For the past hundred years, dystopian literature has been rising in popularity, and has been one of the most successful genres. According to the article ’The Rising Popularity of Dystopian Literature’ “Dystopian fiction has grown as a genre and continues to evolve today. Recently, there has been a rising popularity of dystopian novels. These novels have been transformed into popular movies that have made millions of dollars. There is a uniqueness to these novels that made them immensely intriguing to people and famous in today’s society.” (The Artifice). Dystopian literature has seen a rise in popularity because of popular books and huge hollywood films, like Divergent.

In 2014, Divergent, by Veronica Roth came out in theaters across the world and debuted around 34 to 40 million dollars. Divergent, the movie, was ranked the number one movie in America on opening day. It was played in 3,936 movie theaters and had an audience that was 25 years or younger on average. In the article that was published by The Artifice, it states that “ In the young adult novel, there are groups of people called factions. There is Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Erudite (the intelligent), Amity (the peaceful), and Candor (the honest).” These factions compare to different groups in high school. For example, many people use the word ‘jocks’ for all the athletes, and ‘nerds’ for the smarter kids. These would both be factions in Divergent. Comparing this to ‘Harrison Bergeron’, there are some things these two stories share. In Harrison Bergeron, the handicaps compare to the different factions because not everyone has the same handicaps and not everyone can be placed in the same group as someone else.
Divergent blew up and became so popular because people have already watched movies like the Hunger Games, so they wanted more movies and books like this. Since the media did such a good job on making the Hunger Games better than it already was, Divergent had big expectations. Both of the books have a female protagonist that believes in herself and is being singled out by all of the outsiders. They also have male ‘leaders’ who jumped on and wanted to be apart of their lives. In the end, these male characters become very likeable and attract more attention to the audience.

As stated in my first piece of evidence, Divergent has 5 different factions you can be placed in. These factions are Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Erudite (the intelligent), Amity (the peaceful), and Candor (the honest). After reading the book, many people came out with online quizzes to see what faction you belong in. Younger audiences had the most surveys taken compared to the older audiences. This showed growth in the attendance rate at the movie theaters which made the popularity rate rise up in just a few weeks. These factions caught many people's attention and some people used the factions in their own life to separate themselves from the bad and other issues is occuring in their life.
One of the main and most liked factions is Dauntless, known as the brave. This faction is shown the most throughout the movie and has the most action. This is a big part on why Divergent became so popular. Most teenagers like to see action packed films, and this movie has plenty of scenes involving that. The main character, Beatrice Prior, learns how to throw knives and punches and also faces her fears. By her facing her fears, it teaches the audience that they could do the same thing by overcoming something they don’t feel comfortable with.

Looking back at dystopian literature, everyone can see how successful this genre has become. “The dystopian genre has been alive and thriving for many years. Teenagers’ love for dystopian novels have created a whole new business for movies, merchandise, and more.” (The Artifice). Looking back at times where dystopian literature was peaking, many of books were published. According to ‘List of Dystopian Literature’, just in the 1990’s, there were 23 books published and released that people enjoyed to read. ‘Among the Hidden’ was ranked the #1 book at the time.
According to Wikipedia, as dystopian literature began to rise in the 1900’s, many people started to jump on the bandwagon and begin to make their own dystopian stories. From the early 2000’s until now, the stories that have been published have doubled those that were made in the 1900’s. Many of the published stories have made a great impact on how successful they have been (List of Dystopian Literature). Opposite of that, some of the best dystopian stories don’t get as much recognition as they should. A great story that I have read in my literary movements class is ‘Harrison Bergeron’. In this story, the government controls everything and everyone. If you are stronger, smarter, better looking, etc, you will get some type of handicap. Harrison ends up with the most handicap pieces to put on his body. The author quotes “a military neatness to the handicaps issued to strong people, but Harrison looked like a walking junkyard. In the race of life, Harrison carried three hundred pounds”. On the other hand, his mother, Hazel, has no handicaps because she is just an average human being.

To wrap up everything, dystopian literature has been on the rise for the past hundred years, and thanks to the huge hollywood films that continue to make this genre explode in popularity.