Oh, teenagers. Able-bodied young people with creative minds and some rebellious undertones. Oh, dystopian media, full of able-bodied young people capable of thinking outside the box.

Wait a minute.

Backing up a second, Dystopian media really isn’t that “interesting.” It’s typically a range of length within literature, surrounding stories of younger, intelligent people living in a world different from ours today. What’s so great about it? Ask that question to its success and popularity. I tend to believe that there is good reason that younger people find fascination in such media. Not only are their creative, discovering minds rooted with theoretics and curiosity, a teens mind is one to find relatability within resolve, and a great way for that it a strong, relatable protagonist- which dystopian literature also provides. This all combines with the rebellious undertones of dystopian literature to give a sense of individuality and self-discovery to those reading.

There are plenty of things that factor into a good dystopian story, and I believe it starts with a more universal law of literature, the protagonist. Here we need one whos strong, of course, someone who can endure tough times for the greater good. But here, they also need to be relatable, to be strong facing problems many teens today face, while also approaching them in similar fashion. This gives an extra sense of immersion. Of course, these statements mean nothing without holding water, but it’s easy to see how these characters are important building blocks to the set.

For one, almost all of these protagonists are strong, or at least give them a potent trait. These traits will always end up being positive, something to build on as the story progresses. (See Katniss Everdeen in the hunger games for example. Her heart is built upon as the hunger games progresses.) By the end, it shows their role in a grand, grey scheme on the surface, but also how it affects them on the inside. With important traits of these protagonists, we begin to see character development through a plethora of issues, whether it be teenage-based like a young love story, or something bigger like defying government control. Many protagonist’s don’t even have to be a teen to be relatable to them. One good story that is an example of this is “Ten With a Flag”, a story revolved around an overarching ranking system to society and the authoritarian control. “No one ever said we’d let you go through with it, though. The flag is an option, not a right. Arrest him.” (The antagonist of TWAF Mr. White to the rebellious protagonist Johnny. Quote from Joseph Paul Haines.) This quote shows how a government’s power can be seen as a story obstacle from the eyes as someone as headstrong and honest as Johnny.

        In the end many of these “positive” traits can lead to confrontation in a negative society, and it shows. It takes a lot of strength and integrity to be something special, to find who they are in a society bent on suppression. For instance, take Harrison in Harrison Bergeron, a story revolved around the only boy who has changed his destiny, for better or worse. "Even as I stand here" he bellowed, "crippled, hobbled, sickened - I am a greater ruler than any man who ever lived! Now watch me become what I can become!" (Kurt Vonnegut Jr.) This quote shows Harrison’s willpower, his ability to pull through the extreme lengths gone to “normalise him.”

Another bonus to the protagonist that goes well with strength is relatability, hopefully filling readers with ambition. Though older dystopian protagonists are very good examples of facing against the tide, it wasn’t until people actually started taking interest in this that dystopian novels starting swinging into our culture, and overtime teens became a huge constant in it’s fans. How to keep them happy? Something immersible. A story that can draw them in and keep them comparing. The most effective way of doing this is a protagonist that is relatable. One who deals with growing old as an overarching antagonist to the crazy adventures these protagonists deal with. (Look at how the teens in the maze runner series progress.) And ones who try to adapt to an adults world (look at Primrose Everdeen in the Hunger games.) Many protagonists today are meant to relatable to it’s easier to get involved in these stories, and I tend to believe that it works.

       That all said though, a good protagonist isn’t exclusive to dystopian literature. They aren’t anything new to the table, so is there anything that is? Maybe not, but there is still more that dystopian literature is tailored to tackle. One of these things is the ability to craft a world similar to that of ours, making it relatable itself. These societies are meant to seem like one that we could turn to any second, and it can impose fear into readers of where we are going with our own world. I digress, the point is to make these two world comparable, and dystopian literature is ver, very good at that. Again, especially with teenagers. As teenagers grow and change it gets harder to resonate with people, as the mob mentality begins to fade. They have novelty-seeking behavior, and need someone or something to resonate with. To make their quirks normal, like there is somebody else out there. Dystopian literature takes these thoughts and plants them in these stories, with different teens with dynamic personalities dealing with things teens deal with today. Authority issues, love issues, sibling rivalry, work, stress etc. It’s everywhere, and it helps build these comparable worlds.

        Beyond that, there are overarching issues in these stories, issues that seem to tie into the theme of the protagonist. These issues always seem to worsen as a series progress (Look at how the hunger games and insurgent went with every installment! For example, Katniss’s world begins to crumble in Catching fire, to put down the people katniss has lifted. This though, is a driving force to her strive to something great, her transformation into the mockingjay. It seems like the issue of her district and Snow’s regime was just a challenge to her destiny. A natural roadblock.) I believe that is a nice little touch to the aging protagonist’s and readers, as their maturity bring more responsibility and bigger issues. There are also maintaining personal issues, like love and sickness, which never cease. These characters are strong and relatable because of the world they are in, and if modern pieces are read, it will become easy to see. The best thing is, it isn’t even excluded to large stories to build on these themes and problems. The thing is, they can be a crucial part of a character, or a society, to where it can easily be the main focus of a story, to where it IS the driving point of a story, which keeps short stories like “the Veldt” foused and confined, in this case based around on telling a specific theme of how technology can cause sovereignty.

        All of these point tie into one, and it’s the creative mind of their readers, kids. Teens. As they grow into the limbo stage of their life, the stage of self-discovery, their minds begin to get more diverse and thinking. This is the stage where kids begin to grow apart into their own paths, get their own interests, their own opportunities, etc. Their cognitive abilities will improve and they begin to be able to insert themselves in many places. Not only in the real world though, teens begin to be able to imagine themselves in these fantasy lands. They can immerse themselves, which is completely normal. Taking their skills and experiences, they can interpret what and who they would be in a world different than one they landed themselves in. They are very theoretical, always asking “what would happen?” What would happen if I was in this story? Who would I be? Would I meet the protagonist, what I be a blank face? A soldier for the control? It always roots back to this. “Who am I? “What could I be?” You see this a lot in the Veldt from the aging kids, and the ambitious man-boy from Harrison Bergeron. Why couldn’t our kids imagine being like them? They can insert themselves in fantasy with their creativity using their personalities, and because these dystopian worlds are fundamentally similar, it is so easy to decide who they could be. All of that ability makes dystopian literature interesting with its niche of being a potential tomorrow. Add that with it’s interesting characters, lifestyles and cultures, you have the curiosity and involvement in fans at your whim.

      But hold on a second here. How are dystopian societies and our societies similar? It’s obvious, really. Even in altered politics, the substance is relatively similar to keep the nice mask on the society. You can even see that today, to some. From “Hazel turned to comment about the blackout to George. But George had gone out into the kitchen for a can of beer.” (Another quote from Harrison Bergeron, written by Kurt Vonnegut) to show that goods and services are intact in this society, or a quote from “The Veldt”, a dystopian short story based around the way that technology can change people- “George Hadley looked in at the changed scene. “Go to bed,” he said to the children.” that shows that the communication between people are similar to that of today (excluding equilibrium,) especially with families (until kids kill their parents, but you know.) Look at other stories and movie and you can see social classes in some of them, similar work to that of today, similar transportation, dressing, culture, etc; all with a touch of futuristic elements. On the surface you could mistake it for America 10 years from now, but when we get to the juicy things, you can see that dystopian societies are really a whole package, and can seem like they sustain themselves without any outside sources. With the similar society hiding an ugly core, dystopian literature seems fit for teenagers who wrap around new ideas based on thoughts of the old.

In conclusion, I believe the “teenage state of mind” really benefits interest in dystopian literature. Comparable worlds and circumstances ring true with a gaining mind and from there, their creativity will take the wheel and drive them to keep building upon the story and the characters themselves with immersion. I believe this is an important read because it shows that today’s teens interest in specific literature can bring out the best of them by giving them opportunities to build paths based on what they see in these texts. From a strong relatable protagonist to idolize to the ability to bring themselves into what they read, teens can pave ways through their world with newfound attempts at finding goals for themselves.