Have you seen it? Saturday Night Live spoofed several major YA books that have been turned into movies in its fake movie trailer, “The Group Hopper.” The funniest part might be that it’s “based on the novel written entirely in the comments section of a Mockingjay trailer.”
Here it is:
3 YA Tropes Spoofed by SNL:
1. The romance between the male and female leads that is inevitable, predictable, and seemingly without reason.
Face it, YA readers: When you read a YA book, you get either a male or female narrator on page 1, and by page 3, you’ve met a character of the opposite sex who is obviously going to be the love interest. Oh, they hate each other at first, but within a few chapters, you know they’ll be confessing their undying affection.
2. The YA hero is the long-awaited, prophesied savior.
I’ve lost track of how many books I’ve read in which an “ancient prophecy” predicts some young hero will come and make things right in the world. Harry Potter comes to mind immediately, but even A Song of Fire and Ice includes such a prophecy.
3. The “category.”
In “The Group Hopper” spoof, the oppressed teens are divided into groups — the Foodies, the Gryffindors, and the Hasids. (Ha!) But this is another trope we’ve seen a lot — Harry Potter, Divergent, Maze Runner, The Giver, Enclave… I’m sure there are more. They all divide their teens into categories, and the hero / heroine of the book always defies categorization.