CONTENTS 00:00 Part 0: Twilight 05:00 Part 1: Fiction 18:30 Part 2: Desire 44:21 Part 3: Fantasy 1:22:54 Part 4: Power 1:51:28 Part 5: Death 2:22:12 Part 6: Identity

Did Natalie just use Twilight as a trojan horse to deconstruct sexuality and kink in the world at large? Respect

Natalie is a woman of her word. 10 months ago she ended her video with “Harry Potter is dead to me, I’m switching to Twilight,” and here we are. Another masterpiece of a video.

A friend once told me this and i’ve never forgotten so i’m sticking it here: Twilight is an average harem anime. Every weird and fetishistic thing that got it noticed is at or below average levels of weirdness/fetish for a harem anime. Dark, loner protagonist (somehow friendless despite being conventionally attractive) gets noticed by a cool vampire chick, who falls for them for sketchy reasons. A buff werewolf girl falls for them too, because reasons. They get involved in some weird vampire politics stuff and faff about with their love interests for probably too long before settling down and picking a waifu. Animate it, genderswap it, give it a japanese dub and no one would’ve noticed it existed outside its target market.

"inexperienced in every kind of poverty except poverty of brains" is a badass line

This channel is my favorite Bible study group

Haven't read the books. Haven't watched the films. Have watched the full 3hr Contrapoints analysis in a single uninterrupted, unblinking sitting.

Putting a note on screen that says “I am not saying this I am quoting” is honestly so smart

I want this video to be a college class. I want a reading list, a syllabus. I want to take notes on the lectures and write weekly reaction essays and take a midterm and write a final paper. I think that would fix me.

"French philosopher and pervert" applies to literally so many of them 😭

My grandfather was THE biggest twilight fan I've ever known. He found the Twilight series just after my grandmother passed away, and the books helped to fill a void in his life. He loved the books and he loved the movies. He loved the books so much, he installed a stereo system around his entire property so he could listen to the audio books wherever he was at, inside or out. And be listened to those books every waking hour. I was a young boy at the time, so I felt an obligatory disdain for the gushy love story, but my grandfather explained it to me, and I decided it was acceptable. He had a signed copy of each book, and when he passed, he left each of his children one of those books. RIP grandpa Eddie.

I don't mean to get all sentimental, and I doubt you'll read this comment as there's 16k of them already, but you are quite possibly the most influential thinker in my life. I first discovered you in 2017 when I was a closeted trans Tumblr teen with blue hair and black framed glasses, and your content has thoroughly inspired me throughout the years. I'm incredibly happy to have had you as a positive figure to look up to as a young trans person. Your politics, your art, your philosophy and most importantly your empathy make you an incredibly important voice of our time. Thank you for what you do. This video is absolutely amazing.

Hits on a true note how female “virtue” is considered more valuable than a girls life. This subtext is constantly written into the social concept of how girls are raised.

I feel like I'm watching the bible and all my questions about the universe are slowly being answered

reaching the end of a 3 hour contra video and realizing i have to wait another 18 months is my yearning.

41:42 as someone who studied violin for 12 years, i agree that "musical edging" is the best way to describe the beauty of the trill lmao

Natalie needs to win a Pulitzer prize for this. This is an incredible video essay.

I love so much that the final say in it all is "Say what you will about Stephanie Meyer, but at least she doesn't tweet."

When I told my aunt that she shouldn’t spend money on the lottery she said “I know I’ll never win, but for just 6 bucks a week I can dream about what I’d do with the money if I did” and that made a lot of sense to me.

Never heard of Barbara Cartland before and I am obsessed with the unintentional camp of her wardrobe

There were no less than 5 times through out this video that i completely forgot i was watching a twilight video until it was mentioned again. At least twice I was really confused as to why it was even brought up

"Aren't you overthinking Twilight?" "No, it's the children who are under-thinking it." Love that.

The cycle of being a Contrapoints viewer: 1. Enjoying the latest video more than you thought possible. 2. Being hyped for the next one. 3. Intensifingly worrying about the possibility there will never be another one. 4. Forgetting about Contra for half a year. 5. Seeing the title of the new one and thinking "well, that sounds weird." 1. ...

Ok, I apologise in advance because I’m gonna overshare and get all parasocial and weird for a minute, but you guys don’t know how much this essay has HEALED me. I’ve watched it in three separate occasions, beginning to end without interruptions, I’ve taken notes about it, I’ve pondered it endlessly. It legitimately makes me feel things 😂 I just want to thank Natalie for gifting us with this amazing breakdown of love, desire and heteronormativity, and especially for gifting me the DHSM concept, because it suddenly made SO many things make sense in my life. As a young girl discovering her sexuality surrounded by groomers, I always felt discomfort towards this submissiveness I was always being forced into. I instinctively knew there was more in me, that there were other ways of enjoying my sexuality, but they were always older, stronger, more experienced, more violent, and overwrote my desire with their own voice. Later, as an adult woman on a path of healing from various iterations of sexual violence, I turned to female-written erotica as an ally to get reacquainted with my libido (books were always a refuge for me), and bam, there it was again. The same compulsive submissiveness. The same dominant and aggressive men. Which, you know, it’s ok, I understand there’s women who enjoy it (in fact, I can say after watching this essay I understand it much better), but for me was not only retraumatising, it was… suspicious. Like, this was all there it was? These were the only ideas that could arise from the infinity of our desire, the same traditional structures again and again? And worse, WAS I THE ONLY ONE WHO NOTICED??? 😂😂😂 I guess what I’m trying to say is this essay made me feel less alone. And hopeful. Because not only this thing that haunted me has been observed and dissected by a brilliant scholar whom I admire, but she’s also offered hope. Yes, there is more than DHSM. There can be so much more. Sexuality is rich and fluid and meant to be enjoyed, and I’ll be ok in the end. That’s it, the cringe is over. Thank you for your attention 😂 PS: If anyone could kindly indicate the origin of the screencap of that domme pinning her sub against the wall that appears in the beginning of the video, I’ll love you forever. I need it because of reasons 🙏🏼

Anyone else get a little wave of appreciative warmth at Stephanie Meyer saying she doesn't need the world to know her every thought?

I hope that when Natalie looks at viewing stats for the first few days of a new video she understands that many of us are delaying watching it until we are mentally and emotionally ready to absorb the philosophical hot takes and outstanding visuals.

“Pride and Prejudice didn’t end with Darcy hunting down Wickham in a high-speed carriage chase” MAYBE IT SHOULD HAVE

"Bella and her polycule of monster men" 💀

“learn to think psychologically instead of literally” 👏👏👏👏 nailed it

Not Natalie psychoanalyzing my AO3 history-

"This book is bad, but it's bad in a way that's legitimately fascinating" me when reading Plato's _Republic_

“When ur only analytical tool is a sledgehammer, you see every problem as an author who’s legs aren’t hobbled yet”- I think this is what Judith Butler was saying about censorship?

my dad and i didn’t get along very much but i miss him and he was somehow a devoted twilight fan (favorite was new moon). died last year, making him possibly one of the last 67 year old Black men firmly on team jacob ever. i never saw the movies, but i’m watching this for him today. thanks natalie

i think the term “penetration,” though it’s the current “neutral” term, is still deeply rooted in patriarchy. If we lived in an oppressive matriarchy we might call it “consumption” or “ingestive” or smth. The term “penetration” isn’t even all that accurate. In common use, to penetrate or pierce an object is to create a hole where there was not one before. This does not describe the sex act it references, and we use it because of DHSM. One does not “penetrate” an open envelope by putting a letter into it unless you’re doing it wrong. I think not deconstructing that word, not realizing that maybe we describe sex that way because of cultural attitudes and not because that’s what’s actually happening, is a huge contributor to why many “radical feminists” wrote the things they write. ty for coming to my ted talk lmao… great video Nat ❤

I know you probably won't read this, but I still feel the need to say: thank you Natalie. Your essay on incels was the first time I became interested in politics and culture. You showed me an entirely different point of viewing the world, showed me a field of academics that I didn't even know existed. Last year I started university and I'm majoring in culture studies. And it is thanks to you that I'm doing what I love now. You showed me the way of looking at simple things like envy or cringe and seeing so much more beneath the surface, even Twilight is worth 3h serious analysis! You're an inspiration. Thank you for everything.

The way i revisit this video every few weeks because it quite literally made me have a therapy-esque breakthrough

Rewatching with my parents, sipping from the "don't talk to me until I've had my God" mug my brother got me for my birthday

Legit pastor here. Ordained pcusa. Contrapoints, your Biblical interpretation is spot on. Frankly, you understand this better than 95% of my congregants. Well done.

"I am begging these people to learn to think psychologically instead of literally so that they're not constantly baffled and traumatized upon encountering literally the most common type of sexual fantasy that people have." Amen.

This may be a small detail, but your music choices and mixing throughout this video were A+. I'm sure it took a lot of work, and it worked fantastically

54:00 I'll never get over the perfect combination of "Almost everything that went into Twilight was unconscious" with Charlie side-eyeing Bella staring absently out the car window.

I love that vampires are like, “I’m immortal, I’m immortal,” and then their whole existence is just trying to not get killed.

On the note of Death, Sex and Twilight I had an ephiphany a couple months ago about why i as a young gay cis male teen was so gripped by Twilight. It was because of AIDS. I had grown up through the tail end of the AIDS crisis and therefore was terrified of the kind of sex I as a horny gay teen couldn't stop thinking about. As Edward was pushing away Bellas physical advances I understood immediately it was because the physicality of sex for them would be death because thats how i felt anytime a man i wanted came close to me.

a complete list of everything i have learned from contrapoints: 1. spunch bob is the ubermensch 2. Bella Twilight is the second coming of Christ

“Yes I saw the StrangeAeons video”

Please, never quit. The quality of this is so high it makes the whole experience exquisite. I love how the internet has made it possible for creators like you to just create.

1/6 of this video is her trying to convince us "It's about Twilight, I promise". I love it.

The REAL reason why Twilight is problematic is because Edward didn’t put his seatbelt on, so if they were to crash, his body would become a PROJECTILE that is a danger to EVERYONE. Strap in before you strap on. Buckle up EVERY TIME. You may be an immortal vampire, but your hot human girlfriend is not.

Natalie is a machine that turns things I am not interested in into things I am interested in

I cannot believe content like this is free

The IRONY of someone calling Twilight '50 shades for teenagers' when 50 shades is, quite literally, Twilight for adults

Not "me and Draco"😂 There was no need to call out the teenage good girl me 😂

The internet is slowly becoming so weird to me, and one of the biggest things is how much I see genders hating each other in heterossexuality. As a gay man, I get a little sad seeing all these femme and masc personas hating each other so much (it goes beyond the straights, but they are in the roots of it). I can see this dynamic as an interdiction that creates desire, and it was always there, but what about tenderness? You are a saint bringing the understanding of fusion to the scared and lost heterossexuals of our time. And you're not even straight nor cis! You bring the very questions that torment the youth and dissolve barriers of normalcy and queerness ❤

"Fight between the mormon vampires and an army of ethnic stereotypes" 😂

"Men want to be desired." We've been told from such a young age then women are to be desired and men must do the desiring. That beauty is the most important aspect of being a woman and aggression is the most important aspect of being a man. I've struggled with this myself. I want a woman to want me, not submit to me.

I admire Natalie’s restraint in not making any jokes about filling her holes, very tasteful, very ladylike. Lacan says something similar.

As someone who was a middle to high school aged girl during the peak Twilight craze, this is only just barely more in depth than the level of analysis we were applying to these books trying to figure out if we were bad feminists for thinking a hot man was hot

THREE HOURS? God, I asked for a small mercy and you brought me salvation.

20:15 "The Volturi are like a Mormon's idea of Catholics: you know, they live in the Vatican, they speak Italian, they're gay..." I choked laughing at this. I'm going to watch a few more times to get it out of my system before I go back to my food.

I think this might be the best video Natalie has ever made, and that’s a high bar.

btw according to twilight eye color conventions, natalie has fed on animal blood in parts 0, 1 and 3, is hungry for blood in part 2, and, if i´m seeing the colors correctly, has fed on human blood in parts 4 and 5. in part 6 she´s got one red eye and one brown eye, which i think means that she has satisfied her hunger and yet is hungry for more! very fitting to the themes. i tip my hat off to you, miss points.

"'Aren't you overthinking Twilight?' No" said Nat at 1:50:56 of an almost 3-hour video. I really missed her.

"People think Furries are weird now, but your grandfather fought in World War II then came home and thought it was totally normal to be attracted to women dressed up like rabbits." That shook me UP holy shit

Natalie is so damm funny. One of my personal favorite things about history is Elliot just dunking on the 1800s equivalent of bodice rippers, as if she didn’t publish a 700 page Gothic romance herself. Not like other girls, but the 1870s.

I could listen to Mother play the piano forever. Natalie, you are so gifted. Your passion for music makes it all the more beautiful.

Lowkey painful to witness how my intimate, deep, dark feelings are actually so basic that philosophers have been tearing them apart for like, 500 years, but it's worth it to have the clarity and joy of you articulating the how and why behind them so effectively. Thank you.

"The feminine urge to be Daddy's Mommy" is gonna be living in my head paying $0 rent for days now.

as a trans man and a christian who hasnt watched your videos and who loves thinking about gender and sexuality and christianity this was surprising and hilarious and thought provoking all at once. Thank you!

As someone that DID hold up Twilight as a love standard (and has since grown away from my entire self worth hinging on my romantic relationships), this is borderline spiritual for me. I did a pretty wide loop between loving Twilight, to hating it, to loving it for the meme, and now to seeing it solely as art, that can be enjoyed thoroughly, but should be taken with a grain of salt because it's FICTION, not a manual on love. Your videos never disappoint, Natalie. Thank you

Can we take a moment to appreciate Natalie's mastery of leitmotifs? Watching the video I can identify over 20 different tracks that correspond to their associated videos from Envy, Shame, Cancelling, Opulence, Beauty, The Hunger and even the Nostalgia tangent. Makes it feel like a cinematic universe of ideas and feelings being channeled through a modern-day Oracle of Delphi.

“Bella and her polycule of monster men” THAT got me

I love how in Part 5 Natalie aligned the neckline of her dress exactly with the pattern on the chair to make the shape of a bleeding heart. This has got to be like my 8th watch, there's always something new to notice

I will never grow tired of any Twilight analysis. Watched a bunch. And this is one is the most interesting one

You have NO IDEA how much I needed a two-hour contrapoints video about Twilight right now. The universe doesn't usually provide in such a direct and specific way but man am I grateful for this.

Mozart knew what great DJs know today: you gotta have some good build up before the beat drops

I read most of the books in high school because everyone was talking about it. I had mixed feelings about it, making fun of a lot of it, but also liking the idea of being desired (although not in the way the characters depict it). My ex had told me before that he basically obsessed over me before we dated: Carving our initials into a tree, vowing “I would be his someday,” etc. At the time I thought it was endearing, completely forgetting all the red flags I had read in those books, and I had a bad home life, which he took advantage of. He would systematically isolate me when we did date and would abuse me. I was 19 at the time and in retrospect as a 30 year old, I see so clearly the flags that were there that I had ignored previously. Despite everything, I don’t regret it, as if I didn’t endure my suffering, I wouldn’t have met my fiancé when I was out celebrating being single again when my ex & I finally broke up. In my adult years, I discovered I have a kink for being dominated (lightly - nothing heavy or extreme). I suppose these books somewhat were my first awakening to that? I realized that I want not only the love of my partner, but to have the trust with them to entrust myself with them and my kink (as you can imagine, that’s difficult). I also think that some women who are viewed as “strong and independent” who have the kink have it because they want to be able to let loose for once. I know it somewhat feels like that for me, as I handle most things in my partnership with my fiancé. So being able to have someone else in charge can also be a relief in a sense.

As Taylor swift i accept you apology miss points

"Women are not sexual, how do I know? Ask them and they almost always say no" I had to pause and chuckle to myself because this is SUCH an FUNNY thing for a straight man to say

I wish i could show this video to my 12 year old self, who stood up in front of her 7th grade english class and read out the essay she wrote on Edward Cullen’s Hero’s Journey. 😂

54:18 the way I got clocked. I remember going on family vacations and reading smut novels with those same exact covers LOL. I stumbled into a tag on googlereads called "MMF" so instead of the woman being persued by all the hot men, my novels were about everyone pursuing everyone or a man being pursued by another man AND a woman. And bc my family did no speak English I was able to read all of them with no worries. Now that I think about it's so bizarre that I was siting on the couch while the rest of my family were fooling around while I read that a man was being destroyed by another dude while he was eating out a girl as a 15yo Hispanic boy LMAOO. It's been 10 years since i read a novel like that lmao I think I my revisit som of my favorites of that time hahaha

this is incredible, my inner-middle-schooler feels seen for the first time thank you so much for all you've done for humanity

While a lot of people see Twilight as a golden example of heterosexual media, Kristen Stewart interprets it differently, earlier this year she said: "It's such a gay movie! I mean, jesus christ, Taylor and Rob 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. That's a very gothic, gay inclination that I love." She recognizes that the book is about fulfilling fantasies which are discouraged by society, for a heterosexual woman in the LDS church that means your hand being grazed by a big strong sparkly rich vampire man, but for a gay person the theme of "forbidden love" itself feels gay.

I was so sure the yin/yang, light/shade part was going to end with "and they blend together to create... fifty shades of grey".

I love it when Natalie plays keyboard instruments just for fun!!! She’s such a gorgeous musician. Signed, a t-boy viola da gamba player

Natalie had such graceful restraint when it came to filling holes which was awesome because I wanted her to make dirty jokes even more afterwards. Wonderful demonstration of creating more lack and thus creating more desire 👏

Bible nerd popping in to add that the Greek word for resurrection is "anastasis" (ἀνάστασις). So on top of all the cruciform elements in the section on Fifty Shades, the two main characters are named Christian and Resurrection.

"some people are born straight, and others have straightness thrust upon them." Absolutely S-tier setup for that line.

This is the best video on KZfaq and the answer to most of life’s existential questions. I’m being forreal this is fantastic!

Ma’am this is a whole dissertation. I’m obsessed lmao immediately subscribed

"I can name at least three people who are attracted to men." This is my new favorite Natalie Wynn quote.

I love how often in this it seems like you're strawmanning someone saying something outrageous and then cut directly to them saying the exact thing you implied they said

This video is mind-blowing. Always wanted a video from you exploring the psychology, philosophy and the politics of sex and desire. This deserves way more views. Incredibly eye-opening and instigating.

13:41 That awkward moment when not only do I recognize these covers, but I also know exactly where they exist on my bookshelves

I read the Twilight saga when I was 12, and I remember having a lot of contempt for Bella in New Moon. I found her grieving of Edward pathetic, unrealistic, and toxic. In that, I felt a kind of smug superiority to both her and Meyer; I would never be so torn up over a man because I was strong and independent. I’m now 20 years old and currently experiencing limerence following a breakup. It’s more painful than I could’ve ever imagined. Combined with pre-existing mental health issues it’s almost unbearable. I can barely eat, sleep, or study. There isn’t a moment of the day I don’t feel physically ill. I constantly imagine all the other people my ex could be pursuing and think “Why not me?” I didn’t think I would ever relate to Bella in this way, but here I am. Turns out she is me and I am her. I am thoroughly humbled. Edit: wow hello, I didn’t expect this comment to resonate with so many people. Thanks for the support everyone! The Internet can be cool sometimes.

"The Feminine Urge To Be Daddy's Mommy" hit my hurt/comfort-loving ass over the head like a brick

Your humour and deadpan delivery has me in tears from how hard I laughed. Immediately subscribed.

This was genuinely one of the best and most enlightening things I have ever seen. It hit so many sweet spots and tied up so many particular interests for me it's honestly difficult to believe. Your works once helped me build the basis of my current worldview and identity, and now they still hit me with breakthrough revelations. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

I can't believe she told the first funny "It's still a better love story than Twilight" joke I've heard in like 10 years.

Her refusal to finish the "antici....pation" was absolutely despicable. Permanent cancellation effective immediately.

What you make is art, not just a video essay. Thanks for this video. Average fan of twilight.