National twin day is December 18th, this year, however, The Quill has decided to celebrate it earlier this year to avoid clashing with Christmas and Hanukkah.
After Gucci’s Twinsburg and Sunnei’s show at Milan fashion week, everyone has been reminded once again of the magic of twins. Twins have been a popular subject in popular media, double popularity. Gucci gathered 68 pairs of identical model twins, and dressed them in identical clothes. The creator of the Gucci exhibition explained that the show was a tribute to his mother, a twin, and his aunt, his “second mother” and the other twin of course. At the Sunnei show, one twin came out of the audience in normal, non runway clothes, walked into a revolving door and out came the other twin, in runway clothes. The designer of the show, Simone Rizzo, stated that it was the transformative nature of fashion, but also that clashing with Gucci’s twin idea was not pleasing, and definitely wouldn’t be good for his career’s future. These shows both used identical twins, particularly for their innate connection, but what about fraternal twins? Where are they?
With the the presence of identical twins in shows and movies like Liv and Maddie, Look Away (which is not very good), The Shining, Pretty Little Liars, Friends, the Harry Potter series, and many others, some even being played by the same actor, identical twins have become an accessory to enhance the often times dying plot. When you search up “movies with twins”, you get entire lists, separated by category: Dramas about twins, Comedies about twins, 1980s movies about twins… When you search up “movies with fraternal twins”, you get five movies. Contrary to popular belief, however , one of the more well known twins: the Olsen twins, are actually not identical, though many Quora users apparently disagree.
How has this severe under representation of fraternal twins in popular media impacted real life fraternal twins, you may ask. You will find the answer somewhere in this quote from Amber Wu, Claire Wu’s twin:
“As a young woman in this turbulent society, I feel everything so so deeply. A simple thank you may register to some as two words, but to me? I hear chimes of golden-haired monkeys, twirling in the flower-filled air of beautiful Ireland. As a woman, everything weighs deeply onto my shoulders– so much so that after sixteen years my shoulders stretch out into an infinite space, devoid of curves or geometric comprehension. What does this have to do with being a twin? It has everything to do with being a twin. As my naive friends laughed at the inane chittering of Liv and Maddie, my intestines were breaking, shattered by the fact that I could not see myself in the foolish show. Where was my joy…my wonderful sense of humor…my gorgeous laugh? I never saw myself represented in media, and I felt…empty. After some days of crying supine-posed on my bed, I decided to do some research. I found the term “twinism” (twincest showed up also but I ignored that). I have been discriminated against solely because I am a twin! This is my story…but you never see me complain!”
Claire Wu, Amber Wu’s twin stated: “Oui Oui.”
