Recently, I have been reading again. I look for books for Eliot, pre-reading them. Popular themes with him and YA in general include WWII (a favorite of his), minority voices and stories, and, of course, the ever-popular dystopian society. Reading them I notice a bigger theme emerging – that of oppression and privilege. Not surprisingly in this time when the chasm between the haves and the have nots widens that many dystopian stories are adapted for a screen. What I wonder, though, is why in everything from the Divergent to the Hunger Games are all of the oppressed people predominately white?
I don’t mean to imply that poor white communities do not exist, but these stories would leave us to believe that ONLY white people are truly oppressed OR, perhaps worse, that only white people are allowed to rise up and rebel against the reigning class (comprised, of course, of other white people)? Do you suppose that producers are reluctant to portray on screen an oppressed people of color rising up against a privileged group of whites?