Written by: Kevin Berge
I originally considered starting this article with a Twilight picture then I realized just how much I never want to use a Twilight picture in an article. (Image courtesy of: blog.unblock-us.com)
The film industry evolves over time. Businesses must decide to either create trends or follow them, often finding success and failure in both attempts along the way. Trends themselves can be both positives and negatives, either shaping up quality films or creating an unnecessary reliance on the tropes used by others.
Currently, one of the prime examples of a trend gone wrong in the film industry is the Young Adult Formula, bred from several successful and quality films into a whole subgenre of current movies that often are strongly encouraged to break away from their own narrative inspirations to make sure they hit audience expectations.
What is the Young Adult Formula? Well, as current film can often attest, it finds its origin with literature.
The young adult genre has been around in books for decades. It encapsulates everything from coming of age stories to short and sweet book fantasy series. The only real defining characteristic is that the novels are easily readable and just mature enough to be considered for teenagers rather than all kids.
Currently, one of the prime examples of a trend gone wrong in the film industry is the Young Adult Formula, bred from several successful and quality films into a whole subgenre of current movies that often are strongly encouraged to break away from their own narrative inspirations to make sure they hit audience expectations.
What is the Young Adult Formula? Well, as current film can often attest, it finds its origin with literature.
The young adult genre has been around in books for decades. It encapsulates everything from coming of age stories to short and sweet book fantasy series. The only real defining characteristic is that the novels are easily readable and just mature enough to be considered for teenagers rather than all kids.
The distinction between children's books and young adult or YA books was a slow process beginning in the early 1920s though many classics of the 1800s could be put under the label. The label really stuck around the 1950s when it was becoming increasingly clear there was a distinction between young and teenagers as an audience.
The list of books classified as young adult nowadays include: The Hobbit (1937), The Catcher in the Rye (1951), Fahrenheit 451 (1953), Lord of the Flies (1954), The Outsiders (1967), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1973), The Princess Bride (1973), and The Golden Compass (1995).
I grew up on many of these novels, and the genre felt about as diverse a group as you'll read. The film industry has adapted many of these books over the years to various results, but none of them are truly to blame for the Young Adult Formula. The real culprit of a formula evolution is one of the most wildly successful book series in history, the only one ever to make its author a billionaire.
I am talking about J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter franchise. Beginning in 1997 with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or Sorcerer's Stone as it was published in the United States), the Harry Potter franchise was so massively successful that it bred a movie franchise before the series had reached its fifth book (of seven).
I remember clambering for every single book in this series. I spent my childhood being told repeatedly I looked like Harry Potter which was cool with me. I speed read the last two books as a competition with my junior high/high school friends, and I barely won. While the books are inherently flawed and loaded with notable cliches, they are a joy to read from cover to cover.
That does not excuse J.K. Rowling's lasting impact though on both literature and film. The success of her books and the films ultimately bred one of the most dangerous, inescapable film tropes in current cinema, the Young Adult Formula, a terror on all literature that came before, soon to be turned to film, and much of what came after.
The list of books classified as young adult nowadays include: The Hobbit (1937), The Catcher in the Rye (1951), Fahrenheit 451 (1953), Lord of the Flies (1954), The Outsiders (1967), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1973), The Princess Bride (1973), and The Golden Compass (1995).
I grew up on many of these novels, and the genre felt about as diverse a group as you'll read. The film industry has adapted many of these books over the years to various results, but none of them are truly to blame for the Young Adult Formula. The real culprit of a formula evolution is one of the most wildly successful book series in history, the only one ever to make its author a billionaire.
I am talking about J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter franchise. Beginning in 1997 with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or Sorcerer's Stone as it was published in the United States), the Harry Potter franchise was so massively successful that it bred a movie franchise before the series had reached its fifth book (of seven).
I remember clambering for every single book in this series. I spent my childhood being told repeatedly I looked like Harry Potter which was cool with me. I speed read the last two books as a competition with my junior high/high school friends, and I barely won. While the books are inherently flawed and loaded with notable cliches, they are a joy to read from cover to cover.
That does not excuse J.K. Rowling's lasting impact though on both literature and film. The success of her books and the films ultimately bred one of the most dangerous, inescapable film tropes in current cinema, the Young Adult Formula, a terror on all literature that came before, soon to be turned to film, and much of what came after.
One day, I may do a review of every Harry Potter movie. Maybe even every book. Man, that sounds like a lot of work though. (Image courtesy of: io9.gizmodo.com)
The Harry Potter series is a pleasant mesh of the YA tropes of the time. It has a developing coming of age story where a boy finds his place in the world as well as coming to appreciate the power of friendship, love, and courage. The titular character rises above it all with the help of all those around him.
However, as everyone became enchanted with the fantasy world of Harry Potter including all its use of tropes, others tried to follow that success. The most successful books of the time were quickly becoming YA novels that followed particular patterns. Eventually, a few of those patterns became tropes that stuck for far too long.
The most notable pattern goes as follows:
There's a lot of oversimplification there, but the basic idea is there are a lot of attractive teenagers and accompanying romantic tension in the middle of a crisis that moves everything along. Books to films series such as Twilight, Hunger Games, and Mortal Instruments all are recent examples of this clear trend.
Harry Potter gave glimpses of this formula which the Twilight series would grab hold of and ride to the bank even as the books and films in the series were decisively panned as they progressed. It didn't matter that they were poorly received by critics or even general audiences because a clear fan base had formed that had a lot of free money to spend.
While there would be nothing wrong with just having one odd ball franchise that is popular and successful, Hollywood never lets success gone unnoticed. For every trend, there must be ten attempts at recreating the magic with varying degrees of success, and it doesn't matter what franchises are burned in the process.
Here we get to the crucial issue with all of this. Despite a general rise in quality for blockbusters as filmmakers have grown more aware of all the tools at their disposal, the film industry has been deluded by the desire to market to the young adult crowd when it never needed to be so directly marketed to.
However, as everyone became enchanted with the fantasy world of Harry Potter including all its use of tropes, others tried to follow that success. The most successful books of the time were quickly becoming YA novels that followed particular patterns. Eventually, a few of those patterns became tropes that stuck for far too long.
The most notable pattern goes as follows:
- Attractive teenager is called to action by some kind of crisis.
- Attractive teen lead meets attractive opposite sex character who promises to help with that crisis.
- Another opposite sex attractive character also promises to help with the crisis in a different way, leading to a love triangle where the two pine for the lead in different ways while somehow still managing to overcome the crisis.
- In the end, the lead picks the one they were always truly suited for while it just so happens that the crisis is overcome along the way.
There's a lot of oversimplification there, but the basic idea is there are a lot of attractive teenagers and accompanying romantic tension in the middle of a crisis that moves everything along. Books to films series such as Twilight, Hunger Games, and Mortal Instruments all are recent examples of this clear trend.
Harry Potter gave glimpses of this formula which the Twilight series would grab hold of and ride to the bank even as the books and films in the series were decisively panned as they progressed. It didn't matter that they were poorly received by critics or even general audiences because a clear fan base had formed that had a lot of free money to spend.
While there would be nothing wrong with just having one odd ball franchise that is popular and successful, Hollywood never lets success gone unnoticed. For every trend, there must be ten attempts at recreating the magic with varying degrees of success, and it doesn't matter what franchises are burned in the process.
Here we get to the crucial issue with all of this. Despite a general rise in quality for blockbusters as filmmakers have grown more aware of all the tools at their disposal, the film industry has been deluded by the desire to market to the young adult crowd when it never needed to be so directly marketed to.
Turns out making a movie based on a book purely because the book is by the author of Twilight doesn't make a good movie. Who knew? (Image courtesy of: systemmasterypodcast.com)
The victims in all this are the authors who try to make a living writing quality entertainment and the actors who are often far too talented for the drivel they are subjected to.
Lois Lowry is one of the preeminent names in young adult literature, winning Newbery Awards for both Number The Stars (1990) and The Giver (1994), yet it took two decades for her to get a book turned to film. By the time The Giver (2014) was released, no one gave it much heed, passing it off as just another YA film.
The film is largely a faithful adaptation with solid actors cast, but you can tell that the director was given one directive in his adaptation of the film: give the love story its central focus. Every trope of the book, some overexaggerated, were on full display while the actual themes of the importance of emotion and individuality were left hanging out to dry.
If that weren't enough, Hollywood went after my own childhood by finally deciding to bring to life C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia (1950), the book series that defined my (and so many other reader's) love of fantasy. Many novelists have cited the seven novel series as a deep influence for their work from Neil Gaiman to J.K. Rowling.
However, they completely botched the film adaptation. After releasing a decent adaptation of the first and most famous novel, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, the studio got lazy and completely botched the adaptation of the second novel Prince Caspian, ruining any chance of a true running franchise. This is not even mentioning the third film.
While many YA films snatch up the best and brightest actors and actresses as their leads, it is possible that The Host (2013) found the most talented lead of all of those films when they cast Saorise Ronan to play their two-minds-in-one-body lead of Wanda and Melanie.
Ronan who is now a two time Academy Award nominee for Atonement (2007) and Brooklyn (2015) has been a charismatic force for almost a decade already despite being only 21 years old, but she managed to find the actual bottom of the barrel for lead roles with The Host, a movie based on what wasn't even supposed to be a decent book.
I am ashamed to say I sat through the whole excruciatingly boring two hour run time in which calling Ronan the lone bright spot would be like calling finding a diamond while diving through a pile of animal excrement the best part of the experience. The film managed to tank the rest of its young cast's careers.
I could also go into great detail about the multiple failed attempts at film franchises, but I'll keep it to a few choice words about the many of these films I've suffered through. The Divergent series was the height of YAF with a promising lead in Shailene Woodley, who hopefully will survive the still continuing franchise, and a possibly interesting story that devolves its messages into tropes so quickly that the sequel ends up not being able to find those themes again.
The Mortal Instruments series didn't even take the time to cast solid leads before the script ravaged whatever the book might have intended to say. The Maze Runner series actually managed to last a whole film with an interesting premise and dark themes before deciding it had to drown in cliches for the sake of keeping its action going.
I even lament what the Twilight franchise has done to the reputations of Kristen Stewart, who is actually an extremely strong actress in the right roles (proven most notably by the indie film Clouds of Sils Maria), and Robert Pattinson, who at least seems decent in other roles, though they probably don't since it has given them such recognition.
There are certainly those though that succeed in the midst of failure even beyond the Harry Potter series. Jennifer Lawrence was always going to be a success, but she lucked out when the Hunger Games were adapted with an honest attention to the original story of the entertaining and well meaning if still overly cliche novels.
In fact, everyone was given a boost that was a part of the Hunger Games which, while not perfectly made, truly allowed its young actors to shape the action and experience. It's a series that hits every trope of the genre but shines brightly all the same. Amazing what good direction and proper screenwriting can do with solid material.
Lois Lowry is one of the preeminent names in young adult literature, winning Newbery Awards for both Number The Stars (1990) and The Giver (1994), yet it took two decades for her to get a book turned to film. By the time The Giver (2014) was released, no one gave it much heed, passing it off as just another YA film.
The film is largely a faithful adaptation with solid actors cast, but you can tell that the director was given one directive in his adaptation of the film: give the love story its central focus. Every trope of the book, some overexaggerated, were on full display while the actual themes of the importance of emotion and individuality were left hanging out to dry.
If that weren't enough, Hollywood went after my own childhood by finally deciding to bring to life C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia (1950), the book series that defined my (and so many other reader's) love of fantasy. Many novelists have cited the seven novel series as a deep influence for their work from Neil Gaiman to J.K. Rowling.
However, they completely botched the film adaptation. After releasing a decent adaptation of the first and most famous novel, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, the studio got lazy and completely botched the adaptation of the second novel Prince Caspian, ruining any chance of a true running franchise. This is not even mentioning the third film.
While many YA films snatch up the best and brightest actors and actresses as their leads, it is possible that The Host (2013) found the most talented lead of all of those films when they cast Saorise Ronan to play their two-minds-in-one-body lead of Wanda and Melanie.
Ronan who is now a two time Academy Award nominee for Atonement (2007) and Brooklyn (2015) has been a charismatic force for almost a decade already despite being only 21 years old, but she managed to find the actual bottom of the barrel for lead roles with The Host, a movie based on what wasn't even supposed to be a decent book.
I am ashamed to say I sat through the whole excruciatingly boring two hour run time in which calling Ronan the lone bright spot would be like calling finding a diamond while diving through a pile of animal excrement the best part of the experience. The film managed to tank the rest of its young cast's careers.
I could also go into great detail about the multiple failed attempts at film franchises, but I'll keep it to a few choice words about the many of these films I've suffered through. The Divergent series was the height of YAF with a promising lead in Shailene Woodley, who hopefully will survive the still continuing franchise, and a possibly interesting story that devolves its messages into tropes so quickly that the sequel ends up not being able to find those themes again.
The Mortal Instruments series didn't even take the time to cast solid leads before the script ravaged whatever the book might have intended to say. The Maze Runner series actually managed to last a whole film with an interesting premise and dark themes before deciding it had to drown in cliches for the sake of keeping its action going.
I even lament what the Twilight franchise has done to the reputations of Kristen Stewart, who is actually an extremely strong actress in the right roles (proven most notably by the indie film Clouds of Sils Maria), and Robert Pattinson, who at least seems decent in other roles, though they probably don't since it has given them such recognition.
There are certainly those though that succeed in the midst of failure even beyond the Harry Potter series. Jennifer Lawrence was always going to be a success, but she lucked out when the Hunger Games were adapted with an honest attention to the original story of the entertaining and well meaning if still overly cliche novels.
In fact, everyone was given a boost that was a part of the Hunger Games which, while not perfectly made, truly allowed its young actors to shape the action and experience. It's a series that hits every trope of the genre but shines brightly all the same. Amazing what good direction and proper screenwriting can do with solid material.
This picture is the classic lie, a trap. It makes you think this movie is about anything but a love triangle. Don't fall for the trap. (Image courtesy of: theblaze.com)
The most recent egregious example of the YAF is the 2016 release The 5th Wave, a film so heaped in genre tropes they destroy everything the film begins to build in its first act. Dragging down the immensely talented Chloë Grace Moretz by giving her nothing to do, the film has been panned even (maybe especially) by fans of the (largely critically acclaimed) book it was based off of.
Still the film doubled its budget, so there's nothing to worry about for the film studio. They probably are already looking for the opportunity to snatch up the sequel to the book, and the author Rick Yancey might be in the right to let them have it for the right price even if it means again sullying the book's reputation.
The fundamental issue that this all comes down to is that trends die. Eventually, the target audience grow up or simply don't find the same story appealing anymore. Eventually, a new trope will become prevalent, and we'll look back on the YAF as a sad waste of compelling material and talent. In fact, the genre is already evolving.
A similar, more sappy Young Adult Formula trend heavily relying on writers like John Green and Nicholas Sparks has surfaced with similarly mixed results. While it did allow films like The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) and The Spectacular Now (2013) to be made, it also bred The Last Song (2010) and The Best of Me (2014).
Romance is at the heart of all of these ideas, and it's silly to think that such a simple and classic storytelling element can cause such widespread misuse of ideas. It's not that hard to tell a good love story. People have been writing them for generations, and the good ones always stick.
There was once a time where teens were appealed to with films like Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), Dazed and Confused (1993), and Clueless (1995). Sure, there were bad movies to compliment those successes as well, but this proves the diversity that is acceptable in igniting a very diverse fanbase.
You will always see these trends shape and evolve, but it is a shame that film studios cannot weed out the good from the bad in this day and age. For every success, there are many failures, and it feels like we should learn from our mistakes, not just live with the times as they come.
It is possible to make great, successful movies and not just settle for appealing to a common denominator. The Harry Potter franchise that birthed the trend basically never had a bad movie. The Hunger Games franchise which rode atop the momentum of the movement also kept each film strong even if it fell for another bad film trope, cutting the final story into two parts (Harry Potter is also at fault on that idea).
There are so many stories to tell and so many great storytellers willing to tell them. With all the knowledge we have nowadays about how to craft, shape, and form a great movie, it is about time that tropes be thrown out the window. Most filmgoers are intelligent consumers and should be treated as such as should the variety of brands out there that will succeed and fail based off simple presentation.
Still the film doubled its budget, so there's nothing to worry about for the film studio. They probably are already looking for the opportunity to snatch up the sequel to the book, and the author Rick Yancey might be in the right to let them have it for the right price even if it means again sullying the book's reputation.
The fundamental issue that this all comes down to is that trends die. Eventually, the target audience grow up or simply don't find the same story appealing anymore. Eventually, a new trope will become prevalent, and we'll look back on the YAF as a sad waste of compelling material and talent. In fact, the genre is already evolving.
A similar, more sappy Young Adult Formula trend heavily relying on writers like John Green and Nicholas Sparks has surfaced with similarly mixed results. While it did allow films like The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) and The Spectacular Now (2013) to be made, it also bred The Last Song (2010) and The Best of Me (2014).
Romance is at the heart of all of these ideas, and it's silly to think that such a simple and classic storytelling element can cause such widespread misuse of ideas. It's not that hard to tell a good love story. People have been writing them for generations, and the good ones always stick.
There was once a time where teens were appealed to with films like Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), Dazed and Confused (1993), and Clueless (1995). Sure, there were bad movies to compliment those successes as well, but this proves the diversity that is acceptable in igniting a very diverse fanbase.
You will always see these trends shape and evolve, but it is a shame that film studios cannot weed out the good from the bad in this day and age. For every success, there are many failures, and it feels like we should learn from our mistakes, not just live with the times as they come.
It is possible to make great, successful movies and not just settle for appealing to a common denominator. The Harry Potter franchise that birthed the trend basically never had a bad movie. The Hunger Games franchise which rode atop the momentum of the movement also kept each film strong even if it fell for another bad film trope, cutting the final story into two parts (Harry Potter is also at fault on that idea).
There are so many stories to tell and so many great storytellers willing to tell them. With all the knowledge we have nowadays about how to craft, shape, and form a great movie, it is about time that tropes be thrown out the window. Most filmgoers are intelligent consumers and should be treated as such as should the variety of brands out there that will succeed and fail based off simple presentation.