The class description is as follows: "Examines theTwilight saga and the resulting fandom. ExploresTwlight in relation to the social and cultural construction of gender and gendered identities in contemporary U.S. culture. Using an intersectional lens emphasizing gender, race, class, sexuality, and belief, provides students with the conceptual and analytical foundations to think more deeply about popular culture and its impact. Covers vampire lore, the romantic core of the series, female characters and fans, the depiction of men and masculinity, religious contexts, race and white privilege, the franchising of Twilight, and various cultural contexts such as abstinence only education and the rise of internet fandoms."
When we discussed the course back in March, it was noted that the professor, Dr. Natalie Wilson, intended to make the course open to the public as much as possible by utilizing a blog to correspond to the course teachings. Her blog is available
here.
Wilson's latest entry for the blog catalogues some of the progress that she has made with the course, noting student observations such as "Bella, if she had a Facebook account, would regularly post the update 'another rainy day'", and "
The dismissal of female fans perpetuates the message that anything women like can’t be good." Read the rest
here.
Some
sources recently caught wind of the offering, and after checking back into the topic, it seems that indeed the course is fully underway, and fans can go ahead and tune in to what's being said about this subject matter in the first full-length college course on
Twilight. It should be really interesting to see what Dr. Wilson and her course find about the
Sagathrough this platform.
Second Article (other universities and other ways you can participate)
A few weeks ago, we
learned that Cambridge University was to be introducing the
Twilight saga into its Faculty of Education's curriculum so as to better understand children and their relationship to current books. The series has also made its way into
middle and high school course plans, onto
English reading lists, and beyond.
Now, the first full-length college course on the Twilight series has been approved, according to Dr. Natalie Wilson, the Cal State San Marcos Women's Studies professor who'll be teaching it.
Wilson, who is currently penning an analysis of the Saga's impact on popular culture, revealed that the course will be entitled "Twilight: The Texts and the Fandom" and that fans outside of the classroom will be able to participate in the course in a lot of ways as well. Actual students will be granted general credit for taking this class.
Wilson plans to devise the course materials as a mixture of the books, derivative theory-based works, the films, parodies, and the social and fan internet community. Students of the class will be asked to develop reactions and critiques to these materials in one of several ways (including through parodies, skits, blogs, or texts).
The course will also be unique in that it will involve the internet fan community in two ways. First, fans who are not a member of the Twilight class will be able to follow along and participate through Dr. Natalie Wilson's blog. Second, members of the classroom will be encouraged to reach out into the Twilight fan community and learn more about the blogs and news sources that are out there.
In her blog, she posted about the curriculum approval, saying the following:
I can hear all those naysayers that claim Twilight has nothing to teach us shrieking in dismay “Oh, it’s the end of the academy!” Well, the same arguments were made when Harry Potter, Buffy, and Star Trek courses made it onto the curriculum. As such courses have proven, examining popular texts and popular culture has much to tell us about our historical epoch, about race, class, gender, sexuality, philosophy, literature, etc.
Wilson considers herself a critical fan, in that she may point out the controversy in some aspects and messages of the Saga, but she states that she is a fan and finds the series to have both positive messages and culturally subsversive ones.
pretty interesting stuff, if i do say so myself (i know i'd rather take these classes than biology or something haha)
