matchstickdolly replied to your post “-the hunger games books are better than the harry potter books by a...”
No idea what idiots are saying, but fuck anyone who dismisses Collins. She's written the only accessible, up-to-date dystopia about wealth inequality AND the function of mass media as a tool to empower and control that I know of. None of the so-called greats in the genre that young adults are usually exposed to come close to exploring modern media accurately. Problems w/ the trilogy aside, I believe this will be recognized in the decades to come.
You’re absolutely right. And if any of these jerks bothered to read the excerpt that was released along with the book announcement, instead of jumping straight to screaming “white bitch traitor is writing about a fascist, cancel her!!!” then they’d see this:
As in the past, the tributes would be dumped into the Capitol Arena, a now-dilapidated amphitheater that had been used for sports and entertainment events before the war, along with some weapons to murder one another. Viewing was encouraged in the Capitol, but a lot of people avoided it. How to make it more engaging was the challenge.
This looks like it’s going to be the book about how you use mass media tricks to pretty up what was seen--honestly--as a hateful act of murdering children which people avoided seeing if they possibly could... into a big, fancy, romanticized event everyone loves.
That is fascinating and powerful.
But there’s a ton of people who think if they put “white” or “het” in front of outright misogyny--like that women artists are not allowed to write about dark subjects--that makes it woke. And some of those actively harass female authors and fanfic writers who don’t give them the soft pastel comfort porn they demand. They harass female creators who aren’t het or white too - so the transparent nature of those points is clear as well.
It is disingenuous bullshit used simply to justify the punishment and control women’s artistic expression.
It’s all part of a really disgusting overlap between media and book/ya fandoms and a range of controlling ideas about women as service providers of morality and comfort. Neovictorian wokeness.
Women do not owe us comfort, pleasure, “morally uplifting” art. Don’t like, don’t read.