The Rising Popularity of Dystopian Literature

Dystopia is utopia's polarized mirror image. While utilizing many of the same concepts as

utopia—for example, social stability created by authoritarian regimentation—dystopia reads

these ideas pessimistically. Dystopia angrily challenges utopia's fundamental assumption of

human perfectibility, arguing that humanity's inherent flaws negate the possibility of

constructing perfect societies, except for those that are perfectly hellish. Dystopias are solely

fictional, presenting grim, oppressive societies—with the moralistic goal of preventing the

horrors they illustrate.

Dystopian fiction has grown as a genre and continues to evolve today. One of the first

dystopian novels to become famous was George Orwell’s 1984, which is still one of the top-

selling dystopian novels today. Recently, there has been a rising popularity of dystopian

novels. These novels have been transformed into popular movies that have made millions of

dollars. There is a uniqueness to these novels that made them immensely intriguing to people

and famous in today’s society.

The concept of dystopian literature is to not only entertain readers, but to let them understand

the ideas and characteristics of a dystopian society. These characteristics are shown through

our own society but at a more drastic level. The reader gains more knowledge by finding ways

in which the topics the author writes about is relevant to today’s society. This style of writing

is so popular because it makes readers think of interesting topics that seem realistic, yet

fictional. The rising popularity of dystopian literature among adolescent audiences is

prominent in today’s pop culture due to its relevance in young adult’s lives, its direct

comparisons to current events in today’s world, and its originality in relation to other genres.

The relativity of dystopian literature to young adult’s lives is a component to why the genre is

so popular. The reasoning behind this is how the stories are written. Young adult dystopian

literature today is mostly in an adolescent’s perspective. For example, The Giver by Lois

Lowry published in 1993 was one of the first dystopian novels written in a teenager’s

perspective. Most of all dystopian novels are now written in this style, such as The Hunger

Games, Divergent, and The Maze Runner. One component to the relativity of young adult

dystopian literature is that they are written in a teenager’s perspective, which is unusual for

traditional literature.

Young adults, with the drama and the hormones, are trying to figure out who they are and

what they want to be in life. With dystopian novels, the character is perceived as someone

with independence and ambition. With everything that is happening in young adult’s lives,

young adult dystopian novels are an escape from reality. Teenagers are forever known for

their “best and worst” years of their lives. From high school parties to girls’ first love

heartbreak, teenager’s lives are like a rollercoaster. These novels parallel to teenager’s

moods in how they escalate situations in an instant, and then a completely different mood is

set up while reading.

In the end, the dystopian genre has been alive and thriving for many years. Teenagers’ love

for dystopian novels have created a whole new business for movies, merchandise, and more.

No one can predict whether this genre will continue its popularity but it will allow our present

generation more open-minded due to the ideas these novels share on government, military,

society, and culture. The real question is will young adult dystopian literature continue it’s

popularity or slowly disintegrate and begin another fad in literature?