Week 6 - "Deadly Love: Images of Dating Violence in the 'Twilight Saga'" Summary

This article begins by describing some statistics about dating violence and how it is still a serious problem in today’s culture. Females are notably more often the victims than males, and many girls are more afraid due to their experiences with dating violence. In this article, the author hones in on one series, the Twilight Saga, and describes how it portrays violent relationships.

The Twilight Saga, written by Stephenie Meyer, is a series of four novels about the romantic relationship between a 17-year old girl, Bella, and a 17-year-old vampire, Edward. Many people have praised this series for displaying a traditional relationship with a positive light on abstinence. As Bella and Edward refrain from engaging in sex until after marriage, even Christian media promotes the series. However, a closer look into the series shows that the relationship between Bella and Edward is a controlling one with serious undertones of sexual and dating violence.

The author creates three categories of dating controlling behaviors: physical control, verbal orders, and emotional control. The article then describes various instances of these three types of violence or control. For instance, the analysis identified eighty examples of physical violence. These range from Edward’s inherent desire to drink Bella’s blood throughout the entire series to Edward defending her from other characters. The cases of explicit sexual violence are less common, but still significant. While Bella and Edward do wait until after marriage to have sex, the sexual relationship they do build is certainly violent. After sex, there is a passage describing the various bruises Bella incurred during the experience. In a different instance, Jacob, Edward’s rival for Bella’s affection, forcibly kisses Bella. Yet Bella’s suffering in this regard is largely overlooked and laughed at. Several times during the series, Bella is physically restrained, leaving Edward completely in charge. Stalking is also a prevalent issue in the novels, but it is often overshadowed and even romanticized, as if it is a good thing. Acts of jealousy, male aggression, and references to self-harm or suicide also appear regularly in the Twilight Saga.

As a series with the target audience of teenage girls, such relationships and violence are quite troubling. Moreover, the series as a whole portrays Bella in the standard female gender role, as a weak woman who relies on a man to fight for her. Meanwhile Edward and Jacob are the strong ones that go out to fight the battles and protect Bella, thus fulfilling the male gender role. Yet the series was very well received and is highly praised regardless. The author concludes by suggesting that scenes from these novels be used as examples of dating violence in an attempt to show young people situations and behavior to avoid in real life.