For our first episode, we analyze the literary classics known as The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer through the lenses of the Biblical Fall.
Starting with the claims of anti-feminism that plagued the books and movies in their time, we develop our argument by deeply considering the books’ religious allegories and Mormon values, the mechanics of vampire sex, and how old exactly is Carlisle Cullen. So hold on tight, spider monkey.
Music and sound mixing by Max Elliott
Bibliography
- Granger, John. “Mormon Vampires in the Garden of Eden: What the Bestselling Twilight Series Has in Store for Young Readers”. Touchstone, Nov. 2009, touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=22-08-024-f&readcode=&readtherest=true#therest
- Lampert-Weissig, Lisa. “A Latter Day Eve: Reading Twilight through Paradise Lost.” The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, vol. 23, no. 3, Sept. 2011, pp. 330–341, https://doi.org/10.3138/jrpc.23.3.330.
- Mehta Samira K., and Anthony M. Petro. “Big Vampire Love: What’s so Mormon about Twilight?” Religion Dispatches, 8 Oct. 2015, religiondispatches.org/big-vampire-love-whats-so-mormon-about-itwilighti/.
- Meyer, Stephenie. The Twilight Saga. Little, Brown & Company, 2011.
- Millay, Edna St. Vincent. “Childhood is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies” , 1931. Poets.org, poets.org/poem/childhood-kingdom-where-nobody-dies
- Miner, Kaleb C. “‘O Stop and Top and Tell Me, Red Man’: Indian Removal and the Lamanite Mission of 1830-31”. MSU Graduate Theses. 3295, 2018, bearworks.missouristate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4316&context=theses
- Reiss, Jana. “Book of Mormon Stories That Steph Meyer Tells to Me: LDS Themes in the Twilight Saga and The Host”. BYU Studies Quarterly, 2022, byustudies.byu.edu/article/book-of-mormon-stories-that-steph-meyer-tells-to-me-lds-themes-in-the-twilight-saga-and-the-host/
- Silver, Anna. "Twilight is Not Good for Maidens: Gender, Sexuality, and the Family in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Series." Studies in the Novel, vol. 42 no. 1, 2010, p. 121-138. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/sdn.2010.0009.
- The Book of Mormon. Trans. Joseph Smith, Jr. Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981, 2nd Nephi 32.3, https://www.loc.gov/item/77352721/
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. “Church History: American Indians” churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/american-indians?lang=eng
