discover Mexico in safety and comfort via cruise ship
I just love the preview for the “New Moon” movie that was recently released. It looks like it will be amazing! I always wonder about the Laurent character when I watch the preview or the first movie. He has a great look, but I thought that Steph made it pretty clear that vampires all turn white? Didn’t Bella even comment on this fact, noting that Felix and Demetri of Volterra have “a slightly olive complexion–it looked odd combined with their chalky pallor?” The “Twilight” movie also creatively makes the kids at Forks High look very multi-ethnic and multi-racial, instead of just plain white. I don’t really recall that being mentioned either way in the book.
The “Twilight” series does make some oblique comments that one might interpret along racial and ethnic lines. Obviously, the vampires are white and the werewolves are brown. Even before we knew about vampires and werewolves, the Forks kids were talking about how white Bella’s skin looked. Remember that cute joke about how Arizona kicked her out because she couldn’t get a tan? Bella herself was transfixed with Jacob’s brownness and even has a daydream of having his brown skinned, dark haired kids in “New Moon.” Who really can say about the makeup of the folks in town? Maybe the movie did get it right? I suppose that a lot of the Italians living in Volterra are Mediterranean looking. Presumably the tourists that the Volturi lunch on are an ethnic mixture, too. All of this liberal, multi-ethnic, multi-racial thinking appeals to me emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. But then there’s that whole Jasper Hale back story to get a handle on.
We learn in “Eclipse” that he was an underage volunteer in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War when he was changed to a vampire on the road somewhere between Galveston and Houston. So far, so good. He connects with Maria and ends up fighting in these really scary vampire wars in southern Texas and into Mexico. They make all of these new-born vamps to battle one another for control of the heavily populated centers of Mexico. Jazz happens to have a knack for keeping them in line, thus his side prevails for a time. Eventually, there’s so much carnage that the Volturi step in to clean up the mess. After that, Jasper is lucky that he’s alive at all. But the South is still a rough place. Jasper rarely visits there himself, and the Cullens and the northern vampires avoid these southern districts completely. Simple, but strange.
Where does that leave us? Brown toned Native Americans live peacefully on their reservation, minding their business and not mixing much with “real life” in the town. Maria, with the typical yet exotically Spanish or Portuguese name, is shunned and demonized as mercenary, violent and threatening. The South is avoided generally and not just because of the sunshine. The Cullens do have that island in Brazil. But let’s face it, it’s a private affair where it’s unlikely that they’d encounter any strange Brazilians. Olive toned vampires look “odd.” Bella is preoccupied with the whiteness of Edward just as much as she’s transfixed by the brownness of Jacob. The fact that she ultimately picks Eddie’s pale chilly coat over Jacob’s dark warm one has to mean something.
Perhaps I’m exaggerating the differences in ethnicity and perceptions of skin coloring detailed in these novels. But in the time of Swine Flu, the U.S. preoccupation with illegal immigration, increasing American xenophobia masquerading as nationalism and fears about drug trafficking across the U.S.-Mexico border, it’s hard to completely ignore race while interpreting these texts.
Why is it that the Cullens have a private island off the coast of Brazil but won’t visit Texas or Mexico without a compelling reason? Why was it so surprising to see all of the kids at Forks High in all of their multi-ethnic splendor? Why aren’t there any Native Americans from the reservation that moved to Forks and sent their kids to Forks High School? What keeps the vampire warriors out of Seattle, Chicago or San Francisco, for that matter, places with large population centers and no significant vampire presence? Is that the same thing that keeps the Quileutes on their reservation? Where are the Spanish speaking kids in Forks? Why are vampires white, really, and is that alright?
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Wow, very good observations, that are underlying possible interpretations by the author with perhaps her unconscious white entitlement. Is this book series all just confirming all the above issues you mentioned in the post? Racism is written all over those books and you cited all the examples, and it’s also strange and telling that there is an emphasis on Edwards whiteness in Bellas thoughts!
Look, I think that you are way over thinking about Stephanie’s descriptions of her characters in her books and what Hollywood did. She wasn’t being racist, just describing people as she saw them in her visions. She had no problem when Hollywood made cast some of the characters as Asian or Black. Also, Stephanie never said all vampires turned white, she just said it was easier for them to live in cooler environments because being in sunlight exposes them. It just happens that the Cullen’s family was extremely white to begin with. Looking back at the time periods they were turned, I don’t see a lot of swim suit models out there being all tan. The men and women that were turned in the Cullen family were all very fair skin to begin with. All Stephanie said that being exposed in sunlight made their skin shimmer. Remember, each vampire had different powers. Maybe different things happened to different groups pf people. Laurent’s group eyes turned red when they smelled human blood. The Cullen’s brown when they needed to feed.
About the werewolves, according to the novels, the only documented tribe in the area were the Native Americans. They are predominantly brown skin, so of course they are darker in color. It is Bella who is obsessed with the color of the two rival’s skins, not Stephanie.
I also think that Stephanie is a little out of touch with reality (come on…kids not having cell phones or looking things up on the internet). Introducing some of her characters as Black or Asian brought her and her stories up-to-date.
Oh, by the way, Native American reservations do have their own school system. They do mix with other cultures, but remember, this story is different. They have a treaty with the vampires., s things are a little different. You don’t see any Casino’s lying around do you?
Actually, you’re incorrect: Steph specifically indicates that vamps turn white. It comes up everywhere in the novels and applies to all vampires. I think that you too easily ignore the race element because it’s a bit unsettling.
Your idea about the Native American quelutes is interesting. Casinos aside, doesn’t it seem at all odd to you that in Forks that the natives don’t mix with the town though you yourself say that everywhere else in the country this would be perfectly natural?
I think that there’s two racial issues going on. First the treaty that the Quelutes made with the Cullens specifically creates areas where the groups cannot mix. That’s clearly discrimination based on race: Native American werewolves septerat form ultra-white vampires. Second since Forks is “neutral” per the treaty, you’d expect that some of the Native Americans would have moved in but none have. This suggests that the townies from Forks might be doing something that actively though maybe subtly keeps them out. Either way, it’s all bad!
Big Stephan, you are way more into this than I am but wasn’t there an African American vamp in the second movie that threatens Bella after Edward dumps her that prompts Jacob to shift to a a werewolf?
Well, Kevie, you’re raising a point, sort of. The movie takes liberties with the novel in terms of the description of Laurent. In the first novel, Bella describes him as having “cropped hair” and as “the most beautiful” compared to James and Victoria. In addition, she notes that “his skin [is] olive-toned beneath the typical pallor, his hair [was] a glossy black” with “gleaming white teeth.” So not quite the same as the movie. Therefore, vampires are still white, if you accept the “typical pallor” description.