The Girl Next Door: Post-apocalyptic And Everyday Heroines In Popular Young Adult Texts Kelli McGrawQueensland University of Technology

Collins, S. (2008). The hunger games. Scholastic

Marsden, J. (1993). Tomorrow when the war began. Pan Macmillan

Freemantle Media (2011). Neighbours. [various episodes]. FremantleMedia Australia: Richmond

THE TEXTS:

THE CONTEXT:• The ‘girls next door’ –

KatnissEllie Summer

• Popular texts with young adultsIn schools; at the cinema; on television

• Post-apocalyptic and everyday worlds

• Different media used – very similar stories.

THE HUNGER GAMES:

Texts as a pedagogical apparatus – • Do these texts engage a feminist

pedagogy?

• Do they have ‘transformative potential’? (Coffey & Delamont, 2000)

• Do they change dominant ways of thinking?

• What normative assumptions are challenged?

TOMORROW WHEN THE WAR BEGAN:

‘Writing it down means we might be remembered. And by God that matters to us. None of us wants to end up as a pile of dead white bones, unnoticed, unknown, and worst of all, with no one knowing and appreciating the risks we’ve run.’ (p.2)

NEIGHBOURS:‘the model citizen at the heart of liberal education … is being prepared for economic, political & cultural life in the public sphere …’ (Lynch, Lyons & Cantillon, 2007)

(e.g. Summer – passionate about equity and social justice; goal to be a journalist; besieged by ethical dilemmas )

THE ‘IDEAL’ CITIZEN?• Obligation to family• Reluctant heroine

• Solidarity with local communities & beyond

• Sacrifices personal safety/success for the greater good

SIGNIFICANCE:

FIN

Straight white females…

…who all experience great suffering and loss as a result of heroic actions.

‘to know is not enough’…?