Does Sex Belong in Young Adult Literature?

I’m going to start this off by saying that my mother and I have some weird discussions. Sometimes we agree and other times we butt heads for hours on end for a subject that we aren’t particularly attached to. A few days ago, we had an argument about the media’s representation of sex to young adults and children. She looked at a child reading Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” and commented loudly that it was ridiculous how we could sell books about extreme violence to children but not about sex.

My side was mostly that I didn’t think sex needed to be in “The Hunger Games”. They were in a dystopian society where they concentrated on survival, especially in the murdering arena. Katniss was too preoccupied with not being killed. What would she do? Screw someone that was hoping to kill her in the middle of a forest where there are other people/things trying to kill her? I know danger can be sexy, but I feel like that’s not the choice Katniss would make. And if we’re considering how negative of an influence violence is, countering that with sex in the midst of violence isn’t going to make a healthy mentality either.
I do think that books should be more open to talk about sex. For example, books that are based entirely on sexual desire but lightly gloss over the act. I feel ridiculous for always targeting the series, but Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” series does this a lot. When reaching the final book – after waiting three other books for sex to be had – the acts are whitewashed. It’s mostly described as perfect, but otherwise it’s vague. I think books that involve sexual relationships that are more relevant to the plot should concentrate less on innuendo for their young readers.

But in defense of my original point, I don’t think every book needs it. I didn’t think “The Hunger Games” needed it. It’s just as stupid to shoehorn in a sexual scenario, as it is to deny sex in a sexual story. It’s the responsibility of the author to remain true to the nature of their story. If you write about poverty – show me. If you write about violence – show me. If you write about sex – damn it, you better show me.

Supporting my mother’s point (and half of mine) is the Y.A fiction author Malorie Blackman, who believes honest sex scenes should be encouraged in Y.A literature. Blackman worries that porn is having too heavy of an influence on teen sex: “I was reading an article three weeks ago where this teenage girl was saying everything her boyfriend knew about sex he knew from porn. He was brutalising her…”. Her solution would be YA novels that provide “a safe setting” for sex to exist and be understood. Then teenagers can understand better that porn is a specific type of fantasy that tends to ignore the reality of a female’s sexual needs/desires, especially in the beginning of a sexual relationship.

Do you agree? Can you think of any Y.A books that could have improved with sex? Which books would’ve been ruined?

Haruki Murakami: The Joker and Straight Man

Today I finished Murakami’s book “Dance Dance Dance”, originally published in 1988 in Japanese as “Dansu Dansu Dansu”. Murakami has published quite a few fiction novels and the non-fiction novel “Underground” about the Tokyo Gas Attack on March 20th, 1995. I haven’t read all of Murakami’s work, only two other novels: “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” and “Norwegian Wood” (his most grounded fiction from what I’ve heard).

When I started reading “Dance Dance Dance”, I knew to expect some things from
Murakami. First of all, I knew not to get attached to characters. Murakami is a writer that is not afraid to stomp out a character as quickly as they came. And the swiftness of one character’s disappearance will not discourage the same fate for another. When reading “Norwegian Wood” (spoiler alert), I couldn’t believe the death toll that such a calm book could rack up. Maybe it’s a sign that I’m used to death in books filled with action and war. Or maybe it’s a sign that my culture is less comfortable talking about suicide and death without passion. It’s not going with a bang, it’s being silently snuffed out and life going on.

Another thing to expect from Murakami is frustration. There will be questions unanswered. Mysteries left unsolved. And if you don’t know that this is just his style, it will drive you insane. Hell, if you do know it’s his style it could still drive you insane. You will want to shake your paperback and yell: Why are you telling me about his dinner? I want to know about the murder! But in all likelihood, you won’t find about the murder/missing person/other compelling mystery. The book will never be as neat as you want it to be. The book doesn’t stand for you as a reader, it stands on its own.

The one new thing that came to me in “Dance Dance Dance” is that Murakami is a clever comedian. His style can be paralleled by a character’s description of acting for a funny commercial. The commercial (about antacids) involves the actor (Gotanda) jumping between trains and scaling skyscrapers like it’s a normal Monday: “‘There’s something to be said when a straight man like me can bring out the humor of a routine like that. You try to live in this crazy, crooked, mixed-up world – that’s what’s funny’”.

When I thought about it, that described Murakami’s style perfectly. The writing is usually serious, sometimes grim, breaching on topics of loneliness and confusion. And while this sounds like a basic and depressing read, the worlds of Murakami’s novels are insane – almost hilariously so. They have magic and other dimensions and strange nonsensical occurrences.

In “Dance Dance Dance” there is a Sheep Man, a sassy 13 year old who can sense death, and magical ears. But all the characters skate through the nonsense, spending just as much time worrying about their monthly budgets as they do with mystical forces. Murakami manages to make his books fit the category of insane comedy while simultaneously playing it straight.

Chuck Palahniuk’s Tell-All: Tasty, But Not Satisfying

    I have read a good chunk of Chuck Palahniuk’s bibliography: Fight Club, Invisible Monsters, Choke, Lullaby, Diary, Rant, Snuff, Pygmy, and now Tell-All. His writing-style is consistently blunt and minimalistic. The books delve into a niche subject or taboo (for eg. Choke had sex addiction and Fight Club had fight clubbing) so intensely that you can feel Palahniuk’s effort and keen interest through the pages. The writing tends to rely on patterns, whether it is repeating certain words or phrases so that they become a dark and humorous chorus. The reliance on pattern is very prevalent in one of Palahniuk’s newest creations Tell-All.

    The short novel Tell-All is about the ridiculousness of old Hollywood and the lengths people go to preserve/create/destroy the fame of the golden business. One of the most prominent patterns throughout the novel is tactless name-dropping. The text is punctured with bold names of the cream of the crop like Ernest Hemingway and Ava Gardner. It’s an amusing technique that adds to the concept of a tell-all novel, because how else are you going to sell copies unless you gossip about the right kinds of people? The name-dropping contributes to the overblown egos and desperate personalities of the stars/starlets of the novel, who force attention and feelings of self-importance through what can only be called “word vomit”. The pattern is especially interesting because it includes created stars with actual stars of the past, combining the worlds of fiction and reality so neatly that you feel the urge to Google every name that you read.

    The problem with the pattern of name-dropping is that it feels like a crutch for the novel. As much as the pattern makes sense, it doesn’t distract from the fact that there isn’t much going on. Plot-wise, not much occurs during the first half of the novel. You feel almost thankful that things start to move along closer to the end, even if it feels like too quick of a wrap-up. When I was done, I felt a little cheated. It’s like eating rice-cakes. You can get any flavour you desire, like caramel popcorn or chocolate or something called “salt-free”. You can enjoy the delicious flavour of your choice, but when you’re done eating you still don’t feel satiated. That’s what Tell-All felt like: a rice-cake that was tasty, but not very satisfying.

    Maybe that was the point. Tell-All is a book about the shallow nature of all the inhabitants of Hollywoodland. It’s possible that the book truly captures the vapidity of movie stars by being light on plot and meaning. I felt hungry for more after the book because Hollywood does not offer anything tangible to an audience – or maybe the audience is so gluttonous that it always hungers for more. The technique of name-dropping in place of plot or character development works for the sake of the novel, but it may not satisfy for the sake of the reader.

Snow White and The Huntsman: A Hot Magic Mess

I’m continuing my fairy-tale addiction today and reviewing one of the most recent recreations of classic fairy tales: Snow White and the Huntsman. I have watched this movie three times and I still don’t completely understand it.  There are so many mistakes you’d think the editors were drunk children (only slightly worse than normal children). But before I plunge into the vast depths of what-the-fuck?, I will point of the positives because I’m not a bully.   

   This movie is unquestionably stunning. Visually this film fits to the perfect fairy tale. The costumes are amazing, especially the outfits worn by the evil queen Ravenna. The sweeping landscape shots are breathtaking and indulgent. The special effects help with some great parts, like the bad acid-trip in the dark forest or Ravenna turning into a flock of ravens. All of these aspects make the movie too beautiful to ignore. And, of course, Charlize Theron. I was so entranced by her portrayal of the queen that I was disappointed whenever she was off screen. I found myself rooting for the baddie to win, and not just because I didn’t want to be “mainstream”.

   Okay, that’s enough sugar-coating it. I’m going to go through a few problems that go beyond the crazy notion that Kristen Stewart is hotter than Charlize Theron. That casting director should hire either an optometrist or a therapist before his next decision.

1. They ignored the most basic rule of the Snow White fairy tale right after introducing it. The first minute of the movie tells the origin of the name Snow White: a woman pricked her finger and three drops of blood fell onto snow, and then she wished for a child with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood and hair as black as ravens wings. Three very easy qualifications that were immediately ignored. Right after the origin tale, we see Snow White as a young girl with hair as black as amber, because it’s not freaking black at all. With such an extensive costume and make-up department set up for Charlize Theron, you’d think they would be able to spare a wig or some hair dye to follow the rules that they just mentioned. And even when she’s older, Snow White still appears to have dark brown hair at times. She also has pale lips. It’s a silly problem because hair dye and lipstick should be really close-by during a big budget movie.

2. Snow White being locked in a tower for most of her life should have done more than make her a little bit dirty. First of all, I have no idea how someone manages to have perfectly arched eyebrows with no tweezers or mirror in a locked tower. Secondly, Snow White’s social skills should have been absolute crap after having been kept away for so long. The only explanation for Snow White’s ability to inspire friendship and followers after imprisonment is that she was really just in the tower for a week and had a baffling growth spurt.

3. The sexual tension between Ravenna and her brother. I have mentioned in a previous article that fairy tales are pretty ripe with incest or bestiality, but we don’t have to continue that tradition. Some traditions are wrong, and incest is definitely, definitely wrong.

4. Why is William there? To be honest, I don’t really mind William existing in the movie, because his adult self is a fox. I think it’s an unwritten rule that as an archer you have to be sexy or you’re kicked out of the group. What’s weird about William’s presence is that Snow White cares about him, but the kiss that revives her is from the Huntsman. Seeing as the kiss is supposed to be true love’s kiss, then it seems her feelings for William aren’t there, making him one of the most tragic friend-zoned characters besides Duckie from Pretty in Pink. The character feels like a sad attempt to create a love-triangle, I guess because we’re so used to seeing Kristen Stewart being fought over in Twilight. I end up feeling sorry for William, especially because he seems more honest and well-adjusted than the Huntsman who is a drunk with a lot of baggage (aka dead wife). A love triangle is supposed to create tension, but it only left me confused.

5. This is the climactic speech that Snow White uses to inspire an attack on Ravenna: “Frost to fire and fire to frost. Iron will melt. But it will writhe inside of itself! All these years, all I’ve known is darkness. But I have never seen a brighter light than when my eyes just opened. And I know that light burns in all of you! Those embers must turn to flame. Iron into sword. I will become your weapon! Forged by the fierce fire that I know is in your hearts! For I have seen what she sees. I know what she knows. I can kill her. And I’d rather die today than live another day of this death!” This speech makes no sense.

6. The dwarves were not played by little people, but instead medium and tall-sized people who were made to appear smaller through magic (technology). This apparently upset some little-people in the acting profession, including Warwick Davis who has played dwarves, goblins and elves in multiple films (Willow, Labyrinth, Harry Potter, The 10th Kingdom, etc). Davis called the process of pretending dwarfism “shrinking up” an actor, and compared it to the inappropriateness of a white actor using blackface to be a black character. I can see how that feels like a jab at the little-people community, especially because they don’t have very many roles offered to them because of their size. Taking away a role they are better suited for must feel like a slap in the face. So, shame on Snow White and the Huntsman for upsetting little people and for especially upsetting Willow.

    This is movie was gorgeous, but it was lacking in substance and general logic. It was like seeing an attractive person across the room at a party, gathering up the courage to talk to them, then having your attraction slowly dissipate as they start to babble incoherent nonsense. It’s such a shame.