Twilight, Fast & Furious, and the Female Gaze

What does Jacob Black have to do with a hot girl washing a car?

Many of you, I'm sure, are familiar with the sensational (and oft-criticized) vampire romance novels & movies from the Twilight Saga. Among my circle of peers (most of whom are well-educated and come from an affluent socioeconomic background), the Twilight series is scathingly denounced for the way it presents the protagonist, Bella Swan, as a degrading female stereotype: a helpless, clueless girl who has no agency of her own and instead waits around for the powerful men in her life to protect her, provide for her, and dominate her sexually. Many feminists have taken up arms against the series because of this.

Being the curious male type I am, when my ex suggested I read the series since she liked it so much, I gave it a try. As a self-respecting male, it was difficult for me to read through the series without squirming. However, the social implications of the book intrigued me enough for me to read through the entire series in order to compare how it presented men with how women are usually presented in our "male gaze"-dominated film and literature. The Twilight Saga seems to be a good example of a reversal of the male gaze. Instead of portraying women in a sexualized manner according to the preferences of a male audience, it sexualizes men and portrays them in ways that are appealing to females. Much like the abusive and aggressive Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights that countless women have swooned over, Twilight provides two dominant male characters in Edward Cullen and Jacob Black that apparently are very appealing to some women.

I find it interesting that people have such scorn for the Twilight series, without being similarly affronted by 80% of contemporary entertainment. As a prototypical example, let's examine the film Fast & Furious. The film can be summed up in one simple line: awesome dudes race cars awesomely and bang hot chicks, all while living on the edge of danger. My high school biology teacher nicknamed it "Power Rangers for Teenagers," which is such an amusing yet apt comparison. Going beyond that however, the film most certainly projects women as sexualized objects that men fight over, and sets a standard for masculinity that many teenage guys (myself among them) aspired to. Granted, this film has had its fair share of criticism for its sexist undertones. However, the outcry against the Twilight Saga seems disproportionate in comparison with other films, including Fast & Furious. The fact that people are making such a big fuss about Twilight and not everything else seems a bit contradictory.

Stephenie Meyer's defends herself:

In my own opinion (key word), the foundation of feminism is this: being able to choose. The core of anti-feminism is, conversely, telling a woman she can't do something solely because she's a woman—taking any choice away from her specifically because of her gender. "You can't be an astronaut, because you're a woman. You can't be president because you're a woman. You can't run a company because you're a woman." All of those oppressive "can't"s.

She certainly makes an interesting point. Who are we to say what girls, or boys for that matter, can and should aspire to? I think there's more to the issue than feminists, or Stephenie Meyer, admit. Yes, girls deserve the freedom to choose how they want their life to be, whether its happily married to a gallant vampire (or werewolf), or becoming a strong, independent woman. And Stephenie Meyer is probably a little too overbalanced on the marriage side as opposed to the independent woman side.

But I take issue with some of the feminists as well. Women deserve to have sexuality, and they deserve to be able to express it just as much as men do, whether its in literature or in real life. If Twilight is softcore female literotica, that's fine by me. I guess I'm a bit weird: I think it's possible to be physically attracted to someone, and also respect and admire their moral, emotional, and intellectual qualities. And I think people should be able to choose their gender roles in life, whether they want to be a stay-at-home dad, or a female mechanic, or a female president. Why is it that women need to assume traditionally male roles in order to be respected? They shouldn't need to change themselves to get respect in the first place. Men need to start accommodating femininity in business just as much as women need to let men play a role in housekeeping, birthing, and parenting. I think a lot of people who are feminists (women or men) are still stuck in an old-fashioned way about thinking about gender!

So do I think teenage girls should be allowed to read the Twilight Saga? Well, I think the series is a bit ridiculous, and the plot devices utilized leave a lot to be desired. I do think that teenage girls deserve a better role model than Bella Swan, though it seems that Hermione Granger is doing just fine in that department. I'm not sure about the extent of influence books like the Twilight Saga have on young, impressionable minds. I know when I was a teenager, I read a lot of fantasy books which actually contributed to my moral development -- Star Wars books, The Sword of Truth series, Forgotten Realms books have a surprising amount of moral content in them. I like to think that I'm a more honorable, trustworthy, and empathetic person today because of the fiction I read as a child. But I played a lot of violent video games as well, and I am dedicating my life to becoming a healer, for what it's worth.