#mthg

[phoenixyfriend]

I'm just curious why you are passionate about the colourpop thing specifically, since you don't usually post about either makeup or twilight. Is there a reason?? (Also, I don't mind that you keep posting, I'm just mildly bemused.)

Well... just because I don't talk about it much doesn't mean I don't talk about it. It's just usually more in the realm of watching YouTube videos about cosmetics and a nostalgia for the books. Pictures unter the cut.

But also...

The short and easy answer is that it's something I feel I might be able to actually impact. The target is big enough that I don't feel bad about possibly ruining a life by accident if I start something, but not so big that I feel ineffectual. I don't think I'm enough to turn the tide of even something like a local election, but I MIGHT have enough people in my corner to badger a company into doing something if only as good PR for their image.

I understand the issue, and it's ethically a pretty clear cut one. A marginalized group (the Quileute tribe) was used by someone in power (Meyer) in a hurtful way (racism) for her own benefit (fame and money) with no compensation. There's a clear villain to this dynamic.

Colourpop didn't need to enter this discourse by doing a collaboration, but they did, so they've now opted in to being held to making a statement. In continuing to make money off of the image and racist representations of a marginalized group, they also are choosing to remain in that discourse.

There's a reasonable solution that COULD materially help the marginalized group in question. It's actionable and available, meaning there's a goal and an endpoint. It's not an issue that takes years or decades of research and legislature, but a fairly simple demand: donate to mthg, or make a statement explaining why not. Two choices, and at most they need to sit down with any stakeholders to discuss a plan. The Quileute are crowdfunding to move their people to safety in the face of rising sea levels. Colourpop can't really unmake the merchandise, but they CAN set some of the profits aside to compensate people they are using a marketing.

There are multiple avenues of communication open, some of which they publicly respond to, so there are options through which to pressure them, if only with people engage.

The concept is fairly easy to explain to both people who are unfamiliar, and to colourpop itself. If it gets picked up by a blogger or tiktok star with a moderate following, it's digestible enough that it could gain traction instead of stagnating as too niche.

So... yeah. It's possibly achievable, ethically straightforward, and had actionable goals. It doesn't feel impossible, it's clear-cut, and it has a defined endpoint.

Also, the the white guilt of owning all the twilight books including a signed copy of Life and Death because even in 2015 my critical thinking skills were a little underdeveloped.

But mostly it's the other stuff, plus it's actually a really nice palette and some cool eyeliners and whatnot, but I cannot in good faith buy it and that frustrates me.

Anyway. Pics.

It's not the biggest collection, but it's also not exactly small. Also I have some at work.

Also also,

[barstoolblues]

confused as to whether the quileute have reached their mthg goal because there was the 2 million-ish federal funding passed for the move last year but the latest news on their website is from 2017? i know they finished the school move a few years ago but

[bellasredchevy]

Hey the Quileute school is opening this month outside the flood zone! There is a video on Instagram. It looks beautiful

how wonderful! very glad the Quileute people raised enough to move the school outside the tsunami zone

[fatvampcat]

!!! Twilight is fundamentally a story of colonization !!!

Something those of us who are still invested in the series can do to offset a tiny part of the harm this series has done is donate to the real life Quileute Nation to help them move essential buildings out of a tsunami zone @ mthg.org

I just had a thought about Breaking Dawn.

So knowing that the story of the rich, white vampires moving into the territory of the poor, native werewolves and thus forever altering the course of said minorities lifes, without said minority being able to do anything about it or reverse the damage done to them, makes twilight basically a colonizer story, the whole gathering an army thing in Breaking Dawn is infinitely more detrimental to the werewolves than to the vampires, right?

HOWEVER, in addition to that not only do the Cullen's just not care about the effect they have on this indigenous group, in the case of Breaking Dawn, having all these kids turn, is actually in their interest.

They are building an army and at least partially expecting to fight a war to the death with the oldest and most powerful vampire clan in recorded history (recorded in the twilight books that is). Having more werewolf's, aka vampires neutral enemies, on their side is good for them, no matter the consequence to those kids getting turned.

I'm sure someone has pointed this out before but I've just always overlooked it I guess. In the source material this colonizer narrative is never directly acknowledged so I always kind of blamed it exclusively on the author and assumed the characters didn't think that hard about it and SURELY would've handled the situation differently if they had. But why would they if this worked out in their favor like this?

It also means one more way in which the story forces Jacob to betray his people in order to stand up for his weird vampire baby crush.

[facegodandwalkbackwards]

Hey, since the Twilight movies are trending on Netflix--and since the Quileute tribe gets nothing from them--don’t forget that it’s important to keep donating!

The Move to Higher Ground Project is the Quileute project to protect their community from the tsunami-risk zone it’s currently located in. If you’re going to watch the movies through Netflix, make sure you donate! If you’re not--donate anyway!

[twilight-mthg-zine]

After months of planning and organizing, the Higher Ground Twilight fanzine is finally ready! This is a 26 page mini digital zine full of artworks from Twilight fans. Including paintings, fanfiction, and even a printable coloring page!

We are really excited to finally get to present this zine to the public! All proceeds will be going directly to the Move to Higher Ground project, an initiative which seeks to secure the future of the Quileute tribe by moving their at-risk community out of a dangerous flood zone to safe ground.

We recognize that the Twilight series has many issues with depicting the Quileute people in a racist manner, and we do not condone these depictions. We believe it is only fair that us Twilight fans take a moment to give to the people who were hurt by this series. Alongside the proceeds going to the Quileute people, we are providing a list of anti-racism resources for self education on the subject in the zine itself. This page will also be released free to the public so if you can't afford to donate you can still have access to the compiled list of resources to educate yourself.

Now for the big question: How to buy!

It's pretty simple make a donation of at least $3 to https://mthg.org/ and keep some form of record of your donation. This can be a screenshot or an emailed receipt to forward or however else you can prove you donated! Then send this proof to our tumblr, our Twitter (@ZineTwilight), or our email (twilightmthgzine@gmail.com) and we will send you the pdf file!

We also have an option to send it as a gift! (With anonymous gifting available) just simply send proof of donation and contact info of who you want to send it to! It would make a perfect valentines gift for any Twilight fan!

The official release date is Feb 12th and we will start sending copies that day! However you can start putting your orders in now!

Even if you are not interested in the Zine itself we still encourage you to donate to mthg.org as it is an extremely important project that deserves your help.

Thank you so much,

Higher Ground: A Twilight Charity Zine staff

[panlight]

Hi! I've donated to mthg a couple of times, and i was curious if you know how much they need to raise, or how close they are to their goal?

I haven't seen any definitive numbers, but my understanding is that the initial fundraising drive was to move the tribal school (which is why the Amazon charity is called "Quileute Tribal School") and construction began in 2020 for that, but there are other buildings that will need to be moved, too, so even if they reached their first goal there are secondary goals that will no doubt also need more funding. Speaking for myself, so long as the donation link is active on the MTHG site, I'll donate periodically.

In other real Quileute news, they've started publishing their newsletter, The Talking Raven, again! It's a great way to keep up with news and they often include stories, history, and vocabulary words, although this first issue is (understandably!) heavy on Covid news and protocols. According to their Facebook page, the Quileute also now have a language and culture app you can download! But I haven't personally tried that out yet.

If Twilight fans want to learn about the real Quileutes and their history and culture, here are a few resources produced and shared by the Quileute people themselves with which to start.

[noahstayed]

Here’s  a link to the Move To Higher Ground fund since I can’t see one in the notes: [link]

I didn't fall back into my twilight phase for more canon content the fuck. I thought we all agreed to keep it to shitposts and support the Move to Higher Ground fund instead of further lining Madame Mormon's pockets?

[notquitetwilight]

Speaking of Insta Twilight fans, someone is selling a “Jacob Black Dog Bowl” with Fido carved on it for $41.79... Shit is so weird. Like a white person profiting off calling a Native American a slur is beyond disgusting. TheHardQuill dot com for anyone wondering what it looks like 😐

I normally don’t publish asks that name-drop but uhhh just looked this up and the fact that 338 people have bought it is....something else.

For anyone who doesn’t know, in the extended edition of BDP1 Rosalie brings Jacob a dog food bowl like she does in the book and it looks like this. Again, as @teamjacobthot and @bellaslilpapercut have pointed out, the wolf-vampire dynamic wouldn’t have been an issue if all the Cullens weren’t white and all the pack weren’t from a real-life indigenous tribe (as well as being the only non-white characters of significance in the series), but they are, so here we are. It’s not hard to imagine plenty of young readers missing that the first time round but for this many adults in the year 2021 to not realise that this is racist is bizarre imo given how many articles and resources there are criticising the many issues in Twilight???

Buy your dog a regular dog bowl for a regular price and donate to the Quileute Move to Higher Ground project instead 💞

[autisticsapphicwriter]

Okay, okay, okay... I wanted to write something for Twilight like how I see it. How I'd want it to look and I am going to Fancast it. This is just how I personally see it so like please don't be too harsh

First off ya protagonist

Bella Swan

Ella Balinska

Auli'i Cravalho

Ariela Barer

Isabella Gomez

Next Emo King

Edward Cullen

Jeenu Mahadevan

Chella Man

Désiré Mia

An assassinated character

Jacob Black

Michael Hudson

Rick Mora

Ruanui Dalton

Part two will be the Cullen kids

And donate to the Quileutes so they can move to higher ground if you can

https://mthg.org/

[flowerslut]

c’mon twilight stans lets go twilight stans!

ya girl...... is ✈️✈️ raising funds!

A few months ago I posted about my excitement for an upcoming fan-zine I was taking part in—contributing both fanfic and music, alike—but as time has passed, plans have changed! 

I’ll be going a bit rogue here, but the intent is still to raise funds for the Move To Higher Ground initiative started by the Quileute tribe! (You can read more about it on the links provided.)

This weekend I’ll be posting two Twilight fan-works (one on Saturday and one on Sunday) that I created with the sole intent to raise money toward the MTHG fund. I’ll be posting a New Moon Cullen-centric one-shot tomorrow, and then an original song (about Alice Cullen) on Sunday. The fan fiction will be available in full on my Tumblr and my AO3, and the song will be posted to Tumblr, and available for free download upon proof of donation. (Even a dollar is enough; every penny counts.)

So, welcome to the fundraising frenzy that I’m embarking on rabidly this week. Please, read up on the cause, send a donation, and if you’re unable to donate, please be sure to make a post, encouraging others to give in any small way you can. 

[ultward]

i saw this pop up in the tags on this post and it really hit the nail on the head for me

the source material is rife with issues and leaves a lot to be desired in certain areas. WE have always been the ones filling in the blanks and doing all the hard work. i was never into twilight back in the day because i thought the source material was that good - i was into it because i spent endless hours diving into fanfiction and fanart and engaging with silly fanon stuff. the fanmade conent has always carried this series. that was what made it so enjoyable for me then AND now

i don't WANT any new source material. i don't think any of us do, because we all want things that the people in charge of this franchise aren't interested in giving to us - and, regardless, none of them should continue to profit off of a very racist piece of media

if they make this show, they're testing the waters to see if twilight is still profitable and if they can keep milking it because we live in a terrible era of endless remakes and rehashes. don't let them do that. don't let them have your money or your interest. go read someone's fanfic - it'll probably be way better than anything made in any official capacity that's had smeyer's hands all over it

we say it all the time but i'll say it again: donate to mthg, and if you see someone who doesn't know any better talking about this hypothetical tv show, send them this

my take on the whole twilight tv show thing circulating right now is that i think it'll be interesting to see what they do with it since i find a lot of aspects of the movies (especially the last 3 films) to be incredibly lacking and i don't think they're particularly good adaptations. a tv show is a great way to give more screen time to the side characters that truly make the series interesting and worth continuing to engage with. overall i think it could be cool! we'll see what happens

THAT BEING SAID y'all better take to the seas and raise the skull and crossbones because we are NOT streaming this shit and giving smeyer any fucking money!!! tell your friends. tell your family. explain this to random strangers. we can't let people go around actively supporting and engaging with twilight content just because the franchise has become a funny haha meme. critical consumption my friends

[volturiwolf]

Today at the supermarket, I saw there was a book section. Looking around I found "ο ήλιος του μεσονυκτίου" (midnight sun).

I was really excited I found it there, and I begged my mom to buy it for me (it was €18 and I had no money with me). She agreed after I promised to clean my whole room, and I put it in the shopping cart while she kept looking around.

I was staring at the book, thinking if it was really worth it. After everything I learn and realised in the past 4,5 months of re-entering my Twilight phase, was it worth it to indirectly contribute to Smeyer's racist, misogynistic and crazy ideas?

I decided it was not. I would not only go against what I believed, I would also make my mom pay 18 unnecessary Euros for a luxury that could instead go towards buying actual necessary things.

It was just not worth it. Instead, I told her I would continue finding a way to contribute the money I would have spent on the book to "Quileute Move To Higher Ground" as I still have not found a way to transfer money from a Greek bank account (if you have, feel free to suggest what you did).

I told my mom what happened with Smeyer and the Quileute tribe, and it gave her another reason to hate Smeyer - apart from hating her for creating Twilight.

Today, I learned another lesson on priorities and actual values.

[phoenixyfriend]

Another colourpop post that I think invites some comments, playing off the caption. Remember, change a few words around so it doesn't look copy-paste:

The real people I'm concerned about are the Quileutes who are not being, and have never been, compensated by Twilight for the use of their culture. The real results I'm concerned about are whether they'll be able to escape rising sea levels. You are profiting from their image, and you have two reasonable choices: tell us you're donating to MtHG, or explain why you aren't. And maybe don't delete comments about it, yeah?

[goldeneyedgirl]

charity fic: all in the stars

So, some of you might be aware of the Move to Higher Group fan-zine that was being put together. It is an awesome project and I cannot wait to see the final product. 

I’ve decided to release my fic independently, with the same goal of raising money for the Quileute Tribe’s Move to Higher Ground Project. There is an amazing post right here by lemonadebottlecap that covers the history of the tribe and the misconceptions that Twilight spread - I’ve also reblogged that right below here. 

So I will cheerfully suggest and implore you to donate to the Move to Higher Ground Project - even just $1 would be amazing. 

I’m not asking for anything for the fic, but in the spirit of the zine and the fandom renaissance, please consider it. <3

Onwards to the fic

all in the stars.

Mary-Alice doesn’t speak much. She hasn’t for a long time. Mostly, she rocks and murmurs and stares. Sometimes she cries or shrieks, but that happens less and less since the doctors started her on the shock treatments. She shivers and stares and mutters, and the staff leave her well enough alone. Mostly.

(Matron hopes she dies this winter, she heard her say it to the nurse; she’s a fragile thing, all bird bones and sharp edges from her body eating away at itself. Her lungs rattle and her chest aches and her head always hurts and she knows that, one way or another, death is coming. It won’t take much to send her on her way.)

The nights are bitterly cold, and she shivers as she stares out the tiny barred window at the stars. No one knows what she’s looking for, or looking at; she’s been having treatments so long, and lived in the dim gloom of her cell for so many years, that her eyesight is greatly degraded - if she were free, she would be considered legally and irreversibly blind. But she stares, right at the stars, as if she’s searching for something.

(Her sight in the real world is nearly gone - she sees shapes and the shift of shadows, but everything is quite smeared, like looking through deep, murky water. But her other sight, of things that are to be and things that could be, that is still as sharp as ever, even if it doesn’t always make perfect sense.)

When she eats, she struggles to focus on her tray, to judge space and distance. Some of the orderlies laugh at her fumbling (hands shaking, eyes squinting, tiny body hunched over her singular meal of the day) and she is left to try and feed herself, barely managing to consume half before she has spilt it everywhere, or she gives up out of frustration and exhaustion, out of disgust of the taste of turning milk, of cooling animal fat and rancid vegetables. When she is taken to her treatments, and sessions with the doctors, she tries to guide herself with one thin hand on the wall. Mostly, she’s manhandled - dragged into the rooms with the report she was being ‘difficult’ and the unspoken promise of punishment, or ferried about in an ancient wheelchair.

(She used to count her bruises like the constellations in the sky, blooming black and blue, purple and green. Her very own Aurora Borealis. Back then, they were just needle sticks. Then they stretched out, wrapping painfully around her torso, her thighs. They swelled with blood and kept her from sleep. They made her easy to manipulate, fingers roughly pressing down on a raw spot to make her bend to their will. Now the bruises don’t fade, they linger - overlapping and constant, and it’s too hard to see them to bother counting them. She cannot tell the difference between a shadow and a bruise now, anyhow - her cell is dark, her eyes are dying, and there is always pain, no matter where she touches on her skin.)

Elias arrived (arrives? Sometimes the passage of time is hard to track) sometime ago. He was… he simply was, in the beginning. Another set of hands moving her around, sticking her with the needles, frowning and judging and damning her. And then one day, for no reason at all, he brought her an extra blanket and wrapped her up tight against the cold. He brought her cold tea, over-steeped and bitter on her tongue, but insisted she drink it. He looked at her with eyes that had seen too much, had tried and failed and run right through every ounce of hope and benevolence he could manage, so he had given up. Until now (then?).

(She knows she would have died that night, from the cold of the night and the shock of the ice bath, for want of a blanket and something to drink. Except he swept in, with his red eyes and the clean blanket and bad tea and held her hand in his, his gloves warming her skin. He stayed, she lived, and the future went spinning off into a kaleidoscope of possibility, lighting up her mind. She’s already lost her words by then, but she wants to tell him, however this all falls together, she forgives him and thanks him for his kindness. That she knows what he is, what he has done, and it is not her place to pass judgement on anyone, man or immortal.

That any kind of light in the dark is a beautiful thing, no matter how long it is lit.)

—

To say she dies when Elias bites her, when he presses venom into her wrists and throat and prays to a god he hasn’t believed in for many years, is a fallacy. It is a polite lie, a bedtime story for children. It is fiction designed to absolve the villains of the piece - doctors in clean, white coats; nurses with shark-smiles and vindictive natures.

(She has died a little every single day since her parents sent her to the asylum. That is true, if quite dramatic.)

What killed her, truly? It might have been the distracted nurse, overzealous in her dosage; it could have been the blow to the head when she fell against the desk in the doctor’s room, shoved by an irritated orderly in charge of shepherding her around. It might have been the addition of an imprecise voltage or two from a dismissive doctor. It might have been all those things bleeding together. But by the time Elias bites her, changes her, there is very little of Mary-Alice Brandon left - just a failing body struggling so hard to make it to the next hour, minute, second. Her heart thumps slowly, her lungs rattle with oxygen, her eyes glassy and unseeing. She does not know what is coming for her, and how Elias intends to protect her.

(If she could speak, she would talk of the change like being in the middle of space, of watching the rush of stars and galaxies, of colours and combustion and the swoop of the unknown, great and terrible. It was like being a tiny spot of dust in an expansive, ornate concert hall - terribly insignificant and in the presence of true greatness. But she is far enough gone that she doesn’t even know of the Hunter that stalks her, doesn’t know that when she wakes, she will be a brand new girl, an entirely new person who will be able to speak and think and run and see.)

It happens exactly how it is supposed to. Elias is old enough to know the tricks, to leave a false trail miles long that sacrifices more than one innocent, maybe a mad little inmate or two, as he carries Mary-Alice to sanctuary. She is an easy burden, still and silent, and Elias continues his futile pleas to god that this will work, and she will be born anew, and he won’t have immortalised her misery and suffering. In his long life, he has never seen an impaired vampire, one that has carried their damage and their disease over into eternity, and he hopes Mary-Alice will not be the first.

(Her galaxies surround her, in black and navy blue, violet and emerald. Rich gold, too bright to look directly at, streaks across the endless space. The stars wink at her, and some of them blink out - futures that are not hers to have, she decides. The light of the remaining stars is warm on her face and limbs, fills her chest to bursting, and she wants to cradle them in her arms, hold them tight forever.)

—

They nearly make it, you know. One day, two days, the third day dawns with no sign of the Hunter; not a scent on the breeze or the still of the woods. Just little Mary-Alice’s thin little breaths and faltering heartbeat, curled into a ball of blankets in the grass. Elias’ hand strokes her hair, and he remembers another sickly girl, brittle and dying. Long gone, in a forgotten grave in a corner of the woods an ocean away. It makes him feel ashamed, like he only helped Mary-Alice to fit her into the place left by another; that he is not so good to help her simply because of her suffering. But in truth, why else pick her, of all of the poor souls in that ward?

(Her old self is almost gone, as the stars slowly decline and the colours begin to fade. She cannot excuse his motivations when she does not know him or remember him. Or remind him why he was precious and good and kind to her. In her memory, his star has blinked out and gone, another lamp extinguished.)

She whimpers then, and it is their undoing - he is startled by her sudden noise; hope and concern knotting in his chest as he leans over her. It is also enough for a lurking Hunter, downwind to surprise his target. He is angry, a rippling red rage, at being tricked and turned around - at his precious quarry being snatched from under his nose and the stench of Elias’ venom taking hold of her blood. The Hunter is no loser; he is his own champion, one that takes sick delight in broken, bloodless girls whose throats are raw from screaming, and whose bones never fit back together right. One that has lost the battle but will win the war, and salt the earth just to spite Elias.

(In her last seconds, Mary-Alice sees. She sees Elias and the Hunter locked in battle; she sees Elias’ destruction and then she sees the Hunter come for her, still lost to the change. She sees what he does to her, how he mutilates and breaks her to punish her saviour, who is already ash in the air. And as quickly as the images press around her, they are gone, like confetti in the air.)

Elias is angry, angrier than he has been in a long time as the Hunter is upon them, and he drags the Hunter away from his charge’s prone body.

(Just a little longer. A little more time…)

—

She has a choice to make now; one she won’t remember. There are only a handful of her stars left, and she needs to pick one.

(She sees herself rise, red-eyed and confused but determined. It’s an easy trail to follow, watching the Hunter feed broken limbs into his fire with a smirk on his face and delicious plans for the girl in the glade. He’s taken the other man’s coat, and that strikes rage into her heart. He doesn’t have time to turn around before she has his head off and into the fire. She crouches in front of the fire, and watches carefully as it burns lower. It’s only when she’s left with ash and smoke that she rises, feeling heavier and sadder than she thinks she should be able to feel and slips off back into the forest, to a future yet to be decided.)

No, she doesn’t want to be sad anymore. She was sad before, she’s tired of sad.

(She runs south. She runs through the forest, faster and faster, to escape the one that is coming for her. When she stops running, she hides. She’s frightened, fearful, like a hunted rabbit. Her heart is quiet, but it still feels like it wants to burst from her chest in fear and she is completely and utterly lost, in all the ways that someone can be and she doesn’t know what to do.)

She doesn’t want to be afraid either.

(Golden eyes. A warm smile, one that makes her feel like her chest is full of starlight again. A scar on his neck that her fingers worry over, as if she can protect him from the pain. A kiss on her nose, her cheek, the corner of her mouth before his lips graze her ear.

“I love you, Alice. Irreversibly and forever,” he murmurs and, and…)

That one. That’s her. She’s Alice; she gets to be Alice, chooses to be Alice - Alice who is happy and loved and safe and precious. Alice, who loves him more than anything in existence. She could burst with how much she loves him. She could have a million choices, a million stars, and that will always be the one she chooses and holds tight.

(“Forever.”)

—

And she opens her eyes, clear and bright and ruby-red. She spies the moss and the ferns, her discarded blankets, the bugs in the dirt. She sees feeble light of dusk pushing through the trees. She smells water and dirt and trees and … smoke.

(“Alice.”)

Getting to her feet, her throat burning and her mind too full of everything that is new and unknown around her, and the ominous promise of the smoke hovering in the air, she holds the image of the man with the golden eyes in her mind and she begins to run.

(“I love you.”)

She runs North with nothing but hope and a name, spoken by the one who loves - or will love (she forgets that time moves differently when you can’t see what’s coming) - her best. She runs away from disaster, from pain and fear and sadness, and everything she came from, a brand new girl on her way to a brand new life.

(“Irreversibly and forever.”)

—

[jessicanjpa]

What do you think about some posts pointing out where the Cullens are racist? I think some people are overreacting. Like the vampires and wolves are natural enemies and call each other all kinds of names at times, it’s in their nature. People also say my faves Esme and Carlisle should teach their kids manners but I know they have, behind the scenes...definitely Esme has, when she scolded Rosalie for the Fido thing at least!

I’m not the best person to answer this, being white myself, but here are my two cents:

Fans should always listen to each other about how certain elements in the story have personally impacted them (including positive impacts but that’s another post). We have a lot to learn from each other, and here in particular, Twilight fans of color have been speaking about the racist impact of various worldbuilding elements, lines of dialogue, plot points, etc. It’s especially important for white writers (and content creators in general) to listen so that we can move forward in ways that honor what we’re hearing. (more longwinded thoughts below the cut)

So for this specific example, sure--random werewolf A and random vampire B might joke around with these nicknames in any universe. But the reality is that we still live in a world where the subtext of those jokes is different when the white character is calling the character of color something like “dog” versus the reverse. (Here’s a good post that talks about some specifics, and here’s one by @writingwithcolor that has some discussion and links re: the broader issue of when characterization shouldn’t be handled this way.)  I didn’t see this one either for a long time, and like you said, it took me by surprise at first because it’s about not handling characterizations equally (in other words I saw it and dismissed it as overthinking). But I kept listening and spoke with an indigenous Twilight fan about their own impressions, and decided I needed to edit the dog nicknames/jokes out of my own fanfiction. It’s a fairly easy element to omit (and readers, if I missed any spots please let me know), and doing so doesn’t even change the storyline.

In the case of the Cullens in general, I think it certainly makes sense to headcanon that they’ve all been racist, sexist, etc. at some point based on how old they are and what character traits they have individually; in terms of backstory racism Jasper is the obvious one, but that doesn’t exempt the others. Regardless of how much we love our favs or headcanon how much they’ve grown and learned over the years, that love should never stop us from listening or learning from issues like this. And I would advise extreme caution in labeling these types of accusations as an “overreaction”--whether you respond with the same headcanons or not (ex: how much racist intent there was in whatever scene) is your own choice, but when POC say “It makes me/us uncomfortable when authors/characters do x y z and here’s why it’s racist,” that’s beyond that kind of judgment because it’s 1) a personal account of racist impact and 2) not a matter of headcanon/reaction. And remember that there’s also accumulated hurt/harm from portrayals of characters of color in other books, movies, etc. throughout centuries of literature. And that also intersects with people's personal experiences with racism in their own lives.

I think fans often forget how powerful fanfiction can be when it comes to things like this. It’s important to learn to see when authors’/publishers’/characters’ choices were problematic (in various ways) so that we can grow as people in our own interactions and values, and so that we can move forward in a better way in our own content creation in the future. But remember that any fandom universe is also a living thing--the source material may be copyrighted by the author, but it also belongs to all of us. "Sure would have been nice to see" can easily become a fic/drabble that explores the issue in a way that can have a positive impact for years to come, all because you had the courage to bring what "would have been nice to see" alive.

It’d be great to see a BD gapfiller where Leah storms into the house and confronts Rosalie about the dog bowl thing. (With the pack mind, the racist impact of that scene would affect ALL of them, remember.) Or maybe Edward picks up on Seth’s thoughts about it. Show Jasper wrestling with the fact that he so easily called Jacob a dog in a moment of anger when he thought he’d left the racist stuff behind years ago. Maybe it turns into a conversation with Carlisle, who’s recently had a tough talk with Sam or Billy about his decision to move back to Forks in 2003 or thinking back to how it didn’t even occur to him to ask Bella was she wanted re: her own pregnancy. (Those two already shared, in my opinion at least, an element of shame re: their human past, so this could be a sequel to those earlier talks.) Or maybe a year or two post-canon the dog thing is still going on behind Carlisle and Esme’s back and Renesmee is the one who tells the grown-up “kids” to knock it off because it’s more obvious to her that it’s inappropriate. Going back to the Billy/Carlisle talk, get into it and have Billy explain why it’s been difficult for him to speak up until now. Go earlier on and show us the talk Billy and Old Quil had before that.

Or maybe you want to go in a different direction. Have some Cullen or other refuse to change after a conversation like this, and let Jacob or whoever win the day by exposing it. Let Leah’s confrontation with Rosalie go horribly instead of being a weird start to an unexpected friendship. Or let it go horribly and later on bring it around to an unexpected friendship. Go AU, go post-canon, write a gapfiller, tell us Ephraim’s thoughts in 1936. Redeem who you want, vilify who you want, ship who you want. Wrestle with the nuance or go with a good vs. evil narrative. Explore a new perspective through an OC or a minor character POV. Make it about forgiveness or reflection or healing or triumph or boundaries or ruined treaties or whatever you think is missing.

Just please don’t cross that line of telling others how they are allowed to react in their headcanons, writing, etc. That doesn’t mean you can’t talk about how those headcanons make you feel or unfollow/block someone whose take you don’t like to see on your feed. But just as they may not understand where you’re coming from, you don’t know everything about why they’re passionate about their own take on it (thinking about the Renee ask again here). Assuming the absolute worst about someone’s intentions and proclaiming those assumptions as if they were facts isn’t going to move the issue forward, and it’s sometimes a huge missed opportunity for people to see each other’s responses as “good, better, best” rather than “right, wrong.” Leading by constructive example—experimenting with how to do it better or resolve an existing mess—is so much more effective and will (hopefully) help start conversations instead of ending them. We’ll make mistakes and hopefully do better, but that’s better than not trying at all.

So if you’ve seen good fics/drabbles that address racist elements in one way or another, please leave a rec in the replies! (I’m adding one myself as soon as I post this.)

And, as always, please strongly consider donating to the Quileute Nation’s Move to Higher Ground project here if you haven’t yet done so. I’ve answered this ask with mostly in-universe chatter, but this is something the real Quileutes are actually asking for in the real world. A lot of the fandom discussion about racism is done on their behalf, which is good (or at least the intention is good), but boosting their actual voice is even better. Their predominant message to this fandom has always been for us to learn more about their real culture and history (check out their collaboration with the Burke museum and their own website), and donating is a tangible way we can show our support.