The Resurgence of the 2010s YA Phenomenon

When you think of the decades 2010 to 2016, what comes to your mind?

Sitting down watching your favorite Disney Channel show, listening to One Direction release their first album, Up All Night, or was it different internet trends like Harlem Shake or Gangnam Style? 

Of course, I think of those things when thinking of that certain decade, but one of the biggest things that I think of is the popular young adult novel adaptation of a movie/show. Whether it was about teens navigating in a dystopian world or finding out that they are a wizard, there was a time when these books and movies dominated the world. Popular examples of this would be The Hunger Games (2012), Divergent (2015), The Maze Runner (2014), Harry Potter (2001), Percy Jackson (2010), and many more. 

Even though these shows and movies ended a long time ago, we recently have seen a resurgence of the past. 

In 2022, Lionsgate, the production company for The Hunger Games Series, announced that they would be doing an adaptation of the recent prequel to The Hunger Games called The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023). As soon as this was announced along with the cast, it immediately created a storm of conversation on social media. This was especially true amongst people who were obsessed with the novels and the movies a while back. 

The book and movie are about President Snow, the main villain of the universe, as a young mentor for the 10th Hunger Games as he is assigned by Lucy Gray Baird, a tribute from District 12. The book shows a different side of the villain and also shows the rise of the character we know today.

The hype for this movie was and still is everywhere, especially on social media. There have been thousands of TikTok about people talking about their “Hunger Games phase” and how they then will be seeing the movie that is about to come out. 

People also feel a sense of nostalgia as it was announced that Olivia Rodrigo will be making a song for the movie called “You Can’t Catch Me Now.” This is reminiscent of when many famous singers would create songs for these movies, a.k .a. Taylor Swift for the first Hunger Games.

There has also been a rise in another famous YA series that will be making a comeback. It was announced in 2022 that Disney+ would be making a series adapting the popular book series Percy Jackson. This is different from The Hunger Games because there was already an adaptation of the books as two movies in the 2010s. However, fans were disappointed by the movies as they did not follow the books at all. That’s when its author, Rick Riordan, announced that he was writing the show and being a part of the creative decisions behind it. 

Like The Hunger Games, this created a huge conversation on social media about the fact that the adaptation will be made over. 

Something these new releases have in common: they have created a sense of nostalgia for everyone who loved these books and movies. I even fell back into the nostalgia train when these two specifics were announced. I began rereading the Percy Jackson books and reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It brought me back to the excitement of reading these books and eventually seeing them in theaters. I mean, I will never forget seeing Catching Fire in theaters with my sister, and it literally changed my life. 

These different projects also get me excited for what else will be announced in the future and something to look forward to. They also bring me back to a certain time when I was so excited for the next movie to come or when the next book in a series would be announced. 

These things make me feel like I’m between the ages of 11 and 13 again, even though I’m 21 years old.