Monday, June 28, 2010

'Twilight' VS 'Harry Potter'


Answer B!tch of E! Online UK decided to break down her own pros and cons of Twilight and Harry Potter to find out which is the better of the two. The comparison was done in response to a fan who wrote in: "I'm so sick of everyone saying Twilight is better than Harry Potter or Harry Potter is better than Twilight. Which one is seriously the best?"

I have an answer. A definitive, once-and-for-all, never-ever-seriously-ever-to-be-questioned answer. Not just an opinion, but a scientific, quantifiable, fact-based answer to the question: Which is better, Twilight or Harry Potter?

And here it is: Let's break this down into areas of dominance. And let's also start with some numbers, because, as we know, numbers cannot lie.

Movies—The Critics
Advantage: Harry Potter
Without a doubt, critical reception for the Harry Potter franchise—both books and films—has been much kinder compared with Twilight.

If you look at Rotten Tomatoes, for example, which aggregates movie reviews, you'll see that every single Potter film has gotten generally "fresh," or positive, feedback. No film has garnered less than 77 percent; the highest aggregation is for Prisoner of Azkaban, which earned a very fresh 89 percent.

Not so the two Twilight films we have so far, which have both been condemned as quite rotten. Numbers. Science.

Movies—The Box Office
Advantage: Harry Potter
Analyzing that may not seem entirely fair. After all, we have only two Twi films—with the third opening this week—and five Potters.

But on average, the Harry Potter films do have an edge when it comes to revenue. Twilight grossed about $400 million around the world. In their sophomore story, New Moon, the people of Forks have grossed roughly $700 million. That's real nice, until you see that the Harry Potter films are, on average, hovering closer to $1 billion.

That's a lot of gold over at Gringott's.

The Books
Advantage: Harry Potter
As for the books, well, let's single out one Potter book as an example. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has received no reader reviews below four stars on Amazon. Zero. None.

But Twilight has garnered plenty of negative reviews from readers and critics alike. The reason? I have my own theories (including an insipid doormat of a heroine and writing that falls somewhere between a junior high school problem solving bowl and Twitter) but that's neither here nor there.

Sales are no less telling. Per Wikipedia, the Harry Potter series has outsold the Twilight series by something like 4 to 1. That's 400 million copies vs. an estimated 100 million, that is. Yes, the Potter series has more books, but still, it's a very big margin.

Theme Parks
Advantage: Harry Potter
Does Twilight have a theme park? No. No it does not.

The Stars
Advantage: Twilight
Certainly we'd be remiss if we ignored the popularity of the actors in each franchise, and the characters they play. Kristen Stewart continues to hold the No. 1 position on the IMDB Starmeter, vs. the easily-just-as-talented but less-high-profile threesome over at Hogwarts.

And even though Robert Pattinson showed up in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire before his pale and sparkly days, Twilight has made him an undeniable and unrivaled 21st century heartthrob. No two ways around that.

To my knowledge, also, there really isn't much of a market in Team Harry vs. Team Draco T-shirts.

The Verdict
Harry Potter is better.
Our cousins over at Fandango ran a poll on this very topic, too. The question: Which series had the more lasting impact on pop culture, Twilight or Harry Potter? Potter beat out Twilight—by a ratio of about 60 to 40.

Which backs up my numbers, too. The critics, the book sales, the box office, it all points in one direction.

So, which franchise is better? Looks like it's pretty clear who deserves the Quidditch Cup.

Think she makes a good argument? Weigh in Twi fans!

{via E! Online UK}

19 comments:

  1. I don't see Potter fans camping for days in the heat for premieres. I don't see Potter fans as RABID as Twilight fans.

    You forgot to count that we dont NEED a theme park. We have an entire town in real life, getting millions of visitors per year. Why would we build a theme park when we have the real thing?

    Did Harry Potter specifically drive up the sales of classic books like Wuthering Heights or Romeo and Juliet? Sales of both Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights have increased 50%

    "We have sold as many copies of Wuthering Heights in the first two months of 2009 as we usually sell in a whole year," says the publisher of the French translation of Wuthering Heights, Les Hauts de Hurlevent. "We are on course to sell several tens of thousands of copies this year, which is exceptional. The enthusiasm has prompted a lot of bookshops to put Brontë on display next to Stephenie Meyer, and that has obviously encouraged people to buy both of them." Sales of the book have increased by 50%.

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  2. HA!!eat that POTTER!!thanks lauren for defending twilight..

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  3. Yeah yeah I cant disagree with her facts?! But why didn't she also compare awards (World Wide??) and media frenzy? What about the fact that more stars in twilight have acted in more movies (big name movies not to mention) I've seen harry in what Broadway? And last but not least what about magazine covers?? Now that should even up the odds alittle

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  4. Whatever~ Harry Potter may be better written and earning more than Twilight. But unlike Edward, Harry does not make my heart beat faster or yearn to love and be loved.

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  5. Just because Twilight fans are cracked out enough to camp for a week (oh my god get a life) does not in any way make twilight better than harry potter. It only makes Harry Potter fans sane, and twilight fans crazy. Not to mention the acting in the twilight movies is sub par at best. Also, Harry potter will be a classic forever. Wait 5 years for all these twifags to be 20 and the twilight mania will be over. Harry Potter will always remain in the hearts of those who defend and protect it.

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  6. I agree with her on almost everything she said. Even though I adore the Twilight series, I do think that Harry Potter is much better written and filmed. On the other hand, comparing which is culturally relevant is unfair. Twilight has been around for how many years? 2 or 3? Where as I, being 17, remember reading the first Harry Potter book when I was 9. Harry Potter wasn't instantly popular either. I think on a cultural level, Twilight will be equally important. At least for the next 20 years. In a hundred, though? Who knows? Any intelligent person can acknowledge that, yeah, Twilight is badly written. Is it Stephanie Meyer's fault? Nah. She never claimed to be a professional writer and this was a good try. I love it because the story is sweet and, on some level, it doesn't matter if it's not perfect. I'm in love with Bella and Edward's relationship, not how her sentences and ideas are structured. But, if you read Harry Potter, you'd know that Rowling was able to tie little, seemingly insignificant details in her first book to other details in her 6th and 7th, books that she was never sure she was going to write when her first book came out.

    Overall, IMO, Harry Potter > Twilight.

    Does this mean that I'm not come to my local movie theater at 4pm to wait for the midnight premier? Of course not. :P My best friend and I plan to be the first ones in line.

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  7. Or, let me retract the "any intelligent person" statement. Better yet, "any very well read person".

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  8. Also, (sorry for so many comments) it's strange in general to compare the two stories because one is fantasy-adventure while the other is fantasy-romance. People like different things.

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  9. No, she does NOT make a good argument. She had an obvious preference and didn't give a fair or accurate description of both. But I do agree with the statement above that one is adventure an one is romance...they are too different to compare! Twilight, Vampire Diaries and now even The Gate are better comparisons.

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  10. And to the idiot above who said: "Also, Harry potter will be a classic forever. Wait 5 years for all these twifags to be 20 and the twilight mania will be over"

    I'm 22. You loose.

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  11. ONLY TWO COMMENTS HERE, FOR THOSE WHO SAY THAT TWILIGHT IS BETTER BECAUSE THE ACTORS HAVE MORE MAGAZINE COVERS, AND HAVE WON MORE MTV MOVIE AWARDS... SORRY BUT THAT'S IRRELEVANT. THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT BETTER IN ANY CASE. AND THE THING ABOUT MORE STARS IN TWILIGHT ACTING IN MORE MOVIES, I THINK QUALITY BEATS QUANTITY ANY DAY.

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  12. The acting in the Twishit movies are horrible. The actors either look: bored, constipated or they look like they don't know what the fuck they are doing. The Harry Potter movie franchise is worth: 5.4 billion dollars and counting. The Twilight movies are just working the 1 billion mark with three movies...while the first two movies of Harry Potter surpassed the 1 billion mark back in 2002. The Harry Potter books have sold 450 million copies. The Twilight books sold only 150 million. JK Rowling can buy Stephanie Meyer's life and poop on it and her children too! The Harry Potter brand is worth 15 Billion dollars. JK Rowling is worth nearly a billion dollors.

    The Harry Potter novels has many awards and postive feedback on the books, as well with the movies reviews. The Twilight books have negative feedback and little awards, however, the movies have many awards just because the actors take off their shirts and do shitty acting. So, clearly, Harry Potter is a classic and it will continue to make money from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park. While, Twilight will make nothing once, everything is over. It can't make money from that little place it's based on and books, well, people are burning the Twilight books! x (:
    Harry Potter forever!

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  13. I think u'r a a hopeless, lifeless and loveless idiot person to think that way. Twilight gives eveyone a life and love in real world, not fantasy. SO SHUT UP!

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  14. Oh yeah it gives you a sparkly vampire to love. "Ooh I'm Edward I sparkle look at me, your blood smells nice, now I love you" "Ooh I'm Bella, your hot and dangerous now I love you too"

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  15. Just as with any series, both Harry Potter and Twilight will fade. They're both very popular, and I have read both series as well. I will say I love Harry Potter with a passion and nothing compares. Twilight is good for the teenage girl soul, the girl who wants to believe in true love and that love conquers all. Harry Potter is good for all ages and genders, and gives the readers a sense of hope when the world isn't doing too well.

    I want to say one thing on the actors; I agree that there are a lot more girls screaming over Edward and Jacob than any Harry Potter star at the moment, but take into account that Harry Potter is a British movie. In America twilight actors are bigger stars, in Britain, I guarantee that its the Potter stars.

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  16. twilight is bad and stupid harry potter!!!!!!!

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  17. I'm going to do my best to make a valid statement, but no doubt it'll be disregarded because it doesn't favor Twilight.

    Twilight is badly thought out. Meyers either simply doesn't like her minor characters or simply doesn't care. Most of them are simply mentioned in a situation that is occurring, like Tyler who almost hits Bella with a truck, after that you basically never hear about him again. In Harry Potter you are told huge important things but don't even realize it, such as Harry wondering where he had seen the barman in Hogs Head before in the Order of the Phoenix, and we learn he was actually Dumbledore's brother in the final book.

    Another thing is relationship problems. Harry broke up with Ginny for fear of her being hunted by Voldemort, Edward wanted to leave Bella because he felt he was too "dangerous" for her. And if he is fair enough, but having a sadistic magical mass murdering power obsessed psychopath after you seems a better reason to break up with your girlfriend than self delusions of being dangerous.

    Also look at the relationship Ron and Hermione have. They are ALWAYS fighting, and when they're both being friendly to each other it's kind of amusing since you're just waiting for the fights to begin. But underneath that they do care about each other. In Twilight, they fall in love almost the second they see each other, there's no real build up to the romance. It's basically "Okay you're in a relationship, you love each other but we're going to throw in weird and confusing moments to make you doubt your love etc etc." She even tries to kill herself. I'm sorry but that is not a good message for any child or teenager to read.

    I'll be honest that the statistics are a bit biased, seeing as Harry Potter is aimed at a broad audience, while Twilight is not, and I'll even admit that if Meyers was better at writing and creating good plots that it would be better received. But overall Harry Potter is more favorable.

    And as a side note, Robert Pattinson played a perfectly handsome guy (Cedric Diggory) in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and there wasn't much of a reaction. I think girls like him so much because there is now a face to go with the fictional character they love.

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  18. Also, as a person who is doing a journalism course, I think the whole idea of girls hoping to meet a person like Edward, Jacob etc. is horrible. Media overall is horrendously skewing our idea of romance from, meeting a person, getting to know them, becoming close friends, one friend finally deciding they want to see if they can be more than just friends, and do their best to make a relationship.

    Media rarely shows this anymore, it's all so unrealistic and it's starting to appear in the real world. Bella is extremely needy, and Edward is supposedly a one man army trying to do everything. I do believe a thing called female empowerment exists Bella, your only excuse is that you're just being lazy in not helping.

    If I ever have a family and had a daughter I wouldn't mind if she read Twilight, what I would mind is if she perceived the message that the boy does everything for you and is an unstoppable Adonis is he so much as flirts with terrible romantic phrases "Lion fell in love with a lamb"? Honestly, in other movies involving vampires the lions ate those lambs, spat out the bones and used them to pick their teeth afterwards. If people love Twilight fine, just don't get suckered into thinking that true romance is something like what is written in Twilight, love is something that can't be truly captured on paper, it's a powerful force that few people can only hope to describe.

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  19. I am a fan of both series,however, my vote has to go with Harry Potter!

    Harry Potter Books; Pro's: The books are excellently written with interesting,complex characters and plots. JK Rowling has clearly carefully thought out the whole story, and has written all of the books so that they all link up, and so that everthing makes sense in the Deathly Hallows. The fact that she has created a whole world with so much detail is fantastic.
    Con's: The only thing I can think of that might put people off is the length of the books.

    Films; Pro's: The films have some brilliant actors, and the cast has been chosen excellently.I can't wait to see the Deathly Hallows part 2! :D
    Con's: They do not include everything in the books, but this is understandable as they have to fit the most important things in. They can also be a bit confusing for people who have not read the books.

    Twilight books; Pro's: I love the idea of a vampire falling in love with an ordinary girl, and I think that the story is interesting and romantic.
    Con's: Lets face it...they're repetetive. Even though I love them, there's not much variation in language, and some of the characters are annoying with nothing interesting about them (BELLA).

    Films, Pro's: Well, I can't deny that the Twilight Saga has a massive hype surrounding it. I love the films and I always look forward to watching them.
    Con's: Some of the acting is...how can I put it nicely...crap.

    P.S: Robert Pattinson would not even be famous if it weren't for Harry Potter!!

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