High school girls debate "Twilight" vs. "Harry Potter"

Love the books, like the movies(not that much)

dont like Twilight at all.. bored

"Sometimes when i get homesick i hum the mr softee song"

"I’m not saying we’re not...I’m not saying we’re not in love."

I'm really going to have to say Harry Potter. Twilight is too... whiny for my tastes. And this dependence and need! It's rather insane. And about 75% of the series is about describing how beautiful Edward is.

Harry Potter was the first series to spark a generation back to literature. Even if I myself am not a massive fan of the series, I can acknowledge its merit. Also, the subtext of World War II in Harry Potter adds a touch of realism to a world that is completely unrealistic. And as for strong females?

McGonagall. Nuff said. Tough, wiry, the firm structure behind the oftentimes unreliable and rather insane Dumbledore.

Molly Weasley. Matriarch of a crazy family, has all the members of that household underneath her command. A housewife with strength and compassion, and fire.

Ginny Weasley. Wild, rebellious, and yes, totally crushing on Harry, but she has her own strengths, her own power, not simply relying on Harry.

Luna Lovegood. Probably my favourite character of the series. Completely immune to the cruelties of adolescence and utterly comfortable and confident within her own skin.

Harry Potter touches so many more issues than Twilight, includes so many more different ethnicities, and covers so many more personality types. It shows true friendships, and the love of family, and how acceptance and tolerance will ultimately save us.

i personally preferred the twilight series over harry potter. i've tried to read harry potter, not very successful. Twilight is relatable because girls have or want to feel that way about someone like how bella feels about edward. the characters are different and have their own story. it's more romantic than action..

loved the twilight books but not the movie very much. robert pattinson is dreamy, in a dirty scruffy dorky kind of way.

Here is my biggest problem... Bella knows Edward all of five seconds, and suddenly she wants to be his eternal mistress? WTF!? Harry Potter has a plethora of female characters who are stunningly real (apart from, you know, the fiction thing), independent and strong. McGonagall, Hermione, Tonks, Ginny, Luna, Bellatrix (though she was evil and such). They were all tough and resilient. 

Bella just wants to be a vampire. Coz, like, it would be so cool.

And, unfortunately, my view of vampires is forever tainted by Buffy. So vampires can't sparkle. In sunlight, they burst into flames. They cause general havoc and disharmony. And Edward would have eaten Bella. Or Jacob would have done her over straight up.

Robert Pattinson was ten times cooler when he was being Cedric Diggory. 

~Can't everything be like before when it overcomes me?~

of the interviews Kristen Stewart has done for Twilight, she doesn't care that much for her character either!

I think of Twilight as a modern victorian novel and as such I very much enjoyed it. Harry Potter seems much more realistic in terms of depicting characters that feel real in a fantasy setting. So yeah, no real comparison there. :)

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Oh Trixie - wouldn't it be wonderful flying above the clouds, shooting stars out of our matching vaginas.

First off, I would like to say that it is great that there are books out there that have teenagers reading (unlike when I was one). I started seriously reading only a few years ago (I'm 33 now).

I have not read the Twilight series but have read reviews and heard first hand encounters and that made me not bother with reading them. If it is written like FanFic, then I will go and read Xena FanFic. 

Harry Potter, on the other hand, is just amazing storywriting at its best. I've read the series several times and find something new or find something new to ponder with each read. It is a well thought out piece of writing that is hard to touch in this day and age.

As a die hard HP fan, I do sport a Dark Mark tattoo. Now that's dedication!

The girls did a great job in debating their respective series' but it was obviously evident on who belonged to which side. The HP girls were more confident in their statements and arguements whereas the Twilight girls went straight for the "...is someone you'd like to hang out with" plause. 

The HP girls were more confident in the HP female rolemodels than the Twilight girls were in theirs. That says a lot. 

Movie adaptations really have NOTHING to do with this discussion because we all know that there have been great books ruined by bad movies and great movies that came from bad books. So the movies can not be taken into consideration at all.

BTW, did the girl all the way to the right on the HP team ever get a word in? 

I tried to like Twilight - I really did. But unless you're a teenage straight girl (or gay guy), there's no way in hell you can possibly enjoy 400+ pages of gushing about some perfect guy, when the book has no plot and isn't exceptionally written. I haven't read the whole series, but the first book was not imaginative in any sense of the word. It is laughable to even compare it to Harry Potter, which, while not necessarily superbly written, is arguably one of the greatest works of imagination ever published.

Like I said, I'm sure I would enjoy Twilight if I was a 14 year old straight girl. But please, let's leave Harry Potter out of this.

I enjoy reading both books but you really can't compare the two.

Harry Potter is more of an epic story that has so much depth and details. Twilight is more of a simplistic love story, which isn't a bad thing at all.

I woul choose Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling has managed to build an incredible story. It is complex, it is entertaining and deep. There are plenty of relationships and well-portraited characters, most of them are solid characters too. The seven books are an amazing work.

Then come the films. It's always hard to make a film out of a book, as a film is an interpretation, a translation and it's definite. Somehow it always spoils what the reader imagined. Still H.P. keeps the first position.

But Kristen Stewart is HOT. Indeed.

Like some previous posters, I just don't get why these two are so often compared. They both have fanatical followings, and overlapping fanbases, but other than that I don't see a lot of similarities in the books themselves. Yes, they fit into the fantasy fiction genre, but so do a lot of other series. I also don't get why there is such enmity between the younger die-hard fans, as if you can't REALLY LIKE both of them.

I went to see Twilight before reading the books, and immediately thought of Buffy. The difference between Buffy and Bella is that Buffy kicks butt, and Bella can hardly run without falling over. There is more of a parallel there not only because of the vampire theme, but falling in love with somebody you know should be wrong for you, etc. And out of those two characters I think it's not hard to say which is the more feminist.

That being said...I own all the Twilight books, and the movie. But claiming that Bella is feminist doesn't make much sense to me. I feel like people should just own that the books are poorly written and sexist, but they still love them. That's what I do! I don't know, maybe it is all the hot people. All the girls in the movie are pretty great to look at, if nothing else.

Even as a Twilight fan, I have to say the books are written horribly. It's as if Meyer thinks the only form of description is an adverb. And there were several sentences I had to read repeatedly because they were grammatically ambiguous. Seriously. They could have meant more than one thing, and I had to take my best guess.

As a mother, I would definitely prefer that my daughter admire Hermione or Buffy, and NOT follow in Bella's footsteps, that's for sure.

Twilight was poorly written, I read half of the first book and I can honestly say it did nothing to me.

 If i had to pick a side it would be Harry Potter all the way through, the series was addictive to me when I was younger, and Hermione is one of the best female characters in books out there. If I had to give one of my younger sisters an inspiring book, I'd hand them Harry Potter. The debate was well done, and I honestly should try to do something like that in my hometown. :D

I'm going to be immature here and say, TEAM HARRY POTTER IS SO WINNING!!!

Hermione is so cool LOL

<3

I have a soft spot in my heart for sci/ fantasy pop culture phenomenon perpetuated by women (and Joss Whedon) so I loved both Harry Potter and Twilight, but Harry Potter was consistently entertaining and well written with good characters while Twilight was good, breaking Dawn (the second book) made me want to kill myself with all of Bella's whining, Eclispse highlighted the other characters well (I'm in love with Alice, obviously) and it wasn't until the fourth book when Bella really grew a pair...

But in the interest of better-ness especially focusing on strong female characters Harry Potter with a doubt

I loved them both. I'm a diehard HP fan, but I own all the Twilight books as well. They are just completely different. The biggest thing is; I think that Bella is easier to relate to, as the story's focus is more on her, real and teenage, feelings. So in that way I guess it's more realistic. But you really can't compare the two books because they are about totally different things. In Twilight the feelings and emotions are no. 1 and in HP it's about Harry vs. Voldemort and good vs bad. Obviously, Twilight was written specifically for teenage girls who gush about vampires. Big deal... If you don't like it, then that's your opinion, but I think that not liking it is not the same as it being bad writing. It's just written in a way you wouldn't exactly like. No offense, but when you say it's bad writing, keep in mind that the writer is only human and that there are clearly enough people who think that it is good writing. Even horny teenagers wouldn't read a book that was badly written, regardless of how many gushing about vampires or sex it contains.

I will say that in HP there are more strong female characters, but in Twilight they are more real because it's in a human/mortal/normal world, and the focus is on the fact that they are teenagers, and in HP it's in an entirely other world, so to speak.

I do agree that some fanfiction is actually better than the actual Twilight books, but that's the same with HP, for me at least. But that could also be because there's a whole yummy section of Ginny/Hermione and even Hermione/Minerva. :D  

Done ranting!

You didn't even take your clothes of, yet you've never looked more naked.

Harry Potter all the way for me. I'm a pretty big HP fan, I'm also pretty involved in the HP fandom, and I write HP fanfiction (mostly femslash lol); so I suppose I'm rather biased. I haven't actually read Twilight from cover to cover but the chunks I have seen don't inspire me. I would like to see the film, as I have a soft spot for Robert Pattinson. I mean, although the plot seems like drivel, there is a time and a place for eyecandy, right?

Hermione is an awesome character, although I do wish that HP had more large female characters, as it's true that most of the characters, especially the main characters, are male. But in comparison to Twilight, HP is leagues ahead in the female-empowerment ranks. To me there's no question of which is better. Plus tbh when you've got Emma Watson there's no need for any other kind of eyecandy.

I've liked Vampire Stories since I was younger and Got hooked on the series The Vampire Diaries by LJ Smith. (She also did a series on witchcraft in a sort of real Pagan light. I am Wiccan.) I saw the movie Twilight and needed to read the books. Yes, Bella is a little too needy but the books caught me in and I finished the whole series in 2 weeks. As a Pagan, I'm a little tired of stories on witchcraft that hafta do with waving wands and spells that have little to do with Witchcraft. (Males are witchs to not warlocks!) There is npt comparison between Twilight and Harry Potter. Although they both tell stories about fictional type characters, they are very different stories. Yes Bella is weak. But which of us has not known a gurl who is so crazy about their significant other that they forget everythin else. Don't we like fantasies where soul mates meet and can't stand to be away from each other without feeling physical pain and anguish. Bella's clumsiness needed to be understood so that you could see the total change in her at the end. (She depended on everyone else until the point where they needed her to survive.)

PS. If you want a stronger female character and cheer for the popular gurl, read The VAmpire Diaries

I didn't mind Twilight. I read it, and it was okay. Not the most amazing thing, but hey, it took up time. However, Harry Potter was not something that just took up time. If the two books were buildings, the Harry Potter Tower would be 60 floors high, while The Twilight Tower would be barely scratching 13. There is just so much depth in the Harry Potter series that it's silly to think that the Twilight series can even come close. Twilight has a lot of popularity right now, but the Potter series is going to outlast it, because it's just that good. Twilight's a popular book at the moment, and Harry Potter is going to be a classic. You can't compare them.

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They told me I should just concentrate and breathe

With little lungs I

Breathe

Ok, seriously, when Edward breaks up with Bella (for her own good of course *puke*) there are like, IDK, a whole bunch of blank pages where she just turns off and doesn't even exist for 4 months. Yeah, there's a good role model. And, if nothing else, this makes it painfully obvious that Meyers is not a strong enough writer to convey any actual depth of emotion, etc., which would be required to describe to readers how Bella is feeling during that time.

I'm thinking...How many trees died for all those blank pages?

Just because Twilight has so many fans who enjoy reading it does not mean it is well-written.

Harry Potter hands down! You can hardly compare the two.

I do have love for Twilight, but only because it's an endless source of lulz. After reading all the mockery on the internet, I decided I had better read it myself if I were going to keep insulting it. It took me months to work up the courage to actually read it (if an audiobook counts a reading). I thought the beginning wasn't all that bad, but once she and Eddie got together, things got bad in a hurry. I actually had to take a break from it after that scene in the meadow. I don't think I have it in me to read the other three. It's just so repetitive and sappy and... lame.

Or maybe it's just because I hate vampires.

HP all the way lol. Im so happy that a lot of you guys are here to agree with me that Twilight (especially the first book) is not well written at all. The story is good (if you're into vampires and stuff), but that's pretty much it.

Sarah, this: "I just couldn't get past constant gushing about Edward (not because Bella was gushing about a guy, but because it was repetitive and boring and just not good writing)," perfectly sums up what I've been repeating to my friends.

And also, I admit that I might be slightly biased (since I'm a lesbian lol), but I truly do not understand the fascination with Edward. He is controlling, possessive, jealous and 'macho,' all of them characteristics that I can't stand. Anyway.
Thanks for allowing me to get this out :)

Its really refreshing to see teen girls take a good hard look the kinds of books out there for them and analyzing those characters. I can’t say much else then what Sarah Warn herself said… but I would like to add:   Ladies.. creepy vampire stalker is not romantic- its creepy and controlling, and control is the base of domestic abuse. Just throwing that out there..

BOTH books are great...

harry potter fans will never like the twilight series if they read it expexting harry potter because it is a different story and a different author.

twilight fans will not like harry potter if they start reading it expecting twilight for the exact same reason.

the one standing argument that really kind-of confused me is that someone said "harry potter is an origional story and twilight is not"

and i would like to know how so? yea there have been romances between vampires and humans before but there have also been books about wizzards battling "dark magic" before as well...both have there owns twists. yes, twilight is a very romancy twist on romeo and juliet with the whole "star crossed lovers" thing goin on, but harry potter is in a few ways kind-of like the merlin books. my point is without the twists and worlds that the authors create both books would be nothing but old crap stories. all books are this way...they are origional because of the gifts the authors bring into the stories.

they are different stories by different authors and who cares wich one is "technically" better as long as some-one has enjoyed the story?

both books are great. the debate is aimless.

its apples vs. oranges all over- so eat your tasty apple and be happy that your friend enjoyed the orange.