Pop Culture In Shatter Me

One theme that is present in almost all dystopian fiction is corrupted power. Often time, authors merge away from utopia and use a dysfunctional society that only benefit those in charge, to work around how corrupted power is established and held using social enforcement. Divergent and The Hunger Games are both modern futuristic novels about revolution written by 21st century authors, Veronica Roth and Suzanne Collins, which explore how corrupted power is achieved and upheld by: 1. The separation of the populations into hierarchies, and 2. Distractions from the reality of their lives, and withholding information through totalitarian governments. Although the two universes share the common trait of gaining and keeping power through violence,

The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Maze Runner where all books I knew to be dystopian. I never really thought about all the other type of dystopian novel outside of the young adult category. Reading and watching across the board types of material based on dystopian events was refreshing. I was introduced to many new authors and directors that I am following up on with reading and watching their other content. English 2130 has helped me with gaining a better appreciation of literature and film by analyzing and questioning the work’s given.

One of the fundamental principles of any young adult novel is its relatability. Oftentimes, teenagers are forced to read outdated, complicated written works for school for the sake of introducing them to the literary canon. More often than not, teenagers cannot relate to these works due to a variety of factors: the language is complex and difficult to read, there are no exciting characters or plot events, or it’s just plain old boring. As a result, teenagers turn to young adult novels as a safe haven—it is where they find books they can actually relate to. Consequently, any worthwhile young adult novel has to be both interesting and relatable, risking limited success if the latter is absent. Without a doubt, Eliot Schrefer’s Endangered is nothing short of interesting, documenting the exciting tale of a young girl’s journey throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo during heightened civil unrest. However, when it comes to the relatability of his novel, Schrefer takes a risk as a result of his setting and plot choices, but still succeeds in presenting something teenagers can relate to through the character of Sophie.

Some might claim the YA genre has grown to be too dark for its target audience. Meghan Gurdon, a firm believer of this idea, explains why she believes this in her article, “Darkness Too Visible”. Gurdon describes the experience of a mother of three in a bookstore looking to purchase a YA novel for one of her children, when she found herself leaving the bookstore empty-handed due to the content of the teen books. While teen books decades ago contained less violent/corrupted material, times have changed along with the genre. She is concerned that these books could have an effect on these young readers’ brains as they are merely transferring from childhood to adulthood. Gurdon still has faith that YA books would sell just as well and connect with young readers today without all of the dark subject matters discussed in them these days.

As new genres in the world of novels fade out of the public eye, new ones arise just as fast. A genre that has taken the world by storm is the dystopian trope. Many new young adult novels have this new genre incorporated into the story, often weaving in themes of sadness or conformity being overcome by rebelliousness and hope. It is one of the newest genres, yet one of the most widely varied compared to older ones. Even novels from 70 years ago, such as Ayn Rand’s Anthem share similarities with the same types of stories from only 20 years ago, like The Giver by Lois Lowry.

He believes that “tomorrow isn’t what it used to be” and that “what we could really use right now are a few utopian novels”. These excerpts from the essay clearly define the author's position that he sees the latest trend in young adult fiction novels to be quite pessimistic and believes that there needs to be some kind of balance. He does this so that the readers of these works have the ability to experience the happy endings as well as the somewhat cynical endings of the seemingly endless array of futuristic dystopian worlds. Reeve continues to support his argument by throwing phrases such as “the apocalypse, we seem to be teaching young readers, is something that you have to take seriously” and “more worrying still is the absence of any counterbalance”, which propose that the authors of the young adult novels are finding themselves getting caught up in the worlds that they are creating and drifting further from the reality

Lois Lowry is known for her dystopian novels for young adults. One out of many novels is her work ‘The Giver’. The Giver exposes the story of Jonas, a boy who questions his society’s standard of living. Jonas’ people tend to have false perceptions of their world being supposedly ‘perfect’. On the other hand, ‘Gathering Blue’ – a companion novel to The Giver – reveals the story of orphaned and handicapped Kira who also questions her society and is led to provide evidence to the Council of Guardians that she is worthy of existence in her disdainful society. Both of these texts are known as dystopian fictions and are a form of sci-fi. The inclusion of narrative conventions such as plot, setting, characterisation and theme convey that

Myths and stories of monsters have been present in human history since the beginning of time – often representing the dreadful possible future and demise of the human kind. These stories can tell us many meaningful things about the societies they come from. They embody the fears of a given time in history and reveal social repressions as well as cultural anxieties. The word ‘monster’ originates from the Latin monere which means a warning or omen. The undead omen that zombies represent propels us toward the “past, present, and future conditions of living death, the frightening underbelly of modernity” (Zimbaro 2014: 270).

Clearly, there are bounteous reason why dystopian novels are becoming favored by teens; many teens like dark books, with great deal of melancholy and disturbing moments, like in Animal Farm, various people obtain seriously hurt and it is described in a gruesome way, “Three of them had their heads broken by blows from Boxer's hoofs; another was gored in the belly by a cow's horn”(Orwell 104). In dystopian novels there are parts with lots of suspense

Award winning author Reeve writes his plea to any author who might be considering writing a YA dystopia novel. He asks them to consider the current outlook of today’s futuristic novels, and to compare them with those of the past, claiming, “Tomorrow isn’t what it used to be” (Reeve, 225). It seems that the current trend in YA dystopia is to create worlds where adult society is destroyed, heroes and heroines lack empathy, and worlds are dark and sad. This appears to be a step away from futuristic novels of the past, which offered humor and bright outcomes.

Outline However for some games today is simply one more piece of their day by day lives, it is anything but difficult to overlook that only 120 years back, a number of the games we underestimate did not yet exist, and those that did would be scarcely unmistakable to the present day sports group of onlookers. The historical backdrop of present day sports points of interest an advancement, from diversions played essentially for excitement and recreation to an industry equaling some other in size and power.

Divergent, by author Veronica Roth, is noted on the New York Bestseller list. It is the first book in the trilogy series of novels for young adults that further expands the look and feel of the dystopian genre in young adult fiction. It has a feeling similar in comparison to the book Hunger Games and The Maze Runner yet it has many differences. Divergent looks more into the personality of its characters from the inside and the resulting struggles they deal with when figuring out their identities and futures to a completely different level.

As young adult literature moved into the latter half of the twentieth century, it began to incorporate a litany of other genres, from the familiar didactic and adventure stories, to fantasy and romance. Among these, the genre of science fiction was found to be well-suited to address the changing roles the population experienced during the mid-twentieth century. In her book A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L'Engle successfully employs science fiction within young adult literature and uses it to address the concerns of a changing generation of young adult readers. Assuming that the purpose of young adult literature is not solely to entertain, but also to educate, the genre of science fiction is particularly appropriate for addressing a young audience

Crack: American pop culture has lots of references to this drug in its music (crack rap), its movies (Jungle Fever), and its books (Diary of a Crack Addict’s Wife): It is a drug that has twisted its way into the fabric of our culture, and about 6 million of us have smoked it, at a significant risk to our health.

What pops into your mind first when you think of popular culture in today’s day and age? The latest dirt on celebrities or the latest iPhone release? The latest controversial issue or the latest iTunes hit? Regardless, pop culture encompasses all four of these concepts and many more, which consume the world we live in each and every day. Think about education. At first thought, your mind may not make the connection between the newest Taylor Swift song and the highest ACT score, but the linkage between the two becomes undeniable when you dive deeper. Ponder this: each day millions of kids walk into school buildings across the United States, each of them glued to a little slice of pop culture, a.k.a. their phone. And each day these millions