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! :)

[(Anonymous)]

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