Wednesday, 24 June 2009

• Currently The Golden Compass By Philip Pullman see related

  My Official Apology to Stephanie Meyers

  I’ve been reading Lynnjynh9315’s Xanga ever since I saw his entry on the movie “Twilight” (the one that was featured on mancouch).  His post argued that teen vampire, Edward Cullen, was actually a good role model for what a man should be since he is clearly very ‘gallant’ towards Bella and protects her as men should for their loved ones. 

   

  This post obviously got a lot of grief from all the people who hate Twilight.  I was one of them. 

   

  But I re-read a point in his entry that said “Twilight is not the next Harry Potter” and…..sorry Lynnjynh9315, but I have to disagree with you (again):  J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter isn’t that different from Twilight - superficially, at least.  However, the comparison should be that "Harry Potter is just as bad as Twilight," not the other way around. 

   

  Harry Potter seems just as much a tween fan-fiction “Cinderella Story” for boys as Twilight is for girls.  If you replace “in love with a vampire” with “discovers he’s a wizard,” the basic premises of both series are surprisingly similar. 

   

  • IS THE MAIN PROTAGONIST A VAGUELY, NON-DESCRIPT EVERYPERSON CHARACTER WITH WHOM THE READER CAN RELATE TO? 
    • Check. 
  • DOES HIS/HER STORY BEGIN WITH AN UNHAPPY CHILDHOOD?  (Parents are divorced / dead ~ same thing) 
    • Check. 
  • IS SAID PROTAGONIST SUDDENLY RESCUED FROM ALL THAT AND TAKEN TO A MAGICAL WORLD OF THE SUPERNATURAL? 
    • Check. 
  • DOES EVERYONE IN THIS MAGICAL, SUPERNATURAL WORLD LOVE SAID PROTAGONIST LIKE THEY WERE THE GREATEST THING SINCE THE NASAL RIMJOB? 
    • Check—wait…..what? 

  NOTHING. 

  
  So now if we’re going to argue how much Bella Swan because of what we hear about her being a bad role model for girls, then we should also argue what a horrible role model Harry Potter is for boy - because; he’s basically a brown-noser who breaks all the school rules, starts gangs (Dumbledore’s Army) and spreads vicious rumors about the teachers who don’t kiss his ass 24/7.    (Dunno how many times he’s tried to get Professor Snape fired in the first book alone)  And as he gets older/ the books progress, he gets just as angsty as Bella & Edward over how ‘horrible’ his life is, even though he’s still an incredibly rich star athlete with lots of friends and admirers. 

   

  The worst part about it is that there never seems to be any consequences for any of the rules that Harry breaks – it all just “magically” works out for him in the end and anything bad that happens is ultimately the work of Voldermort or whoever teaches “Defense Against the Dark Arts” that year.  (ironic, right?) 

   

  But hey, at least kids are interested in reading again, right? 

   

  Bottom line though?  I still read the Harry Potter series.  Despite all the crap I just gave the books, I still picked them up and read them; I might even read them again.  And I’ll probably be waiting in line to see the next two or three movies when they come out like everyone else…..!  I forgave all that stuff about Harry Potter because I realized that it was a kid’s fantasy book meant for escaping homework for a little while.  And somewhere down the line, I forgot that Twilight was meant for the exact same thing. 

   

  And practically ANY children’s fantasy book that we used to love as kids can fall prey to the grief that Twilight got……….! 

   

  But it doesn’t.  And that’s where I went wrong. 

   

  So this is my official apology to Stephanie Meyers – not because I like the Twilight series now, but I realized what a hypocrite I was being.  I hope she can forgive me. 

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