#the book name for anyone wondering is called: rebels city of indra. and you only have to read the first page to realize it's awful.

[patrickzvveig]

i just found out that kylie and kendall jenner "wrote" a dystopian novel and it reminds of how sickeningly diluted the idea of dystopia (specifically targeted towards teens) became after publishers realized that the genre had become popular.

I've talked quite a bit about why "The Hunger Games" as a concept and works, so I'm not going to reiterate my points. But even at its most conservative the series is fervently anti-fascist and a critique on capitalism. And most dystopians, if they're worth anything, have some level of critique on capitalism and how the state manufactures poverty and consent for it among the citizens.

But after the success of THG, books such as (but not just limited to) "Divergent" changed the idea of what it meant to be a dystopian novel, especially targeted towards teens. It no longer had the uncomfortable ring of truth that THG had. These stories set themselves in unrecognizable worlds that, instead of providing a look into what happens, create a plot on the often absurd "what if...?" idea the authors originally conceived.

And I think that this new brand of YA dystopia, which had no need to be introspective about society and class in the present, led to literally anyone and everyone trying to capitalize off of it. Because it's utterly ridiculous that Kendall and Kylie would try to make a dystopian novel in the wake of what was ultimately just the success of The Hunger Games. The Kardashian family is kind of a contemporary microcosm of the Capitol (to some extent). All of their money and success is contingent on the exploitation of the lower class. I mean for god's sake, Kylie's makeup literally has mica in it. And they're able to mask their exploitation behind a TV show and portray themselves as characters in a semi-relatable life, and an always entertaining one, is how they are able to be so popular and continue selling their brands.

The even more chilling fact is that they didn't write it. It's written by non-famous writer who's name is removed from the cover, but who, nevertheless, receives all the blame for how bad it is (and yeah- it's bad). They are able to reap most of the profits from this, have it advertised as THEIR book when they likely don't even know the story, but they can avoid all criticism of the text itself because of that. It's poignantly dystopian in itself. Obviously Kylie and Kendall were teens, but whoever pitched this idea was lacking any sort of foresight beyond what would be the most relevant and successful.