Twilight (2008)

Episode 149 (February 14, 2025)

For Valentine’s Day, we’re celebrating the greatest American love story of all time: Isabella Swan and Edward “The Bad Guy” Cullen. That’s right, after years of threatening to turn the podcast into a full-time Twilight show, we’re finally doing it. For one episode, at least. But how to tackle such an enormous endeavor? Well, we’ve found the two perfect people to help us in our quest: Courtney and Rose from the great Fiction Fixation podcast.

The four of us unpack our different Twilight journeys, discuss the odd figure that is Stephenie Meyer, try to determine the connection between Twilight and Mormonism, unpack the demented sexual politics of this franchise, and, finally, we all confess how much we’d want Edward to bite our necks.

Listen to Fiction Fixation on Apple Podcast (https://bit.ly/411OKaS), Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow them on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@fictionfixation

Twilight Podcast

Time stamps:

7:10 — Our personal histories with the Twilight franchise (books AND movies)
25:58 — History segment: Joseph Smith founds Mormonism in the 1820s; Stephenie Meyer grows up in the LDS Church, writes Twilight; Twilight-mania takes off and a movie is developed; career overview of director Catherine Hardwicke; brief overviews of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson
46:38 — In-depth movie discussion
2:24:26 — Final thoughts and star ratings

Sources:

“Mormon Vampires in the Garden of Eden” by John Grander | Touchstone Magazine – https://bit.ly/4jCSmJ2
“Stephenie Meyer on Twilight, feminism and true love” by Kira Cochrane | The Guardian (2013) – https://bit.ly/4ggFuoV
“Twilight’s Author and Director Talk About Bringing The Film To Life” by Christina Radish | Media Blvd. (2008) – https://bit.ly/4hz5nkY

Artwork by Laci Roth.

Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC).

Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode:
“Winston-Salem” – https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM
“Snake Drama” – https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg
“The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet” – https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ