Why do Popular Fantasy Novels of Today Feature Teenagers?

This is a variant of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey. Adolescent characters are hardly new, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, Jason of the Argonauts, Theseus (of minotaur slaying fame), and more recently the kids from Narnia, Garion from David Edding's Belgariad, arguably Frodo from LOTR, etc. These characters have the advantage of little to no backstory of merit, other than perhaps their parentage. So the audience gets their entire arc, as opposed to something like Odysseus, who had prior adventures before the Odyssey. The Farm Boy to King plot arc is pervasive and very compelling, even to adults. They serve as a readers entry into a fantasy world as well.

Specifically marketed towards kids/teens, a protagonist of their age/experience allows the reader to more fully relate to the story, like having Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island, with every other character being an adult what is the appeal for kids? Perhaps super-hero fiction deviates from this more than other youth media, but even then there is Robin, Spider-man (the most commercially successful superhero by a mile), Jimmy Olsen, etc, all young heroes/sidekicks that serve as a stand-in for the youthful audience. And of course comics have been trying to kick the "it's all for kids" association for decades!

posted over 7 years ago

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Jason K‭

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I think Lauren's suggested reformulation may be a better way to express the phenomena. YA is a very popular genre today, and much of YA seems to be in the fantasy/sci fi realm. So there is a lot of sci fi/fantasy with adolescent characters out there.

I can see two factors that help explain this. First, most fantasy and sci fi are power fantasies. The heros are endowed with magical or technological powers with which to face the monsters of the world. What kind of reader is most apt to find such works appealing? The powerless who feel vulnerable to the monsters of the world. Children are under the protection of their parents. Adults and experience and resources at their disposal. Adolescents are have no resources and are facing the monsters of the world for the first time.

(The fantasy and sci fi that is actually worth reading, however, is just the opposite: it is a warning against the lure of power. Thus LOTR is the very opposite of a power fantasy and it greatest heroes are those who resisted the lure of power.)

Another factor is that we are currently in a period in which we are encouraged to use literature as a mirror, not a window. We used to write books for children that encouraged them to look outward, and to aspire to adult virtues. (Notice that in the Narnia books, though only children can enter Narnia, they are expected to behave like adults when they are there.) But now literature for children is mostly focused on self-acceptance. It is neither outward looking nor aspirational. And so children and adolescents are offered heros who are as much like themselves as possible.

posted over 7 years ago

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Mark Baker‭

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