Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the bout of the century, The Clash of Characters.
In the blue corner, accompanied to the ring by droves of fans sorted into
four houses and clutching their wands they bought from a Florida theme park,
Harry Potter and the battle for fantasy supremacy.
And in the red corner, hailing from the rainy Pacific Northwest and
accompanied by a horde of fan fic-loving, Edward-versus-Jacob-arguing,
true love romantics at heart, it's Twilight.
And we're ready for a ten round knockdown drag-out brawl.
Fans, get ready.
Here we go.
Hold up, we all know this story.
Fans of two titans of YA fantasy literature, Harry Potter and Twilight,
pick their sides and argue why their chosen one is better than the other.
But before we get this brawl started, let's ask, how did we get here?
Why, in a world big enough for two fantasy titans, have we chosen sides?
And why does fandom tend to gravitate toward an either/or mentality?.
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Now, as fans, people have a tendency to defend their favorite works from
criticism in a very strong way.
This isn't exclusive to fantasy either.
McDonald's versus Burger King, Coke versus Pepsi,
these are all areas of brand loyalty that people argue about all the time.
And the battleground of the Internet has only made this worse.
Finally there was an issue easy way of spewing hateful speech towards your
literary rival series for the world to see.
To really dive into this battle of vampires and true love versus wizards and
destiny, let's explore the fighters.
First up is Twilight.
Twilight was initially published in 2005 by Stephanie Meyer,
a first time author who got the idea for Twilight from a dream.
Following a teen girl who finds herself caught between a vampire and a werewolf,
both of whom are vying for her love.
Twilight is a supernatural romance extravaganza.
Fans quickly fell in love with the characters and the setting.
The series became a worldwide phenomenon, and several film adaptations later,
a multi-billion dollar franchise,
launching the careers of now celebrity status actors in the process.
Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson have become indie film royalty.
And it wouldn't have been possible without the springboard of the Twilight series,
which is actually a perfect segue into Harry Potter, as Pattinson also
appears as Cedric Diggory, killed by a returning Voldemort in the Goblet of Fire.
Much like Twilight, JK Rowling was a first time author
when she published the first book in the Harry Potter series.
However, it took nearly seven years after thinking up the initial idea for
the series to come to life.
Harry Potter follows the infamous Harry Potter on his journey through
the wizarding world, as he and
his ragtag group of friends battle the most evil wizard that has ever existed.
Harry Potter became a worldwide phenomenon overnight,
spawning its own multi-billion dollar fantasy franchise.
Encompassing films, merchandise, and
even a fully realized Wizarding World theme park.
Both of Harry Potter and Twilight dug their way into the public's consciousness,
ultimately promoting some of the most hardcore fanbases YA fantasy has
ever seen.
And when two heavy hitters try to share the spotlight,
competition inevitably ensues.
Fans started sparring, jumping online to trash the other series and fan groups and
message boards.
For a lot of Harry Potter fans,
Twilight's heavy-handed romance didn't belong in fantasy.
Others claimed the world building was weak or the characters were two dimensional.
And many Twilight fans retorted that Harry Potter was overly complicated and
the world was wildly unrealistic.
The arguments are endless, but there is a legit reason as to why fans of different
series tend to turn on each other.
Psychologists that study how fan groups grow and
evolve note that the basis for fandom is within coalitional psychology.
This is a set of behaviors that allow humans to work together in groups and
set the standards for what happens between those groups.
In early humans, this clanning together worked as a survival instinct in order to
avoid clans with different origins.
These coalitions shared a group identity.
Which when you think about it, sounds exactly like modern day fandoms.
For Twilight and Harry Potter diehards, fandom has become an identity.
The Internet has allowed people to find and share their interests,
no matter how obscure that interest is.
From here, a fan culture grows.
And much like any other coalition in the history of humans,
these groups see natural predators in other groups.
This desire to find your group and
defend it viciously from others is rooted in the human condition.
These groups can also feature subgroups that grow to create tension within
the larger group.
For example, Team Edward versus Team Jacob, or any of the four Hogwarts houses.
Every major fantasy series has these internal clashes.
For the Red Queen series, you have Maven versus Cal fans.
And in the Shadow and Bone fandom,
you have the Darkling stans versus pretty much everyone else.
And in the end, and get ready for the mic drop,
all of these fandoms are just smaller subgroups of fantasy in general.
Boom goes the dynamite.
We're all in the same boat here.
All of us love these works of literary arts, and while you can argue quality or
artistry until your breath runs out,
it's important to remember that we all love fantasy.
We all love being transported to another realm and
falling in love with amazing characters with amazing abilities.
So next time you pass that Potterhead sporting a robe or
a Twihard with two teeth marks painted on their neck,
remember that you both share some common cosplaying ground.
Or that you both spent endless nights on message boards arguing about
the intricacies of an obscure side character.
Or that you're both probably on the 20th reread and it still keeps getting better.
But perhaps the biggest thing to remember is that, collectively,
the Harry Potter and Twilight series have brought in new readers to
the overarching fantasy genre we all know and love.
And maybe, if you keep that in mind, you'll give the other book a shot.
You never know, you might find something else you love.
Here is your winner, by submission, the fantasy genre.
Well, that was quite the battle, but we're super happy with the winner.
Definitely worth the price of the pay-per-view.
Thanks for watching, and let us know what your favorite rival groups are.
Hoping for a peaceful resolution.