Fantasy spurs teens into social activism

Today's teenagers are wielding more and more power when it comes to social activism. Interestingly, pop culture- particularly young adult literature, along with social media- is one of the main vehicles fueling this new form of social and political activism. The Harry Potter series, for example, has spawned the Harry Potter Alliance, a global community of non-profit activists that uses parallels from J.K. Rowling's storylines as inspiration. They fight the ''Dark Arts'' of the real world – human rights abuses, inequality, illiteracy, etc., and have sent five cargo planes of medical aid to Haiti, some 90,000 books across the world, and raised thousands of dollars for a civilian protection program for displaced Darfuris and Burmese. The Harry Potter Alliance this year created the Imagine Better Project, spinning off further activism with other books and films, beginning with The Hunger Games. They launched the ''Hunger Is Not A Game'' campaign, with charity Oxfam, to promote hunger reform. Last year manga fans in Japan mobilized online to provide disaster relief after the tsunami, and Palestinian activists dressed up as blue Na'vi from the 2009 mega-hit film Avatar to draw parallels to their struggle for a safe homeland.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 6/30/2012