The good, the bad and the ugly: online reception by young readers on modern romance gothic
The good, the bad and the ugly: online reception by young readers on modern romance gothic
Much has been written about the negative effects of gothic texts such as Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series by researchers. Messages in mass media have been no different, bordering on the negative to spelling out the implied ‘harm’ to young impressionable female readers. Whether this is true about teens’ reading material and their response is highly debatable. What matters more is the need to analyse what teenagers or the young are really responding to when they consume such works and even more importantly (and ethically), that this is done, as far as possible on their own terms. This paper investigates three websites dedicated to young users on ‘Twilight’ in which two are owned by the young users themselves. By analysing the argument structures and persuasive strategies adopted by these users, this paper contends that such Gothic texts, in fact, offer an invaluable space for young readers to debate, discuss and interrogate issues on their own terms, offering a possible explanation for the centrality of Gothic especially its prevalence in contemporary culture.
Tan, Karen
7d8c0413-99db-4ba6-a2a6-bfc7b361047b
13 July 2016
Tan, Karen
7d8c0413-99db-4ba6-a2a6-bfc7b361047b
Tan, Karen
(2016)
The good, the bad and the ugly: online reception by young readers on modern romance gothic.
3rd International Conference on Languages, Literature and Culture in Education, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Italy.
12 - 14 Jul 2016.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Other)
Abstract
Much has been written about the negative effects of gothic texts such as Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series by researchers. Messages in mass media have been no different, bordering on the negative to spelling out the implied ‘harm’ to young impressionable female readers. Whether this is true about teens’ reading material and their response is highly debatable. What matters more is the need to analyse what teenagers or the young are really responding to when they consume such works and even more importantly (and ethically), that this is done, as far as possible on their own terms. This paper investigates three websites dedicated to young users on ‘Twilight’ in which two are owned by the young users themselves. By analysing the argument structures and persuasive strategies adopted by these users, this paper contends that such Gothic texts, in fact, offer an invaluable space for young readers to debate, discuss and interrogate issues on their own terms, offering a possible explanation for the centrality of Gothic especially its prevalence in contemporary culture.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: 13 July 2016
Venue - Dates:
3rd International Conference on Languages, Literature and Culture in Education, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Italy, 2016-07-12 - 2016-07-14
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 499211
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/499211
PURE UUID: 4d403194-673f-4575-b241-7853f01487ed
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 12 Mar 2025 17:33
Last modified: 13 Mar 2025 02:27
Export record
Contributors
Author:
Karen Tan
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics