Bitten by Twilight

Focusing on the wildly successful Twilight series, this collection of scholarly essays examines the phenomenon from diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives. Particular attention is paid to cultural, social, and economic aspects of the series and to the recurrent messages about youth, gender roles, romance, and sexuality. Essays discuss race and religion, and provide audience analyses of young adult, adult, anti-, and international fans. Other chapters are political-economic examinations into celebrity, tourism, and publishing. With new research by established and rising scholars, this volume is a significant contribution to the growing field of youth studies and complements existing feminist cultural analyses of media texts.

Melissa A. Click is Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Missouri. Her research interests include audience and fan studies and ideological analysis of popular culture, particularly concerning gender, race, class, and sexuality.
Jennifer Stevens Aubrey is Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Missouri. She studies the ways in which media influence young people's self-perceptions, including sexuality, body image, and gender roles.
Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz is Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Missouri. She studies media representations of gender adn race/ethnicity, and the effects of these portrayals on individuals and society.