Meredith Railton


Okay, so here’s the deal: there’s been comparisons in the media and in the Twilight fandom claiming that the Twilight series is the next (and in the Twilight fandom, better than) Harry Potter. First of all, no one should have started comparing these books in the first place, because they are completely different. Harry Potter is predominately a fantasy book; Twilight is a romance novel with fantastical elements. But since people have failed to recognize that fact, I too am going to toss it out the window and delve into my own comparison. Look, I know a lot of Harry Potter fans are also fans of the epic fail that is Twilight, but I don’t care; I think Twilight is the worst work of contemporary fiction that I’ve ever read. I could go on for about twenty pages as to why Harry Potter is better than Stephenie Meyer’s excuse for a ‘saga,’ so I’m going to cut it down to some of what should be the blatantly obvious reasons. Please, people, keep in mind that this is just my opinion, and if you want to send me hate mail telling me my opinion sucks…feel free.
In no particular order:
• The authors. Even as she was getting richer and richer, J.K. Rowling proved herself to be extremely modest and down-to-earth in the midst of fame and fortune. Anyone who’s seen an interview of her has seen this, and anyone who hasn’t should go YouTube some interviews and you’ll see what I mean. Stephenie Meyer, on the other hand, tends to come off as very self-satisfied. She also has the arrogance to state that her characters would beat any other character in a showdown because they’re just so amazing. When faced with criticism, Meyer doesn’t take it in and try to work on it but throws it to the side claiming that the people who criticize her series just don’t understand the books.
• Sparklepires. Look, I understand wanting to create your own brand of a beloved fantasy creature to spice things up a bit and separate your series from other vampire books, but sparklepires? Yeah, and I refuse to call them vampires – vampires have fangs and are scary little nasties.
• The bad guys. Fact: the bad guys in Twilight are the Volturi. Fact: the bad guys in Harry Potter are the Death Eaters. Fact: the Volturi sit on their butts and let the Cullens do whatever they want, and when they confront them they just turn around and walk away. Fact: the Death Eaters get it done. They don’t win, obviously, but they try. The Death Eaters totally PWN the Volturi because they actually go for the jugular instead of feebly waving their fists in impotent rage before running back to their little Italian fortress in mild annoyance.
• The writing. Like fan fiction and purple prose? Read Twilight. Like actual writing? Read Harry Potter. And before anyone gets all up in arms about my criticizing Meyer’s writing ability, you should remember that she has also put down her own writing skills. Also, the whole “you can’t criticize someone’s writing because you haven’t written a best-selling book” thing doesn’t work either – just ask Stephen King.
• The main characters. Bella is a total Mary Stu. That girl has zero personality and is the weakest, most anti-feminist character I’ve ever read in a book. Harry Potter, on the other hand, is just awesomeness reincarnated. He goes through all this crap and gets it done through a combination of luck, incredible friends, and mad skills. What makes it so awesome is that he’s got all that going for him and he’s still not perfect (aka a Gary Stu), because Rowling knows how to write real people with real flaws because she knows that perfect characters are boring.
• The plot. Harry Potter is a series full of action and complex plot developments; Twilight is a series full of two characters making moon eyes at each other. Harry goes through all these incredible adventures and life tests and ultimately overcomes them all; Bella just wants to be with her boyfriend regardless of anything she would be giving up. Any action thrown in is just a tool to get Bella and Edward back to swooning over each other.
• The fandoms. I know a lot of the fans are just normal, but the Twilight fandom nevertheless consists of a lot of prepubescent girls droning on and on about how hot Edward is. The Harry Potter fandom actually contains real discussions on an infinitely wider scale than the Twilight fandom (and I’ve seen the forums, so don’t accuse me of just assuming this stuff). There aren’t whole threads on the Harry Potter forums (at least not the ones I visit) dedicated to the hotness of any of the characters – probably due to the fact the Harry Potter books don’t spend half the time describing anyone’s beauty.
• The themes. Themes are underlying messages, and while Meyer claims to not write any messages in her books, I don’t buy it. No serious author writes a book that they send out to get published without a message; that’s fan fiction territory. I just have to put it out there: Twilight contains some downright awful themes. Anti-feminism, stalking, abusive relationships, and beauty and strength being more important than your family. Meyer can deny it all she wants, but her books are extremely anti-feminist – Bella is a classic damsel in distress. And the stalking: any girl who thinks it’s romantic that Edward watched Bella sleeping before they were even on normal speaking terms must have a seriously messed up idea of what romance is. There are definitely some very romantic moments in Meyer’s series, but it is NOT romantic for a guy you’ve spoken to once to watch you sleep at night without your knowledge; it’s creepy. I find it hard to believe how many people don’t recognize the abusive aspect of Bella and Edward’s relationship: when your boyfriend removes your car engine to prevent you from seeing your best friend, it should not be thrown away as “it’s because he loves her!” It’s controlling and abusive and not at all romantic. Bella is willing to completely forsake her family to be with Edward, and a lot of the reason (aside from being in love with Edward) is due to her preoccupation with being strong and beautiful because she’s so incredibly insecure, which I find to be very, very shallow. Harry Potter, however, stresses the themes of bravery, friendship, and most of all love (the non-romantic kind). Harry himself struggles to understand the complexity of this kind of love, but gets there eventually by maturing and with the guidance of a certain awesome, white-haired wizard. While Meyer’s books focus on young love, Rowling wrote a series that relies on the other kind of love. Harry’s mother’s love is what protected him from Voldemort, and it’s Harry’s love for the world of good that motivates his self-sacrifice at the end of Book 7. He knows he doesn’t have to fight just to make the prophecy come true, but he does it anyway because he knows it’s right.

Okay, I know I said I was going to keep it short, but sometimes I find it hard to stop when discussing this subject. I will admit that Twilight is entertaining and addictive for a lot of people, but being entertaining and addictive does not merit the comparisons it’s getting to Harry Potter. That being said, I think this can all be summed up in a comparison that I saw one poster make on one of the forums I visit: Harry Potter = the Beatles, Twilight = the Jonas Brothers.