The Random Crap Thread 2: It Hits the Fan.
- Thread starter North_Ranger
- Start date
What are you doing to poor Mudkip?
Or stories that could be solved with a Frank discussion with an adult?
Dave
Staff member
Not all of them. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Home Alone, etc. Books include the Belgariad, Harry Potter (which KINDA started as a kid's book but morphed very quickly into dark fantasy for more adults), The Chronicles of Narnia. Yes, I know you are going to say the Lewis wrote a YA series, but you have to remember that "To Kill a Mockingbird" is also labeled a YA novel.
The "Kid Hero" trope remains annoying as fuck.
"To Kill a Mockingbird" is entirely written from a young girl's perspective and glosses over a lot of issues that she wouldn't understand. This was done explicitly so that young readers could see it from their own perspectives, instead as adults who understand everything going on already.
To be frank, if "To Kill a Mockingbird" had been intended for adults, Atticus would have been the viewpoint character, Boo Radley would have been a brief note instead of a reoccuring mystery, and you wouldn't have the sections where Scout complains about her cousin while she's on that trip to the relatives during the summer. It would have been about Atticus preparing for a court case to defend a man he views as sub-human, mostly out of the principle of the thing.
To be frank, if "To Kill a Mockingbird" had been intended for adults, Atticus would have been the viewpoint character, Boo Radley would have been a brief note instead of a reoccuring mystery, and you wouldn't have the sections where Scout complains about her cousin while she's on that trip to the relatives during the summer. It would have been about Atticus preparing for a court case to defend a man he views as sub-human, mostly out of the principle of the thing.
I think it's a really easy to fuck up device, and is also often found in works not aimed at older audiences... That doesn't mean it's bad, or shouldn't be used.
I guess it also depends on what you mean by 'kid'. I find 12-16 to be fantastic starting character ages for fish out of water stories and hero journeys.
Hell, one of my funner ongoing Unisystem games involves a trio of 11 year olds escaping a research facility and surviving in the slums of cyberpunk!Singapore. It's a good challenge for the players, since the kids aren't specially bright.
I guess it also depends on what you mean by 'kid'. I find 12-16 to be fantastic starting character ages for fish out of water stories and hero journeys.
Hell, one of my funner ongoing Unisystem games involves a trio of 11 year olds escaping a research facility and surviving in the slums of cyberpunk!Singapore. It's a good challenge for the players, since the kids aren't specially bright.
Hero's journeys and fish out of water aren't what bother me in YA or youth fiction, it's the chosen one stuff that gets me. The being born important stuff always rubbed me the wrong way.
I don't blame authors for trying to make their stories grounded in reality.
You mean Garion? Or Errand? At least Garion was old enough to get married by the end of the series.
Hooray for Reverse Polish Notation!
Ahh, I see you’ve been watching the new live-action Richie Rich.
...which brings me to the other trend I hate, that of the dumbass dad. Dumbass male in general, actually, since the trope is that “dumbass male” is always paired with “smartass/streetwise kid” or “condescending female.”
Garion and Errand were both in the Belgariad, though the Belgariad was more about Garion becoming Belgarion while the Mallorean was more about Errand becoming Eriond.
—Patrick
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You should be using Ender's Game as your prime example.
Ender's Game was less chosen one and more a combination of selective breeding and child abuse.
Now that you mention it, this is why I've pretty much given up on anime. I hate that almost everything has teenage protagonists. I can't stand the social and mental ineptitude that plagues anime teens.
GasBandit
Staff member
I feel you so much there. And now that you mention it, all my favoritest anime works all feature adult protagonists (Black Lagoon, Cowboy Bebop, GITS:SAC, OPM, Stien's Gate, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure... ok, Code Geass is a bit of an exception, but most of the ancillary characters there are adults...).
I do like some anime about teens, but generally those are coming-of-age rom-coms and not "hero's journey" epics, so the social/mental ineptitude is usually more believable and less irksome. Like, say, Toradora or Tsuredure children. Those are two good examples of dumb teenager animes that are charming instead of infuriating/exasperating.
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figmentPez
Staff member
Have you seen the way Boomers talk about Millennials? The youngest millenials are 22, and they still get talked about like they're ignorant children.
Yeah, I'm sure you do.
Gas and I were just discussing how we're old now because teenagers irritate the fuck out of us.
GasBandit
Staff member
Well, when I say Anime in this context, I don't mean Hentai
not that I've ever been coy about the hentai I watch.Actually they were all juniors in high school.
Zappit
Staff member
Question: Should I adapt Supervillainous into a Middle School-level novel? I've been thinking about doing it for awhile, especially with the comic nearing the end. Plus, if on some long shot I could get it published, it would be really, really cool to see it on the bookshelves of the library in my school.