HP vs. T?

This isn’t your average ‘Twilight and Harry Potter battle’, I know that’s what you’re thinking. But since I’ve read both book series’ and I’m in a position to judge? I decided I’d empathize and consider opinions of fans from both sides. Here goes:

Where to begin? I’ll start with saying I was a fan of Twilight in the past, and how bad of an effect it had on me, personally. It was depressing, dark, and emotionally harmful. I mean, I know myself and a lot of other girls have been degrading themselves and feeling worthless because they know deep down, although they won’t admit it, that they will never find their ‘Edward Cullen’. Robert’s gorgeous, but seriously. It pretty much damages you overall in various areas, such as financial matters, emotional state, and well being; one girl starved herself just to be more like a vampire and in hopes Edward may like her more. Another blew her college money on a silver Volvo. Ridiculous, right?

 I admit we Potter fans may get a bit obsessive at times, such as thinking spells in our heads when something bad or happens (who doesn’t want to Cruciate that certain girl at school who’s constantly ‘one-upping’ you?) or joke about going to Hogwarts, but we all know that it’s pure fantasy. We’re well aware that the books we’ve grown so fond of and movies we just watch until we can speak the script in our sleep is not real, nor will we ever be more than ‘muggles’, daydreaming about something so close yet so far. JK Rowling has a natural talent with her writing that has done this to us; she wanted to write books? She didn’t. She created a whole world. 

Stephenie Meyer may not be the worst writer in the universe, but definitely not up there with the best. She may have captivated the hearts and attention spans of many teenage girls across the globe- I saw a girl in Mexico reading Eclipse in Spanish!- but she still lacks the fundamental writing skills which could really bring her writing to life. For example, foreshadowing, where hints and clues are casually or suspensefully dropped by the author to keep the reader guessing and make inferences about what will happen later in the story. Meyer sounds like she used a thesaurus for almost every other word, making Bella seem intelligent for her ‘big use of words’ and to cover up her poor writing skills. She also repeats character descriptions over and over until the reader feels like they’re on the teacups at Wonderland, spinning round and round.  We know that Edward is cold as ice, hard as marble, super fast and his eyes are golden. We get it. Who can relate to the characters in Twilight, anyways? Edward’s perfect. Bella? She’s perfect, just clumsy, which Meyer tossed in-  and kept repeating, mind you- to notify everyone that she’s not flawless.

And where’s the plotline? It’s basically Bella loving Edward, and vice versa, but oh no. She’s human, he’s a vampire. How can that work out? Well, stubborn Bella throws fits when he refuses to bite her, and he gives her bruises in Breaking Dawn, an abusive (emotionally and physically) relationship on both parts. Hey, isn’t it incest if they’re all technically adoptive brothers and sisters (Rosalie and Emmett, for example)? Whereas Harry Potter has a steady theme: Love. That’s it, love. The entire thing begins with Harry deifying Voldemort, and surviving thanks to Lily protecting him. She and James sacrificed themselves for their only son. Voldemort- previously Tom Riddle- went Dark thanks to his father running off and his mother allowing herself to die grace au depression, forcing him to live in a Muggle orphanage where he lived a bleak, tasteless, colorblind life. Bland. Boring. LOVELESS. I bet you all of my money inside my Gringotts vault that had he had love,  had he had parents? Support? He wouldn’t have crossed the line to power-hungry evilness.

    Neither is more ‘realistic’ or ‘believable’:  it’s called FANTASY. It’s fiction!  Though there is a certain amount of ‘relatable’. In Harry Potter, the characters are loyal to their friends, know their priorities, test their boundaries, and pull themselves through hard times. How do the vast majority of us not behave that way today? We do. If we don’t, we should. In Twilight, it’s pure lust that feeds Bella and Edward’s relationship; a terrible image of ‘love’ and ‘perfect boyfriends’ for our generation. I mean, come on. The guy tells her she might not come back as he’s taking her into the forest, comes into her room when he pleases (trespassing much, especially since Charlie doesn’t want him in there?) and has a temper that flares? Makings of a psychopath.        Girls shouldn’t be brought up thinking that this is normal and average behavior for a ‘loving boyfriend’ to display.  Harry Potter? The relationships are healthy, normal, and sweet.  They don’t occur over 2 months; but rather seven years. Compare Ron and Hermione to Bella and Edward Cullen!

So, to sum it up, who wins? In a world of magic and wonder; where anything from snake-language to flying Ford’s is possible; versus the tale of a teenage girl, falling into a relationship with a gorgeous vampire?  I’ll leave that up to you. But remember this:

I don’t plan on trading my wand for Swarovski cristals embedded in my skin anytime soon.