Last Saturday, student debaters in Seattle argued which is the better fantasy series: Harry Potter or Twilight. A panel of expert judges, and a standing-room-only audience, heard it all and both came to the same conclusion.
TheTorchOnline.com was there to record it all, including the results, and we now present the video highlights:
Pfft Harry Potter is better it contains more complicated plotlines and the characters arn’t perfect and they have human problems which we can relate too. It is also for “all” ages not just “teenagaed girls”.
u hav 2 look at the quality of the book meyer wrote a romance about vampires and humans and werewolves we already hav 100 years worth of that crap. rowling wrote about a wizard a wizard world a wizard school and entranced u with a world of fantasy. stop comparing bella with hermione, hermione is not the main character. Harry is and until bella gets on his level and stops being all typical and cliche and predictable, i mean after reading the first book i basically knew how the series would end. ps tales of beedle the bard beat twilight on bestsellers list now tahts magic
u hav 2 look at the quality nof the book meyer wrote a romance about vampires and humans and werewolves we already hav 100 years worth of that crap. rowling wrote about a wizard a wizard world a wizard school and entrnced u with a world of fantasy. stop comparing bella with hermione, hermione is not the main character. Harry is and until bella gets on his level and stops being all typical and cliche and predictable, i mean after reading the first book i basically knew how the series would end. ps tales of beedle the bard beat twilight on bestsellers list now tahts magic
Yes I guess the Harry Potter girls were more eloquent with their wording but there is no competition…especially if the Twilight team was upgraded a little. Twilight would have won hands down. I wish I were there! I would have so volunteered to be on the Twilight Team…
Did nobody notice that Edward is 100+ years? In all that time he found nothing better to do with his life? He’s a sadistic pedophile.
Are you crazy everyone knows twilights better!
Yeah, it’s obvious that Harry Potter won that debate. I haven’t read Twilight yet (my aunt gave my mom the entire series for Christmas, so I will soon), but the things I’ve been hearing about it can’t be good.
That, and I’m a Harry Potter fan.
This is bullcrap, Sure those girls have better arguements than the twilight girls, but the Twilight Saga is so much better than Harry Potter. I personally got bored after reading the second book of Harry Potter. It just doesn’t really capture my attention. Whereas Twilight just sucks you in even after the first chapter.
See, that’s the point of this argument, because I can say the same thing about Twilight. I read the first two and then just let my sister fill me in on the rest of the series. However, I got so sucked into the Harry Potter books, that every time a new one came out, I would read it as straight through as work or school would allow!
The point is focusing on the broader scope than just personal opinions!
there’s nothing to agree about. i love both books, the only thing i hate is that why people couldn’t stop comparing one from the other…for me HP is more fictional and young while Twilight is more on romance and gurly. why can’t choose both? or are HP fans afraid they’re about to loose something over a succesful indie twilight? or the other way around?
The point of the debate was to get teenagers interested in, and passionate about, books and reading. Which it did. More than 400 people turned out, and more than 3000 have watched the debate online. There is no “right” answer — it’s just a way for kids and adults to talk about the books they like.
I think it was a clever fundraiser.
I TOTALLY DISAGREE!!!! TWilight is for everyone and HP is more for the younger ages. And as to the whole only girls read them…well if guys would just read it they would love it my cousins who are guys have read them and love them. Guys just dont want to read them cus they think its guna be to girly!!
TWILIGHT ALL THE WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Honestly, there is no comparison between Harry Potter and Twilight and I dont get why there has to be a debate about them at all. Why cant someone love both, why should anyone have to choose a side? The fact of the matter is they are both loved for different, unique ways. Some people may argue that Harry Potter involves more complex writing, while Twilight is extremely easy to read, but who cares!? I am a fan of both series because they make reading enjoyable, and isnt that what really matters in the end. Go Harry Potter! Go Twilight :)
There’s obviously no “right” answer, but I think it’s fun to talk and argue about books.
YAY!! I completely agree!
Im sixteen and have read both Twilight and Harry Potter (Not surprising really:)) I loved them both but one was far superior and thta has to be Harry Potter! The plot lines are so much more complex and intereweave with each other, each book is equally important whereas with Twilight as my friend proved you can miss a book and not notice. The characters are stronger and much more developed and the villains far more sisnister and domineering. With Harry Potter the whole wizarding world is at risk not just that of two characters.
BTW - Hermione Rocks:P
They two series are both wonderful. Harry potter is an adventurous, genious book by J.K. Rowling. Twilight is a magical, romance that captivates you. Both are page turners and fantasy, but that is the only thing they have in common. They should really not be compared.
The difference is this. Harry potter is built on an adventure of a young man, with a love story tagged on at the end just for kicks. With out the love story Harry Potter would have still been an amazing book.
Twilight, on the other hand, is built on a love story. You could take away the adventure and people would still adore it because of the love between Bella and Edward. If you took the love story out of Twilight it would be nothing.
The two books are built around opposite things with the other just tagged on. They should not really be compared.
I think TWILIGHT got creamed on the issue of its female main character, and I think it deserved to be creamed. That’s the book’s HUGE flaw. Bella is an infuriatingly passive character.
I do agree that the girls representing Twilight did a poor job, and therefore got creamed. But I do not agree that Bella is an “infuriating passive character”. She shows so much bravery and strength in the books that I’m not quite sure that that is a fair description of her. She stands up for herself, her love for Edward, and for Renesmee. She shows the ultimate amount of self sacrifice to protect those she loves. That doesn’t sound very passive to me.
Just to clarify– I am a HUGE fan of both of these book series.. They’ve both won in my book!
Um, she’s willing to DIE because her boyfriend is so hot. She totally turned me off.
I have to agree here. Bella is a horrible role model for girls. In a world where strong female characters are few and far between the last thing the world needs is a female character who basically lets her man deal with it.
I’ve heard J.K. Rowling criticized for writing a lead character that’s a man when she’s a woman, but at least none of the girls in her book made me angry. Even the girls who were a bit more cliché in HP seemed like girls I’d met in real life. I’ve never met someone as infuriatingly pathetic as Bella and I never want to!
Bella drove me crazy. I thought the story was readable and fast-paced, but she was the most anti-feminist character I’ve read in the last ten years, at least in a recent book. But frankly, as Christine says, I was kind of annoyed by Harry Potter too. The female characters are MUCH better, but the truly powerful characters — Harry, Dumbledore, Voldemort — are all men. They’re the ones the story turns on. And Hermione seemed too wet blanket-y and “perfect” — sort of cliche and not as complicated as the other characters. But compared to Bella? Hermione is fricking Joan of Arc.
In the end, read Tamora Pierce’s novels. They have adventure, romance, the strongest and most realistic female characters and some of the best writing I’ve ever been priviledged to read. They have appeal to young and old audiences and I still reread them when I’ve been disappointed by too many books in a row. Tamora Pierce always manages to reafirm my faith in fantasy literature. I had to reread Song of the Lioness Quartet when I first read Twilight!
p.s. Brent, just so you know, in the world of non-fantasy, I’ve pushed Geography Club series with equal vigor not that it has any bearing on the current debates, just thought I’d tell you!
Yes! Go Tamora Pierce! Champion of feminists everywhere!
I appreciate that Christine!
And I so agree about Tamora Pierce.
Honestly the books are soooooooo different. They dont even deal with the same issues. I think that Harry Potter is much better written and I will always be Harry Potter fan. But twilight is good too. I think I have to go with Harry Potter because Bella gets on my nerves towards the end of the books and because the last two books I skipped parts because they were just boring and dragged on with Harry Potter I read them all the way through. But the characters in the Twilight movie are much better looking.
apples and oranges! One is geared toward kids, the other is a romantic saga.. can’t compare!
Honetly, the girls who argued Harry Potter did better…no doubt about that. But if you had put me up on that stand for the Twilight side, it would have been over in the first few minutes. They didn’t argue it well enough. I was speaking for them the whole time this was going on. I could find something to go against all the Harry Potter points. There s so much to Twilight that you can find between the lines, an the truth is it’s not only geared towards teenagers. I know more young adults and adults who read the series than teenagers. But what happened here doesn’t change the fact that Twilight is better! :D
Now that I’ve gotten to watch, I’m happy. It doesn’t surprise me, but I was a tad worried that the obnoxious sparkley vampires would have louder debaters, and I’ve won debates due to volume in my time. When you lack substance, philabuster, be loud and don’t let the other team speak! I was worried that this would turn into a hair pulling contest, but I have to give it to both teams. They did well and didn’t resort to anything immature!
I was surprised how they two sides really seemed to get the heart of both books. Since TWILIGHT isn’t a very good book, that team was at a HUGE disadvantages (IMHO).
THIS is an understatement!
I agree completely. I’m very surprised by how well both teams did.
Team Twilight:
“We can all really relate to them.”
Really? Feeling deviant here…
I think it’s a great initiave though, fun way to introduce kids to debating…
…ye know. (I couldn’t resist!)
Yes, well, are you a teenage girl? Maybe that explains something, although it’s depressing if it does…
I certainly never had a friend like Bella that I wanted to slap. But when I was in high school I definitely had a friend like that delightful young lady on the Harry Potter team. So smart and eloquent! She’ll go far in life.
Agreed!
Bella is so much better than Hermione! She’s prettyier and has a better name and doesn’t whine! HP books are for little kids and twilight is for grownups!
You ARE kidding me right? So, by your standards, being ‘prettier’(that’s disputable), having a Mary-Sue name, and not whining(which Bella DOES by the way- I think you must have missed out on New Moon…)makes her better?
…..What drug laces the pages of those books that people think they actually compare to the art that is Harry Potter? Please answer, because I REALLY want to know. I’m up for debate.
This is a tease. I didn’t get a chance to check this before work and my company’s browser doesn’t allow video watching. Now I have to wait all day to know the result.
However, based on your seeming lack of rage, I’d bet I can guess the outcome.
Interesting. Can’t say I disagree!
Me neither.
I agree the girls debating for Harry Potter were stronger in their arguments. However, there is NO better series in the world than Twilight!!!!
Yes there is and it is Harry potter