Mormons and Dystopian

What do the following have in common: Partials by Dan Wells, Possession by Elana Johnson, Matched by Ally Condie, The Maze Runner by James Dashner, and Variant by Robison Wells? If you need a hint the answer is in the blog title. I will also add The Alliance by Gerald Lund to this list.

Let me do my best to define "dystopian". So, I'm not sure why this word is so difficult to define. I heard that there was a panel at LTUE last year that discussed this. (For those that don't know, LTUE is an annual conference in February. For more info, go to LTUE.org.) The funny thing is, the panelists had to agree to disagree on the definition of dystopian.

According to dictionary.com, dystopian is defined as "a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding."

Well, I think there's an error in this definition (guess that goes back to "agree to disagree" again.) But I think the conjunction here is "or" not "and". (Did you just start singing "conjunction junction, what's your function?" I did.) My reasoning against the "and" is that not all dystopias remind me of China and India.

In Gerald Lund's The Alliance, there isn't any overcrowding that's being fought. Nor is there disease (except for pride, which is a whole different type of malady). But most certainly there's a society that is all about controlling others.

Here's what I believe people are missing from this definition that is blatantly obvious to me. Nowhere is the term "post-apocalyptic" in existence in the definition. Partials, Possession, Matched, The Maze Runner, and The Alliance are all post-apocalyptic societies. Variant is not, however, it's still dystopian.

See, it's easy (well, at the base of world-building) for an author to say "The world as we know it is gone and now it's controlled by complete idiots." In Rob Wells' Variant, the world is normal. Nothing is obviously different. But his main character's world is not normal as he enters this secret school without any teachers. There is a control factor over this school's society. And there are other things that I could say, but that'd give away a key plot twist.

Something that's more fascinating is to look at why so many books in this genre are by LDS authors. Something that I find fascinating is how some of these books apply Christian and/or LDS principles into their story (whether or not they realize it.) Possession, Matched, The Maze Runner, Variant and The Alliance all have pieces of free will being attacked. There are various versions of "stand up for truth" and "believe" in them as well.

Now, "dystopian" wasn't that popular a few years ago. You had things like 1984 and Mad Max. Waterworld also fit dystopian in a way.

Just like Harry Potter made Young Adult - fantasy a relevant genre, The Hunger Games helped make Young Adult - dystopian what it is today. There are many dystopian novels out there, and their popularity rose in part to the Hunger Games. Even if they're not as popular as Suzanne Collins, James Dashner and Ally Condie have been on the NYT bestseller lists. Dan Wells, Rob Wells, and Elana Johnson all have national contracts. And Gerald Lund is one of the most popular classic LDS authors there is.

Well, that's it from me. I could delve more into this subject, but I don't want to bore the heck out of ya.