That Teenage Feeling
Twilight , fantasy, and feminist readers
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12690533 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anne Helen Petersen, Anne C Petersen (0000-0002-1042-7265, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 51-67 |
| Publication date | 2011-04-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Feminist Media Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1468-0777 • E-ISSN: 1471-5902 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14680777.2011.558348 |
| OpenAlex | W1853752261 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 9 |
Over the last five years, the Twilight franchise has sold one hundred million books, generated nearly $1.8 billion in ticket sales, and engrossed millions of readers. Amongst these readers: adult feminist women. Yet these texts promote regressive understandings of romance, sexuality, and the place of patriarchy, forming what Elena Levine has termed a “postfeminist fantasy.” Indeed, the stunning success of the texts form one of the most striking manifestations of postfeminist culture in recent years. This article thus questions: exactly what sort of pleasures are feminist women deriving from Twilight? Instead of simply theorizing feminists' relation to Twilight, I sought out two dozen self-identified adult feminists for their own thoughts on their attraction to, submersion within, and problems with the text. Organizing responses around Elizabeth Cowie's theorization of fantasy, the pleasures of “girl reading,” ambivalence, and affirmation of the feminist project, the article elucidates the distinct pleasures proffered by a postfeminist text. At the same time, it argues that the range of feminist responses to Twilight—from those who decry the text to those who enjoy it—underscores the difficulties and divisions confronting feminism today
Aesthetics · Ambivalence · Art · Fantasy · Feeling · Feminism · Human sexuality · Literature · Media studies · Patriarchy · Psychoanalysis · Reading (process · Romance · Sociology · Twilight · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Themes in Literature Analysis
Romance and the Female Gaze Obscuring Gendered Violence in The Twilight Saga
Fifty shades of fandom
Sleeping with a Vampire
Feminism, Post-feminism, and Young Women’s Reactions to Lena Dunham’s Girls
Still reading the romance
A Little Costumed Girl at a Sci-Fi Convention”
The Concessions That We Make”
Tangles, tears and messy conversations
Snatch, Eat, Erase
| Unique citing works | 9 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.64 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2025 (14) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 9 |