The "Twilight" Mystique: Why We Like Our Vampires Sexy by Stephanie L. Dowdle

"If people want stories about girls who love vampires, they should have them.... It's always deeply romantic or deeply interesting or deeply scary, or all of the above." — Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1)


It was a spring night in 2008 when I received a cryptic text message from my youngest sister: "I love my imaginary vampire boyfriend, Edward." I had no idea who or what she was talking about and chalked it up to a late night. It wasn't until we spoke some days later that she clarified her text and I was introduced to a powerful new phenomenon in young adult literature: the aloof, sophisticated, and deliciously dangerous "vegetarian vampire" Edward Cullen from Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series.

I had heard of these novels before but hadn't really paid them much attention—just enough to mock them, assuming that if they were this popular and sported such a legion of devotees, they couldn't be that good ... could they? After several months of constant prodding and a few more random text mes¬sages about sexy vampires and why they were better than human guys, I finally relented and picked up Meyer's novels at the library, determined to see what the fuss was all about.

While I'm not sure I will ever revel in "imaginary vampire boyfriends" to the degree that many Twilight readers do, I must admit that I am also a fan, if a somewhat reluctant one, of Meyer's series. I am intrigued by the popularity of these novels. Shakespeare they aren't, but good escape literature they most definitely are, and I can't help but wonder if there is something more to the almost instantaneous celebrity of the Twilight series than I first thought. A growing fan base among readers of all ages and the current marketable popularity of vampire lore in many facets of mainstream media has proven that this series is not strictly young, adult fare. Indeed, according to the audiences' enthusiastic reactions to The Twilight Saga: New Moon, the film based on Meyer's second vampire novel, the Twilight series seems to be at the forefront of this trend. When I attended a showing of the film in late November 2009, the audience was primarily composed of middle-aged women — mothers and grandmothers, it appeared — and a few men who had visibly been dragged there by a significant other. When it came time for the now-famous scene where Jacob takes off his shirt, these women screamed the loudest, and the men slumped down in their seats, attempting to disappear.

This paper begins with an examination of the evolution of vampire lore in film and written text, and then moves on to look at some of the ways in which Meyer's novels bridge different cultural groups, primarily age groups, creating avenues for discussion (and controversy) between different discourse communities.

According to columnist Steve Wood of The Courier-Post, "Despite living on-and-off for centuries and sticking to an iron-rich diet, vampires — once long in the tooth, ears and fingernails—have never looked better." (2) Wood credits the Hollywood media machine with the vampires' glamorous makeover. Nina Auerbach, Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Our Vampires, Ourselves, credits a more specific source with the rise of these newly glam and deliciously sexy vampires: Anne Rice. (3) According to Auerbach, Rice represents vampires as "timeless, romantic figures" and has "made them closer and closer to gods." (4) She remarks, "In earlier vampire stories they're disgusting. They're walking corpses and instinctive blood drinkers. They're close[er] to our idea of zombies." (5) It's notable, then, that from the publication of Rice's Interview with the Vampire in the mid 1970s, up to the more recent publication of novels like L.J. Smith's The Vampire Diaries trilogy (1991), Charlaine Harris' Dead Until Dark (2001), and Meyer's Twilight series (2005-2008), vampires have become increasingly more appealing and less gruesome. They still survive on blood, albeit synthetic (Harris) or animal (Meyer), and "bad vampires" still exist, yet, as Alex Remington wrote in The Washington Post, "[Everyone] loves a romantic lead, even if landing that hunky man means defiling the crypts of the undead. On screens big and small, vampires are increasingly becoming less demonic and more sympathetic, less evil and more nuanced —and have become the most eligible bachelors around." (6)

Vampires have not always oozed sex appeal, however, and it follows that vampire fiction was not always intended for a young adult audience. From Lord Ruthven in John William Polidori's "The Vampyre" (1819) to Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), the vampire was represented as a fearsome creature, more in line with the monsters of fairy tales and folk stories recorded by Anderson, Perrault, and the Brothers Grimm. In line with these stories—the original intent of which was not merely to entertain but also to influence listeners by reaffirming established social mores— many critics have focused on the repressed (Victorian) view of sexuality inherent in Stoker's novel. According to George Stade, a retired Professor of English at Columbia and author of the forward to the 1981 Bantam edition of Stoker's Dracula, Count Dracula can be interpreted as "the symptom of a wish, largely sexual, that we wish we did not have," and the effect of repressing this wish "is to turn a hunger into a horror." (7) Stade continues by stating that in Stoker's day, "sex was likely to seem bestial, polluting, depleting, deathly, satanic, a fever in the blood, the theme of dreams, the motive of madness, the lurking menace in the shadow of every scene." (8) What better way to reinforce this ideology than by making sex not just dirty, but also dangerous and deadly?

Nigel Watson describes the conflict in Dracula as a "battle between the forces of rational civilized, good [and] instinctual, irrational, evil." (9) In Stoker's novel, Jonathan Harker, representing the rational, civilized good, offers this description of the Count, representing the instinctual, irrational evil:

His face was ... strong... with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with a lofty, domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere. His eyebrows were massive, almost meeting over the nose.... The mouth ... was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth; these protruded over the lips ... For the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops, extremely pointed.... [His hands] were rather coarse —broad, with squat fingers.... The nails were long and fine and cut to a sharp point.... [H]is breath ... was rank. (10)

Contrast this image with Meyer's description of her heroine's first encounter with the good vegetarian vampires in Twilight. Though the vampire siblings are all unique in appearance, each of the five Cullen "children" is described as being some version of breathtakingly gorgeous. From the "lean" and "muscular" boys, to the "statuesque" and "pixielike" girls, the Cullens are so extraordinarily beautiful that Bella is almost certain she is looking at pieces of fine art rather than "living" creatures." (11)

It is obvious from these two descriptions that, at least physically, I he-members of Twilight's Cullen family are vastly different creatures from Stoker 's Dracula. Yet, again, vampires, whether hairy and menacing like Dracula or glamorous and sexy like Edward, have always tempted audiences with their frightening ability to seduce us (see, for example, the scenes at the Theater of the Vampires in Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire) and they continue to hold a powerful place in our literary and cultural fabric.

One only has to perform a basic search for the word "vampire" at imdb.COn I to reveal over 1,300 entries, with production dates ranging from 1896 to 1 In-present day. (12) A select sampling of the entries includes the following:

• 1922 = Max Schreck as Count Orlock in Nosferatu
• 1931 = Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula in Dracula
• 1958 = Christopher Lee as Count Dracula in Dracula
• 1967-1971 = Jonathan Fricl as Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows
• 1979 = Klaus Kinski as Count Dracula in Nosferatu
• 1987 = Kiefer Sutherland, et al. in The Lost Boys
• 1992 = Gary Oldman as Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula
• 1994 = Brad Pitt as Louis and Tom Cruise as Lestat in Interview with the Vampire
• 1998 = Wesley Snipes as Eric Brooks/Blade, the dhampir in Bladeas Queen Akasha and Stuart Townsend as Lestat de Lioncort in Queen of the Damned
• 2008 = Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton in HBO's True Blood
• 2008 = Robert Pattinson, et al. as the Cullens in Twilight
• 2009 = Robert Pattinson, et al. as the Cullens in New Moon

Notice the slow but sure transition from gruesome creature to sex symbol here. The "fear factor" is still there, but, at least physically, the vampires themselves have changed dramatically. Now, we like our vampires sexy. This sex appeal is manifest in the number of shows currently identified as being "in production" and slated for release in 2010-2011, and beyond. This list includes film adaptations of the last two novels in Meyer's Twilight series—Eclipse (2010), and Breaking Dawn (2011) — as well as Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian (2010) and a (rumored) version of Dark Shadows starring Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins (2011). (13)

Clearly, vampires are big business, and the demand for all things vampiric continues to grow. A quick search at amazon.com using the term "vampire" revealed over 28,300 separate links, broken down by department (Books, Movies 8c TV, MP3 Downloads, and so on). One of the most surprising revelations here came in the form of 2,477 hits in the area of Home/Garden. (14) These products ranged from TSL Vampire ATV/UTV Tires, to Balkan Vampire Blood Cross Statues, Vegetarian Vampire Aprons, and beyond. Today's vampires are crossing all sorts of boundaries.

Focusing an amazon.com search specifically on "Stephenie Meyer" yielded everything from movie posters, to baby onesies, t-shirts, refrigerator magnets, key chains, buttons, trading cards, bookmarks, window clings for the car, Edward Cullen body shimmer, and, of course, the novels themselves. (15)

A big draw for Twilight fans of all ages has been the launch parties held at bookstores worldwide before the publication of most of Meyer's novels. Additionally, the "Twilight Proms" which were held at some theaters for the opening nights of Twilight, the first film based on one of Meyer's novels which opened nationwide on November 20-21, 2008, drew enthusiastic, costumed fans of all ages. One devotee of the novels, a clerk at my local Barnes & Noble store made up a "wedding announcement" (in red and black, of course) to advertise the store's release party for the final novel in the series, Breaking Dawn. Yours truly attended an opening night gala of sorts where a friend had rented out an entire theater for a showing of Twilight. While I was not decked out in my best vampire gear or a "Bite Me!" t-shirt, it was not hard to pick on! those fans who were caught up in the fervor of Twilight mania that permeated the theater lobby that evening.

While I waited to enter the theater that night, I noted the variety of people in attendance; surprisingly, these were mostly women from their mid 20s up through their early 60s. Tweens and teens were there in force too, along with a handful of men and boys who looked like they had been dragged along on the night's outing. As we sat in the theater with our popcorn and sodas waiting for the movie to begin, the group I was with played a variety of Twilight-themed games and contests, complete with Twilight-themed prizes, all designed to hype-up the already raging anticipation for the screen adaptation of the novel.

Anticipation for the November 2009 film debut of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, reached the same fever-pitch as that of its predecessor. The trailer for New Moon premiered at Comic-Con International 2009, and according to George Roush, a writer for LatinoReview.com, the "biggest craze ... [at the conference was] not the comic, that's for sure. The Twilight fans came out in droves and even camped out overnight just to make sure they got a glimpse of New Moon footage." (16) Footage of the event was leaked to the Twilight fans worldwide via an illegal video-phone recording that was quickly posted online. At times, it's difficult to hear the actors speaking because of all the screaming fans. (17) At the live New Moon actors' panel at Comic-Con 2009, the response was similar. (18) From these two events, it's easy to surmise that the public's lust for vampires is not merely a passing trend. Vampires, and Twilight's Cullen family in particular, are here to stay.

Vampire proms, fake wedding announcements, and mass movie hysteria aside, it is obvious that vampires are popular figures now more than ever. As a fairly recent "fan" of the horror genre, I find myself asking the following questions: What is so captivating about a creature that, for all intents and purposes, is a lethal being? Moreover, how and why did vampires transition from the creatures found in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula and early films like Nosferatu and Dracula to the still lethal, but infinitely more appealing, creatures such as Louis, Lestat, Bill Compton, and Edward Cullen?

According to George Stade, "People [once] read horror fiction as they used to read pornography, on the sly. Reviewers with intellectual pretensions titter in print." (19) Indeed, the original lure of vampire fiction was nothing like the sparkly, youthful, sex gods that draw so many diverse readers to the Twilight series. From the introduction of her first novel, Twilight, in 2005 until the publication of the series' capstone novel, Breaking Dawn, in August of 2008, Stephenie Meyer's writing has brought together readers from across the globe. According to an online source, her books have been translated into "37 different languages." (20) Her rise to fame has been dramatic, calling for the writer to be compared by many to J.K. Rowling.

In an article published in early August 2009, Carol Memmott and Mary Cadden of USA Today write that Meyer's Twilight series has effectively eclipsed records previously set by Rowlings' Harry Potter series on USA Today's Best-Selling Books list. (21) Memmott and Cadden inform us that "Rowling, overall, has sold more books than Meyer — her seven-book series about boy wizard Harry Potter has 143 million copies in print in the U.S.A., while Meyer has sold 40 million copies of her four books." The Twilight books, however, "have stayed in the list's top 10 for 52 consecutive weeks," whereas "Rowling's first four Potter books were top 10 for 13 consecutive weeks, 24 weeks total." (22) The Twilight-based graphic novels are likely to drive the popularity of Meyer's work even higher. (23)

In a further comparison to J.K. Rowling, since first emerging onto the literary scene, Stephenie Meyer has also been both lauded and criticized for her success. While the sales numbers for her novels and Twilight merchandise continue to grow, critiques of Meyer's writing and even of Meyer herself continue to cover quite a broad range. Respondents to an online survey I conducted said that Meyer's novels were either too sexy, not sexy enough (one respondent called Twilight a Harlequin romance without any of the good bits), anti-feminist, pro-female, too Mormon, and even Mormon-apostate. (24)

Even the reigning "king" of horror fiction, Stephen King himself, has weighed in on Meyer's popularity and skills as a writer. In December 2008, Lorrie Lynch of USA Weekend flew to Maine to interview King for a forthcoming cover story. During their interview, Lynch asked him what influence his success in the horror genre might have had on "the massive careers of Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling and Twilight author Stephenie Meyer." (25) He responded by saying, "I think that I serve that purpose for some writers, and that's a good thing. Both Rowling and Meyer, they're speaking directly to young people. ... The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good." (26)

The criticisms of Meyer's literary topics, prowess, and merit do not stop with Stephen King. While some readers criticize Meyer for the pseudo-sexual nature of Bella and Edward's relationship, others criticize her for creating an anti-feminist heroine and a chauvinistic hero. Danielle Douvikas, writer for the Contra Costa Times, had this to say:

I do not even know why I read this series. I guess I just read them to try to convince teens that they are not the greatest novels ever created.... The "Harry Potter" novels suggest that love drives people to do extraordinary things. "Twilight," on the other hand, is merely an interesting story about a whiny, hormone-driven teenager. (27)

Douvikas is joined in her critique of Twilight by Christine Siefert, Assistant Professor of Communications at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. In an article published in the e-zine bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, Siefert categorizes Meyer's writing as "abstinence porn, sensational, erotic, and titillating." (28) Despite such criticism, the fan base for Meyer's novels, and for vampire lore in general, continues to grow. Indeed, though these books were initially touted as "adolescent literature," the immense popularity of the Twilight series (Twilight, 2005; New Moon, 2006; Eclipse, 2007; Breaking Dawn, 2008) among readers of all ages, and in some instances, genders, has proven that they are not strictly young adult —or even female—fare. This ability to bridge different cultural groups, creating crossroads for discussion among a variety of discourse communities, is one of the most powerful aspects of Meyer's writing ... despite what Stephen King may think about her style.

As I gathered information for this essay, one of my students, a twenty-something mother of two, was kind enough to send me four pages of single-spaced notes detailing her unabashed enthusiasm for Twilight. In her notes, Jen wrote specifically about her affection for Meyer's fourth novel, Breaking Dawn, and her belief that the "happily ever after ending" was not a sappy cliche, but rather something readers should take comfort in:

When Bella first becomes a vampire the one thing that I was concerned about was the fact that she was changing her looks, she was becoming more beautiful. This was a concern because I wondered what the lesson was supposed to be, is it that you have to be unbelievably gorgeous in order to live happily ever after? It bothered me at first because I kept thinking does Edward like her better now? 1 didn't want him to suddenly love her more just because she looked better; in fact I found it crucial that he didn't. (29)

In early January 2010, Jen stopped by my office for an impromptu chat about the second film based on one of Meyer's novels: The Twilight Saga: New Moon. As we discussed the film and whether or not women over 20 should find Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) attractive, it was easy to see that Jen's enthusiasm for Meyer's characters has not waned; if anything, she is more enthusiastic than ever and looks forward to the final films based on the Twilight series.

Echoing Jen's passionate defense of Meyers' novels and the first film, many responses to a blog posting on www.parentdish.com entitled "Does Twilight Send Teen Girls a Bad Message" emphasize the positive qualities of Meyer's novels and their power to transcend different cultural and age groups. One respondent to the blog prompt writes:


[T]his story digs deep into the soul of many women (many, not all).... It's just a fantasy after all, not like a lot of us actually want that in our everyday lives so much, but the idea of it isn't so bad. Everyone needs saving once in a while, even men.... Some people ... need to grow up and remember that dreams and fantasies are good for the soul." (30)

Another respondent comments that when her eleven-year-old daughter suddenly announced she loved reading and dove into the Twilight series, she decided Meyer's novels were a "positive influence." (31) Yet another blogger "salute[s ] Stephenie Meyer for her work," (32) and one respondent, an educator in a junior high school, found it "refreshing that an author chose to have the romance [that] ... didn't push sex and all the other things teens have to deal with constantly." (33)

As these responses illustrate, although it is touted as young adult fiction, Meyer's Twilight series is more than this. One of the largest fan bases for the novels is comprised of twenty and thirty-something moms, like Jen. This is demonstrated by the popular blog site TwilightMOMS.com: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is the Hand That Rules the World. (14) It is advertised as a place "for fans of Stephenie Meyer to gather and discuss our love of her writing and characters while balancing family, work, home, children and marriage." (35) You are allowed to join the site if you meet the following criteria: you are at least 25 years old, you are a mom, or you are married. (36)

An über-specialized networking site (think an extended Facebook group with a really tight focus), TwilightMOMS encourages members to choose their own vampire name as they participate in discussion boards, online contests, games, and the like. One member identifies herself as "Coven Mother Lisa." TwilightMOMS even has an official charity, the details of which I was not allowed to view since I am not a "Twilight Mom."

TwilightTeens.com is a sister site to TwilightMOMS.com, allowing teens to participate in many of the same activities, focused specifically towards their age group. As on TwilightMOMS, users at this teen site are also encouraged to pick a vampire name, some being Firstsight, EdwardLover, and CullenLover. The forum link on this site is a multi-layered text, with no fewer than thirty-nine separate discussion links. They include links for participants to vote on the now inevitable debate over which series is better, Twilight or Harry Potter, and discussion spaces for each of the four novels in Meyer's series. Additionally, you can find links to a discussion space devoted solely to the musings of "Twilight guys," as well as places to submit fan fiction and pointers for creating your very own vampire apparel and decor. (37) Here we are back to Home&Garden again!

Websites like TwilightMOMS and TwilightTeens would certainly support the ideas expressed by journalist Sydney Ang in "Undead Evermore: Vampire Mythology in the 21st century." Here, Ang comments that it is specifically Edward's sex appeal that has helped the Twilight series add "to the underground romanticism of vampire culture that has started ever since Dracula was published." (38) Ang continues:

While there have been others before Twilight, no book or movie has generated such a frenzied and rabid response from young adults, with hordes of fans around the world swearing undying love and devotion to Cullen. And this is not a bad thing, despite what most puritan parents and clergies said. Ultimately it is no different than having a crush on a movie star and utterances of "I want to be vampire" are no different from "I want to be a wizard" when Mr. Potter was the current favorite. (39)

Indeed, it is this ability to create such strong emotional connections with readers of all ages and backgrounds that continues to popularize vampires and make the Twilight series such a phenomenon. Perhaps in homage to the dangerous vampires of earlier days, even the baddies are sexy, as we see with the characters of Damon in the CW's The Vampire Diaries, Eric in HBO's True Blood, and James, Laurent, and Victoria in the film adaptation of Meyer's Twilight.

For Alex Remington of The Washington Post:

No matter how mundane their politics or morals, vampires will always be cool, because sex and death never go out of style. More and more, vampires are not hard to sympathize with: They eternally have to choose between loving us and feeding on us. Given that rapacious dilemma, Hollywood can't help but to keep feeding us the ... vampire. And evermore, we'll keep biting. (40)

Remington's article goes on to quote Alan Ball, the creator of HBO's True Blood: "Vampires are just like humans. Nobody's a hundred percent good, nobody's a hundred percent bad."(41) After reading the Twilight series, I must conclude that Stephenie Meyer would agree with Ball's assessment. The vampires in her novels, whether seen as good or evil, all retain the power of choice. (42) Perhaps it is precisely this humanizing characteristic which accounts for the widespread popularity of the Twilight series, and reveals just why we like our vampires sexy.

Mr. Burns: (Sarcastic) Oooh, Smithers, all those vampires and illegal workers  are mad at me. I'm so scared! Oooh, the vampires Uh oh, the vampires are going to get me! Don't let the vampires come after me. Oh no, the vampires are coming after me. No! They're so big and strong! OH, SMITHERS, THEY MAKE ME SO HORNY! Smithers: ME TOO, SIR!

Notes
1. Jennifer Vineyard. "Sinking Our Teeth into Modern Vampires: How Do 'Twilight,' 'BufFy,' and Others Compare?" 29 October 2008, http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/ 1598112/story.jhtml.
2. Steve Wood. "Vampires Better Looking, Thanks to Hollywood," Deseret News Online, 31 October 2008, http://deseretnews.com/articie/705259221/Vampires-better-looking-thanks-to-Hollywood.html.
3. Ibid.
4. Auerbach, qtd. in Wood, http://deseretnews.com/article/l%2C5143%2C705259221%? C00.html.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Alex Remington, "Vampires Stake a Claim on Audience's Hearts," Washington Post, 7 September 2008. M03. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/09/ 05/AR2008090501418.html.
8. "Introduction," Bram Stoker, Dracula (New York: Bantam, 1981), vi.
9. Ibid.,vii.
10. "Nosferatu," Talking Pictures, 2001, http://tinyurl.com/cyrkhf.
11. Stoker, Dracula, 18-19.
12. Stephenie Meyer, Twilight (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2005), 18-19.
13. See http://wvm.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=vampire.
14. See http://www.imdb.com/keyword/vampire/?sort=release_date8jstart=1201. 15. See http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url^search-alias%3Daps8cfield-key words=vampire.
16. See http://www.amazon.com/s/ref^nb_sb_ss_i_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps8{neld-keywords=stephenie+meyer&sprefix=stepheni.
17. "Comic-Con 20091 New Moon Interview with Kristin Stewart & Taylor Lautner," July 24, 2009, http://www,latinorevlew.com/news/comic-con-2009-new-moon-interview-with-kristen-stewart-taylor-lautn»r-748S.
18. New Moon trailer from Comic-Con International 2009, http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ACaSD_pGVdw.
19. New Moon panel at Comic-Con International 2009, http://www.youtube.corn/watch?v= C5zyPFr-CQY.
20. "The Apparitions of Horror," excerpted from "Literature as Equipage," delivered at Columbia College Dean's Day on April 17, 1999, http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_ archive/sep99/25a.html.
21. "Exploring Twilight," http://www.juggle.com/info/book/twilight-5/.
22. Carol Memmott and Mary Cadder, "Twilight Series Eclipse Potter Records on Best- selling List," USA Today, August 3, 2009, http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2009- 08 -03-twilight-series_N.htm.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. Online Twilight Survey, Surveymonkey.com, November 2008-January 2009. 26. "Exclusive ..." February 2, 2009, http://blogs.usaweekend.com/whos_news/2009/02/ exclusive-steph.html.
27. Ibid.
28. Danielle Douvikas. "Twilight Series Sends Girls a Wrong Message," The Herald, November 28, 2008, http://www.heraldonline.com/107/story/985071.html.
29. Christine Siefert, "Bite Me! (or, Don't)," bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, 2008, http://bitchmagazine.org/article/bite-me-or-dont.
30. Email from Jen Javier to Stephanie Dowdle, November 26, 2008. Jen was such a fan of the series that she saw the film version of Twilight four times during its opening weekend in November 2008.
31. See c_rousseau05, blog response, parentdish.com, November 25, 2008, http://www. parentdish.com/2008/ll/25/does-twilight-send-teen-girls-a-bad-message/.
32. Stephanie, blog response, parentdish.com, November 30, 2008, http://www.parent dish.com/2008/ll/25/does-twilight-send-teen-girls-a-bad-message/
33. ALAN, blog response, parentdish.com, December 3,2008, http://www.parentdish.com/ 2008/11/25/does-twilight-send-teen-girls-a-bad-message/.
34. aoknal, blog response, parentdish.com, November 25, 2008, http://www.parentdish. com/2008/ll/25/does-twilight-send-teen-girls-a-bad-message/.
35. http://twilightmomsforums.freeforums.org/twilight-sales-vs-harry-potter-sales-tl4761.html
36. Ibid.
37. Ibid.
38. Twilight Teens, February 24 2009, http://www.twilightteens.com/twilight-forum/.
39. Sydney Ang, "Undead Evermore: Vampire Mythology in the 21st Century," The Manila Times, October 30, 2008. http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/oct/30/yehey/life/ 20081030lifl.html [italics added].
40. Ibid.
41. "Vampires Stake a Claim on Audience's Hearts," Washington Post, September 7, 2008, M03, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/05/AR200809050 1418.html.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid.

In: The Twilight mystique: critical essays on the novels and films. Edited by Amy M Clarke; Marijane Osborn. London: Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co (2010), pp.179-188.