A DISCUSSION LEAD BY MATT ALBRECHT

WHAT IS RED RISING?Red Rising is the first in a young adult Dystopian trilogy that makes no mystery of its inspirations (the cover itself has this quote from a reviewer: “Ender, Katniss, and now Darrow”) and the debut novel of Pierce Brown. The novel follows the rise of Darrow, an enslaved youth who is selected by a rebel group to infiltrate the ruling class for a chance at controlling a powerful fleet that might help free his people. Red Rising is 100 pages of scenes from the Hunger Games and 300 pages of totally rad fight scenes.

From TVTropes:“A Dystopia is a speculative Crapsack World ruled by repressive forces modeled after real-life politics.”

“A Crapsack World is a horrible setting where the jaded notion of "anything that can go wrong will go horribly wrong" almost always applies, and it corrupts its inhabitants into perpetuating that nastiness against each other. More succinctly, trying to survive in one of these places is gonna suck.”

Hey girl, want to see my red rising?

Source: Tumblr

BUT WHAT ELSE IS RED RISING?From Wikipedia:“[...]Universal Pictures outbid Sony Pictures for screen rights in a seven-figure deal.”

● This deal took place within one month of the book’s publication date, in February 2014● Ever since the staggering success of The Harry Potter film adaptation series, studios have been scrambling to find the

next big young adult franchise● See also: Ready Player One which is being directed by Steven Spielberg● Since 1999, remakes, adaptations, and (more notably) mega franchises have been the biggest money makers for

studios● Cracked put together a great analysis about the impact of the Harry Potter on the film industry, for better or for worse

WHO IS PIERCE BROWN?

“Pierce Brown spent his childhood building forts and setting traps for cousins in the woods of six states and the deserts of two. Graduating college in 2010, he fancied the idea of continuing his studies at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a magical bone in his body. So while trying to make it as a writer, he worked as a manager of social media at a startup tech company, toiled as a peon on the Disney lot at ABC Studios, did his time as an NBC page, and gave sleep deprivation a new meaning during his stint as an aide on a U.S. Senate campaign. Now he lives in Los Angeles, where he scribbles tales of spaceships, wizards, ghouls, and most things old or bizarre.”

THE HUNGRY GAMES● The Hunger Games parallels:

○ Forbidden song○ Secret meeting outside of the cell walls to hesitantly speak of rebellion and

appreciate nature○ Gray color palettes inside the cell are contrasted by the outside world:

■ Page 30: “Flickering animals with green abdomens flutter through the black. Great bugs with iridescent wings rise from the shadows. They pulse with color and life. [...] My eyes have seen nothing but soil, the flare of the drill, Reds, and the gray of concrete and metal.”

○ Ostentatiousness and often useless body mods of the ruling class○ Food scarcity and reward for shedding more blood○ Upper class stylists willing to risk their lives to dress up the hero○ Eo / Gale parallels○ Uncle Noral / Haymitch parallels

● Other Dystopian parallels:○ References culturally important books from 1900s and earlier○ All-encompassing surveillance○ The Big Bad is full of philosophical soliloquies about the dangers of disobedience

You may have Dystopia enter the battlefield as a copy of any book on the battlefield.

“Cheat or be cheated.”

SONG OF PERSEPHONEListen, listenRemember the waneOf sun’s fury and waving grainWe fell and fellAnd danced alongTo croon a knellOf rights and wrongs

And

My son, my sonRemember the burnWhen leaves were fire and seasons turnedWe fell and fellAnd sang a songTo weave a cellAll autumn long

And Down in the valeHear the reaper swing, the reaper swingthe reaper swingDown in the valeHear the reaper singA tale of winter long

My girl, my girlRemember the chill

When rains froze and snows did killWe fell and fellAnd danced alongThrough icy hellTo their winter song

My love, my loveRemember the criesWhen winter died for spring skiesThey roared and roaredBut we grabbed our seedAnd sowed a songAgainst their greedMy son, my sonRemember the chainsWhen gold ruled with iron reinsWe roared and roaredAnd twisted and screamedFor ours, a valeof better dreams

AndDown in the valeHear the reaper swing, the reaper swingthe reaper swingDown in the vale Hear the reaper singA tale of winter done.

HANGING TREE (FROM THE HUNGER GAMES)

Are you, are you are you?Coming to the treeWhere they strung up a man they say murdered threeStrange things did happen hereNo stranger would it beIf we met up at midnight in the hanging tree

Are you, are youComing to the treeWhere the dead man called out for his love to fleeStrange things did happen hereNo stranger would it beIf we met up at midnight in the hanging tree

Are you, are youComing to the treeWhere I told you to run, so we’d both be freeStrange things did happen hereNo stranger would it beIf we met up at midnight in the hanging tree

Are you, are youComing to the treeWear a necklace of rope, side by side with meStrange things did happen hereNo stranger would it beIf we met up at midnight in the hanging tree

Are you, are youComing to the treeWhere they strung up a man they say murdered threeStrange things did happen hereNo stranger would it beIf we met at midnight in the hanging tree

FEMINISM AND RED RISINGStuffed in the Refrigerator (From TVTropes):

“While it is strictly true that Tropes Are Not Bad, this one, especially as a catchphrase, is often given a very negative connotation as it is all too often a hallmark of supremely lazy writing - using the death of a character as "cheap anger" for the protagonist, and devaluing the life of that character in the process, instead of giving the villain something actually interesting to do that can involve all three characters and more emotions than simple anger and angst.”

From Anita Sarkeesian (Tropes vs. Women):"Writers are using the Women in Refrigerators trope to literally trade the female characters’ life for the benefit of a male hero’s story arc. They are making clear that women, even powerful female superheroes, are basically disposable." - Anita Sarkeesian, Tropes vs. Women

Also see this list of 111 female comic book characters who have been fridged:“Not every woman in comics has been killed, raped, depowered, crippled, turned evil, maimed, tortured, contracted a disease or had other life-derailing tragedies befall her, but given the following list, it's hard to think up exceptions:”

Hey girl, want to see my red rising?

FEMINISM CONTINUED

Ironic sexism (from Wikipedia):

Hipster sexism, also known as liberal sexism and ironic sexism,[1] is

defined by Alissa Quart in New York magazine as "the objectification of women but in a manner that uses mockery, quotation marks, and paradox".[2] Hipster sexism involves the use of irony in a satirical manner to

subjugate women. It is a form of self-aware sexism that is deemed acceptable given that perpetrators are conscious of the inherent sexism and objectification of women in whatever action or statement is being carried out by them. It is rooted in the idea that sexism is an outdated and archaic institution which people do not engage in anymore, thereby making the demonstration of sexism seem satirical and ironic.

See also: Shut up and Sit Down’s Review of Cards Against HumanitySource: msbrit90

Damsel in Distress (From TVTropes): A character, usually female, is put into immediate danger in order to put the cast in motion. Her plight unites the cast, causing them to put aside their differences and work together to save her or provide the premise for The Quest.

She groans. “I’ve become the maiden in distress, haven’t I? Slag! I hate those girls.”

NAZIS IN SPAAAAAAAACE

Racial Hygiene (from Wikipedia):Racial hygiene was a set of early twentieth century state sanctioned policies by which certain groups of individuals were allowed to procreate and others not, with the expressed purpose of promoting certain characteristics deemed to be particularly desirable. The most noteworthy example is the extensive implementation of racial hygiene policies by Nazi Germany but similar policies were implemented throughout Europe, North America and Southern Africa.

The “Golds” of Red Rising are the simplified and stereotypical image of the Aryan race while the Reds are literally gingers, a trait most commonly associated with Jews (“In European culture, prior to the 20th century, red hair was often seen as a stereotypically Jewish trait: during the Spanish

Inquisition, all those with red hair were identified as Jewish.[21]”).Source: Iron Sky

"Men are not created equal; we all know this. There are averages. There are outliers. There are the ugly. There are the beautiful. This would not be if we were all equal. A Red can no more command a starship

than a Green can serve as a doctor!"

IN CONCLUSION...