ABSTRACT
In the dominant individualistic U.S. culture, twins face a double bind. On one hand, their twinness is celebrated as special and mystical. On the other hand, closeness in twinships is heavily monitored and often positioned as problematic. Because of this paradox, communication surrounding twins is an excellent case study to explore the dark side (DS) metaphor of communication. The DS metaphor takes a functionalist approach arguing that communication phenomena can be viewed as light (productive/functional) or dark (destructive/dysfunctional) depending on context. To elucidate the DS metaphor, we juxtapose our experience as twins at two parades: our 4th grade Halloween parade and the annual parade at the Twinsburg Twins Festival.
