We’ve written some about Twilight and the many young adult novels that spun off from this. They follow a consistent pattern: a young outsider, usually a girl, becomes involved with someone who is even more of an outsider, usually because of ties to the supernatural. The clash of the two worlds creates the tension of forbidden love that drives the emotional side of the story. This clash also generates a pervasive danger that drives the action of the story. These novels are the contemporary heirs to the Gothic romance.
The genre has taken an interesting and original turn in recent years. The supernatural villains of YA novels are increasingly being replaced by nightmarish future societies. This is not precisely science fiction; at least they don’t read like science fiction. These stories are not about technologies or social trends run amok. These are about young people who attempt to form meaningful relationships despite their awful settings. These are the novels I’d be reading if I were sixteen.
The most famous of these is probably “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins. The book features Katniss, a fiercely independent teenager struggling to survive in a desperately poor coal mining town. The central government rules the continent with an iron fist. As a warning to potential opponents, annual games are held with children from across the country randomly chosen as sacrifices in a fight to the death. Needless to say, Katniss is one that number. This novel is not for the squeamish.
So why mention a novel based on such a cruel premise on Romantic Portrayals? Because our heroine is motivated not only by survival but also by romance. To make things even more interesting, the she is part of a love triangle. Basically this is “Gone with the Wind” crossed with “1984”. Naturally one of the two rivals is another participant in the games. So Katniss has the additional conflict that should they both live so long, one of them will have to kill the other to walk away from this game.
Romance turns up in the most unlikely of places.
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Excellent post, Jim.
ReplyDeleteI know my daughter has read "Hunger Games" (I've seen it in her bedroom). I must ask her about it.
The "central government which rules with an iron fist": the parental unit?
Young people in "awful settings": the tendancy of teenagers to believe that they are misunderstood and even persecuted?
And, finally, the fascination with sex and death, often together: heady stuff for many teenagers, I'd venture to say.
Ah, Marianna, you've hit the nail on the head. The reason why teenagers devour these books is because they identify with characters who have no control over their lives, live under persecution and a sense of arbitrary danger and of course forbidden or denied love. These books are full of such themes and I could identify with them too when I was a teenager.
ReplyDeleteNote that the most famous children's book of all time, Alice in Wonderland, has all these themes except for the love and romance angle.