Screening Twilight ― Critical Approaches to a Cinematic Phenomenon

The Twilight Saga, a series of five films adapted from Stephanie Meyer's four novels, has been a sensation, both at the box office and through the attention it has won from its predominantly teenaged fans. As popular cinema, the series has had its share of criticism, even from fans. However, it also offers rich opportunities for critical attention, which the contributors to Screening Twilight provide with energy and style.

The book unpacks how this popular group of films work as cinematic texts, what they have to say about cinema and culture today, and how fans may seek to re-read or subvert these messages. Chapters address Twilight in the context of the vampire and myth, in terms of genre and reception, identity, gender and sexuality, and through re-viewing the series fandom. Screening Twilight is a revelation of how a popular cinematic phenomenon can reward close attention from scholarly, critical writers on cinema and culture.

Sarah Harman is a PhD candidate at Brunel University, UK, working on Femininity, Feminism and Masochism: The Female Masochist Body in Paracinema. She is also Peer Editor for Roehampton University's journal for performance and creative research, 'Activate', as well as for Goldsmiths' Cultural Studies department magazine, 'Nyx, a Noctournal'.

Wickham Clayton's completed PhD thesis for Roehampton University is on the aesthetics of the Friday the 13th film franchise. He has contributed to collections including Tainted Love: Screening Sexual Perversities edited by Donna Peberdy and Darren Kerr (I.B.Tauris, 2012).