Welcome back to the Randomizer!
Today I want to talk about something that has, frankly,
bugged me for a while. A series of films based off various popular series of
books that, I believe, are big money makers, the second biggest box office
makers behind comic book movies today, and perhaps continuing to be as such at
least until the next year, but perhaps can’t really be argued as
thought-provoking, the lowering quality that are noticeable in many of them. You
know what I am talking about.
Young adult films, particularly dystopias, are monsters of
box office guaranteed to bring in money for film studios, yet perhaps now starting
to go on the way out, due to losing interest from movie-goers, less-then
mediocre opinions in reviews which has been a case for a good time, and more
damningly, lack of an significant identity due to being similar in some cases
like The Hunger Games and The Divergent Trilogy, as well as perhaps lack of
quality into the world building.
So why do something that has, again, been talked about over
and again, what can be added to the conversation that’s new? Well there are definitely
a few things that I have yet to see and should be talked about: How these
fictional dictatorships compare to actual dictatorships, are love triangles just
dramatic convenience, and are the main characters of these stories developed
well, or just, as internet comedian Doug Walker had said in his editorial ‘Is
Twilight the Worst Thing ever?’, skins for the readers, to put themselves into
these characters? Questions that haven’t had so much publicity bar the odd few
characters, and will probably never be asked again since I’m very good at
procrastination. Those three questions are important to young adult films,
because they show innately the quality of the stories, from the characters to
the worlds they inhabit, more difficult with the dystopias as I will come to.
I will admit, I haven’t read any of the young adult books
that will be the focus of this article, and this will be quite biased towards
the mainstream side of the young adult spectrum. But from the experience I do
have watching The Hunger Games, the first Divergent film, and…the abomination,
please don’t make me say its name. I instantly become ill at that moment.
Anyway, that experience of watching has given me some sort of understanding of
what are these young adult movies about, to talk about the written quality
behind the works created.
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| ...and able to have the sick bucket close by, which is always good... |
I can probably hear some of you saying, “Oh Simon, come on.
You’re picking on fantasy novels, novels that have different meanings behind
them, and reflect what goes on in society as a whole”. That’s not what I am
going to argue about. What I’m arguing against is the illogical holes of HOW
these reflections happened. It’s not a problem having an enemy that reflects
one side of society, but it is a problem without understanding HOW that society
works, or HOW the enemies work. The thought crosses my mind about how stories
need some logic to it, instead of ‘Because…because!’. That’s really the big
question: HOW, and just as importantly, if not more, WHY?
Which leads us nicely to the article of the month: A Trinity
of Young Adult Novel Problems. Again, spoilers. Sorry!
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| She's deadly with bananas |
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1)
The Dictatorships
An obvious problem when you’re reading one of many dystopian
novels is the dictatorship, and how it works in the novel. The couple examples
I’m going to give are The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, and The
Divergent Series, written by Veronica Roth.
The Hunger Games evil society is called ‘The Capital’, rich,
powerful, and technologically advanced, focusing on many social aspects of
fashion, changing appearances, and using latest technology to serve their own
purposes. The Capital dominates the 12 Districts, poor and bedraggled, a 13th
district being destroyed when all of them revolted and lost against The
Capital, I assume around 74 years before the events of The Hunger Games happen
(someone correct if wrong please), and thus in retaliation to the revolt, The
Capital punishes the Districts by inventing the Hunger Games, a televised 24
manned death match, where each district ‘reaps’ one male and female to fight
each other until one is left alive. Death’s going to sue for poor punning.
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| In fact he's on that train right now, just to see President Snow after the war. That's what you get for using the word "reap" in a different context! |
So how have The Capital survived all these years, without
taking on another revolution in a short period of time? Joking aside, The
Capital, as an outright dictatorship, doesn’t exactly work as a grounded
foundation, and probably should have been dismantled sooner then later. Having
that great deal of wealth and practically showing it off, using The Hunger
Games as a means to keep order, and still remaining in power, is just showing
how much reinforcing what everyone would do: fight against you, because you are
the supreme controller of everything, and killing teenagers.
I did read an article from the website ‘Cracked’ that does
discuss dystopias in young adult fiction, and it does use The Hunger Games as
an main example, despite being more comedic, of how some fictional dystopias do
use an ‘internal’ fear, The Capital keeping the districts in line, against real
dictatorships that use external fear, like North Korea against the Western
World. It had some good points in it, about how North Korea uses propaganda to portray
labour and sacrifice as best form of defence, against the scourge of the decadent
Western world. Their words, not mine. The Capital, perhaps if we’re to take it
seriously, fails as a believable threat to society, because it would be
unrealistic to be seen as a proper dictatorship, just the fantastical regime of
oppression that most likely would not survive easily, even in a post-apocalyptic
world.
The second dictatorship I will talk about is The Divergent
Series, focusing on its faction-based system. In its setting of dystopian Chicago
are five separate factions classifying you as a specific value and traits,
where one chooses to join of their own will or following as a result of a
placement test: Erudite (intelligence), Amity (peacefulness), Abnegation
(selflessness), Candor (truthfulness), and finally Dauntless (bravery), which
the main character Beatrice ‘Tris’ Prior joins. Not well explained in the film,
but she did it because…because! The important thing is Tris is in secret a
Divergent, one who is capable of fitting into any faction, but is a threat to
the social structure in place, the factions wanting its members to act a
certain way and Divergents stray in many directions, and thus can’t be
controlled, so the result: death. Certainly reasonable.
While not really seen as a dictatorship to be fair, the
set-up for the factions is really just confusing, because it’s pretty much
facing a screwed up problem, and to a point replicating it yourself by splitting
a city into so many pieces. The faction system doesn’t really work out because
it’s a poorly thought through fantasy set-up, to be just one trait for the rest
of your life. Again as well, it’s unrealistic because if a post-apocalyptic
world were to happen, we wouldn’t divide ourselves into different factions for
life, we’d still have a choice in what we want to do, and process many other
traits that we have, and work together with many others that have survived the
apocalypse. Even as fantasies go, it doesn’t seem so logical.
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| Yes, dividing ourselves into music groups seems logical. Electronic, Rap, Heavy Metal, Pop, and Jazz. Now let's beat back the Plague everybody! |
Lastly, it’s not challenging if you really think about it
because as a system, its unnecessary convoluted. To challenge young adults is
to really make them think about how the society has changed from its old state,
and why these changes were done, instead of showing this is what the world is
because…because! Nazi Germany, to make a comparison, came into power back in
1933 not just from promises made to restore employment, and make Germany great
again in light of the Great Depression 4 years earlier, but also because the
president at the time, Hindenburg, had been pressured into it, despite loathing
Adolf Hitler. I hope you have better understanding at that, then in Divergent,
and in The Hunger Games.
Summing up as far as my research goes, these dictatorships
and that particular kind of world building are ridiculous at best. As dystopias
go written and filmed as sci-fi fantasy young adult, they are really poor
renditions. If a writer is going to write a dystopian young adult novel, then
they should take inspiration from dictatorships, disturbing that may sound, and
actually show how they can work, and why they came to power, with more emphasis
on how they work to give the viewer a feeling of being scared. That way, it
helps have a better understanding of how dictatorships could feel like, and
have a better quality work, rather than saying ‘Dictatorships are evil because…because!’.
This phrase may be coming back again, or not, I think the points it makes are
clear enough.
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2)
Love Triangles
Here we go. Love Triangles. Arguably one of the biggest clichés
now in young adult literature and film, love triangles have been part of a
marmite effect for a long time, love them or hate them. Puns aside, my own
opinions on the matter are annoyed at best, at least concerning one particular
triangle at best….the abomination, written by Stephanie Meyer, and The Hunger
Games. I’m so picky aren’t I? Again, using these two is my only experience from
love triangles in films, so you’ll have to forgive me for not being as broad as
perhaps I’d could be.
Let’s start with…the abomination. I have talked about it
quite a bit already from so many years ago, and don’t exactly wish to outstay
my welcome on it, or it’s welcome to this. We know the characters. Bella Swan
falls in love with Edward Cullen for some reason, then he leaves her to protect
her after her birthday party goes tits-up, and now her best friend Jacob attempts
to fills the gap of boyfriend, but Bella eventually doesn’t go with him and
goes back with Edward, Edward and Jacob measure attractiveness and dicks for a
while, Bella not admitting that she does have feelings for Jacob until much
later on, despite Edward asking her to marry him and she accepts, then they get
married and Bella gets pregnant and gives birth to a CGI baby, then is turned
into a vampire due to Edward making sure she lives, then they battle evil
vampire forces and live happily ever after. Jacob…don’t even get me started. If
you couldn’t understand that, best not to because I really don’t want to go
into more detail. I’ve suffered enough.
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| Especially with David Cameron reading it... |
Looking back to this, the love triangle is questionable at
best. Bella and Edward’s love is still non-existent to me, other than the fact
that Edward is a vampire, and Jacob is just as mad as…Bella and Edward. The love
triangle for me overall was plain not well done, just plot strands webbed all
over the place to create drama when it’s unnecessary, because the characters
are just terrible themselves. To give a shorter answer: Bella is an obsessive,
Edward is eye candy, and Jacob is a self-serving best friend, or maybe an eye-candy
obsessive, either side wouldn’t be surprising. It’s an unimaginative piece of
dramatic convenience, poor and entirely serviceable to the plot, and failed on
arrival, despite the appeal it had to its audience in that time.
Many say that the abomination is the reason why there are
many love triangles in young adult fiction nowadays, and I would say ‘yes’ if
it meant because of the millions that the series had made, and publishers wanting
to replicate that success. I have yet to see and read authors who say the
abomination was a direct influence on their stories, only how few were
suggested to do it in order to resemble the abomination to a point, and I
understand if it meant going along with what the publishers and agents want,
bringing us onto The Hunger Games.
The love triangle here is around Katniss Everdeen and the
two male protagonists, Gale Hawthorne: Katniss’s best friend and hunting
partner whom she has feelings for, and Peeta Mellark, who is chosen as a
tribute beside her and has a crush on Katniss since childhood. Throughout the
story, Katniss and Peeta grow closer as they enter the Hunger Games twice,
Peeta being captured in the second game, and Katniss taken away by new rebel
forces, joining Gale and other people in on the plot to get her out. In the
final two films (third book), Katniss sees Peeta has been brainwashed by The
Capitol, and once he is got out attempts to kill her, going along with her back
despite the risks. As the Capitol citizens attempt a retreat to the President’s
mansion, hovercraft come and drop makeshift bombs, developed by Gale, blowing
up the citizen’s and their children, Katniss’s sister Primrose and incoming medics
among the casualties. Because of this, Katniss and Gale bid a sombre farewell
to each other, and she develops a fully-fledged relationship with Peeta, coming
to need his strength and caring.
Seeing the love-triangle played out in the films, it seemed
pretty good. I understood the points happening throughout from Peeta saying
that he loved her before the first games, and that plays to both how they work
with each other. Now, Peeta and Katniss seem an interesting if strange match
together at the end, because I wonder if they are truly meant for each other
come the end of the games. In fact, I had read a theory online about how Peeta,
having a crush on Katniss, actually manipulated her for his own. Still kind,
but he knows how to get what he wants. I’ll post a link to it at the end. Gale
is more rebellious and willing to fight against the Capitol, and Katniss did
have feelings for him to start with, being together platonically in the series,
until Mockingjay Part ½ as tensions flare up between them, Gale wishing to
defeat The Capitol at all costs, Katniss wishing for less casualties and
keeping moral sanity, until Gale’s possibly designed bombs kill the Capitol
citizens near the end, including Katniss’s sister Primrose. From that point,
their relationship is severed forever.
This love triangle is a little stronger then the abomination
in many ways, but more convoluted because of the characters conflicting with
each other. That could be seen as perhaps a good thing because love triangles
are awkward to understand, but I have a feeling that this particular one is convoluted
in a bad way, because there are some points that stand out in memory that don’t
make sense, like Katniss’s own feelings for him from a sense of need, not from
what she wants, and Peeta not really coming to terms with perhaps who Katniss
really is. This love triangle is perhaps more about holding onto an idea, and
not exactly seeing what we really want. My brain hurts now. There are rumours
that Suzanne Collins had been asked to have some focus on the triangle, so it’s
a possibility why it doesn’t feel as good as it should be.
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| This is the reason for their divorce many years later |
Summing up, Love Triangles can be bad if not having the proper
time to be focused on, to be better quality and feel relatable as opposed to
just being dramatic convenience. Meyer’s love triangle is a mash of unlikable
characters who just stick together because she wanted it, so that’s dramatic
convenience. Collin’s has some strengths to it, but it’s still a little
convoluted at places, especially with characters. That’s why if I did love
triangles, I would need to take the time so it would really work in respect to
the characters who demand it, NOT because it creates tension for the sake of
it. Love Triangles then need care to be handled well, if not there’s definitely
something missing if people say, ‘this is like Twilight’. By the way, me saying
that word doesn’t count because I only guess what people may think. Usually I
can be right!
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| My namebadge |
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3)
Characters as Skins
This is a big question, one that can make you either love a story
or hate it. As I mentioned before above, are some characters of young adult
fiction developed well, or are they really just ‘skins’ so as readers we can
put ourselves in their position? Characters who can be seen as blank slates
seem to be a common feature in fiction all round, Luke Skywalker being a
perfect example of this trope. For this article, I need three volunteers, and
happily I have that amount: Bella Swan (bleugh), Katniss Everdeen, and Beatrice
‘Tris’ Prior.
Bella, to keep it short from my original blog analysing the
series, is an obsessive selfish character with little redeeming qualities. So
is she a blank slate? I’d say yes, because Bella is just nothing of substance,
nothing exactly defines her as a character, from apparent interests or
anything, perhaps allowing easily for young teenage girls and women to place
themselves into that kind of fantasy. Considering its popularity, I wouldn’t be
surprised if that was the case. I think I had read somewhere that Meyer had
based it from a dream she had, and that Bella is really just Meyer in
appearance. It wouldn’t be surprising either but I think that would be coincidental,
for the moment.
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| She'd be perfect for the Walking Dead |
Katniss is a little difficult to pin down. Though she grows
throughout the story, do we know so much about her? We know she develops
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from being in her first Hunger Games, a nurturing
side when with family, cold to others outside her social circle due to her
past, and is a pretty strong female. On the other hand, she could also be
considered a blank slate…ish, because she might not be as relatable as we might
think, perhaps because she is a plot-driven character, going on from plot-point
to plot-point, without really changing so much apart personality wise apart
from falling in love with Peeta and the PTSD. Don’t get me wrong, there is some
character in there, but maybe not enough to make us appreciate her as a unique
individual we can all get behind. Sorry for breaking anyone’s fantasies down
like this, but I have to admit, I don’t think she is as strong as we would like
to think. Kind of puts my listing The Hunger Games as top films into
perspective huh? Jennifer Lawrence I ask for your forgiveness.
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Tris…bugs me. She seems to be around the same point as
Katniss, a character who follows plot-point to plot-point with hardly much real
personality on-screen. She chooses the Dauntless faction because…because! She
falls in love with the character called ‘Four’ because…because! I think I’m
starting to see a pattern developing here, and maybe you are too because…because!
I don’t know what the character in the book is really like, but here she’s just
nothing, again, of substance. Nothing’s changed from when she was meek and
selfless, to supposedly being a bad-ass character, when really this journey
doesn’t turn her into anything new, just someone who knows how to fight and…because!
I’m impressed Shailene Woodley played her well as she did, despite what little
there is to Tris at all. Just a case of good actress using up a shitty role so
she can do some more stronger stuff, as if she hasn’t already, considering her
resume.
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| The look on her face when I told her the truth... |
Summing up for the last time, these main characters are poor
renditions of actual characters, and perhaps more eligible as skins for the
reader to use, Katniss being the least poor for some amount of characterisation,
Bella being the most considering her role in the abomination, and Tris being
closer to Bella then Katniss. If the intended audience of teenage and young
adult women use these skins, to enter into a fantasy world that is appealing to
them, then it’s not exactly so much engaging with the book, as playing out the
fantasy of excitement, and that doesn’t make the books any stronger.
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I think it would be fair to say in conclusion that some Young
Adult Fiction isn’t as particularly strong, as perhaps others.
One of the major problems I have considering, is a point
that the women who wrote these books, subsequently adapted for films, have produced
poor quality work. If these are meant to be aimed at teenage women and young
adult women, surely there must be some leeway to have these books actually be unique
and relatable to their audience, as opposed to non-existent background stories,
lifeless characters, and overbearing plots? All fine and good if fantasy is the
way, even in future dystopias, but these works are not really interesting
enough.
Even George R.R. Matrin, as an easy comparison I’m sorry,
writes more intriguing characters and developed women, creating a dangerous
world that almost feels realistic then these female authors could. I’m not
trying to attack the authors because they’re women, I’m saying that the authors
could develop more understanding of why these women are meant to be badasses,
not because they just say they are and leave it at that. I’m sorry if that’s
coming off the wrong way, especially with my experiences of films more than the
books, but these works are just not as strong as maybe we think they are.
The problem, I wonder, is really how they’re set out. I’m
sure that there are good Young Adult Fiction films and books out there, but
these three examples, in film terms I can say, are not the best, not by any
stretch of imagination. There are few young adult pieces I would want to watch,
like The Fault in Our Stars, and The Book Thief. But overall, I’d say there’s
only so much you can really do with this particular kind, except to really put
some effort into it, and not make it so…insulting. Both genders alike shouldn’t
be pampered as they grow up. If that balance can be achieved, think of how
awesome that book could look like.
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| Perfect |
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That’s it for this month. Here's a link to the site about Peeta Mellark:
http://hubpages.com/literature/The-Hunger-Games-A-Romantic-Analysis-of-Peeta-vs-Gale
http://hubpages.com/literature/The-Hunger-Games-A-Romantic-Analysis-of-Peeta-vs-Gale
I must be honest, I have been thinking about stopping The
Randomizer as a full blog now, or perhaps at least taking an extended break
from it. It’s getting to a point when it’s not easy to come up with different
subjects to talk about, and of course my book is coming closer to being near
sort of complete. This isn’t a definite thing, but definitely should be coming
in the next couple months, and on that bombshell…
Randomizer out.
