Kristen Stewart, who played Bella Swan in Twilight, has an unexpected perspective on the vampire series that would change the film’s meaning.
Kristen Stewart shares a new perspective on the Twilight films years later. Beginning with 2008’s Twilight, Stewart played Bella Swan in the popular vampire series. The franchise went on to have five films in total, which grossed over $3 billion.
Over a decade after the series debut, Stewart shares a new perspective on Twilight. Speaking with Variety, Stewart called Twilight “such a gay movie.” To support this claim, Stewart pointed out that the book was written by a Mormon and is “all about oppression, about wanting what’s going to destroy you.” Check out the full quote from Stewart below:
I can only see it now. I don’t think it necessarily started off that way, but I also think that the fact that I was there at all, it was percolating. It’s such a gay movie. I mean, Jesus Christ, Taylor [Lautner] and Rob and me, and it’s so hidden and not OK. I mean, a Mormon woman wrote this book. It’s all about oppression, about wanting what’s going to destroy you. That’s a very Gothic, gay inclination that I love.
Why Kristen Stewart’s Twilight Perspective Is Significant
Twilight’s queer undertones have not been lost on audiences over the years. While the film is overtly straight in its main love triangle, fans of the series have, for years, imagined various pairings of characters in the films to make them gay. There has also been copious fanfiction written that positions Bella Swan as a bisexual or gay woman.
Nonetheless, Twilight was seen widely as a very straight movie upon its release. Stewart and co-star Robert Pattinson were notorious for their off-screen romance that went on for several years. Stewart later came out as queer in 2017, and has since become one of Hollywood’s most notable gay icons for actors of a generation. Stewart has played queer characters in films such as The Clouds of Sils Maria, and the upcoming film Love Lies Bleeding.
Given this on and offscreen history, the reading of Twilight as a “gay movie” is incredibly significant coming from one of the film’s stars. While saying the film is queer coded or subtextually queer does not account for actual representation, it does provide a fascinating perspective on the film, which came out at a time when far fewer narratives about LGBTQ+ people existed. Now, the world gets out queer vampires in shows like What We Do in the Shadows, but it seems even Twilight has queer subtext
