So recently I've been reading quite a lot of Harry Potter - Twilight debates online, and well, honestly, what can I say about that? They're stories of different natures and genres, and frankly, it's hard to compare. But what really pisses me off is one passage about Twilight is better, and how the argument ended up . No evidence. No points of support. Nothing, absolutely nothing but highlighting TWILIGHT IS DA BEST! HARRY POTTER SUCKS!
People, this is the age of Reason, not age of the barbarians and blind arguments. So here I am today, I am writing to analyse the two infamous modern literature - Twilight and Harry Potter. Enjoy.
Undoubtedly, Twilight and Harry Potter are two of the most well-acclaimed series of all time, and often, no matter it's on the internet or in real life there are debates over which series is better, Twilight or Harry Potter. Therefore in this passage, I'll compare and contrast the two series with my best effort to be more objective in two major eras: the storyline and the characters.
STORYLINE
Let's begin with Harry Potter first. Orphaned at a very young age, Harry Potter is sent to his only relative's place and is raised as down-to-earth as anyone is. But then everything changes on his twelve birthday, when he discovers that he is, in fact, a wizard. He is then sent to Hogwarts, a boarding school where youngsters much like himself with the ability to use magic are educated to learn the necessary techniques and skills to use magic in the wizarding world. Throughout the seven books which the setting is mostly taken place in Hogwarts, Harry has adventures of a lifetime with his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, discovers his past and the truth to his parents' death, his bond with the Dark Wizard feared by all people, Voldemort, and Harry's attempts, challenges and adventures in seeking a way to destroy Voldemort once and for all, facing the greatest enemy he has yet to overcome - death.
While for Twilight, Isabella 'Bella' Swan is moved to Forks, Washington and discovers the Cullens, a family of vampires, and falls in love with Edward Cullen, a member of the vampire family whose first appearance to Bella is as her fellow classmate. Then a werewolf named Jacob Black forms a love triangle between the three of them. In the end Bella decides she loves Edward the most, and with a conclusion of Edward and Bella's marriage and proving of their child Renesmee who poses no threat to the Volturi, the antagonist of the story, the Cullens are left in peace in the end.
I, for one think that the primary storyline of Harry Potter seems more down-to-earth, and more approachable at the same time. Not saying that Twilight isn't down to earth or inapproachable, yet in Harry Potter, it's easier for readers to relate to their real life. Apart from the fact that the characters are mainly wizards and witches, they are just the same as most people - they struggle through life, they work hard for school, there are descriptions of every element a student possess or likely to experience: friendship, adventure, school life, love, responsibility and etc. Also, I would like to praise the development of the storyline of Harry Potter. It is full of suspenses, mysteries waiting for the characters to resolve, like in every book, there is always something ahead of Harry that poses a threat or a mystery, for example, in the Prisoner of Azkaban, the formerly-known serial killer Sirius Black is someone whom everyone expects to be a madman paying his greatest efforts to kill Harry for his master, Voldemort. Yet in the end with an unexpected plot twist, he is discovered to be Harry's godfather and is guiltless for the crimes he has beared for the years. Whereas in Twilight, although Bella is portrayed as a student, there is little focus on her daily life, or her school life. The main focus is on her love with Edward. The development and arrangement of the plot is quite lame when compared to Harry Potter - it's basically love, break up, love triangle, Bella's decision, and finally marriage with a product of Edward and Bella's love - Renesmee. Although some may argue that the genres of the two stories are entirely different, with Harry Potter as friendship/ adventure, while Twilight's main focus is on romance/ love, I am commenting on the stories as a whole, categorizing them as 'fictions', and in my opinion, I think Harry Potter provides a more fulfilling, tightly organized plot as a whole than Twilight does.
Also, themes come in as a big element of a successful story. In Harry Potter, there are a lot of themes behind, for example, the value of friendship expressed through the bond of the three main protagonists; even the mad, aggressive desire for power and conquest for immorality of the Dark Lord Voldemort has to lead him to the inevitable downfall of man - death. Life philosophies surrounding love, free choice, prejudice and more can be found in the books, which will be too much if I attempt to list them all out. While in Twilight, yes, the book describes the adversities and crossroads many people may face in their love life, it's main theme is to follow your heart, your will in pursuit for love, but this leaves us with three questions: is it life itself, has nothing but love? Is love the most essential part in life that nothing else is greater or, can replace its values? Is love merely, only restricted to romance? This, in my point of view, can lead to a misconception towards the idea 'love'. There are so much more in life to love. There are your responsibilities, adventures, social life and maybe even something related to politics in a society. Love is unlimited, it has little boundaries and have many classifcations. Of course, romantic love between two beings are most commonly recognised, but there are many criteria of love such as the God-and-man love for certain religions, parental love, the love of pure, strong friendship, and even a strong, loyal relationship between a pet and yourself can be counted as love. What makes Twilight a weaker story in general is its themes and focus.
CHARACTERS
Wow, characters. As before, we'll begin with Harry Potter characters first.
Harry Potter himself is quite a selfless boy in my opinion. True enough, he's not the brainy one in his squad, but he is willing to lay down his life for his loved ones' sakes. Take the Philosopher's Stone as an example, when he realizes that he was just a step away from where the stone is kept, even if it is under the treat of being taken away by Snape (which actually is Quirrel who's after the stone), he chooses to face his adversity lying ahead instead of fleeing, even if the quest can cost his life. Also, in the Goblet of Fire, when Cedric is killed by Wormtail and Voldemort has returned, he protects Cedric's body from the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord himself. Although people may comment the act as 'foolish, not contributing to the situation', in my opinion, I personally think that this shows how brave Harry himself is, which is just as gutty as facing Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest in the last book is, as both acts can really cost his life. Just ask yourself, if you were Harry, would you even dare to do that?
Yet, in reality, no one is perfect, as so is Harry. He has his own faults for being too rash and easily angered. When Dudley reminds Harry about how he flinched in his sleep when dreaming about Cedric's death, when Umbridge challenges the truthfulness of what Harry speaks of about the night Cedric died, he expresses his anger through his action or his words, which brings him into more trouble, although some may say, the boy's scarred for life with this incident, who can blame him? It's still an inconvenient truth that he has a rash personality which probably is in his nature, as he tends to blurt out whatever's on his mind.
Other characters are may just as relatable as people around that can be concluded in a few words, like Ron being the funny sidekick, Hermione as the clever smart-ass, Dumbledore, the wise old advisor and Draco Malfoy as the cunning rival enemy of Harry. But there is one character is must talk about, and he is Severus Snape.
People don't have the best impressions on him in the first couple books, and in fact, most people as I do, sees him as an old, scary, publically hated and abusive teacher. J. K. Rowling didn't give him the best imagery either, as he is described to be like 'an overgrown bat swooping around', you can feel how creepy the guy is. But then with just one single chapter everyone changed their attitude towards Snape, from being one of the members of the most undesirable characters to the deepest, most courageous and the man with the longest-lasting love ever known in the fictional world. In shortly one chapter about his own memory, everything he did while alive seemed almost an angelic, selfless act - protecting Lily Potter's son, keeping him out of harm's way, guiding him to destroy Voldemort, his everlasting, unshaken love for Lily Potter can wipe away almost every sin he appears to have committed throughout the series. I also praise how interesting and clever the character development is - making Snape appear as a double agent, portraying him as the solid antagonist in the first six books and give him a blast - converting him from a loathed character to probably the most tragic character of the story, which no one could have possibly expected except from Rowling. And one interesting fact is that although his allegiance appears to have been swaying between the good and the bad side, his true loyalty has always been with Lily - his selfless act to protect the son of his one only lover, that even Harry has to admit to his son that 'Albus Severus Potter. You are named after two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was from Slytherin and he was probably the most courageous man I've ever known'. At this point we also learn a lesson taught by Snape: not all Slytherins are bad. Some of them even know what love is.
For Twilight characters, well, we must talk about the main protagonist, Bella Swan. She has some real good natures, for example, she is quite calm and trustworthy. She appears to be quite calm when Edward gives away his secret of being a vampire. I mean, come on! If a creepy guy sitting beside you tells you he's a vampire who lives on drinking blood and you've already got prove to that, I bet nine out of ten people would be running away screaming hysterically for their dear precious little lives. Yet Bella is that one person who's gutty enough to still be accepting it as if it's no biggie. You have to stare at how she keeps her cool (although I suspected she was losing her head), saying, 'wow.' Also, she's probably the person you can entrust a secret with. Edward tells her he's a vampire, and really - how many times did she let the secret slip? None. Imagine you're a well-acclaimed superstar's child. Just ask yourself, can you resist the tempt to tell someone else your parent is famous?
As I have stated, nobody is perfect. Bella, she is a person with flaws as we do. She is exceptionally clumsy - and whiny. There's not a Twilight book without her complaining, which is really insufferable. If you've read The Hunger Games, sure you can say that Katniss is also a girl complaining and whining over almost every single thing, but take a note that Katniss has been through with both metal and physical suffering. She has watched her loved ones dying before her eyes and couldn't save them. She has gone through two Hunger Games - the most inhumane thing that can ever happen n the world, that literally tore her inside apart. When comparing to Katniss, what Bella is through with is nothing. Having her parents divorced - hell, that's almost a joke when Katniss had loving parents - yet her father died without warning on a day, like a sudden thunderstorm on a beautiful day. Harry's back story is even worse - his childhood is literally spent under the shadows of being abused by his aunt, uncle and cousin. Nobody in the muggle world dared to approach him out of fear of his relatives, he doesn't have a single soul to depend, to rely on for his whole childhood, until he goes to Hogwarts. He does not even have the slightest memory of his parents, which is a heartless thing if you say you don't feel bad for the boy. Also, Bella is clumsy, or in other words, always helpless. How many times has she been saved by boys? She is always depending on her lovers to save her but never considered to fight for herself, to develop a stronger personality for her own sake. Just count how many times she has been in the hospital in just the first book - you'll get how solid her clumsiness is, although after she is transformed into a vampire, the clumsiness part seemed to have vanished. But that doesn't say all her other faults are gone as well.
However, for other characters there's not much to say. It's always love, love, and love when it comes to Twilight and we get to see little character development. We rarely get to see their normal working attitude except from love. Yeah, honestly, Snape's character is also built around love, but we can't see any character/ plot twist so unexpected, so dynamic yet endearing in Twilight. If you have to argue that Renesmee or Bella's transformation is one big twist, I have nothing to say - for non-Twilight fans, having a child or transforming the main protagonist into a vampire is just as predictable as a normal couple making family plans.
All in all, yes, it's undeniable both stories are successful and have brought new ideas and beauty to the world, but in my opinion, Harry Potter, as a fictional story, is still better than Twilight, in both the storyline and character development.
Hardcore Twilight fans, I know I could have pissed you off in one single passage, but before you decide to shit on my passage or type hate messages onto the review wall, please heed my advice: if you are to convince me Twilight is better than Harry Potter, please give reasons, elaborate your points and analyse them well. I do not accept bullshit like 'shut up there's no romantic story in Harry Potter' or give plain points about how good is Twilight without evidence at all. You are always welcomed to write another passage like what I just did, and invite me to read if this should please you. Don't just attempt to convince me alone - convince the world.