is a great lesson in the power of the internet and the way it creates a kind of cultural commons.
 
Would you ever include it in your own syllabus for any courses?