Reframing Risk and Resistance: Sexuality in The Fault in Our Stars

Abstract

This project explores whether Young Adult (YA) literature polices adolescent sexuality or enables forms of resistance to adult control. Scholars such as Roberta Trites and Lydia Kokkola argue that YA literature functions as an ideological tool to control adolescent sexuality by framing it as fraught with risks and consequences. However, this project proposes that sexual risk and resistance can coexist within YA literature. For example, in The Fault in Our Stars (2012), which tells the story of two terminally ill teenagers, John Green reframes risk as inherent to their lives rather than a consequence of sexuality; accordingly, sexuality is framed as pure pleasure. Thus, Green scrambles the categories of risk and ultimately renders the sexuality represented in the novel as a form of radical resistance. In fact, for adolescents who are not terminally ill, reading The Fault in Our Stars (2012) creates an empathetic experience that can lend itself to an empowering reading of adolescent sexuality. Expanding on this, the 2014 film adaptation of the novel enriches the conversation around YA resistance to adult control. While the film mirrors the novel by reframing sexual risk, an analysis of three key scenes reveals a form of resistance distinct from that of traditionally resistant YA literature. Thus, this project demonstrates that The Fault in Our Stars, both the novel and its film adaptation, scrambles the traditional categories of risk and resistance to create a unique form of resistance to adult control in terms of sexuality