The Legacy of Ya Dystopia: What Do We Do Now?

So now its 2021, over a decade since Suzanne Collins lit a spark for the YA dystopic revolution. And yet, whilst it fades into history, it seems we’re closer to dystopia than ever before. We’re literally living through our own apocalypse.

Dystopia Realised

But it didn’t arrive with a bang from a gun, or an alien spaceship, or an obviously fascist government regime. It didn’t come from rebellion or war. Instead, it came, unprecedentedly, in the form of a tiny virus.

The crisis driving our real-life dystopia is a pandemic that’s once again exacerbating the divide between class, race, gender etc. And we are continuing to watch the rifts of inequality only grow.

Let me set the scene—

The Colston four have been put on trial for defacing public property (we all know that’s just the Government silencing anyone who opposes the sanctity of British imperial history). The government are once again debating the rights of Trans people, whilst also causing an obscene number of avoidable deaths throughout this crisis. They’ve continuously ignored the ongoing calls for structural change concerning racial and sexual inequality and even actively policing those who would fight for the safety of women and POC. With the ultimate slap in the face being this new bill to remove the voices of those protesting for change (Blessed be the fruit everyone, under his eye).

Now, this interpretation may feel far-fetched to some, but that’s the thing about dystopia— it’s not dystopic for everyone.

We are Generation Z

The i-generation, the Zoomers, the mistaken for millennials. (Don’t those sound like the titles of the next hit YA dystopia) It doesn’t matter what the label is, we are the kids who were brought up on a cultural banquet of rebellion.

Instead of Katniss, we have Greta Thunberg, Malala Yousafzai, Naomi Seibt, Emma Gonzalez, Jazz Jennings and the list goes on.

Obviously, this isn’t the first moment in history defined by controversial government, financial crisis or civil rights movement and that’s not even to say Gen-Z is this perfect generation, but we are quite interesting—

Gen-Z was born between 1997-ish and 2012-ish, becoming the first generation to be digitally literate as we grew up in an age of technology. Unlike previous generations, gen-zers have no memory of 9/11, but most of us do have vivid memories of the 2008 recession (and currently living through this one) and saw much of the world struggle.

Because of the fast-paced, technology-saturated upbringing, we are the generation with the shortest attention spans (I’m looking at you Vine). But that’s probably the new ways our brains are wired, allowing us to be the best multitaskers.

You may have heard the derogatory label ‘snowflakes’ which is most likely a result of modern cancel/call-out culture. We’re just more prone to keep accountability for racism, xenophobia, religious discrimination, homophobia, misogyny etc. To Gen-Z, free speech doesn’t include things deemed as offensive towards minorities.

And lastly, this generation is the most educated than any before, but also more depressed. This could be because of social media (those pesky iPhones, amirite) or maybe it’s the economic and political climate or the terrorist attacks we grew up around.

Maybe.

All discourse about hair-partings and skinny jeans aside, basically in a world smaller than ever, gen-z is ripe for revolution.

Correlation ≠ Causation

Now it’s a bit absurd to attribute all rebellious characteristics to the rise of dystopia, but it’s hard to deny that the same events that shaped the genre equally transformed the generation that read them.

I previously mentioned how small the world has become, meaning in this digital age, the internet has opened up a world previously inaccessible. Information spreads faster, groups and campaigns can form sooner and trends move quicker than ever before.

We very rapidly become saturated with news and knowledge—both in terms of world events or politics as well as fashion and Tik-Tok trends—and we receive them all at the same rate, from the same sources. YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, etc. This means injustices that incensed Suzanne Collins all that while ago are closer to us than ever before. Now we’ve lived in this dystopia for about a year, as class divides have been exacerbated, racial inequality has been exposed in the most painful of ways, as gender violence has broken are hearts once again, how did they expect us to stay silent.

We’ve literally been brought up on stories about fighting evil, overthrowing oppressive regimes and promoting equality. Now let’s not begin romanticising civil war, but you can’t deny there’s a lot to shout about.

Let’s not burn out

This article was meant to be objective, more analytical, but upon the events since International Woman’s Day, how could it be.

It’s been over a year since Breonna Taylor’s death and she’s still to get justice, it’s been a much shorter time since Sarah Everard’s death and we continue to mourn her and the fear, the injustice, the pain she represents.

We celebrate Piers Morgan’s resignation from GMB, but the abuse Meghan faced cannot be unsaid, cannot be unfelt.

One of the truly heart-breaking truths is that to minorities, none of this is surprising. At this point, we could become numb again, as we’ve had to so many times before. We could accept the immortal nature of hatred and oppression.

We could.

But remember, the thing about YA Dystopia is hope.

For every Sarah Everard, Breonna Taylor, Blessing Olusegun, George Floyd, Meghan Markle, Lorraine Cox, Ahmaud Arbery, and so, so many more, we have to be a generation that rises to the challenge.

• change
• dystopia
• YA