In spite of the abundance of powerful female leads in recent media productions, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga (2005-2008) signaled a relapse into the ideology of the feminine mystique, famously addressed in Betty Friedan's eponymous volume (1963). By analyzing Meyer's portrayal of protagonist Bella Swan's utter lack of agency, this paper explores the ways in which the saga rehashes and perpetuates an age-old Weltanschauung in which women find their natural self-fulfillment through marriage and motherhood, using the generic conventions of supernatural romance to reinforce beliefs based on female submission, on what Jessica Valenti defines as The Purity Myth (2009) and on America's post-9/11 revival of the rhetoric of male heroism (Susan Faludi, The Terror Dream, 2007).
