Graduating from YA Fiction
Sep. 30th, 2021 07:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
YA fiction features child protagonists because it is intended to be consumed by children
https://fairy-anon-godmother.tumblr.com/post/659446115962322945/ok-heres-the-thing-ya-fiction-features-child
Don’t get me wrong, sticking with YA fiction as an adult is fine! The genre is easy, fun, features delightful adventures, and can offer a very relaxing and comforting escape. But when you find yourself recognizing that ‘kids’ handling large adventures means the adults around them have failed, take that as a sign that you’ve matured. The YA protagonists won’t, they’re going to stay young.
Good points all around.
Although I personally find YA fiction difficult to read, I don't have anything against it. Rather, I get frustrated when I see people attempting to apply an analytical tone to YA media that's more appropriate to adult media. It's equally frustrating when people treat adult media like YA fiction.
Despite its faults, I think the Harry Potter series holds up well to varying types of analysis, but the whole "taking YA fiction seriously" business got a little out of hand when people starting treating the Twilight books as something other than the YA power fantasies they are. I'm not saying that YA fiction shouldn't be analyzed, but I think it's important for these stories to be analyzed in an appropriate context.
https://fairy-anon-godmother.tumblr.com/post/659446115962322945/ok-heres-the-thing-ya-fiction-features-child
Don’t get me wrong, sticking with YA fiction as an adult is fine! The genre is easy, fun, features delightful adventures, and can offer a very relaxing and comforting escape. But when you find yourself recognizing that ‘kids’ handling large adventures means the adults around them have failed, take that as a sign that you’ve matured. The YA protagonists won’t, they’re going to stay young.
Good points all around.
Although I personally find YA fiction difficult to read, I don't have anything against it. Rather, I get frustrated when I see people attempting to apply an analytical tone to YA media that's more appropriate to adult media. It's equally frustrating when people treat adult media like YA fiction.
Despite its faults, I think the Harry Potter series holds up well to varying types of analysis, but the whole "taking YA fiction seriously" business got a little out of hand when people starting treating the Twilight books as something other than the YA power fantasies they are. I'm not saying that YA fiction shouldn't be analyzed, but I think it's important for these stories to be analyzed in an appropriate context.