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Like the trailblazer she is, the brave Kristen Stewart is wading into the “queer-coded” discourse. The actor used her Variety cover this week to wade into the discourse, redefining possibly the most normative, conservative hetero romance of the 21st century in the process: Twilight, the series that launched her to stardom.
KStew told Variety that she’s recently started to recognize Stephenie Meyer’s series’ “queer sparkle,” as the outlet put it. “I can only see it now… I don’t think it necessarily started off that way, but I also think that the fact that I was there at all, it was percolating. It’s such a gay movie,” Stewart said. (This is a truly galaxy-brained analysis, in that I cannot think of a canonically gay character in the series, which is essentially abstinence propaganda.)
Stewart continues: “I mean, Jesus Christ, Taylor [Lautner] and Rob [Pattinson] and me, and it’s so hidden and not OK. I mean, a Mormon woman wrote this book. It’s all about oppression, about wanting what’s going to destroy you.” I am not totally certain what “oppression” KStew is referring to here, because Bella spends the entire series running around with Meyer’s pasty “beautiful” vampires who live in a mansion and include a literal Confederate solider… but sure! (I assume it’s also not in reference to how racist it was to make Jacob imprint on Renesmee! But whatever!)
Back to Twilight (KStew’s Version), which sounds way better than the reality. “That’s a very Gothic, gay inclination that I love,” she told Variety. “I did get good at the heteronormative quality. I play that role well.”
At the time Twilight was playing in theaters, KStew was publicly dating co-star Pattinson but she was certainly giving “queer-coded” herself at the time to those ~in the know~. (See: smoking a bowl, disheveled in a tank top and sweats.) That photo was followed by the most obvious “we’re not saying it, but we know what we’re (not) saying” photo of all time.
Having grown up gay with Stewart in the limelight for so long, I’m excited to see her play a butch in the upcoming queer crime thriller Love Lies Bleeding, which releases theatrically in March. Who’s with me?! KStew, for one: “I’m f*cking stoked about Love Lies Bleeding,” she said in the interview.
