There seem to be two sects within the YA industry and literature in general at the moment. One side if for fantasy and an all-out explosion of the fantastic. The other for practicality and realism.
I think you should be able to guess which side I’m on by this point, however I do appreciate the elements of the fantastic from time to time. I’m just extremely picky about them. And in all honesty, I haven’t been a big supporter of the fantastic because it’s… not fantastic enough.
These Tuesday posts are here for me to rant, but more importantly for me to challenge an industry and push the buttons of a system. As a culture we need literature. Stories and art will never cease to exist. But we’re also the progress pushers. As writers we have the capability to conjure up any world we can possibly dream of. So why aren’t we? Sure, some may be based on our own cities and out own technologies, but what’s being published today in the realm of the fantastic is nothing compared to what used to be here.
Look at George Orwell’s 1984. It’s what he thought the year, 1984, would look like with a government divided and always watching and children acting as spies and more secrets than anyone can ever imagine. He questions the individual while we, on the other hand, praise the individual for doing mundane, individual things. Or saving the world (but one person doesn’t do that alone here).
Or even the Metamorphosis, The Great Gatsby, any classic literature is an indepth study of not only the human mind and social trends but also a push on the culture. Where’s the limit? How do we cross it? Where can we cross it? And how far can we go once we’re over that line? How radical can we become?
The only books that push the realm of the fantastic today seem to be Harry Potter–which culturally changed an entire generation. There are studies. Go read them.
I would suggest The Hunger Games, however the world could have been far more creative and I wish the media would have realized that the entire novel is a critique on the media itself. They don’t even acknowledge that in the movies, and it makes me angry. Harry Potter was a world based on Rowling’s imagination and her experiences in life. It was built on the same principles that are found in our modern day world, but it wasn’t our world at all.
1984 is much of the same, built on a world with government and a value system while also critiquing the political spheres of Orwell’s day.
What does Divergent critique? What does If I Stay question–aside from mortality? What does The Fault in Our Stars push in terms of cultural norms? (Yes it’s a book about dying kids who fall in love to put it in its crudest, simplest form. But what does that challenges a reader to understand?)
Where are the moral lessons that make us question our lives? 1984 questions truth as well as many other things. Harry Potter questions political structures, honesty, character, and identity. The Hunger Games questions the influence and control of the media in today’s world. What do the rest of the “fantastic” tales question?
I want worlds that take me zillions of miles away. I want to see other universes, but I also want to be forced to question my values and the way I see certain elements of the world. I stay away from today’s “fantastical” literature because it takes me away, but I’m not left questioning anything once I’ve finished the story.
Tweetables:
Whose side are you on? The #fantastical or #realistic facets of #yalit on @hannahhuntwrite #TypingTuesday
Elements of the fantastic aren’t fantastic enough. @hannahhuntwrite explains why on #TypingTuesday #yalit
What would make books more fantastic is if they made me think. @hannahhuntwrite on #TypingTuesday #yalit
hannahhuntwritesblog 