Maze Runner Ruminations

(minor spoilers)

The Maze Runner is a series that I love and can’t quite put my finger on why. There’s a small handful of female characters most questions don’t get answered and the ending is abrupt and jarring. And yet…

I plowed through the initial series and took my time with the prequel, realizing it was simply because I didn’t want the series to end. The film, as I’m sure more of you are familiar with, does a great job at adapting what needs to be adapted. It speeds up the (actually surprisingly short) timeline of the first book and reveals its secrets to the audience as a chance for discovery, rather than just a list of what Minho, Newt, and the others already know.

Teresa is very special to me; she’s stuck being the only girl in the entire first book, she’s smart and emotional without being a nagging woman. She’s stubborn and inquisitive and throughout the series she evolves in an unexpected but (I find) interesting way. However, I can’t get it out of my mind that she and Brenda (you’ll meet her in The Scorch Trials) have almost no interaction and have to hold up the entire representation of the female population.

What’s become an interesting trend in the YA Dystopian genre is the prevalence of female protagonists.

Why are women taking over this genre while disaster stories are still overwhelmingly ruled by men once you hit “adult” lit? Why is World War Z, The Walking Dead, The Day After Tomorrow and every new Tom Cruise movie that comes out all the same basic white brown haired male we see in every video game?

What do you think?