Leah Clearwater( Julia Jones ) from The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Breaking Dawn Part 1 and Part 2 (2010 - 2012)
DOES THE NDN LIVE? : YES
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
We’ve already touched on the problems in the Twilight Saga when we talked about Jacob Black. For those who need reminding: Stephenie Meyer is not Native, she is a white Mormon who appropriated an existing Native American tribe’s culture and history, rewrote it for her own use, played into several offensive Native stereotypes and portrayed several Native characters as abusers and pedophiles. Although several Native characters survive, it still doesn’t make for good representation.
Leah Clearwater is written for the intent and purpose of being bitter and unlikable to the audience and yet is somehow the most sympathetic character in the entire franchise. Her boyfriend Sam Uley, who is another Native character, leaves her for her cousin Emily because he imprinted on her. When Emily rejects him and tells him to stay with Leah, Sam shifts into a werewolf and mauls her, nearly killing her. Afterwards, Emily forgives him and they become a couple. Leah rightfully is angry about all of this and is mocked and shunned by the rest of the werewolves, who can read her every thought.
She is the only female werewolf in her pack and when she began to phase, it shocked her father so much that he had a heart attack and died.
We learn in Breaking Dawn that Leah is also sterile and can’t have children. Sterilization among Native women is a MASSIVE issue to this day, especially in cases of coerced and forced sterilization of Native women by doctors and in residential schools. This is a hell of a thing for Meyer to thoughtlessly throw into her story for this specific character, especially when it was already used on several white female characters.
In Breaking Dawn Part 2, when Alice sees a potential future should everybody go to war in the film’s climax, Leah is killed while protecting a white woman that she barely even knows.
A lot of Leah’s character development is rooted in trauma, rejection, and being the “angry Indian.” While it’s great that she doesn’t die and while she is probably the best character by leagues, these are still things to consider.
