Should the Twilight saga be considered Gothic?

My class, too, talked about gothic novels this semester, particularly their characteristics. I don't think I would classify the first of the Twilight series as gothic.It seems a lot more like romance or fantasy to me, which of course they all are anyway. But Twilight does not have inexplicable events or even any true horror elements. The only thing supernatural is that the Cullens are vampires. Remove that and the story is almost essentially the same in the first book. And, even including that fact, Bella comes to it by a logical conclusion and their vampirism is even explained scientifically (a result of venom et cetera).

When you think of the classic vampire novel I don't see any of the books even being remotely considered gothic. When you think of gothic you think of evil, darkness, and death which these books don't really contain. Instead the book is all about teenage drama with a slight twist by adding in werewolves and vampires. Yes there are points where people die and there is a bad side but death and cliques are in high school. Its a different take on teenage drama sphere which is why the books are so popular. And the worse part is after the first book they just went down in quality.

I don't think Twilight could be consider a "gothic" novel. The theme is romance and the vampire thing is only a back draft, Twilight is far from the traditional horror/vampire/Dracula movies, there's no so much darkness or Castles involved and the vampires like the Cullens are not even disastrous and never suck human blood so the Twilight saga is far from your above-mentioned novels.

i've not read the books yet, but it should be in the paranormal romance. being vampires and romance, those kinds of book also make for good reading.

I would consider the twilight saga a soap opera, flat out. It's now part of the vampire genre and will always be mentioned when this era gets brought up. Nothing wrong with that. Someone saw a way to make money and went with it. They can say all they want about how they were trying to express themselves, but really, them checks that they collect off of the franchize won't hurt them at all. My own opinion.

Nah, it isn't gothic, it is just simply rubbish xD

I'm actually not very sure. The Twilight Saga is a dark romance kind of book, so I guess it could fall in that category. But it isn't as dark as all those other books, as it is more romance than dark. The characters are quite witty and the books can be humorous at times, so actually, I would think of it more as a romance book than a gothic book. It depends on how you look at it.

Hi there!

I think it is a modern way of interpreting vampire movie for the new generation. It is not a "Gothic" kind of film because it is not that dark and the vampire characters in the story is not the typical vampire that we know over the past years. I mean I find it like a romeo-juliet kind of romance but with a twist.

Happy Lotting!

As an English Language teacher with a Degree in European Literature, I should like to help out.

A Gothic novel need not have Vampires, as many of your respondents seem to think, nor need they be that dark. A Gothic novel centres upon 'the human condition', and particularly, is an examination of the propaganda and dogma of the establishment, by examining relationships between those from within 'society' and those from outside it.

Vampires do not exist, they are a metaphor for members of East European Christianity who are not Roman Catholics (the Magyars, Bulgars, Orthodoxies etc), which is why they are often associated with Romany Gypsies - also persecuted by the RC church. Lycanthropes are likewise the unkempt, bearded and fierce uncivilised East Europeans (in the eyes of the RC church).

Medicine was strictly controlled by the RC church, who would not allow Post Mortems. This led to the rise of grave robbers and murderers, who would sell bodies to scientists illegally. This 'power of God' and medical religious censorship is the subject of 'Frankenstein, the modern day Prometheus'. The persecution and driving out of non-RC christians is the domain of 'Dracula', an East European who acknowledges the cross and drinks blood (known to RC church goers as 'the Sacrement', where every Sunday RC goers eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ). The religious corruption affecting the legislature of France (a staunchily Catholic country, where Protestants were prosecuted as Huguenots, and where the south had benefitted from Templar protection) is discussed in 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'.

As a rule of thumb, the Gothic novel will have been written by a Protestant/Lutheran and will examine the knowledge of the Occult (meaning 'hidden' as in 'hidden by the RC church') and how it applies to human nature and feelings.

I don't think that twilight will be a considered a gothic. Because, I don't think the series will last as long as 50 yrs, as I'm sure there will be better novels in the future then people will tend to forget twilight. I've read all of the series though and to be honest I've really enjoyed them, but to consider them gothic will take quite a long time.