Authors:

Alisa Dougherty

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About Paper:

The racism embedded in The Twilight Series is masked by its love story, and teenage obsession with werewolves, vampires, and shirtless men. The portrayal of Indigenous people in the Twilight series reinforces negative stereotypes through white supremacy, and popular myths surrounding Indigenous peoples such as the frontier myth, and the myth of primal purity. By analyzing the ways in which Indigenous people are portrayed in the series through these lenses, especially in comparison to the portrayal of those character's white counterparts, one can evaluate how these myths and stereotypes drive the narratives of the story. The portrayal of the Indigenous people of Twilight paints them as animalistic and uncontrollable, placing them in a cultural zoo in which they are ostracized physically and socially. White supremacy places them as the inferior group of the story, and idealizes the white vampires to be the image of perfection. This portrayal not only has impacts within the scope of the story, but perpetuates these negative stereotypes for real life Indigenous people, leading to continuous racism and oppression as a result. This is just one example of the ways in which Indigenous people are portrayed and misrepresented in popular media as a driver for the continuation of systemic racism against their communities.

Source:

University of Oregon / 2024

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Co-authors:

Alisa Dougherty