What if we could re-VAMP the mommy myth? (pun intended)
January 7, 2010
I have my first guest post up at Girl With Pen. It’s entitled “The Mommy Myth that Will Not Die” and analyzes the Twilight’s saga’s representation of motherhood.
Can you all give it a read and please leave a comment?
Thanks much!!!
5 Comments
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Seduced by Twilight 
It’s a great post, Natalie. I left a comment on Girl w/ Pen!
Thanks so much Lynda!
On the one hand, thumbs up great article! I really find Meyer’s handling of the Leah character an absolutely shameful (and shameless!) abuse of stereotypical ideas of a woman’s role that needs decrying; I also hate the way Sue (the only strong single mother in the series) is portrayed as a hostile, manipulative bitch. More attention on these apparently minor characters is needed, to foreground the way Meyer creates certain assumptions that couch her more central and obvious sexist, normative portrayals of gender.
On the other hand, eeek – I am currently in the process of writing an article on the very subject of representations of motherhood in the saga, and now I am suffering from performance anxiety 😛
On the subject, I’ve been meaning to ask – do you mind if I purloin a quote you paraphrased in one of your previous posts for said essay – “Vampires are made, not born”? Let me reassure you I intend to use it in an entirely different context to the one you did, i.e. in relation to the male appropriation of ‘mothering’ that the vampire myth facilitates as used in ‘Twilight’ rather than the idea you explored of vampirism as an escape from the enforced victimhood of femaleness under patriarchy. But if it’s a problem, do say!
Merinne,
Thanks so much for your comment. Would you mind also posting it at Girl w/ Pen where most of the conversation is taking place?
Glad you like the piece. I agree about Leah! She was done wrong! And great point that “More attention on these apparently minor characters is needed, to foreground the way Meyer creates certain assumptions that couch her more central and obvious sexist, normative portrayals of gender.” I agree entirely!
In regards to the “performance anxiety,” I am sure you will write a great piece!
I would be happy for you to cite my quote, and this would not be “purloining” as long as you acknowlege original usage in some way (i.e. via a hyperlink.)
Where will your article appear? I’d love to read it!
Hi Natalie! I just added a comment on your post at Girl With Pen and am pasting it in here as well. I wasn’t sure if you would want the conversation continued at both locations, so apologies for any unwanted duplication!
Here’s the comment:
An insightful assessment of representations of motherhood in the Twilight novels, Natalie. I agree with your point that the series “fails to give voice to the realities of global motherhood” and also agree that we “may be asking too much of this lightweight vampire tale” in wanting it to do so–but is it, I wonder, too much to ask that it present at least a slightly more enlightened vision of motherhood? Or that it at least depict motherhood in a way that does not invite the very valid questions raised in paragraph 7 of your posting? It seems to me that even a lightweight vampire tale could, in theory, avoid reinforcing the undesirable messages cited in your post, even if it fails to correct them.