RIP, YA: Why Women Are Over Movie Franchises Like Divergent and Hunger Games

In November 2013, I went to Rome on vacation. Coming back to my hotel one night, I turned a corner onto Via del Babuino and nearly had a heart attack—dozens of teens had swarmed the street, screaming and pressing towards the doors of a hotel in one throbbing, hysterical throng. “Terrorism!” my fear brain shrieked. But no, the kids looked ecstatic verging on drugged. And when I got back to my hotel, I turned on the news and figured out why: Ahead of the Italian release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, and Josh Hutcherson were staying at the hotel the teens had been mobbing. As some classically endearing J.Law footage later confirmed, Lawrence had been padding through the lobby in slippers as I passed by. Read More…