YA dystopias teach children to submit to the free market, not fight authority

Posted by sdesapio 9 years, 7 months ago to Books
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The Hunger Games, The Giver and Divergent all depict rebellions against the state, and promote a tacit right-wing libertarianism
SOURCE URL: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/01/ya-dystopias-children-free-market-hunger-games-the-giver-divergent


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  • Posted by Bobhummel 9 years, 7 months ago
    The reason these are successful, especially Hunger Games, is that the truth is the truth. All of these YA dystopia books and movies show the evil that the socialist utopians promise in their true form. Oppression of the individual with a free mind. Wether it is Plato's Republic, or sir Thomas Mores' Utopia, or Thomas Hobbes' The Leviathan, the utopian society of the left demands submission to a higher authority, the oppression of the individual's sovereignty . These YA stories show that the individual is the sovereign.
    We can only support their success. The counter-counter revolution comith.
    Cheers
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    • Posted by Hiraghm 9 years, 7 months ago
      "Between midnight and dawn, when sleep will not come, and all the old wounds begin to ache, I often have a nightmare vision of a future world in which there are billions of people, all numbered and registered, with not a gleam of genius anywhere, not an original mind, a rich personality, on the whole packed globe."

      J.B. Priestly

      There's a dystopian future in a single sentence.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 7 months ago
    Hollywood doesn't reject these films because A) they make money, and B) They're too stupid to see the difference between these films and the big bad corporation films of the previous decades. That's a good thing. Another thing that has changed since the past is that the heroes are really heroic. They are not anti-heroes, bad guys turned good guys or the like. They are in the mold of "heroes are made not born." This is good for us and those like us to understand, and the others to wonder why those films just don't feel right.
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 9 years, 7 months ago
    I've seen the first two Hunger Games movies. I think maybe liberal Hollywood does not quite get it how those flicks reflect the truth about why a big socialist theology government cannot help but turn into a big bully. It will happen every time. And it has right here.
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  • Posted by Temlakos 9 years, 7 months ago
    I had wondered about that. I have watched both the two instalments of the series that are out (through my subscription-TV provider). The whole Capitol setup looked like what the Soviet Union might have aspired to be. In fact "President Snow" reminds me of (de facto) President Obama.

    Now the only problem is: with the Mockingjay instalments, you will see a stateswoman, supposedly leading revolution, but actually leading a putsch and manipulating Katniss Everdeen through her family affiliations. You will see "President Coin" pull a very nasty trick, thus showing she is just as bad as Snow. I'll let you guess what Katniss does about it when she deduces that fact.
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  • Posted by DaveM49 9 years, 7 months ago
    There's an excellent rebuttal, "Rebelfire", by Claire Wolfe. Not exactly an objectivist novel, but an excellent tale (for any age) about a teenager who lives in a total surveillance society and finds himself on the run, basically after a "thoughtcrime". The title is the name of an "outsider" rock band which figures in the book. As a gimmick, a CD containing several songs "by the band" is bound in.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 9 years, 7 months ago
    What I couldn't overlook was the bias of the editorialist in this article, who clearly favors the state-authoritarian to the free thinker.

    Well, if things progress much further, he'll get his wish and be able to see just how delusional his faith in the government is.
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  • Posted by BrettScott 9 years, 7 months ago
    The YA movies, books and TV shows depict most adults as oppressive, weak, idiotic or out-of-touch. The rebellious kids are cool, smart, good-looking and heroic.
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    • Posted by Kittyhawk 9 years, 7 months ago
      Hmmm, I think there were quite a few admirable adults in Hunger Games. Katniss' mother is an herbalist and practices alternative medicine as best she can. Haymitch helps Katniss and Peeta with savvy strategy. Effie is ignorant at first, but comes around and also supports Katniss. Katniss is very close to her stylist, Cinna, who offends the elites with his costume designs and is beaten for it. The other series I haven't read, but they sound interesting.
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      • Posted by BrettScott 9 years, 7 months ago
        You're right, Kittyhawk. Some of the adults are sympathetic to the kids, but they're portrayed as punching bags for The Man, or they're deeply flawed people. The kids don't tolerate that sort of thing in themselves. For example, Katniss is a much stronger character than her mother, Haymitch is dysfunctional and Cinna is a whipping boy. This sort of thing is much more prominent in TV for tweens - it's embarrassing to watch.
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