Twilight: White Is Pretty Is White

[lliira]

Trigger warning: racism

I want to discuss the racism I've seen so far in Twilight now before going further, because it's an important theme. 

The Cullens, whom Bella thinks are the epitome of beauty, are whiter than her, and she calls herself "ivory-skinned" and "almost translucent" (10). The Cullens have no color in their skin, except around their eyes, under which are "purplish, bruise-like shadows" (19). These shadows make the Cullens look like they're all "recovering from a broken nose." Maybe I'm strange, because that does not sound pretty to me.

The paler someone's skin is, the more shadows under their eyes stand out. So the Cullens' extreme shadows under their eyes mark them as whiter than anyone else. 

The Cullens' features are also "straight, perfect, angular." That "perfect" is a blinking red sign. Straight and angular features are "perfect." Non-straight, non-angular features must be less than perfect at best. 

In Bella's world, these features are far from perfect:

     

And these features are closer to perfect:

     

Lots of white people don't have angular features, but in racist fantasies, these features are objectively better than other features that non-white "races" stereotypically have. Other features are not only lesser, but marks of something wrong with the people who have them. Bella's not merely attracted to pale skin and stereotypical "white" features -- she thinks anyone who has other than these physical characteristics is lesser.   

I have read lots about Twilight. I've seen people describe its racism. But, though all the deconstructions of this book I've read have pointed out its racism, I honestly didn't expect it to be this glaring and pervasive. That's not a criticism of other deconstructions; I don't know if it's possible to understand Twilight's level of racism unless you read the book. It's like Bella's hatred of Forks and herself. It is one of the things the book is about. 

Comments

[blueinkedfrost]

I didn't catch the "angular features = more likely to be white" aspect of the books' racism. The whole "vampirism always bleaches your skin and whitewashes you if you're so unfortunate as to not be born Caucasian" thing is what struck me as the most racist aspect of sparklepires. There'll also be much more mention of russet skin and stereotypical animalistic Native American characters as the book continues.

Very interesting post! :)

[lliira]

The description of the Cullens' features stood out to me because it calls back to racist science from the 18th through the early 20th century. People into physiognomy thought that one's character was revealed in one's facial features and skin color. George Cuvier, a popular and influential scientific racist, wrote:

The white race, with oval face, straight hair and nose, to which the civilised people of Europe belong and which appear to us the most beautiful of all, is also superior to others by its genius, courage and activity.

About black people, he wrote:

The Negro race... is marked by black complexion, crisped of woolly hair, compressed cranium and a flat nose, The projection of the lower parts of the face, and the thick lips, evidently approximate it to the monkey tribe: the hordes of which it consists have always remained in the most complete state of barbarism.

The Wikipedia article on scientific racism gives a pretty good overview of some of this stuff -- until it gets to the current day, when it quotes modern scientific racists uncritically and fails to mention the fact that there is no such thing as race biologically, and that race is a social construct.

I'm dreading seeing how Meyer deals with Jacob, because I know it's going to be enraging. But that's nothing new for this book.

[blueinkedfrost]

I've read the odd racist tract on Project Gutenberg that delves into phrenology and physiognomy - like this one, which uses dubious sampling methods to ascertain cubic brain capacity, and paragraphs like:

Let us suppose him now to examine another individual: a negro, from the western coast of Africa. This specimen is of large size, and vigorous appearance. The color is a jetty black, the hair crisp, generally called woolly; the eyes are prominent, and the orbits large; the nose thick, flat, and confounded with the prominent cheeks; the lips very thick and everted; the jaws projecting, and the chin receding; the skull assuming the form called prognathous. The low forehead and muzzle-like elongation of the jaws, give to the whole being an almost animal appearance, which is heightened by the large and powerful lower-jaw, the ample provision for muscular insertions, the greater size of cavities destined for the reception of the organs of smell and sight, the length of the forearm compared with the arm, the narrow and tapering fingers, etc.

Pretty sickening. :(

Some pictures of Haile Gebrselassie strike me as having features I'd describe as 'angular', a slim athletic runner's build, and your picture of Michelle Yeoh and her gorgeous cheekbones. (Viola Davis' round cheeks are gorgeous too.) That particular oval-shape high-cheekbones protruding-nose deepset-eyes look that gets described by Twilight as 'perfect' is a Caucasian beauty standard. And racist.

[lliira]

Yep, those "angular" features are spread throughout the population of human beings, no matter their skin color. So are all facial features. A racist frame, claiming that one type of features is the best and that those features are white because of course they're white since they're the best, makes it impossible to see the world as it really is.

Bella's acquaintance with reality is shaky at best. I wonder if it's rooted in her racism and sexism. She was brought up to believe certain things are always and forever true of groups of people, and that some groups are inherently better than others. To keep believing that, she'd have to ignore the real world -- and how do you ignore such a huge part of the world without ignoring the rest of it? No wonder she can't relate to people.

[blueinkedfrost]

Hope you don't mind spoilers, because there are spoilers below in this comment.

Bella's father gets along well with the Quileutes--Jacob's father seems to be one of his best friends, and I think he ultimately marries Leah's mother. That doesn't mean he's not racist, but I've never seen him called by spokers on showing any racist behaviour. But he's a tad sexist in that he expects Bella to do all the housework, pretends to be concerned about Bella's virginity and controlling her until she passes into Edward's hands, and laughs off Bella trying to fight off Jacob's sexual assault.

As for Bella's mother, she's described as more willing to take risks--Bella seems to have been isolated at home with her, while she goes out and meets baseball players and works in different schools as a substitute teacher. So I'm not sure I blame Bella's racism and sexism directly on her upbringing--more on her isolation, indirectly the fault of her parents. She claims to enjoy reading nineteenth-century novels and Shakespeare, although she doesn't understand any of said reading material very well at all; wanting an earlier, "simpler" time (even though former times are not actually simple) goes with her prejudices and ultimate desire to die and be frozen in time rather than move along with the rest of the world.

I rather wish I didn't know this much about Twilight--apparently I enjoy reading insightful analyses like this too much. :)

[(Anonymous)]

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