Stars say 'Hunger Games' movie violence justified
Based on the first of three novels by Suzanne Collins, the film is a post-apocalyptic story in which US actress Jennifer Lawrence plays heroine Katniss Everdeen who volunteers to take her sister's place in a televised fight-to-the-death battle.
The hype surrounding its March 23 launch has been compared to the hugely successful Twilight vampire movie franchise, and industry experts predict an opening weekend box office tally of up to $100 million in North America alone.
In Britain, distributors agreed to cut seven seconds of footage featuring wounds and bloodied weapons in order to obtain a 12A rating and draw in a bigger, younger audience.
When asked whether she believed the violence depicted on screen was acceptable, Lawrence said: "I think so, yes, because it's the violence and the brutality [which] is the heart of the film, because it's what gets the people angry to start an uprising and to start a revolution.
"I do think the violence and brutality is justified, but I understand if everybody has a different standard for ratings,"the actress told Reuters on the red carpet at the European premiere of The Hunger Games in London late Wednesday.
In the US, the film aimed largely at a teenaged audience received a PG-13 rating "for intense violent thematic material and disturbing images — all involving teens".
Josh Hutcherson, who plays Peeta Mellark, said he believed director Gary Ross had struck the right balance between staying true to the book and not overdoing the violence.
"I think kids are more mature than they have been over the years and I think ... the whole idea was to make this movie and stay true to the book without alienating audiences.
"So Gary Ross did it in a way where he didn't glorify [the violence] at all. It's not overly gruesome or brutal but it is part of the story in some way."
British actor Toby Jones, Claudius Templesmith in the film, praised the pacing of The Hunger Games.
"It feels like a sort of adult film in style, it's not that fast editing you see all the time in films that are supposedly for young people," he told Reuters.
"It's much more, it believes that the audience were interested in the characters so it takes its time."
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Cast member Liam Hemsworth poses at the premiere of "The Hunger Games" at Nokia theatre in Los Angeles, California March 12, 2012.
Image by: MARIO ANZUONI / REUTERS
Amazon (http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/category/amazon), Children's Books (http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/category/childrens-books)Suzanne Collins Is Best-Selling Kindle Author of All Time (http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/suzanne-collins-is-best-selling-kindle-author-of-all-time_b48665)
By Maryann Yin on March 19, 2012 3:07 PM(https://www.znaksagite.com/diskusije/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediabistro.com%2Fgalleycat%2Ffiles%2F2012%2F03%2Fcollins.jpg&hash=feafdcee43b6262dba29bfdff48a9bf58e02e520)
Hunger Games trilogy author Suzanne Collins is the best-selling Kindle author of all time, according to Amazon (http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1673532&highlight=).
Over at Salon, Laura Miller took an in-depth look at the series' success (http://www.salon.com/2012/03/18/the_making_of_a_blockbuster/): "With the right title, a kid's publisher can deploy something the world of adult publishing can only dream about: a large, well-oiled and highly networked group of professional and semi-professional taste makers who can make that book a hit even before it's published."
In June 2011, Collins became the first children's books author (http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/suzanne-collins-becomes-first-childrens-author-to-sell-1-million-kindle-ebooks_b31757) to sell more than one million Kindle books. For the last ten weeks, the Hunger Games trilogy has occupied the top three spots on the USA Today best-seller list (http://books.usatoday.com/bookbuzz/post/2012-03-15/fans-are-hungry-for-more-games-books-top-best-seller-list/648190/1). In addition, the trilogy currently holds the #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list (children's series category (http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2012-03-25/series-books/list.html)) after 81 weeks on the list.
Lionsgate has also released another clip from the upcoming film adaptation. The clip (embedded below) features a conversation scene between Panem's president Coriolanus Snow (played by (http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/donald-sutherland-cast-in-the-hunger-games_b31321) Donald Sutherland) and head gamemaker Senaca Crane (played by Wes Bentley).
This particular scene never took place in the books, but it has drawn more than 8,400 "likes" on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/thehungergamesmovie/posts/285064458230436).
Right now, Amazon is hosting "The Hunger Games Book Trilogy Sweepstakes (http://www.amazon.com/hungergames)" where twelve lucky people can win a Kindle Fire along with the three books.
Prvi put čuh za ovu knjigu pre neki dan na Tviteru, kad je Nil Gejmen rekao kako je gledao sa ćerkom film, koji se njoj nimalo nije dopao, dok joj je knjiga super.
http://www.alnari.rs/a/80f2a0d6-53ff-41a6-97b1-3e569fa7ccbf/Suzan-Kolins.aspx (http://www.alnari.rs/a/80f2a0d6-53ff-41a6-97b1-3e569fa7ccbf/Suzan-Kolins.aspx)
Kako me nervira kad ne napišu ime prevodioca. (ili ja to ne vidim?)
Maja Kostadinović (bar za prvu knjigu, nisam gledala ostale). Klikneš na "pogled u knjigu", pa na "odlomak".
A, fala. :oops:
REVIEW SUMMARY: By turns pedestrian and pretentious, Gary Ross's adaptation of Suzanne Collins's young adult novel still delivers a good deal of suspense and a remarkable ensemble cast.
MY RATING:
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: Every year, the districts of Panem offer tributes, 24 boys and girls, to fight in a televised competition—the Hunger Games. When her sister Prim is called during the Reaping Ceremony, Katniss Everdeen offers to take her place.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Strong ensemble performances from new and seasoned performers; intriguing glimpses of a totalitarian world that never gets toopreachy; deft handling of action sequences and characters; a dark premise...
CONS: ...that could be darker given said premise; too long; Gary Ross's scattershot direction; a bit too familiar for the well-versed science fiction viewer; feels like a buffer was placed between the movie and the viewer.
An early scene shows the strength and key weakness of The Hunger Games, director Gary Ross's adaptation of Suzanne Collins's grim 2008 dystopia. During the Reaping ceremony, Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) stands in a fenced area with the other girls as the clownishly dressed and painted Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) draws a name to serve as District 12's tribute for the Hunger Games, a televised contest involving mortal combat between twenty-four boys and girls, with only one standing as victor. When Trinket announces Katniss's twelve-year-old sister Prim (Paula Malcomson) as tribute, Katniss, obviously panicked and terrified, suddenly volunteers to take her place. Lawrence evokes a degree of fear and desperation so powerful that it contrasts with the events leading up to this moment, in which the other boys and girls sullenly mill about as their parents look on, similarly dismal. Even though the Reaping and the Hunger Games represent a seventy-year tradition for the nation of Panem (which devised the Games as punishment after an uprising by District 13), and despite the obviously totalitarian regime overseeing all of the districts now inhabiting North America, everybody wears the scene with acceptance and resignation, and without protest. I write this review as the nation expresses its outrage at the death of Trayvon Martin and wonder if even the most indifferent parents would so passively accept even the idea that a regime could send their children off to a nearly certain death.
Why does this matter? Perhaps because Collins's novel compelled reader interest despite obvious lapses. Reading like a mélange of Robert Sheckley's "The Prize of Peril," Robert A. Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky, and Koushun Takami's Battle Royale, The Hunger Games told its tale from Katniss's point of view, allowing her to be a full citizen of Panem and District 12, where her observations of others might seem far more matter of fact. The movie, by contrast, draws on so many other dystopias, from elements of Rollerball and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome to The Running Man and Death Race 2000, that Ross builds an unintentional buffer between the movie and the audience, thus causing this major scene to play somewhat falsely. (It doesn't help that coal miners make up the population of District 12, yet everybody seems far too clean.) But only somewhat, because despite the implausibility of the setup, Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson compel interest as Katniss and Peeta Mellark (District 12's second tribute).
Indeed, at first glance The Hunger Games's strength appears to rest solely on its cast and performances. As Katniss and Peeta ride a train to Panem's capitol city they meet their hard-drinking trainer Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), the only person in District 12 who ever survived the Hunger Games. Once at the capitol Katniss meets the stylist Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) and is given a makeover. The President (Donald Sutherland) oversees the capitol and Panem itself while smarmy, obsequious Seneca Crane (Wes Bently, who wears a black beard that looks like the hibiscus background of a smartphone) oversees the Hunger Games itself. Even Stanley Tucci and Toby Smith play television hosts Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith, respectively, with a relish and zeal that never dips into scenery chewing.
Additionally, the sequences in the capitol allow screenwriters Ross, Collins, and Billy Ray to flesh out the world of Panem, from its pageantry to the crass manipulation of its media. Its citizens dress in cotton-candy-colored clothing and similarly hued hair, looking a little like the underground denizens of L.Q. Jones's A Boy and His Dog. While interesting, ultimately the commentary comes across as heavy-handed, notably as Flickerman tries to play Katniss and Peeta as District 12's star-crossed lovers. Worse still, the movie drags as Katniss and Peeta run through their training as a matter of course, and the movie seems to run out of steam just before the Games begin, as if the screenplay can't bring itself to the main event. Think of Rocky without the final fight.
But when the players find themselves in the ring — in this variation of the games a forest — everything coalesces. Ross's direction finally settles into place, and the characters show the cunning and strength that hovered into realization in all preceding scenes. As members of other districts hunt Katniss, she tries to move as far away from the action as possible, but Crane engineers a forest fire to move her back on track. Ross builds tension and suspense in many sequences (especially the scene where Katniss drops a hive of tracker jackets onto a pack of gamers), though he cannot help but build a buffer. The brutal killing of adolescents, while grim, should pack more of a punch. Granted, the movie needed to lighten its mood in order to receive a PG-13 rating, but sacrifices the disturbing depths it could have explored, making merely disturbing what could have been chilling and harrowing.
And yet The Hunger Games nonetheless manages to be affecting and powerful in spite of multiple misgivings. It retains a good deal of Collins's novel while showcasing its strong cast, and while a bit aloof, demonstrates care for its characters seldom seen in most adaptations. It's not perfect, but it is perfectly acceptable.
By Derek (http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/author/derek/) | Friday, March 23rd, 2012 at 9:00 am
Ja sam pročitao prvih nekoliko stranica i bacio knjigu na reject hrpu. Ali pošto sam imao sličnu reakciju i na "Sumrak", očigledno je da ja nemam osećaj za štivo za tinejdžerke.
:lol: I ja, mislim da sam pročitala nekih 20tak strana i to je bilo to. Ali mogu da shvatim hajp, pošto je pisana vrlo prijemčivim stilom.
http://finalbossform.com/post/19895614851/what-do-they-call-the-hunger-games-in-france (http://finalbossform.com/post/19895614851/what-do-they-call-the-hunger-games-in-france)
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http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/03/the-hunger-games-leads-the-pack-in-a-new-wave-of-dystopia (http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/03/the-hunger-games-leads-the-pack-in-a-new-wave-of-dystopia)
Hunger Games sets US box office record
Action film The Hunger Games has taken $155m (£97m) at the US box office in its opening weekend.
It is the biggest-ever tally for a film that is not a sequel, and the third best opening of all time.
Above it come last year's Harry Potter finale, which took $169.2m (£106.6m) in its first weekend, and 2008's The Dark Knight, which made $158.4m (£99.8m).
Based on Suzanne Collins' novel, Hunger Games follows a teenage girl fighting to survive a life-and-death game show.
It stars Jennifer Lawrence, who won an Oscar nomination for hard-hitting drama Winter's Bone in 2011.
The film has been compared to the Twilight series, which was also based on a series of novels for young adults.
However, its box office takings have eclipsed the vampire series, whose best opening weekend came in 2009, when Twilight: New Moon raked in $141m (£88.8m).
Industry analyst Paul Degerabedian said the film's success marked "the birth of a franchise".
"To launch in this fashion is mind-boggling," added David Spitz, head of distribution at Lionsgate, which released the movie.
"I was so excited to see how everyone was responding to the material and how ecstatic they were to be a part of it."
Indeed, the film's opening figures may rise again, with final box office tallies due to be released by tracking company Exhibitor Relations on Monday.
Malo ozbilnjija analiza u njujorkeru, prilicno negativno intonirana
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2012/04/02/120402crci_cinema_denby (http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2012/04/02/120402crci_cinema_denby)
QuoteSuzanne Collins's "The Hunger Games" (the first book in a best-selling
young-adult trilogy) is a sensational piece of pop primitivism—a Hobbesian war
of all against all.
:mrgreen:
Nabavio sam knjigu, pa ću je i pročitati. Znate da sam slab na popkulturne fenomene.
Sad me je zvao jedan čo'ek da mi kaže kako je za noć srubio knjigu i da je oduševljen. Turiću je na reading list...
Mora da imaš velikog poštpvanja ta tog čoveka, ili si olako odbacio knjigu?
Mene i ne zanimaju nešto preterano popularne stvari, možda za desetak godina pročitam, kad svi zaborave i budu zaokupljeni nekim novim hitom.
Prvo je sasvim sigurno, dok je drugo lako moguće. A može biti i da se nalazim u muci koja se zove preobilje svega i svačega, pa na kraju mesto da nešto čitam ili gledam - legnem da spavam. :)
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Post-apocalyptic action movie 'The Hunger Games' opened with a staggering $155 million (about R1.2 billion) at US and Canadian box offices, the highest domestic opening for a movie that isn't a sequel, and established what may become one of Hollywood's biggest blockbuster franchises.
Internationally, the Lions Gate Entertainment drama about an oppressive society's teen death match added $59.3 million (about R452 million) from 67 markets for a global haul of $214.3 million (approximately R1.6 billion).
The massive US and Canadian debut for the film ranked as the third-highest domestic opening weekend in history behind only last summer's Harry Potter finale and 2008 Batman movie The Dark Knight, Lions Gate said on Sunday.
The movie's success brings the first blockbuster franchise to Lions Gate, a smaller Hollywood studio best-known previously for the Saw horror series and comedian Tyler Perry's films.
Hunger Games set records for highest opening of a non-sequel film and biggest debut outside the summer blockbuster season.
"The first movie in a franchise, to post a number like this, is really insane. There is no other word for it," said Phil Contrino, editor of Boxoffice.com.
"Harry Potter had seven movies before it got to that point, and Dark Knight had years and years of building the Batman brand. This movie comes and hangs with them in the same league," Contrino said.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 opened with $169.2 million (about R1.29 billion) domestically over its opening weekend, while Dark Knight took in $158.4 million (about R1.2 billion), according to Hollywood.com.
Hunger Games is an action-filled survival drama based on the first of three best-selling young adult novels by Suzanne Collins. Jennifer Lawrence stars as Katniss Everdeen, a teen girl who fights in a televised battle-to-the-death ordered by her society's rulers. Everdeen becomes a beacon of hope for freedom against the totalitarian government.
Lions Gate executives got a sense of the huge appetite for Hunger Games when they ventured with director Gary Ross and producer Nina Jacobson to the ArcLight Cinema in Hollywood late on Thursday ahead of the first screenings just after midnight.
Fans packed the lobby for showings on multiple screens, with many of the book's devotees dressed as characters. Similar scenes occurred across the country. By Saturday evening, executives went to bed thinking the film would finish the weekend with about $140 million (about R1.06 billion) domestically. But sales held up stronger than expected from Friday night to Saturday night, dropping just 25 percent instead of the typical 40 percent or more.
"To launch a franchise like this is incredible. It's above and beyond our expectations," David Spitz, executive vice president of domestic distribution for Lions Gate, said on Sunday. "We're just going to enjoy the ride."
Going into the weekend, industry forecasters projected about $125 million (about R953 million) in domestic receipts from Friday through Sunday. Box-office watchers compared the movie's drawing power to the Twilight vampire romance films, another franchise based on popular young adult books.
The Hunger Games blew past the domestic debuts for each of the first four Twilight films, which Lions Gate now owns after buying Summit Entertainment in January.
Hunger Games rung up an average of $37 467 (about R285 000) at 4137 domestic locations over the weekend.
Audiences applauded the film adaptation of the book, giving the movie an "A" grade on average in polling by survey firm CinemaScore.
Hunger Games appealed to more adults and more males than Twilight, which banked a large chunk of its receipts from teenage girls, Contrino said. Fifty-six percent of the Hunger Games audience was over age 25, and 39 percent was male.
The movie cost about $80 million (about R600 million) to produce after tax credits. The studio pre-sold distribution rights in foreign markets other than Britain to cut its cost to about $30 million (about R230 million). That reduced the risk but also limited the money Lions Gate will get from overseas sales.
Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire is set to reach theatres in November 2013.
Toy companies also are trying to score big off the movie. Teen retailer Hot Topic Inc said last week it had sold out some Hunger Games merchandise. Hasbro Inc and Mattel Inc also have licenses to market toys based on Hunger Games.
To win the rights to make the film, Lions Gate beat out bigger and better funded rivals with personal appeals to Collins beginning in 2009.
Elsewhere this weekend, Hunger Games had little competition at the domestic box office. No other new movies were released nationwide.
Comedy 21 Jump Street took second place for the weekend with $21.3 million (about R162 million), and animated Dr. Seuss' The Lorax finished third with $13.1 million (about R99 million).
Rounding out the top five, Disney sci-fi adventure John Carter pulled in $5.0 million (about R38 million), and military drama Act of Valor grossed $2.1 million (about R16 million).
Valja ti i to malo da odmoriš oči.
Quote from: Nightflier on 26-03-2012, 14:06:19
Sad me je zvao jedan čo'ek da mi kaže kako je za noć srubio knjigu i da je oduševljen. Turiću je na reading list...
Da, ovo se zaista brzo čita. Jedna besana noć je dovoljna. Ja se ne žurim toliko, ali verujem da ću danas završiti sa prvom knjigom (načeo sam je juče). Prešao sam uveliko polovinu. Kao prvo i osnovno, stil Suzan Kolins je u najbolju ruku osrednji. Roulingova, recimo, mnogo bolje piše i mislim da problem nije u prevodu. S druge strane, Kolinsonova definitivno šije Mejervu, tako da nije nagora od sve dece... Najveći kvalitet
Igara gladi je priča koja je baš
action packed. Uvod je so-so, ali sasvim podnošljiv. Kad krenu igre i akcija... Njam! Veoma uzbudljivo. Čak ima i znenađenja! Na primer: SPOJLER Jednu od cura, i to baš plavu kučku, izujedaju nekakvi mutirani insekti, pa se nesrećnica sva naduje i počne da se raspada. Glavna junakinja pokušava da dođe do luka koji je ispod umiruće i tokom toga je bukvalno komada, otpadaju delovi mesa i slično... Prilično hardcore za
young adult kategoriju... :) KRAJ SPOJLERA
Neka nek se navikakaju na surovost, iako su već i sam znaš "standardi" i kriterijumi opali, pa tako klinci obrću igrice dok su još u pelenama.
A bas hvale njen stil (nisam citao nista od navedenih, samo prenosim sta se prica po carsiji), da je savrseno pogodila narav te klinke, da namerno koristi kratke, delimicno osiromasene recenice koje sasvim odgovaraju radnji etc...
A sad nešto sasvim drugačije:
http://jezebel.com/5896408/racist-hunger-games-fans-dont-care-how-much-money-the-movie-made (http://jezebel.com/5896408/racist-hunger-games-fans-dont-care-how-much-money-the-movie-made)
Quote from: Melkor on 27-03-2012, 17:17:23
A bas hvale njen stil (nisam citao nista od navedenih, samo prenosim sta se prica po carsiji), da je savrseno pogodila narav te klinke, da namerno koristi kratke, delimicno osiromasene recenice koje sasvim odgovaraju radnji etc...
Roman jeste napisan u prvom licu, što je, po mom skromnom mišljenju, bila greška. Temi bi više odgovarao sveznajući pripovedač. Ketnis je jednostavan lik, brzo je upoznamo, ali je većina drugih tribjuta ostala na nivou krokija. Okej, Pita i Ru imaju nešto malo više prostora da "prodišu", ali ostalih 21... Krokiji.
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Quote from: angel011 on 27-03-2012, 17:54:17
A sad nešto sasvim drugačije:
http://jezebel.com/5896408/racist-hunger-games-fans-dont-care-how-much-money-the-movie-made (http://jezebel.com/5896408/racist-hunger-games-fans-dont-care-how-much-money-the-movie-made)
Ketnis je u romanu opisana kao izrazita crnka, tamnih očiju i maslinaste kože.
Videla sam opise, da.
A najveća povika je na ovu malu koja je igrala Rue, kako bre tako pozitivan i sladak i simpa lik da bude crnkinja (nema veze što je i u knjizi crnkinja). :-x
Pa, da... Amerikanci... Ne mogu da poveruju da pozitivan i simpatičan lik može da ima crnu kožu....
Pročitao. Simpatično je. Film će vervatno bit bolji od romana, bar postoji taj potencijal. Imam krupnih zamerki, ali u suštini ovo je prilično tvrda varijanta young adult književnosti i to svakako treba pozdraviti. Ima jedan neverovatno bizaran segment pri samom kraju... Onaj sa mutantima... xrotaeye Mogu se kladiti da su to izbacili/modifikovali u filmskoj verziji.
How The Hunger Games Should Have Ended (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxsjRmN9syc#ws)
:evil:
GOLLANCZ ACQUIRES 'THE HUNGER GAMES' PARODYGollancz Author: Marcus (http://www.gollancz.co.uk/author/marcus-gipps/) - May 9th, 2012
Fantasy (http://www.gollancz.co.uk/category/fantasy/), News (http://www.gollancz.co.uk/category/news/), Science Fiction (http://www.gollancz.co.uk/category/science-fiction/)
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Gollancz has acquired a parody of the best-selling dystopian YA series The Hunger Games.
The Hunger but Mainly Death Games (http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/content/search?SearchText=the+hunger+but+mainly+death+games&SearchButton=Search) by John Bailey Owen and Aaron Geary has already been self-published by the authors and sold over 25,000 copies in both physical and eBook format in the US. Gollancz will release the book as an £4.99 eBook on Thursday, May 10th and as a £7.99 B-format hardback in mid-June.
Owen is a former editor of the Harvard Lampoon, the name behind one of Gollancz's most successful parody novels, The Bored of the Rings (http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/books/bored-of-the-rings-hardback), and he and Geary were also contributing authors to the New York Times bestselling Twilight parody Nightlight.
The Hunger But Mainly Death Games (http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/books/the-hunger-but-mainly-death-games-hardback) tells the story of Bratniss Everclean, a poor and somewhat foolish girl from Slum 12, and her adventures in the tournament of getting slightly hungry and probably dying.
World English and Commonwealth Rights (excluding Canada and America) were bought for a good four-figure sum by Gollancz editorMarcus Gippsvia Susan Schulman at Susan Schulman Literary Agency in a deal at The London Book Fair.
It is the latest in a long line of successful parody novels from Gollancz which include The Sunday Times bestselling The Soddit (http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/books/the-soddit-hardback), The Sellamillion (http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/books/the-sellamillion-ebook) and Doctor Whom (http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/books/doctor-whom-ebook). Owen said he was delighted to be joining the list: 'I'm a big fan of Gollancz, so it's a thrill.'
Marcus Gipps said: 'As soon as John sent me the details of The Hunger But Mainly Death Games (http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/books/the-hunger-but-mainly-death-games-hardback) I knew that there was a huge potential for the book. His success in America, combined with Gollancz's proven track record in parody publishing, made us all very excited to be bringing the project over. This is the quickest that Gollancz have produced an eBook – on sale within three weeks of agreeing the offer – and the Hardback will be following within five weeks.'
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Into the Black: Reclaiming Dystopian FictionThere's not doubt about it: Dystopian fiction is a hot literary commodity. In fact, dystopian literature seems to have supplanted paranormal romance as the new "It" genre—bookshelves, both virtual and brick-and-mortar, are awash with sexy heroines who, despite total societal collapse, still managed to apply makeup. Yet, in this rush to realize Hunger Games levels of fame and fortune, publishers and their media brethren have sanitized the genre, stripping away the grit and existential horror that defines classic dystopia.
For the past few years, the publishing world was obsessed with good-looking vampires and werewolves; now "dystopias" are the new publishing trend sweeping New York and making hardened Hollywood hearts pitter-patter. But these genres are all just interchangeable set pieces, shiny new ways to spin the same old story: girl meets boy, society gets in the way, girl and boy rebel. And rebellion sells—so long as it's a safe, sanitized uprising.
This is not to say, of course, that there is no room in fiction for YA dystopia, or even that the genre is without merit. Rather, my concern with YA dystopia stems from the fact that, with very few exceptions, it's a neutered version of real dystopian literature, de-fanged and repackaged to extend its commercial appeal to the Twilight kids (and adults). The dark soul of the dystopian novel has been compromised, and, as a result, something vital has been lost.
PROPHECIES FROM THE ABYSS
Classic dystopian fiction — 1984, Brave New World, Neuromancer,Children of Men, A Clockwork Orange, to mention but a few — is fiction written with a purpose: a desire to caution mankind about the dangers of systems of control (political or religious), and the de-humanizing consequences of our over-reliance on technology. These works are warnings; feverish missives churned out by half-mad prophets and visionaries whose message is uniform and clear: If we do not change our ways, these wastelands and teeming urban slums will be our future.
But in order to effect any such change, there has to be a spark—these writers have to force the reader to feel emotions powerful enough to disrupt our routines; to shatter thought patterns and leave us so shaken that we have no choice but to alter our lives.
OF VAMPIRES AND BOOTS
None of this is to imply dystopian fiction can't be, or isn't, very, very cool. There is something irresistible about these bleak descriptions of the future, of the various brilliant backstories that imagine new and rather ingenious ways in which society might crumble. Plus, these futurelands come with their fair share of sex, drugs, and violence, the enjoyment of which tends to transcend traditional genre boundaries.
The trouble is that this new wave of dystopian fiction takes only the fun, sexy aspects of classic dystopia, and then either ignores, or pays simple lip service to, the genre's core tenets. Consider recent comments from a prominent YA dystopian blogger:
You know, its fun to see so many books try to guess how the world will end. Super-volcano's been very popular, virus is very popular, nuclear bomb is popular ... but it is kind of fun to see writers trying to stretch and be like, what else could happen, what other terrible tragedy could occur?"
People are reading dystopian fiction for the cheap thrills—like an amusement park ride or a slasher flick; its fun to be scared but the ride stops or the movie ends and we can go back to our lives: nothing has changed. And that lessens the power of dystopian fiction.
George Orwell had it right: If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever. That might not be the recipe for a capturing the hearts of the YA reader, but there's still plenty of glamorous shape-shifters and sexy vampires to go around; leave the future black.
xwink2 :mrgreen: