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Random Stuff
Sep. 13th, 2011 01:08 pm1. My sister is the most hilarious person in the world.
*We walk into a room full of medieval European art*
Sis: Is that Buddha?
Me: ...THAT'S JESUS!!!
2. Oh, parents.
*I call my dad*
Dad: It's been so long since I last talked to you!
Me: ...Dad, we haven't talked for a day.
I was thinking about writing a re-review of Divergent. My opinions of it changed somewhat over time; part of the reason I liked it so much at the time, I believe, was that I had been supremely let down by The Hunger Games.
In general, though, despite the Dystopian Boom going on right now, I feel that dystopians, as a genre, have not reached their full potential yet. While a lot of dystopians have cool premises, the strength of dystopian lit is its ability to connect back to issues in the real world. If there is one thing The Hunger Games has going for it, it's that the celebrity treatment/reality TV fixation is firmly grounded in our current society and pop culture (even if very little else in the book is). For a lot of dystopian stories, I feel that society is too Black and White; I pick up the book and think, "Why would anyone want to live in this world?" In the worst case scenario, the premise is so extreme as to be alien, and I can't imagine why such a world even exists.
Another thing that troubles me is that though Dystopians have supplanted (or are coexisting with) Supernatural/Paranormal Romances, the kinds of dystopians on the market right now are mostly Dystopian-Romances. Which isn't exactly a bad thing in and of itself, but it does beg the question as to where are the authors who want to try something different.
Recently I read an article about a skewed gender focus in most YA fiction nowadays. Of course, such a topic can be very controversial (*puts up flame shield*), but I think it's worth having a dialogue about. Some of the biggest names in YA fiction in the twenty-first century have been female: J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, Suzanne Collins. Both the Supernatural/Paranormal Romance and Dystopian-Romance Booms tend to be filled with books that feature female heroines and male love interests.
...But that's a rant for another day, when I don't have a Physics lab in the afternoon. (Urk.)
*We walk into a room full of medieval European art*
Sis: Is that Buddha?
Me: ...THAT'S JESUS!!!
2. Oh, parents.
*I call my dad*
Dad: It's been so long since I last talked to you!
Me: ...Dad, we haven't talked for a day.
I was thinking about writing a re-review of Divergent. My opinions of it changed somewhat over time; part of the reason I liked it so much at the time, I believe, was that I had been supremely let down by The Hunger Games.
In general, though, despite the Dystopian Boom going on right now, I feel that dystopians, as a genre, have not reached their full potential yet. While a lot of dystopians have cool premises, the strength of dystopian lit is its ability to connect back to issues in the real world. If there is one thing The Hunger Games has going for it, it's that the celebrity treatment/reality TV fixation is firmly grounded in our current society and pop culture (even if very little else in the book is). For a lot of dystopian stories, I feel that society is too Black and White; I pick up the book and think, "Why would anyone want to live in this world?" In the worst case scenario, the premise is so extreme as to be alien, and I can't imagine why such a world even exists.
Another thing that troubles me is that though Dystopians have supplanted (or are coexisting with) Supernatural/Paranormal Romances, the kinds of dystopians on the market right now are mostly Dystopian-Romances. Which isn't exactly a bad thing in and of itself, but it does beg the question as to where are the authors who want to try something different.
Recently I read an article about a skewed gender focus in most YA fiction nowadays. Of course, such a topic can be very controversial (*puts up flame shield*), but I think it's worth having a dialogue about. Some of the biggest names in YA fiction in the twenty-first century have been female: J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, Suzanne Collins. Both the Supernatural/Paranormal Romance and Dystopian-Romance Booms tend to be filled with books that feature female heroines and male love interests.
...But that's a rant for another day, when I don't have a Physics lab in the afternoon. (Urk.)
