The Gifted Child Symposium27 Okt 2024

The “Radical” Power of Heterosexuality: An Anatomy of YA Dystopias

Is heterosexuality enough to take down a tyrannical government? That is the question YA dystopian novels in the 2010s were brave enough to ask. Over a decade later, we take it upon ourselves to try to answer it. In this episode, we analyse some of the most iconic and still-relevant-to-this-day books such as The Hunger Games, Uglies, and Delirium, exploring the tropes and inconsistencies that made this genre. Listen in as we delve into how YA dystopia managed to equate technology with authoritarianism and revolution with heterosexual romance.

But what does it mean for all of us tumblr girlies who thought the solution to a Big Bad Government was found in a love triangle? And what does that have to do with (yet again) Adam and Eve? You’re not gonna want to miss this episode - it’s (catching) fire.

Music by Max Elliott

Bibliography

Bond, Paul. “The Politics of ‘The Hunger Games’.” Hollywood Reporter, 23 March, 2012, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/hunger-games-politics-jennifer-lawrence-303601/

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games Trilogy. Scholastic Press, 2008.

Dashner, James. The Maze Runner. Delacorte Press. 2011.

Dewey, Joseph. In a Dark Time: The Apocalyptic Temper in the American Novel of the Nuclear Age. Purdue University Press, 1990.

Just Write, “The Hunger Games: Revolutions Are Hard To Write.” Youtube, 31 May 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLY59czUHxs

José, “Reviewing a Conservative Young Adult Novel” Youtube, 21 September 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLYDoU0D8ho

Oliver, Lauren. Delirium Trilogy. HarperCollins, 2011.

Orwell, George. 1984. New American Library, 1981.

Roth, Veronica. Divergent Trilogy. HarperCollins, 2011.

Sarah Z, “The Rise and Fall of Teen Dystopias.” Youtube, 29 September 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hxGGWn3gWA

Trites, Roberta S. Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature. University of Iowa Press, 2000.

Westerfeld, Scott. Uglies. Simon Pulse, 2011.

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