Our artifact is The Hunger Games and the dystopian society genre in general. We chose this because this seems to be a prominent subject in the last 8 years of novel writing. Katniss is chosen to become a contender in a morbid game of smarts and chance for the pleasure of sick, futuristic sociopaths. But The Hunger Games is simply the first series published with this idea. The Maze Runner, Divergent, even The Lunar Chronicles, and many other dystopian societies have been the source of much entertainment for young adults in the past decade. And they all contain very similar plots. A chosen young adult is sent to fix, protect, or lead. So why is this very common concept so beloved by our culture?
We discovered a few different reasons. First, all of them are about future life on earth. Perhaps it is the thought of the declining world into futuristic chaos that attracts so many fans. Secondly, these different series are all definitely making comments about overpowering governments. All happening during post-apocalyptic times, the characters in the stories are constantly fighting against oppressive governments. Perhaps it is this fear, sparked by Orvil’s 1984, that is fascinating to those who like to think of the future. Or, it could be the fact that all the protagonists are young, able bodied, attractive people. The idea of the “chosen one” or somebody who has yet to discover hidden abilities. Everyone dreams of having a super power, and these books all contain characters who, in the beginning, are very normal people. But halfway through the story, they are battling monsters, politics, and social orders. This generation dreams of being like the characters in these stories. Katniss, Tris, Thomas, and Cinder have all been a kind of fantastical role model for those who read the books. And of course, it could always just be the intense action that is lurking on every page of the books and makes for great shots in the movie adaptations.
The Hunger Games was the first of these books to be made into a movie, but all the others soon followed. While the books were popular, they are able to reach an even bigger audience. Why is it that the movies have become such a big hit that companies are using every chance they can to market these dystopian societies? The Hunger Games is even following the trend of splitting the last movie into two parts. This shows how execs are willing to sacrifice the integrity of a good movie to make a little more cash. Many people would rather see a movie, than use their imagination for a book. Yes, the main characters are attractive in the books, but they became sex symbols in the screen. America has been and still is obsessed with a teen idol, which these provide.
Making these books into movies also speaks of the originality in Hollywood at the moment. Most of the big hit movies in these days are adaptions of some sort. Comic books and novels are the popular source material, as it seems maybe the days of original ideas are over. Audiences seem to like the fact that they can go and read the book before hand. The Hunger Games being a huge example, as which was itself inspired by the likes of Tolkien’s works and Harry Potter that started this trend in the twenty first century. Also, audiences like to see the world the hero is fighting in. Movies give the audience the image of the teenage hero fighting to overthrow an oppressive government in a more vivid way than many could imagine.
Regardless, our society is obsessed with tales of woe from futuristic earth. This has become very prominent in the past decade and dystopian societies seem to be the topic of choice for many stories of this generation.
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