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DEADBOLT: TWILIGHT, NEW MOON, STEPHENIE MEYER AND THE INEVITABLE J.K. ROWLING COMPARISON

Posted March 5th, 2009 By: Evie 14 Comments »

The Deadbolt.com looks at the similarity and differences between the works and styles of Stephenie Meyer and J.K. Rowling:

 
With Twilight soon to be breaking dawn on DVD and the Twilight sequel New Moon about to head into production on March 23, stories are beginning to pop up online in greater frequency hailing author Stephenie Meyer as the next J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series. Although you can certainly draw similarities on the surface to the larger aspects of Meyer and Rowling and their works, do we really need to go there? Since the Twilight series has a huge, loyal, and passionate fan base and novels like New Moon and Eclipse appeal to both a young teen and young adult demographic, with Twilight about to become the next popular cinematic franchise, the comparisons were inevitable. You have two female authors, with two success series’ of novels, which, by the end of the Twilight adaptations on film, will look like two similar fan-friendly franchises. It’s a lot like the response that awkward American Idol auditoner William Hung received after he told the Idol judges that he couldn’t sing, couldn’t dance, and he had no professional training at all, to which Simon Cowell replied, “No, you don’t say?” It’s simply too easy and obvious a comparison to make. But there is more to the Meyer and Rowling link than meets the eye.

To be completely honest here, since the Stephenie Meyer and J,K. Rowling comparison is so easy and obvious to make, it’s not only inevitable but also unavoidable to a large degree. Although we all know Twilight is vastly different than Harry Potter yet both do contain elements that strike deep chords with their young fan bases, Stephenie Meyer and J.K. Rowling have built franchises that work on similar psychological and emotional levels in regard to their target audiences. Both the Twilight and Harry Potter books and movies center around universal themes of self-discovery, the struggles of coming of age as young teens and adults, and the often virgin confrontation of such issues as evil, racial divides, love, friendship, loyalty, and the complexities and emotional turmoil within relationships.

However, calling Stephenie Meyer and her Twilight series, which includes the novels New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn, the next J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series is more a result of human nature than the actual differences between the two. Us pesky novel-reading, movie-going, music-listening fans have some strange inherent desire to always want to fill a void and never be without what makes us feel good while getting excited about the next big thing we can call our own.

I mean, NSYNC was the new Backstreet Boys, Britney became the new Madonna, Jessica became the new Britney, Scarlett Johansson the new Audrey Hepburn, and so on. Although you can look at the magical music universe of pop divas and see a much clearer template of “insert look-alike-sound-alike here,” can you really make the same type of blanket comparison when it comes to Stephenie Meyer and J.K. Rowling, with Twilight, New Moon, and the Harry Potter series? On certain levels, yes, you can. But comparisons like this make me throw out the question – Why can’t Stephenie Meyer uniquely be Stephenie Meyer and J.K. Rowling be herself with her own distinct identity with Harry Potter and the world of Hogwarts? Although we won’t be reading new Harry Potter books in the not-too-distant future since Rowling is retiring her Potter pen, do we need to “replace” J.K. Rowling with Stephenie Meyer? If not, then this is the point where you can objectively look at the works of Meyer and Rowling and appreciate both as two different authors and their own distinct entities. If you don’t “need” to replace one with the other then one doesn’t “have” to look like or somehow be like the other in people’s minds. They can simply exist as separate, individually unique novels and movies from two different authors.

But when you stack up Twilight, New Moon, the recently announced Eclipse and all subsequent Twilight adaptations against Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, and the rest of the Potter series as solely film franchises that look formulaically the same, yeah, it’s easy and obvious to make a comparison on the same level as the pop diva template. When you delve into the Twilight and Harry Potter books, however, comparing Stephenie Meyer to J.K. Rowling is much more difficult and not quite fair as a broad and blanket association. Meyer and Rowling are two different authors with distinct styles and literary sensibilities. Recently, although on the surface acclaimed horror author Stephen King blasted Stephenie Meyer as a writer, taking issue with her skills as a literary talent, King was quick to point out that both Meyer and Rowling each have a different command and proficiency of language, stating that there really is no comparison because of Rowling’s more effective use of language and talents as a storyteller. Yet King did recognize that writers with varying degrees of talent and skill have also become successful, which speaks to the very differences between Meyer and Rowling. So in that regard, how could it ever be possible for Stephenie Meyer to be the next J.K. Rowling?

SOURCE

We’ve seen these two authors compared several times now. I really hate it when I see criticism of Stephenie Meyer’s work, probably because I’m completely in love with all of her books. I like the thought in this article that the two authors should just be seen as individually unique, and their works don’t need to be compared to one another. I couldn’t agree more.

What similarities do you see between the two authors? What differences? Are you tired of them being constantly compared to each other?







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  • teri

    i think it’s ridiculous that they keep comparing the two. i love both authors but they’re so starkly different in style and voice. i mean HP is told from third person to begin with but all of SM’s Saga was told from first person. That’s a huge difference right there. 3rd person you can get alot more formal with your speech and language because you’re telling the story. Meyer’s telling the story as Bella (and sometimes Jacob) would. Using their personal vocabularies instead of a more formal prose.

  • PM

    How can anyone ever compare Stephanie Meyer to JK Rowling? Meyer isn’t and will NEVER be anywhere near as good as Rowling, and I think it’s an insult to Rowling that someone could do that. Sure, they both write for a younger audience in general, but at least Rowling has talent.

  • mommymanor

    SM uses some words waaay too much. Unwillingly, flickered, for example. And she may not be the best writer in the world. But she made me and lots of other people really care about Bella, Edward, and the rest, so there must be some talent in that! I personally hate the comparisons. They are very different stories, and they are told in different ways. I love them both, so I don’t think the comparisons are necessary.

  • http://joannakeytepiczo.com Joanna

    There is only one place at the top, and they can’t both have it. As much as the comparison is annoying, it cannot be avoided.

  • lulu

    i totally agree. i’m what you would call a “non-reader”, as in i don’t read for fun. but both ladies have gotten me reading. i almost cried when i finished book 7 of HP because i felt like a part of my life was over–i wanted them to be real! haha. and with twilight, i just can’t NOT read the books themselves or something related. ever since i picked it up, it’s pretty much been non-stop twilight stuff. i never get bored with it. so i applaud and thank them both, individually.

  • Moving2Forks

    I think Stephenie is an amazing story teller. People care so deeply about her characters and her stories. Her writing is a little underdeveloped, but she wasn’t a writer before all of this and I’m sure she’ll only get better. I am disappointed with her editors for not being more critical. How many times can a character grimace or feel chagrin?

  • DazzledByTwilight

    I adore both authors! They are both wonderful story tellers and can transport a reader right into their stories! Making you feel like you are right there with them! Both series are very close to my heart and dear to me! They both know how to weave that magic!

  • Jenn

    Yes the comparisons annoy me too, but I’m more bothered by the fact that whoever wrote this article called Scarlett Johansson the new Audrey Hepburn…WHAT?! That statement completely discredited the whole article right there.

  • Samantha

    I agree with Jenn, who wrote ago “Scarlett Johansson the new Audrey Hepburn… WHAT?!” it’s almost insulting to Audrey. Also, its quite a way to contradict yourself.

  • http://www.amybesse98.blogspot.com amy

    I agree.. I hate the constant comparisons of the two.. It really drives me crazy!! I Love the potter movies but I didn’t really get into the books as crazy as that sounds.. I will admit it took me forever to want to read the Twilight Series and I am so glad that I did… I Love those books.. I love her style of Writing.. I think that she is a great writer and I am glad that I read and have re-read them!!

  • Krystl

    The crafting of the Harry Potter universe is SO superior to Twilight. Rowling created an in depth history, a money system, a whole infrastructure (you know, government), creatures, thousands of terms, and some pretty interesting magical concepts. What did Stephenie Meyer do? Make vampires glitter and tweak wearwolves a bit? Not only that, but the harry potter characters are so much, I dunno, stronger. There’s so much depth to them.

    Also, there are so many amazing subplots in Harry Potter that tie into each other in the end. Everything in Twilight is totally on the surface of the text. It’s all about romance. While both clearly have strong messages to send about love, Harry Potter’s in more that of unity of the human/wizarding race and that which binds us to our family members and friends. Twilight DOES have familial elements, but the focus is all on Edward and Bella, or Jacob.

    Scarlett the new Audrey? I love Scarlett, but no. Audrey Hepburn was not only a beautiful person, but did a whole lot of charity work. Scarlett is just pretty/youthful and has sex appeal – not to say I don’t enjoy her movies equally. Maybe she will become that person in the future, but not now.

    This article didn’t really bring up any new points or information at all.

    I guess the point was just a plea from the author to treat them each as their own.

  • Kelly E

    A very fair comparison I think – they should both be individual.

  • VP

    I think the Scarlett to Audrey thing was more of general statement of what people are saying these days, rather than a personal opinion.

    I do agree that they are different books however comparison is inevitable because they are both women authors that garnered immense popularity within their lifetime through writing fantasy books.

    JKR far superior IMO.

  • Jane

    Biggest difference: Twilight is character driven. The reason we love it is because we love the characters. Harry Potter is more story driven, and Rowling is a talented wordsmith. That being said, I prefer the Twilight books because I would rather related to a character than get immersed in another world. However, they are both awesome writers!

 

 

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