#The Cullen Women

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Muffin, what is your favorite March sister from Little Women? Do you think Jo or any of her sisters would survive Edward?

Well, I'll answer your second question first.

Who Survives Edward?

The funny thing is that most people survive Edward quite easily. If you're an ordinary person who's not on Edward's 1920's hit list then he pays you very little mind and you never really interact with him. For all Jessica annoyed him, she was never in danger from him, nor was Angela, nor many of the other characters we meet.

Even Mike wasn't Edward's concern until Edward became obsessed with Bella and decided Mike was his rival.

So, the March sisters would all be absolutely fine. The likelihood of them smelling as good as Bella is very small, remember Aro's 3500 years old and he hasn't come across his own singer once. Edward's probably not going to run into another singer and it's very unlikely to be one of the March girls.

Now, if they smelled as good as Bella...

Beth and Meg have the best shot at it. Jo is too assertive and too myopic, Edward wouldn't approve of her treatment of Laurie and then her getting upset when Laurie goes and marries Amy. Amy is too self-centered (look, guys, the recent movie was made by Amy stans and I have to go off the book here but even in the recent movie Edward would see it this way).

Beth is incredibly sweet and caring and actually kind of what Edward believes he loves in Bella. She's caring at great cost to herself and with no resentment after scarlet fever destroys her health, she's the heart of keeping her dysfunctional family together, she even sweetly plays piano. Her sickly nature after the fever would also be a bonus for Edward as it means that they're in a doomed romance where woe he could turn her and remove all her health problems but he can't and she's very likely to die young. It also means she'll always need him to care for her and adds to her Victorian style frailty. Beth, for her own part, being the youngest and generally overlooked for her sisters because of her health/youngness/sweetness would probably be very flattered and into this mysterious hot boy who is paying attention to her.

Beth might very well survive until she dies of health complications.

Meg might get by in that she's generally... tolerable. She does what's best for her/the family, does what Aunt Marge thinks is best, and quietly gets married and lives her life the way she's supposed to. The trouble is if she attracts Edward's notice...

Without Bella's mental shield I don't think he's convincing himself she has an entirely different personality and I don't see him being into her. I take it back, Meg dies.

My Favorite March Sisters

I like all of them except Meg, I find Meg boring, which is kind of the point of her, so I guess it works out.

EDIT:

I forgot Beth is the second youngest, not the youngest who is Amy.

[princemick]

LEWIS and ANGELA-- sunday, Bahrain gp 2023

[the-casbah-way]

it’s time to break my silence. i ship glenn cullen and hugh abbot. i think they’re both weird miserable morally bankrupt old men who are seconds away from a catastrophic mental breakdown at any given moment and they deserve each other in every possible way. and maybe they could also have a little smooch or something. there i said it

[needahugfromesme]

When do you think was the first time Esme went to University and how do you think it went for her?? 🥹

Thanks for this! @stregoni-benefici🥹💕❤️I LOVE this question！

Here are some of my thoughts:

I think Esme went to university as early as the 1930s for an art/art history degree. Although the official guide says Esme has degrees in architecture and art, I don't think the first one she got was an architecture degree. I do think one of the fandom's headcanons that the reason Esme wasn't working as a teacher was that she didn't want to risk her children's lives makes a lot of sense. Her caution made her choose to give up teaching art after decades of wrestling with the desire to drink blood, but she still loved art so she went to college to refine it. Even though the guide doesn't mention art history I think it opened up Esme's interest in ancient architecture (and of course the 17th century Carlisle) and decided to pursue ancient building restoration as a career. So immediately after earning a degree in art/art history, Esme chose to pursue another degree in architecture. And it makes perfect sense that she would earn these degrees in the 1930s. During the Great Depression, the New Deal funded and facilitated numerous archaeological expeditions and projects, including collecting folklife records and restoring early American architecture. Key agencies included the WPA, CCC and Historic American Buildings Survey.

I think Esme's college life was rewarding but difficult - not academically challenging, but in terms of being a woman in a misogynistic, elite institution. She faced stereotypes about her intellectual capabilities and discouragement from male professors, as well as strict rules and restrictions placed specifically on women's behaviour and coursework options. The university excluded women architecture students from mentorships and work/apprenticeship opportunities that developed technical skills. The university rarely allowed women students to take site visits or hands-on design assignments from conception to construction. She was steered only towards "suitable" decoration projects. She had to be careful of her reputation if attending sessions too late into the evenings or being the only female. So I think it's quite possible that during the same time period, Carlisle was also attending the university to do a degree/find a teaching job (New Moon does mention the tradition that Carlisle would return to the university from time to time), for Esme's sake, and also to be exposed to the latest research. Moreover, financial difficulties, theoretically should not be hard since her husband was rich, but I've always felt that for Esme her past of being controlled and abused made her value all aspects of freedom and independence (nothing personal about Carlisle, of course). Carlisle could give her lavish gifts, but it was her degree, her choice, and she would pay for it. Unfortunately, most scholarship funding and paid jobs went to male students at the time. She had to sell some of her paintings anonymously to pay for her tuition and she continued to confront immense sexism and lack of career opportunity postgraduation.

I feel college was an important milestone in Esme’s "humanization" process. Not only did she finally overcome her fear of slipping in the crowd, but she was finally able to achieve something as a woman, as herself. She didn't have to be anyone's mother or wife in order to survive with her head held high.

[fuckmeyer]

Wiggins!) the bizarre thing about the vampire men in the cullen family all seem to be at least subconsciously what Smeyer wants Bella to have but can’t seem to get over her initial vision of what she saw in her drafts or whatever. It’s odd that every single one of the Cullen men are like strongly devoted (but mostly devoid of personality because it’s so Bella centric) but when you compare them to Edward they seem interesting in some ways. Like Narratively we’re supposed to have this threat that Edward is constantly holding back from killer her but I don’t feel like we see that. Conversely, Jasper is constantly the one who is suffering about human smells and is the more vampire-like. But he’s also a glorified lap dog. So it’s like ‘oh he’s a monster but he’ll never hurt me” (things Alice has said out loud. Man even psychics slip up. I swear her powers weren’t so accurate until Smeyer needed an excuse for plot reasons)

Emmett feels like when some women say they like waifish guys because they don’t want to seem like they’re vapid for liking “big dudes with muscles” so of course you pair Emmett with the “shallow blonde”

Carlisle, I swear only exists so Edward has someone to model but I would also argue that he’s proto-Edward before whatever reworking she had to do when writing Twilight for a YA audience and brought him back as a different character.

Yeah a rant

hello again bestie Wiglet! (note to self: learn Photoshop so i can shop Jacob's bad wig onto a pic of Piglet)

this is such an interesting take! thanks for sharing. i totally see what you're saying. in all the Cullen men we see both a blend of softness & devotion *and*, interestingly enough, a patchwork of patriarchal ideas of what a man "should" be. & this idea comes to the forefront with the depiction of the love interests

smeyer wants us to see Edward as the chivalric gentlemen from the Days of Yore. we see this in the opening doors, the cutsey little romance taglines ("you are my life now," "look after my heart; i've left it with you," "so the lion fell in love" etc), the knight saving the damsel in distress, the expensive tokens of his affection, etc.

at the same time, in both Edward & Jacob we see the crude traits of the Patriarchy Dreamboat kinda guy. if i had to sum it up, it's like the guy you see in 80s movies. "bad boy." "opposites attract." he's a jerk. he's a hunk. he's domineering. he's allowed to show emotion only & especially if that emotion is anger. he's persistent in his efforts to get the girl, going so far as to kiss her without her consent if it's For a Good Cause (Edward in New Moon post-Volterra, Jacob in Eclipse). he's a cool guy who's In Control 👉😎👉

perhaps that's why the Twilight saga appealed so such a large swath of women & girls. the women, who grew up with the notion that they could have the true love of their dreams so long as they submitted to the patriarchal social contract, saw the contract being fulfilled in Edward. (i.e., "you can be the king if you treat me like a princess.")

on the other hand, the 90s/00s girlies who grew up in the midst of a feminist revolution & who could see the glimmer of a dismantled patriarchy on the horizon were attracted to Edward for the flashes of radical feminist love they saw: the unapologetic expressions of emotion, the honesty of him sharing his vulnerabilities & weaknesses, Bella's ability to override Edward's will when necessary, etc.

sorry, i know this isn't really the crux of the rant you submitted, but it is extremely interesting to see these contradictions playing out in all the male characters of the saga. it's almost like smeyer is having this internal debate with herself without even realizing it...

[yesloulou]

Drive To Survive Season 5 Episode 9

[gaypirate420]

Being a Jasper girlie (gender neutral) is constantly living on the fucking threnches.

[queertwilight]

a female presenting/identifying vampire should bite me (for theatrical and not at all sexual reasons of course)

[babybabyaphrodite]

hm. i think, as a woman, vampires being so perfect only to be so broken just hits so right. to be beautiful and forever young and captivating. to be marred with trauma and have your soul covered in blood that you can’t scrub away and be such a cheap imitation of true humanity when deep down you are just an animal looking for what will satiate the gnawing need you can’t quite place.

i can always draw parallels where i want, but this feels specifically potent. ofc i’m drawn to media ab seeing & accepting someone as being perfect & debased.

[minthara]

just laid down to sleep but last reblog GOD i love the advisors dynamic so much (even tho i'm not a huge fan of leliana) BUT they are sooo iconic no one does it like them. the way they swagger into the war table room is unmatched. they are my shitty coworkers and i love them it's us against capitalism (corypheus).

[mayax81]

if he hates being immortal so much then why doesn't he just hang out with other immortals

if he hates being a genius so much then why doesn't he hang out with other geniuses

like ohKAY if it's such a CURSE...?

u wouldn't be so "Burdened With Better-Than-Everyone-Else Syndrome" if you just found your equals--they don't even have to be the same as you; they just have to have some awesome quality & a curse of their own (second part very important.) but you wanna play in the sandbox and "complain" to the toddlers about how big your dick is instead. creep.

as much as i love these characters, i can't always feel sorry for them--like, pity is one emotion the narrative wants me to feel in this specific instance that i just cAnNot muster. they are actively choosing relationships whose power dynamic favors them.

like where is the Support Group mentality? oh that's right ur not actually interested in that (: u just wanna turn a hot impressionable girlchild into your mommy therapist (:(:

[fanfictionroxs]

Leah's periods come back after 3 or 4 years. The cullens have long since left by then and the pack's territory is safe and calm. Jacob has returned as well because he has to look after his father and he fucking misses Leah like air, but will never admit it. Leah is at peace, her and Emily are best friends again, even Rebecca has returned for a while bringing Leah unknown levels of joy. She has happy dreams about her father who sometimes speaks to her and soothes her. Harry's ghost caresses her wolf's fur lovingly and at times Leah is a spectator in those dream, other times she feels her father's comforting pats. And so her body is slowly calming down, her mind is serene, she feels safe. Only then does her wolf allow herself to descend into a truly horrible week of pain and cramps where her body becomes so weak and she sleeps and sleeps and bleeds and bleeds because it's been years since her last period. But she is safe because Jacob and Seth are there constantly, her little brother turning into her protector for the first time perhaps and they take shifts to watch over the sleeping wolf and bring whatever she needs, and Emily is there helping her mom change her and keep her clean and she doesn't leave her sister once during the entire time.. and so the wolf slumbers and heals in contentment.

Ironically, by the time her periods come back, Leah has had just about enough of kids (as have Sam, Jared, Paul, Jacob, Embry, Quil, Emily and Rachel) because in between raising Brady, Colin and the other 6 pups/baby wolves, the pack was fucking exhausted lol

[agirlking]

Coming back to DA:I and I’m reminded how weird it is how hated Solas was (is? Idk), to me he’s unquestionably the most complicated character in the game.

[gabs-magical-abs]

Queer culture is wanting to punch Cullen Rutherford in the face

[halsingf]

happy valentines day <3

[bellas-strawberryshampoo]

seeing robert pattinson’s batman in an open air cinema on friday,, i’ll be wearing my team edwards shirt again