All the hype surrounding Harry Potter: and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 got me thinking about the world of wizards and muggles an inordinate amount. Like everyone who grew up in the 90s and early 2000s, I used to watch Cory Mathews and crew have adventures on Boy Meets World during ABC TGIF line up. The two seem to be opposites (one is an American teenage sitcom the other is a British fantasy in a magic boarding school) but they share a very similar character structure
The Main Trio
Harry=Shawn
Shawn Hunter, and Harry Potter are both orphans who come from a poor home life. In Harry’s case his parents are dead and he is abused by his Aunt and Uncle. For Shawn his mother has left him. Though he lives with his dad, his dad is a drunk. Both grew up in a bad environment. Shawn’s home is a trailer, Harry’s is a cuppord under the stairs. Both characters seek out surrogate families with people they meet in school. The only real discrepancy is that harry is the Hero, and Shawn is the side kick.
Ron=Cory
Both Ron and Cory come from big families, which provide stability to their friends. The family structures are similar. They have older brother(s) and one younger sister. The characters are neurotic and goofy but have good hearts and are fiercely loyal to their friends. Both Ron and Cory fall in love with and end up marrying the brain smart girl they initially didn’t like.
Hermione=Topanga
Rounding out the two trios are the smart girls. Both Harmonie and Topanga start off at odds with the rest of the trio. They come from a different “world” than the other characters. Hermione is a muggle born (or mudblood for you racists), and Topanga is a free spirited hippie. Both have human rights concerns at heart. Topanga as a feminist, Hermoine worrying about the rights of house elves. The boys in the group think they’re weird and try to avoid them at first but eventually become closest of friends. Both characters become the brains of the group and fall in love with the silly character. (They also both have weird names)
The Mentors
Dumbledor=Mr. Feeny
Both characters have the same profession, education. Though they try to remain distanced from the characters for professionalism they cant help but become close to their students. They are less like teachers, and more like surrogate parents. Feeny and Dumbldor are both worldly individuals with a wealth of experience behind them, used to guide their students.
Sirius Black= Mr. Turner
Both series have another adult character who is not as stodgy as the other mentor characters. Sirius Black and Mr. Turner are motorcycle riding badasses. Both have run away from their wealthy families in the past, and take a particular close role as friend/teacher to the troubled orphan character. Their badass ways get them killed while the orphan character is in danger. Sirius Black is murdered while protecting Harry from Death Eaters. When Shawn gets mixed up in a cult Mr Turner gets in a motorcycle accident. Though Mr. Turner doesn’t technically die, this is the last episode he appears in the show. Both incidents cause the Shawn and Harry to grow and mature.
The Weasleys=The Mathews
I know said Ron=Cory, so its only reasonable their two families should be similar. Both pairs of parents, adopt the rest of the characters who aren’t their children. Each dad is the breadwinner, and each mom is the homemaker. Though Ron has about a thousand older brothers, and Cory only has one, Eric Mathews exhibits many traits of the all the elder Weasley brothers. He is cool and good with ladies like Bill and Charley, and alternatively laid back and goofy like the twins. The twins never finish their time at Hogwarts, and Eric never goes to college. Each family has only one girl, (Ginny and Morgan), and the youngest is almost a bit of a miracle baby.
I’ve often wondered what was going on in America at the time of Harry Potter. Are there American Wizards? I found a bit of trivial that there is a Salem Witches’ Institute (a bit of trivia too much time and boredom on the Potter Wiki yielded.) Though Boy Meets World takes place in Philly not Massachusetts, I’d like to imagine that maybe the characters with wands learning magic. Feeny would make an awesome wizard. Either way it beats Sabrina the Teenage Witch.