as an autistic person, I regularly find myself doing personal interest research projects for my own enjoyment. recently, I was researching the controversy around twilight and the actual tribe that they drew information from. the quiluete tribe is an actual tribe outside of Seattle and they do have actual histories. unfortunately, Stephanie Meyer changed and manipulated the stories to fit her narrative. there were never any mentions of ‘cold ones’ or even ‘spirit warriors’. even the tattoo that the pack has is actually a heavily altered version of the tribe’s crest. the entire series reinforces countless harmful stereotypes of native people and shows no sympathy for the false information it spreads. However, while Meyer and the movie series producers made millions from the phenomenon, none of this money ever made its way to the group whose mythology supposedly inspired a huge chunk of the series. The Twilight movies did spark some interest in Quileute culture and gave the tribe’s members an opportunity to talk about issues affecting the nation as they exist today, but it’s a far cry from what they were owed when the series was such a hugely successful franchise. This is just another example of the sad tradition of white artists appropriating other cultures for the sake of their art — and profiting greatly for it.
I myself am not American. I’m Irish, and English is my second language. This, I cannot speak with authority about these matters. However, I can assure you - the reader - that my stories have no harmful intent. I am in no way trying to manipulate the legends that the quilieute tribe have: I am only drawing off of Stephanie meyer’s work. I understand that the use of native tribes in stories can be harmful, so I explore anyone to comment on how I can improve the books I write in terms of cultural awareness and understanding.
Thank you :)