Mormon Influence: Anti-feminist Critique of Twilight

Mormon Influence: Anti-feminist Critique of Twilight

The feminism campaign is a concept that has characterized global debates on gender equality and more representation for the women in all spheres of society. While feminism is not a complicated issue when addressed through the political lens, in literature, it is a complex issue right from the fundamental level because of the differing written opinions about taking women seriously and according them respect. Although the idea is simple to understand by critically analyzing texts related to feminism, the portrayal of women in literature is quite problematic and the novel Twilight by Stephen Meyer is no exception. The text features Bella, who is the main character and protagonist as a self-deprecating girl characterized by a slew of stereotypical attributes. Meyer’s Twilight is closely attached to her Mormon culture and depicts her belief about women and feminism. A detailed analysis of Twilight identifies examples of antifeminism throughout the text and how it relates to Meyer’s Mormon culture.

Bella Swan is characterized as a young girl suffering from low self-esteem, commits her time to cleaning and cooking for her father, she is weak and small physically and is consistently exhibited in the novel as the damsel in distress. Bella’s portrayal in this context is due to her obsession with Edward Cullen, who is a very rich young boy from the vampire community. Bella loses her interest in all other activities when she meets Edward and after a striking emotional resemblance and attachment between the two characters, their lives become different. However, of importance is the twist that Bella’s life takes as a human in the story who has fallen in love with a vampire. Essentially, she becomes so strongly in love with a vampire, a man who is hungry and baying for her blood.

Meyer set out to weave Mormon imagery in Twilight from the background of the story and the salient elements right from its beliefs to practices. Although Meyer has spoken out about being a feminist and writing her texts based on feminism concepts, it is hard to ignore how the theme of anti-feminism is manifest, right from the way Bella is presented to the reader. Bella is the heroine in the story but is not independent. She cleans, cooks and looks after her father despite her small age and physique but that is the Mormon culture the girls take care of the home when the mother is not present. Meyer does not consider in any part the responsibility of the father to the daughter. The fact that this is achieved in literature is because the writer tries to avoid character dominance over the main item, which is why it is Bella who has to be featured as taking the main role.

The fact that Bella is depicted as a damsel in distress through her obsession with Edward unravels every explanation on how Meyer’s text is full of anti-feminism, going against what she says she believes. Bella loses all her interest in everything that made and described her once she met Edward. The message in the way Bella is depicted is that she cannot be complete without a man by her side. She survives because her father exists and all she does is to work and carry out tasks for him. When it comes to Edward, she completely forgets herself and surrenders all her emotions, feelings and affection to the beast, fulfilling the unfortunate stereotype that for a woman to be complete and experience true happiness, whether in society or her inner self, she needs a man. Bella lacks independence and Meyer does not incorporate any personal traits in her that depict Bella as a string female character despite her being the main protagonist in the story. From this assertion, it is evident how Meyer carefully brings in the element of lack of independence among the Mormon culture where the author come from.

Bella’s mother, on the other hand, cannot survive on her own and constantly needs a man to pay her bills and support her wellbeing. The reason Bella moved to her father’s home is because her mother, whom she describes as harebrained has a new husband. Bella guarantees that were it not for the husband, there would be no food in the refrigerator and bill would never be paid. She also needed someone to call every time she got lost, which brings out the element of dependence on the male characters, both for Bella and her mother. Their depiction is a typical characteristic of the Mormon culture and belief about women.

Despite being deeply in love with a man who wants to kill her, literally, Bella is not worried about her own life, safety and future. On multiple instances throughout the story, Bella expresses the desire to sacrifice herself, happiness and well-being for the good of those she is close to. She does this to her father, child and Edward as well. The fact that she is not scared to be eaten by the vampire shows her emotional resilience to people that matter to her. However, the unfortunate perpetuation in the way Meyer depicts Bella as weak but strong at the same time is necessary to fit in the demographic description of the intended message about women in the Mormon culture. The demography and setting of the story is narrow and more gendered, with all advantage and privileges given to the male characters, beginning with Edward. The way Bella is presented in the text is not the one for a role model that can be emulated by girls and women in society, making it more anti-feminist than the way the author describes the text.

Bella as a teenage heroine avoids tobacco, tea and coffee in her meals. In the story, Bella is conservative in her eating habits and seems to understand the effects of tobacco and coffee on her bloodstream as a teenager who is still growing. Meyer depicts her in this context as a responsible mature girl despite her age, making her a heroine in the story. However, the mix in her strength to eat healthy is closely attached to the Mormon health code that does not advocate addictive elements such as tobacco and coffee in the community, especially to children. Therefore, Bella is made to obey and stick by a strict health code that is a product of Meyer’s Mormon culture. Bella also gives qualitative advice to her father in his eating habits. She advises her to cut back on steak, which is more like the Mormon cultural teaching that advises its people to eat poultry and meat sparingly.

Bella is more into cooking and cleaning and this raises questions into how Meyer intended her protagonist to appear in front of the society and the readers as well. The Mormon Utah have a strong philosophy of industry that advocates for people, especially women to be more industrious and productive in what they do around the community setting. More responsibility is placed on the woman, who is meant to shoulder key productive elements to support the family and this is brought out in Bella, right from her father’s house and even after her marriage to Edward. The traditional roles of the Mormon women are carefully woven in Bella’s personality traits as a hardworking and selfless character to support than other rather than herself.

Twilight is essentially an allegory of anti-feminism in the way Edward is presented. He is violent and domineering. Though Meyer introduces him a vampire with animal characteristics of being violent with primitive animal instincts, more attention is given to the way he controls Bella and other female characters. Bella is depicted a modern American woman but has to stand up for others and in the process loses herself. She has to struggle with Edward’s patronizing misogyny and control because she is blinded by her emotions and feelings towards him. All the other characters in the book are open to Edward and can have a second opinion with what Edward advocates apart from Bella. In this context, Meyer displays how Bella is a slave, right from her mind, her emotions to her actions when she is around Edward. Bella is characterized as being reverentially reserved toward Edward as a prophet of god and her resistance to all other forces that convince her otherwise from Edward are a result of her subjectivity to him.

Bella is devoted and committed in what she does, a typical Mormon woman displayed in the text. She is more into proving her worth in front of others rather than herself, and this depicts something close to feminism in terms of commitment but not actual feminism. Even after living happily ever after with Edward, Meyer says little about feminism in Bella as a character. The lone female wolf, Lear Clearwater, comes in as a reminder of the emptiness and isolation as experienced by Bella. Leah is the complete opposite of Bella because she is not only intelligent but is also gifted. She does not allow herself to be patronized by a man in a community where women are supposed to be under men in terms of control and dominance. The contrast created shows how anti-feminist Meyer’s ideas are in bringing out personal traits in her main character Bella. Essentially, Bella is supposed to be the strong and gifted women who is not tied down by a man.

Meyer portrays Bella as a woman is inappropriately mothered in the way her mother leaves to follow her base-ball player husband as they move around the country. To fill the gap and show for lack of independence in her main character Bella, Meyer provides room for Esme, who is Edward’s adopted mother to become the alternative mother figure to Bella. The use of adopted parents and relatives to acts as godmothers and provide mother figure importance is atypical of the Mormon culture. Women in the Mormon culture believe that women are not only home makers but also caregivers to young orphaned children. Edward and Bella are both considered as orphaned in the story. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the women to fill in void and support the children into maturity and is a treasures parenting cultural practices among the Mormon.

Mormons believe that a human being cannot become divine and in Twilight, Meyer demonstrates exactly this concept through Bella. Bella is human while Edward comes from a family of vampire. The Cullen family were once human but are now in a resurrected condition and are immortal. The immortality of the Cullen family is one of a probationary kind that reflects eternal life. In the story, Meyer’s description of the Cullens, and in particular Edward, is that of a godlike creature that is inhumanly beautiful. These elements are critical in Bella’s eyes because although she understands that might end up being a snack to Edward or even to his entire family, she is blinded by the inhuman beauty in him and is not ready to let him go no matter the consequences. Meyer depicts Bella as not only obsessed but as a character that is ready to be used in any way her commander wants. She does not mind becoming the victim, which is a critical element in the story for Bella as the main character.

The Mormon also believe in the existence of angels and they are a product of resurrected beings of flash and bone. The character Moroni, who is the most familiar in the culture, is believed to stand in Mormon temple rooftops with a trumpet on his hands. Additionally, the Book of Mormon depicts Moroni as a prophet during the 5th century who paid founder Joseph Smith a visit in 1823. The description of Moroni by Smith is that of a radiating light that is so glorious beyond ordinary description. Meyer uses the same concept to show anti-feminism in Twilight. Male creatures are divine and possess supernatural powers. Bella describes Edward, her vampire boyfriend as an angel with glorious elements that she cannot begin to imagine. Bella describes how Edward’s skin sparkles while in the sunlight and how his visit to her bedroom at night makes her feel wonderful and consider Edward and inhumanly beautiful. However, the Mormon angels do not have wings and this is similar to Edward as described by Meyer. Edward has shoulder in as much as he has wings too. While he sits in the lab, the author paints the picture of Edward seated while stretching his wings with an owl resting over his shoulders.

Mormons have a strict emphasis on the family and the importance it serves in the community. Meyer brings this out in the way Edward and Bella are married. Bella quickly becomes pregnant but the half human/vampire fetus almost kills her. Edward, who is distraught by the situation suggests that they carry out an abortion and a subsequent artificial insemination. This is atypical of Mormon culture, who support abortion in the event the life of the mother is in danger. Additionally, the Mormon believe that artificial insemination is an ideal method for married couples, all which are used in ­Twilight. Mormon also value individual choice and Bella is portrayed as vetoing both abortion and artificial insemination, which reinforces the practice of individual choice among the Mormon culture. Additionally, Bella is depicted as one that is completely married to Edward and, therefore, is unavailable to all the other men. Meyer demonstrates the unique Mormon tracing that marriages are sealed in a process that is meant for eternity. Bella considered her relationship and marriage to Edward as forever, signifying the anti-feminism Mormon practice where the woman is supposed to be an eternal companion to the man. Women are expected to stick by their marriages because men are eternal partners.

Essentially, a detailed analysis of Twilight identifies examples of antifeminism throughout the text and how it relates to Meyer’s Mormon culture. Meyer uses Bella as the main character in the text but she is not one to be emulated because she is weak and lacks independence. A lot of personality traits are taken from Bella as the main character, showing how Meyer is highly influenced by her Mormon culture and the place of women in the culture when writing the text. As literary article, Twilight brings out interesting elements of women and how they are dominated in a society controlled by men.

Works Cited

Brooks, Joanna. Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings. New Yor: Oxford University Press, 2016. Print.

Mason, Patrick. Out of Obscurity: Mormonism Since 1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. Print.

Meyer, Stephenie. The Twilight Saga Collection. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2005. Print.