Musical Gestures: Melodramatic Lullabies of Anxious Desire

Abstract

As one of melodrama’s most vital expressions, music encourages empathy for a girl character’s desiring, but anxious heterosexual gaze. This chapter explores references to music in Jane Eyre and Twilight. In the literary texts, music simultaneously cues the protagonists’ insecurities and accentuates their sexual longings. Although Bella’s desire for physical intimacy with Edward is consistently thwarted throughout much of the series, music’s circularity validates and even replicates that sexual yearning. In fact, recognizing music’s expression of desire reveals how the cinematic Bella’s sexual desire is articulated—outside of her own spoken narration. Although such passivity has been criticized, this has not prohibited girls from imagining Bella’s sexual desire, as some fans vocalize it in their own musical discourse.