Gender stereotypes and identity in Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46661/ambigua.11506Keywords:
gender stereotypes, identity, Stephenie Meyer, social media, literature, gender roles, power dynamics, societal impact, popular cultureAbstract
Gender stereotypes and identity are intricate themes explored in literature over centuries. This article examines how Stephenie Meyer's Midnight Sun, through Edward Cullen's perspective, portrays and subverts traditional gender roles. By employing critical analysis and integrating sources such as "Review of Literature on Gender in the Family" and journalistic articles from The Guardian, this article not only delves into the novel's depiction of power dynamics, autonomy, and identity formation but also evaluates its societal impact through its reception. For this purpose, a social media study has also been conducted. Results reveal that while Meyer reinforces some traditional stereotypes, she simultaneously offers a nuanced exploration of gender identity, challenging conventional norms. These findings underscore the novel's contribution to ongoing dialogues about gender representation in contemporaneous literature and its resonance in popular culture.
Downloads
References
AUSTEN, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Whitehall: T. Egerton, 1813. https://doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00080850
ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN. "Exploring Alternate Narratives: Feminist Fanfiction in the Twilight Saga". 2023. Disponible en: https://archiveofourown.org [Accessed January 13, 2025]
BLACKWOOD, Sarah. "The Banality of Otherness: On Stephenie Meyer's 'Midnight Sun". Los Angeles Review of Books, 2020. Disponible en: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-banality-of-otherness [Accessed January 13, 2025]
BROWN, Lucy. Revisiting Twilight: Gender and Power in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.
BUTLER, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London: Routledge, 1990.
CAIN, Sian. "As Midnight Sun Hits No 1, Stephenie Meyer Plans Two More Twilight Books". The Guardian. 2020. Disponible en: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/17/midnight-suntwilight [Accessed January 13, 2025]
COLLINS, Suzanne. The Hunger Games Trilogy. New York: Scholastic Press, 2008-2010.
FITZGERALD, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.
GENTRY, James W., COMMURI, Suraj and JUN, Sunkyu. "Review of Literature on Gender in the Family". Academy of Marketing Science Review, 1 (1) (2003): 1-20. Disponible en: https://amsreview.org/articles/genderfamily-review [Accessed January 13, 2025]
MEYER, Stephenie. Midnight Sun. New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2020.
RICE, Anne. Interview with the Vampire. New York: Knopf, 1976.
ROTH, Veronica. Divergent. New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2011.
SHELLEY, Mary. Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus. London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones, 1818.
STATISTA. "The Twilight Saga Domestic and Global Box Office Revenue". 2018. Disponible en: https://www.statista.com/statistics/twilightrevenue [Accessed January 13, 2025]
STOKER, Bram. Dracula. London: Archibald Constable and Company, 1817.
TAYLOR, Amanda. "Digital Fandoms and the Legacy of Young Adult Literature". Media Engagement Quarterly, 19 (3) (2020): 78-91.
Disponible en: https://mequarterly.org/fandoms-young-adult [Accessed January 13, 2025]
THE GUARDIAN. "The Rise of Online Critique: How Digital Communities Redefine Fan Engagement". 2020. Disponible en: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/digital-fandom-critique [Accessed January 13, 2025]
THE NEW YORK TIMES. "Forks Revisited: Twilight Tourism in the Age of Midnight Sun". 2021. Disponible en: https://www.nytimes.com/twilighttourism-2021 [Accessed January 13, 2025]
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Natalia Doldán Pan
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The authors agree with the following:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a license Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
