There’s nothing quite like watching a teenage girl engage in a love triangle between a vampire and a werewolf. Thanks to Kristen Stewart’s elongated pauses between sentences and Robert Pattinson’s extra-pale skin and swooshed hair, the Twilight Saga has earned itself a special place in cinematic history, regardless of whether you enjoy the series or bash others for liking it.
Annie Lyons, a fifth-year journalism and Plan II student, is a proud Twilight fan. She’s team Edward, and her favorite movie in the series is “New Moon.” As part of the capstone class’s “Request Pending” team, she’s creating a podcast episode that explores the Twilight Saga and how the tastes of young girls tend to get devalued.
“Much of the public backlash it got is just kind of ridiculing teenage girls and what they like,” Lyons said.
Even though the last move of the series was released in 2012, Lyons said there has been a Twilight renaissance, and people aren’t afraid to share their love for the vampire books and movies.
The idea for the podcast episode stems from Lyons’s research for her thesis. She has been working alongside a graduate student, coding articles to see how journalists describe boy bands vs. other musicians. The topic, again, relates back to this trend where things that young girls tend to like, such as boy bands, get different treatment.
Lyons’s episode also relates back to her career aspirations. Her goal after graduation is to become a music and culture writer. During her time at UT, she wrote for Orange Magazine and later founded Afterglow, a UT publication specifically for music coverage.
In addition to focusing on how people respond to young girls’ tastes in vampire movies, Lyons plans to look into the downfalls of the Twilight Saga, specifically at how indigenous people are misrepresented and unhealthy relationships.
The episode is set to air in January.
