A Cultural Interpretation Of Vampires And Werewolves In The Twilight Saga From The Perspective Of Postcolonialism

As one of the world-renowned Hollywood vampire film series,there is no denying that The Twilight saga has indeed swept up the world by its unique magic and brought up a storm of entertainment.Since the first release of the Twilight in 2008,the stream of the discussion on the topic has been endless,with the result that people all over the world have developed a great interest in western vampire culture.Besides the charming pulchritude of the female protagonist and the incredible glamour of the male protagonist,some original elements have been added to attract the attention of audience,such as the enchanting love triangle,the clever use of Gothic style,the romantic horror suspense,the ancient werewolf legend,etc.It is worthwhile to mention that The Twilight Saga,adapted from the novels that bear the same name,is written by Stephenie Meyer who is an American writer of young-adult fiction and best known for her vampire romance series Twilight.The four installments has brought Meyer the true commercial success,including Twilight(2008),New Moon(2009),Eclipse(2010)and Breaking Dawn(2012),thus making it possible for vampire culture and werewolf legends to become an indispensable part of popular culture in Europe and the United States.Therefore,a series of studies have been conducted by researchers successively,and most of the studies are focused on literary contexts,Gothic symbology,gender and violence as well as class and race.However,there have been very few studies on vampire cultures and cultural interpretation of vampire images from the perspective of postcolonialsm.According to Homi BhaBha,identity is always closely interrelated with stereotype.The image of self(vampire)and the other(werewolf)are often labeled as something civilized and ignorant,advanced and backward in Hollywood films.This thesis attempts to interpret the images and interactions of vampires and werewolves respectively represented by Vampire Edward and Werewolf Jacob from the perspective of postcolonialism so as to reveal the inequalities hidden between the two sides and the ingrained prejudice of white colonists towards Indian aborigines.Through the interpretation of vampire's and werewolf's images,this thesis tries to reveal the true identity of Vampire Edward and Werewolf Jacob,who are the representatives of white American colonists and Indian aboriginals respectively,with the help of Said's concept of “other” and Homi Bhabha's studies of identity.It is concluded that Vampire Edward belongs to the upper class with decent living conditions and gorgeous appearance of being always 17 years old,symbolizing the maintenance of colonial rule.On the contrary,as the representative of Indians,Werewolf Jacob,a manual labor worker,belongs to the lower class,who wears long brown hair and is half-naked all the time.It is worth noticing that such image of Werewolf Jacob is obviously the stereotypical description of Indians.Based on the interpretation of images of vampires and werewolves,this thesis further investigates the interactions between the two sides,including the change of their relationship,the battle for love,the progress of conversations and the agreement of treaty over territory.Firstly,the relationship between vampires and werewolves changes,more or less,from conflicts to compromises,which can be regarded as the confrontation between ice and fire,rationality and emotion.The four-volume's titles of The Twilight Saga,namely,Twilight,New Moon,Eclipse and Breaking Dawn,which are named after the wax and wane of the moon,clearly depict the process of changes in their relationship and indicate that it is the result of Werewolf Jacob's compromise in a sense.Secondly,in the battle for love,the female protagonist Bella makes her love choice out of the color of skin,which has already determined Werewolf Jacob's failure in the battle for love due to their differences in identity and skin color.Besides,the conversations between vampires and werewolves also reveal the vampires' born prejudice towards werewolves.What is more,the agreement of territory between vampires and werewolves reflects the inequalities between the colonists and the colonized and the colonial rule in history.In The Twilight Saga,despite the fact that the story has put on the coat of fantasy love,it still reflects a kind of deep-rooted racial discrimination in westerners' minds in the collision between the dominant culture and the dominated culture.As representative of intruders,Vampire Edward always seems to enjoy certain priorities over Werewolf Jacob no matter in the pursuit of love or in the agreement of treaty over territory.Based on the interpretation of the images and interactions between vampires and werewolves,this thesis concludes that though it is necessary for Indians to acquire certain positions in American society,it is also important for them to uphold their cultural traditions when they make certain changes and compromises timely.