Stephenie Meyer’s four-part series, Twilight, has caused a ruckus in popular culture; however, this love triangle among a high school student and two supernatural beings has had less of an effect on academia. Rather than continuing to ignore Twilight, I illuminate the importance of this text in academic study by examining its influence on the town in which it was set.
Since the publication of Meyer’s series, Forks, Washington, the real town in which the narrative is set, has undergone many changes. These changes, caused by the text, are evidence of Twilight’s power. Using textual analysis, theories of the act of reading to discuss the potential of the series, and actual accounts of Forks illustrate the text’s influence on the town, I conclude the text has had a significant economic and cultural effect on the town without being a revolutionary text in itself. Twilight, while being quite typical, has caused seemingly atypical results, and I argue this paradox is worthy of further academic pursuit.