Principle over Popularity

When it comes to novels, it seems there has been a definitive shift in popularity over the years. New books bring new trends, and later new television series and films. While building a large audience is crucial for authors, I also think the genre and the story itself have a very active effect on the young people reading it.

For instance, words shape minds very finitely. The phrase "you are who you're around" comes to mind in this instance. And so, I think it is wise to filter what you read and hear, especially where children are concerned.

One example of this point is there is a drastic difference on story materials and elements today then there was in the past. Today, kids are reading books such as The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner. What is interesting about this is how these books are such a twist on the world we live in today. The dystopian era of books, which is quite spine-shivering when you think about it. After all, the main plot of the hunger games is children brutally murdering each other in a sick sadistic game. Backstabbing one another, unable to trust anyone.

And yet we find ourselves in a society where murdering children is commonplace. Yet we watch it for entertainment as it's 'just a story of survival.' and 'government overthrow.'

The Maze Runner on the other hand is a similar scenario, although the story begins with kids who are dropped off and only to be free when they solve the puzzle of a maze full of dangers and monsters. As the movies progress, they discover a deadly virus with few links to a cure.

All too familiar topics. In a world of viruses, crimes, and child violence why is it we find ourselves in entertainment of it? How mind shaping this must be. And curiously enough these stories are written directly for a child and teen audience. Rather sickening, isn't it? What morals and values are we teaching our children by endorsing in these films?

On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have stories that have made it to the big screen that tell brilliant and inspiring stories of good versus evil. The Lord of the Rings trilogy for instance, whilst there is the war of good and evil, the crucial elements of the story show that friendship and family are among the important things worth fighting for and that true friends and family will be there through the good times and the bad. And that courage can be found even in the darkest of days from the most unlikely source. And the small beauties and joys of the world must be protected and preserved.

The Chronicles of Narnia told a similar story, but from the close bonds of siblings. The Pevensie children protect each other and stand up to right wrongs as a family unit and grow up to rule the land of Narnia as a family. And the trials they go through brings them closer together and makes them stronger.

Both of these stories are older both in time and in tradition, and both authors strongly succeeded in telling a good story and sewn strong life lessons in the midst.

What sinful sewings do we read today?

Walt Disney started a company to tell clever stories as well. From his sketches of Mickey Mouse to his big debut of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" in 1937, he also was a man of traditions and told meaningful tales on film. He put such effort, time, and thought into what he was creating and built a successful enterprise because of it.

But it seems now that even Walt Disney's legacy has fallen into cultural pitfalls. With their interest being less on story quality, but on racial elements and political pleasing. It seems popularity is often the pinnacle of disaster when it is traded away from principles. Principles that have proven true time and time again. Perhaps popularity is the wrong approach to gain an active audience after all.

-Ashley Rost-Bradford