{"id":1651265,"date":"2022-09-21T12:38:06","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T16:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1651265"},"modified":"2022-09-21T12:38:18","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T16:38:18","slug":"inside-the-mysterious-disappearance-of-the-young-adult-dystopian-genre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/inside-the-mysterious-disappearance-of-the-young-adult-dystopian-genre\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside The Mysterious Disappearance Of The Young Adult Dystopian Genre"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Finside-the-mysterious-disappearance-of-the-young-adult-dystopian-genre%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1651265&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>Every day the world seems to be turning the page, moving deeper and deeper into the early stages of an Orwellian nightmare. Real-life scenes eerily echo the dystopian books I read in middle school back in the early 2010s. Just consider some recent real events that sound like they could be the first chapters of a dystopia.<\/p>\n<p>Bathed in blood-red floodlights and with a pair of faceless soldiers standing at attention in the background, feckless overlord Joe Biden proclaimed that those who oppose the leftist regime are a \u201cthreat\u201d to \u201cthe very soul\u201d of the nation. These dangerous \u201cextremists\u201d are not a fanatical minority, but \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/01\/10\/disgraced-fbi-no-2-andrew-mccabe-calls-for-feds-to-treat-mainstream-conservatives-like-domestic-terrorists\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mainstream<\/a>\u201d conservative Americans, the regime tells us.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Today, equal justice under the law is unreliable. The blindfold is off, and Lady Liberty\u2019s eyes are set on the adversaries of the left. The FBI raided the Mar-a-Lago home of former President Donald Trump, and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/06\/special-master-order-reveals-bidens-direct-involvement-in-trump-raid-and-six-other-bombshells\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">President Biden<\/a> appears to be <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/06\/special-master-order-reveals-bidens-direct-involvement-in-trump-raid-and-six-other-bombshells\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">directly<\/a> involved in launching the investigation into his former opponent.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But if that sounds at all fishy, don\u2019t say so out loud. Attorney General Merrick Garland declared that any criticism of the raid on Trump will be viewed as a \u201cthreat to democracy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This regime doesn\u2019t need to throw journalists in the gulag. The media are in full compliance, supporting and echoing the regime\u2019s every decree. If the Biden administration decides we aren\u2019t in a recession, then the media gleefully <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/06\/30\/economy\/recession-economists-nber\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">change<\/a> the definition of a recession.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Could the regime risk losing power and credibility if the people knew Biden was compromised by his son\u2019s business dealings in Ukraine and China? No worries, the tech giants willingly take orders from the FBI to expunge the Hunter Biden laptop story. If you can\u2019t find it on social media, it never happened, right?<\/p>\n<p>Are you an extremist who attended the Jan. 6 protest because you had <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/01\/the-j6-show-trial-is-lying-about-election-fraud\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sincere<\/a> concerns about the integrity of the 2020 election? Then you could be put on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/travel\/airline-news\/2021\/01\/19\/tsa-hundreds-being-considered-no-fly-list-after-capitol-riots\/4210079001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">no-fly list<\/a>, your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanbanker.com\/payments\/list\/when-rioters-attacked-the-capitol-these-payment-companies-were-quick-to-respond\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Venmo<\/a> could be frozen, you could <a href=\"https:\/\/edsource.org\/updates\/sacramento-teacher-fired-after-attending-jan-6-trump-rally-sues-district\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lose your job<\/a>, and perhaps you\u2019ll even be locked up in <a href=\"https:\/\/amgreatness.com\/2021\/05\/17\/shawshank-for-january-6-detainees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">solitary confinement<\/a>. There\u2019s no evading the FBI. If the banks don\u2019t catch an insurrectionist, his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/justice-department\/teen-testifies-surreal-experience-tipping-fbi-dad-jan-6-riot-rcna18526\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">son or daughter<\/a> will gladly turn him in to the authorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Continuing in the background is a Covid mass formation psychosis, in which a scary percentage of the American people believe masks work, lockdowns were necessary, the vaccine is effective at preventing infection and transmission, and it\u2019s racist to consider the evidence suggesting Covid-19 originated in a U.S.-funded lab in Wuhan, China.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Brave doctors who dared to speak out lost their jobs and credibility. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/news\/2021\/february\/canada-pastor-jail-arrest-gracelife-church-covid-order.html\">Pastors<\/a> and priests who opened their churches were arrested, and business owners who refused to close up shop were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nj.com\/coronavirus\/2020\/12\/state-seeks-124k-in-fines-from-nj-gym-that-refused-coronavirus-closure.html\">fined<\/a> into financial ruin. All the while our untouchable elites who came up with the Covid restrictions broke every rule in their own book.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The 2010s\u2019 Dystopian Craze\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>From about 2008 to 2015, the dystopian genre exploded in popularity in the United States. And unlike today, the genre existed here <em>only<\/em> in books and films. <\/p>\n<p>In contrast to older dystopian stories, such as \u201cFahrenheit 451\u201d or \u201c1984,\u201d movies and books like \u201cThe Hunger Games,\u201d \u201cMaze Runner,\u201d and \u201cDivergent\u201d were geared toward younger audiences and featured teen and young adult protagonists.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Since movies and books often reflect the cultural anxieties of the time, it\u2019s worth asking why older zoomers and younger millennials were so enthralled with the dystopian genre, and where that craze has gone so quickly. <\/p>\n<p>The biggest of the dystopian books, \u201cThe Hunger Games,\u201d was able to strike a chord with both young conservatives and leftists. Conservatives saw the dictator \u201cPresident\u201d Snow and the elites in the capital reflect their fear of growing centralized government and the encroachment of personal freedoms in post-9\/11 America.\u00a0Young leftists, animated by the Occupy Wall Street movement and the bailouts of big banks and insurance companies during the 2008 recession, saw America\u2019s inequality of wealth and power reflected in the greedy elites living in the capital of Panem while the peasants fought to the death to survive. These books\u2019 broad appeal hinted at a deep distrust of American institutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With the integrity of our government officials, agencies, major corporations, and media crumbling in their service to the left\u2019s agenda, why hasn\u2019t the dystopian genre experienced a resurgence? Why did it die out in the first place?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Often, the last installment of a movie franchise is the highest-grossing. But the last of \u201cThe Hunger Games\u201d movies, released in 2015, was the lowest grossing of all four films. The \u201cDivergent\u201d franchise was never even completed because its 2016 installment of \u201cAllegiant\u201d did so poorly at the box office. As quickly as the dystopian genre rose in popularity, it fell, lingering now only on the dusty bookshelf of childhood rooms and in the internet wasteland of bad fan fiction.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Katniss Is Too Cis, Straight, and White<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Many have tried theorizing why the dystopian genre died out circa 2015. Some say the films dropped in quality or the books stopped creatively worldbuilding. Others speculate that reality itself became too dystopian amid global lockdowns, erasing the escapism of the genre.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSarah Z,\u201d a young, leftist YouTuber specializing in fandom culture, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-hxGGWn3gWA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">argues<\/a> that most dystopian literature and films had trouble showcasing \u201cactual oppression.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese stories often take place in race-blind and gender-blind worlds,\u201d she says. \u201cWhere society is sh-tty and horrible to people, but things like racism or sexism or homophobia or transphobia just aren\u2019t a thing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis isn\u2019t helped by the fact that a lot of these stories and especially their film adaptations tend to feature predominantly white lead characters who are also almost always canonically cis and straight,\u201d Sarah adds.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, it was not social justice but fierce protectiveness over her little sister that drove \u201cThe Hunger Games\u201d protagonist Katniss Everdeen and gave her strength in her epic fight against President Snow and the capital. <\/p>\n<p>As brave and selfless as that sounds, Sarah is right. The regime isn\u2019t going to allow Katniss to be a zoomer hero. She\u2019s too cis, straight, and white, and the centralized government she fights can sometimes feel a little too similar to the one we live under now. Highly ideological young adult publishers would never put a hero like Katniss at the forefront anymore.<\/p>\n<p>Sarah points out that one of the only dystopian franchises to survive the genre\u2019s downfall is \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale,\u201d a feminist book-turned-popular Hulu series. \u201c[The Handmaid\u2019s Tale] world where a conservative government strips rights away from women resonated well in [the Trump presidency], with the handmaid\u2019s uniform becoming a common sight at women\u2019s rights protests during this time,\u201d Sarah explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>You may be thoroughly disturbed by the weaponization of the federal government against political adversaries of the left. You may be shocked by a global social credit system unveiling itself before our eyes, or angered by the brazen collusion between the feds and the tech oligarchs. But are your kids and grandkids? It\u2019s hard to say because the\u00a0major youth publishers and librarian professionals are just as ideological and censorship-happy as Big Tech.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>America\u2019s youth are going through intense reeducation for eight hours a day in schools, and their smartphones finish the job for the rest of their waking hours. Like good subjects, young people fixate only on the issues the regime instructs them to care about. That\u2019s why \u201cThe Hunger Games\u201d is out and \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale\u201d is still in.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Government, Big Tech, and corporations are zeroing in. They know your every search, text, and purchase. They know your thoughts. They know you. Young people have been conditioned to believe this is normal. School libraries and phone screens aren\u2019t going to show them anything different. And with the regime deciding the dystopian genre is out of ideological fashion, perhaps that means we\u2019re living out one of the novels right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Evita Duffy is a staff writer to The Federalist and the co-founder of the Chicago Thinker. She loves the Midwest, lumberjack sports, writing, &#038; her family. Follow her on Twitter at @evitaduffy_1 or contact her at evita@thefederalist.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every day the world seems to be turning the page, moving deeper and deeper into the early stages of an Orwellian nightmare. Real-life scenes eerily echo the dystopian books I<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":580,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1651265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/580"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1651265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1651265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1651265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1651265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1651265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}