- My anchor text will be Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
- I hope to decipher what its popularity says about our culture and what sparks its appeal via studying a particular subset of Twilight’s fan base i.e. suburban white female teens from Upstate NY ( I may also contrast this with an adult female fan base)
- I will have to close read responses from readers of the text for trends, expectations, and desires and contrast them with critical research from Radway, Armstrong and studies on fan cultures by Matt Hills as well as additional research.
- Some of the appeal I will be exploring may be: the “relatability” of the characters, the romance between Bella and Edward, the “realism” the author is able to create through the setting, our cultural fascination with vampires, etc.
Any observations, input, or additional ways to focus/narrow my arguement would be greatly appreciated.
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I think the comparison between adolescent girls and older women could be fascinating because of their presumed differences but possibly more so for their similarities.
I’d also be interested to hear what you have to say about the relatability of the characters because one of the major criticisms I’ve read about Twilight is that the characters are flat and unlikeable. I’d like to hear your perspective and the perspective of your “subjects,” if you will.