I like to reflect, I think it's healthy. And I was thinking back to this time back in grade school ages ago and how I got in trouble for drawing this nasty picture of some bitch at our school and calling her a she-demon. My friends all thought it was funny. The school administrators did not.
But now that I think about it, why was it so wrong to mock someone? Don't adults do that ALL the time? Hell, some of them even make careers of it; we call them comedians. So why do kids get punished for something adults get away with? It's like you learn rules in school of how behave with other humans only to throw those rules out because they mean nothing in the rule world.
Ahh, so how does this relate back to dystopia and it being popular? It's popular because nearly all of us (unless you're some spoiled brat sheltered by your parents) have lived under the thumb of oppression, whether it be school, parents, or the law. We can all relate to the protagonist and his/her hardships to be an individual in a status quo society; to try be free and make their own choices. We know what it's like to be denied choices and to be told what to do. It sucks balls.
But I think this leads to a problem in dystopia writings, I being such a huge fan of them, many readers expect the protagonist to get away and finally be free, maybe because they too wish it could happen to them. However, the reality is it's not going to happen unless you move to a tiny remote island - and even then you have to explain how you got there. How many own a boat that could sail the seas?
Even though I didn't appreciate the endings to 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley as they were both rather depressing, but it was the cold truth. We most likely won't get away.
Like I shouldn't have gotten in trouble for making fun of one of my fellow peers at school when it's perfectly acceptable for adults to do it, but I did because the school administrators are bastards. It's a crappy ending, but it's life also. Maybe the conclusion is life sucks? That humans are giant contradictions. That we're pretty much screwed. That defon says some weird shit. Hmmm...
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I suppose we like happy endings because we like to think they are possible, and they are. Why do you think people read romance stories? Because they want the hope of somebody as wonderful as Edward Cullen to walk up to them in the street and ask them out. People like to think good things are possible. It's kinda like an escape from the shitty things.
ReplyDeleteI think.
I like medium endings. Sometimes it's too much when everyone on the entire planet dies, but it's also too much when everything works out perfectly for everyone. There's a reason it's called a dystopia--because it's not a happy world!
ReplyDeleteI had never thought about it before, about how adults tell kids not to pick on each other but then adults do it all the time. That had never dawned on me, but is kind of funny!
The problem with happy endings is that it's unrealistic - there is no person like Edward Cullen in the entire world. And it wouldn't be so bad to have happy endings if people weren't so stupid and thought they could be possible. Like those disaster movies when the main characters have a brush with death, but then they miraculously survive!! Some people don't get the difference between movie magic and real life.
ReplyDeleteBut that doesn't mean there aren't good things in life, like puppies and chocolate are good. But at least I know those things are tangible, unlike an extremely hot vampire boy asking me out on a dream date.