On November 17th, 2023, the prequel film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, based on the 2020 young adult dystopian novel of the same name, premiered in theaters. Set 64 years before the first novel and film’s events, the story follows 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow as he becomes the villainous future leader of Panem and navigates his relationship with Lucy Gray Baird, played by 22-year-old rising star Rachel Zegler.
It is worth noting that this latest film comes a decade after the first in the franchise, and a decade after the peak era of young adult dystopian novels being adapted for screen. The 2010s gave us The Hunger Games film series (2012-2015), The Giver (2014), Divergent film series (2014-2016), The Maze Runner film series (2014-2018), The 100 television series on the CW, and Ready Player One (2018).
But the reaction to this prequel before its release is proof of the lasting impact The Hunger Games had on Millennials and Gen Z. In March of 2023, Netflix dropped the original film series for a limited time, and it became a trending topic on Instagram and TikTok. It gained even more buzz when it was announced that the prequel would feature a new song, “Can’t Catch Me Now,” by 20-year-old, three-time Grammy winner Olivia Rodrigo.
The excitement makes a world of sense, as Gen Z has undoubtedly been shaped by the prevalence of dystopian fiction in classrooms, as well as the whirlwind of issues that plague us today. Climate change, mass shootings, police brutality, anti-LGBTQ legislation, anti-semitism, and hate crimes gained significant media attention beginning in 2017, then reached a fever point in the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Even now, as we carefully dissect news and misinformation, Gen Z is working to understand and support victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the Israel-Palestine conflict in 2023.
While The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes has the smallest box office performance of the franchise at just over $200 million, it may have reignited interest in the genre. It was recently announced that the film’s director Francis Lawrence is in talks to direct the first on-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s novel The Long Walk. Published in 1979, it is a dystopian horror centered on 100 teenage boys in America who are forced to walk U.S. Route 1 without rest to produce a sole survivor as a source of entertainment.
As we continue to navigate book bans and controversial curriculum changes in education, it is important to highlight the stories that challenge us to think critically about society in our formative years. Young adult (YA) fiction is defined as stories written for readers ages 12-18 years old, often centering protagonists navigating their coming-of-age and larger social problems. The dystopian fiction genre is characterized by its exploration of problematic social and political structures the author disagrees with. It often draws on elements seen in contemporary society or believed to be on the horizon.
“Teenagers see echoes of a world that they know,” said Jon Ostenson, who studied young adult dystopian literature at Brigham Young University in Utah, per NPR. “The hallmark of moving from childhood to adulthood is that you start to recognize that things aren’t black and white, and there’s a whole bunch of ethical gray area out there.”
To find out which stories resonated the most with Gen Z, we surveyed our readers for their favorite YA dystopian book recommendations. Happy reading – and may the odds be ever in your favor!
- THE GIVER by Lois Lowry (1993)
- Adapted into a film (2014)
- PARABLE OF THE SOWER by Octavia E. Butler (1993)
- NOUGHTS & CROSSES by Malorie Blackman (2001)
- Adapted into a TV series on BBC (2020-present)
- UGLIES by Scott Westerfeld (2005)
- NEVER LET ME GO by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)
- Adapted into a film (2010)
- THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins (2008)
- Adapted into a film series (2012-2015 + 2023)
- THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO by Patrick Ness (2008)
- Adapted into the film Chaos Walking (2021)
- THE MAZE RUNNER by James Dashner (2009)
- Adapted into a film series (2014-2018)
- MATCHED by Ally Condie (2010)
- DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth (2011)
- Adapted into a film series (2014-2016)
- READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline (2011)
- Adapted into a film (2018)
- LEGEND by Marie Lu (2011)
- THE 5TH WAVE by Rick Yancey (2013)
- Adapted into a film (2016)
- THE 100 by Kass Morgan (2013)
- Adapted into a TV series on The CW (2014-2020)
- WE SET THE DARK ON FIRE by Tehlor Kay Mejia (2019)
