What makes YA Lit so different today from where it was even a decade ago, let alone a century? What’s changed so much that there’s a clear divide between what we’ve come to expect from new releases compared to that published for the same age groups, for the same interests, for the same people, not all that long ago?
Recently, I read Suzanne Weyn’s 2004 YA novel, The Bar Code Tattoo, which has since had several sequels, some press, and increased popularity with the newer books. And, having had the opportunity to speak with the author directly, I was intrigued to learn her own opinions on this book as well as how the series itself has developed.
The Bar Code Tattoo predates all those awesome, action-packed, sci-fi-ish dystopic works that seem to be becoming Hollywood movie fodder by the droves. And, to be honest, there are a number of aspects of the story where you can feel the difference: not quite as polished, not quite as active, not quite as in-the-brains-of-the-reader. But overall, it is a compelling idea: that, at some point in the not-too-distant-future, everyone receives a bar code tattoo that’s encoded with vital personal information. It is then this tattoo that is scanned for everything from payments at the grocery store to job interviews. (Again, there are parts that don’t quite sync up: so we’re futuristic that everyone’s bought into these tattoos, but we still drive cars that require gas? And we’re far enough in the future that people are willing to ignore privacy rights, but not so far that there are still toll booths on highways? Far enough in the future that people seem to prefer spandex for clothing, but they don’t text or carry cell phones? Far enough in the future that they’re using a special brain frequency helmet to see what other people around the nation think about the tattoo, but our protagonist fails to realize when she’s hiding out in an abandoned lodge that people can trace her email usage to that location?)
In speaking with the author, what struck me was how she envisioned the whittling away of our individual rights increasingly. While this may come across as being somewhat paranoid, I did think that there was truth in the idea. People do use debit and credit cards increasingly, with Denmark declaring themselves recently to be a cash-free country in the next year or so, and that will allow the tracking of purchases easily. We have to show ID to leave and enter countries and, if asked, when pulled over even just walking down the sidewalk, depending on the state you’re in. The “choice” to agree with and conform to new “safety” measures like bag searches at random are at once treated as mandatory and suspect if you won’t conform.
In The Bar Code Tattoo, we see a group of teens rebelling against the “optional” mandate that people get their tattoos, that they conform to this government-mandated system. However, as people begin to experience strange results linked to their tattoos–formerly wealthy, successful families suddenly homeless and jobless, due to information encoded in their tattoos that they’re not told about–this group of young people question why they should conform.
I didn’t love the set up, as it felt a lot more questionably attenuated than most stories we read in YA nowadays. Our protagonist magically telepathically connects to some random Native American-esque woman? She inexplicably manages to be the focal rebel of the tv stations for refusing the tattoo, despite the fact that other adults have refused it? The author noted that she’d originally wanted to include a scene about a teen pregnancy, which would have grounded this a little more, but at the time of publication, the publisher was uncomfortable with that idea. Same thing with racial diversification on the cover, which is clearly not an issue with YA books released today (or . . . maybe it is, and I just don’t know?)
The concept behind the book is clearly American paranoia fiction, with some futuristic elements involved. But what made it hard for me to become absorbed in it was the fact that it was too soft (I can’t think of a better word!) compared to the nitty gritty we’re used to seeing today in YA Lit. There’s no swearing, no sex, no suggestion of either, no real violence per se (a high speed chase and references to fights don’t really compare to the detail we see nowadays), no bigger picture concerns, and a whole boat full of naivete that I don’t think would work today. (Not to say that more recent protagonists aren’t naive. Just perhaps not this much in this type of YA literature).
BUT. The concept is fascinating, and certainly one that feeds the ever-increasing security measures, concerns, etc that we see being put into place around us. The book was sound, I think what it needed was a reboot. Over a decade after it was initially published, it felt like there needed to be some updates made, just as I’ve noticed happening to some of the older teen classics by Lois Duncan and the like so they continue to be relevant.
Anyone out there a fan of this series? Ever picked up this book and have some thoughts on it?
The Alpha and the Omega: The Endless Ramblings of a YA Lit Lover 