Thoughtful Thursday: Ally Carter and Cassie Clare on YA Books to Movies

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Ally Carter posted a very thought-provoking post on her blog yesterday about movies and YA books-to-movies in particular. Here's a bit of what she had to say (link to full post here):

But we are in an interesting time, Hollywood-wise… And a part of me can’t help but allow myself a tiny, sliver of hope that this time might be different.

You see, for many years now, a lot of YA properties have been optioned for film. Remember in the Twilight heyday? It seemed like there was a new paranormal property getting optioned every other day. But none of those properties got made.

Why?

Well, I’m sure there were probably, technically, dozens of reasons (after all there were dozens of properties set up with dozens of companies), but I think the biggest reason is that this thing…this YA thing…it was unproven. Unreliable. A fluke.

And furthermore, it was a fluke made by and for teenage girls. If there is one group of people who are universally discounted it is teenage girls.

Now flash forward a little book called Hunger Games.

Finally there was a book series so successful that no one could ignore it. Something had to be made. There was just too much potential money on the table not to make something. But even then, the chatter on the Hollywood boards for weeks leading up to the release was…skeptical.

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On her tumblr, Cassie linked to Ally's post and added a few comments of her own:

So first, when you see people comparing CoB to Twilight or whatever, I understand why the reaction is “But it’s totally different! I am bewildered.” What’s bewildering you is this: What Twilight, City of Bones, the Hunger Games, and Divergent have in common is that they are about teenage girls, and to people who know about YA, about fiction, even just about stories, that’s really not that much, or even a notable similarity. But to the media at large they are part of a great big unknowable mass of stuff “not aimed at straight white men between 15-35” and therefore totally inexplicable, and so they are treated as things in need of explanation to “normal people” who could not possibly understand what this movie is unless they are pointed at something that already exists and is popular. City of Bones is more like Constantine than it is particularly like Twilight or The Hunger Games, but because the incredible rarity and weirdness of a movie with a teen girl lead overcomes absolutely everything else, there are no questions about movies that are similar in plot, tone, look, even characters — just questions about girls, as if they are an alien species recently arrives from Mars.

There’s plenty for boys and men in City of Bones. There’s plenty of action, and there’s plenty of male characters, like Jace, who have their own arcs and their own stories, if a boy’s story of growing up is what you want to see. It would be a shame if that got buried in the narrative of “all YA is for girls” or “any movie with a girl lead is for girls.” So fingers crossed, let’s hope that doesn’t happen — and let’s hope for a time where discussion about movies with young female leads who aren’t in bikinis is about the plot, the characters, the world-building — anything but the weirdness of the fact that the movie exists at all.

As Mundie Moms and primarily YA readers, both Katie and I have much to say on this subject, but Ally and Cassie have covered it so nicely. From personal experience, I have a 14 year-old son (his comments on the books are in parentheses) who adores The Hunger Games ("best dystopian ever, Mom, you have to read it NOW")  series, has read City of Bones ("a little darker than I expected") and is looking forward to the movie. He also listened to GG1's audiobook (I'd Tell You That I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You) on a road trip with me and declared it like "Harry Potter but with spies". I know that there are plenty of book-to-movies out there that he'd like, but as a mom to two girls, I want there to be just as many strong female characters in movies for them to see. Plus perhaps selfishly, I want to see the books I love to read made into movies.

So I'm going to go and vote with my wallet and see these movies. I know movie making is a business, first and foremost, and if they see profits then more movies in that genre will follow. Now on to the most important question in my mind -- who could play Mr. Solomon in the Gallagher Girls movies?

But what are your thoughts on this, Mundie Moms?