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AtraMikaDelia t1_jdbk0ym wrote

Anything that gets too popular for it's own good will get a lot of hate. There's obviously a reason it got so popular in the first place, so now you get people who want to feel smart by hating on it.

And really I don't think Hunger Games gets that much hate compared to some other popular books, like Twilight or RPO. Even Project Hail Mary gets a post calling it horrible for every post there is praising it.

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Insomniac_Tales t1_jdcqg2a wrote

To be fair, I think Twilight gets as much hate as it does because of how problematic it is and that it's target audience buys wholesale into the idea that this is what romance should be (when in fact it's borderline abusive).

This is the same as teenagers saying Romeo and Juliet is the greatest love story, when... No kids, everyone ends up dead at the end. They tell you right at the beginning that it's a tragedy and not a model to emulate!

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RenzoARG t1_jdd5cwq wrote

Any teenager claiming that is openly admitting that he/she did not read Shakespeare. Because the attitudes described in that story depict things that today are frowned upon instead of romantized.
•They knew each other for a day
•Romeo was friendzoned by Rosaline, Juliet was his second choice... a leftover.
•He was a sick stalker and a manipulator. "O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do / They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair" (amazing how Shakespeare, with a single line of text, could unleash HOURS of literature study)... He's literally coercing her using faith as leverage. And lets not talk about how he stalks her, hiding at the backyard... Not revealing himself until he was spotted.
•His words about love after meeting her for a few hours would be a redlight for any woman today, hinting that he's being nice only to get in her pants.
The dual suicide drama is so... toxic

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BKM558 t1_jddiy67 wrote

To be fair, I don't think Romeo and Juliet was really written as an ideal relationship guide to follow.

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Hazel_nut1992 t1_jddojp4 wrote

You’re right, it’s not, it’s written as a tragedy, these two people cost themselves their lives due to impulsiveness and thoughtlessness, while destroying a lot of other people in the process. And it’s clearly outlined in the text but I think too many people, especially teens who haven’t been exposed to the text, just get the summary, two young lovers whose families won’t let them be together die for their love.

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likelatin_ t1_jdeqezd wrote

That's not why Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy. It's a tragedy because their families are so blinded by hate for each other that it leads to two innocent (yes, impulsive, but innocent—especially for the time of writing and the literary and stage conventions of the age, nothing Romeo does would be considered creepy or weird) teenagers losing their lives because the adults around them make them think they have no alternative and no future just because they love each other. Act V, scene 3 (specifically the part where Prince Escalus chastises Capulet and Montague) makes this pretty explicit ("See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, / That Heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!") and blames them for Romeo and Juliet's death. West Side Story (an adaptation) makes this even more explicit by having Maria, the Juliet character, survive and blame the rival gangs for killing Tony (Romeo).

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monty_kurns t1_jddw5hk wrote

That makes me think of the musical of Reefer Madness where a running joke in songs between the leads was talking about being happy like Romeo & Juliet because they only just started reading it.

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Friesandmayo2665 OP t1_jdbnhmk wrote

I agree, but that comparison is my partly my point. I don’t think the hunger games is on similar level as Twilight and I think if popularity was the largest factor, then Project Hail Mary would get more hate. (From what I’ve seen it’s more like 1 negative for every 10+ positive). I don’t want to seem like I’m discovering something new, and yeah, the reasons why aren’t exactly a secret, but I’m just annoyed that even after all these years, people still think the same of the YA and what I consider to be near the top of that genre. The difference in hate shows, in my opinion, the prejudice people still have and the limits in some ways of how people define a good story.

Also, what’s RPO?

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AtraMikaDelia t1_jdcwvmc wrote

Give it 10 years, and I bet PHM will be much less well regarded on this subreddit. You have to take time into account, Project Hail Mary is nearly at the peak of its popularity right now, while Hunger Games has obviously fallen quite a ways.

RPO is Ready Player One, which is another book that started off very popular and now mostly just gets hated on this subreddit.

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kjm6351 t1_jdfylov wrote

That first sentence is just too true, Marvel latest example.

Hunger Games is 100% cut above the rest when it comes to YA dystopia

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