The twilight of youth: Understanding feminism and romance in Twilight Moms' connection to the young-adult vampire series.

Jennifer Stevens Aubrey, Melissa Click, Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper, we report the results of an online survey of self-identified "Twilight Moms," adult women who have at least 1 child and identify as fans of Twilight, the popular young-adult vampire series. In particular, we examined transportation into the Twilight narrative and parasocial interaction with Twilight characters, and their correlations with gender beliefs, feminist identity, and relational satisfaction. Results revealed that Twilight Moms who held traditional beliefs about women and who identified as nonfeminist were more able to experience transportation into the books, and dissatisfaction with their current romantic partners predicted parasocial interaction with Twilight characters. We interpret these findings in light of fan studies research as well as media entertainment theory and research.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)61-71
Number of pages11
JournalPsychology of Popular Media Culture
Volume7
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2018

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cultural Studies
  • Communication
  • Applied Psychology

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