First full-length college course on 'Twilight' approved, and other fans will be able to 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.

You can see Wilson's blog (the location of said updates) here.

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

Examiner