The Hunger Games in Bosnian-Herzegovinian Context: the Study of the Effects of Young Adult Dystopian Literature on high-school Students

Abstract

This paper examines, based on Suzzane Collins’ The Hunger Games, the students’ perceptionof contemporary issues, society and dominant ideologies within the context of Young Adult (YA)Dystopian literature from the viewpoint of reception theory. The last decade has seen a greatrise in the popularity of this subgenre, with The Hunger Games trilogy as the most popularamongst Bosnian-Herzegovinian youth who have been lured by the success of both the trilogyand the film adaptations. Technological advances of the 21st century have proven to beprofoundly influential on our society, particularly on high-school students, whose reality isshaped by great dependence on social networks and modern tools of entertainment andcommunication. Dystopian literature in general, the subgenre of Young Adult Dystopianliterature in particular, is a reflection of contemporary fears of post-apocalyptic changes of the“status quo”. Therefore, the analysis of Bosnian-Herzegovinian high-school students’ reflectionson YA Dystopian literature is vital for understanding their perception of contemporary social,political and cultural issues on the example of The Hunger Games. Reception theory offers thepossibility to study ideological and hegemonic discourses within dystopian fiction from thestudents’ viewpoint and gives us an insight into the phenomenon of the appeal of YA Dystopianliterature.