3. Too Many Unsubtle Metaphors
Unsubtle metaphors? In a genre geared toward watering down intellectual genres for mass consumption? What a shock! In case the sarcasm wasn't dripping off the computer screen as you read it, you get the point. To say Young Adult films tend to be ideologically blunt would be the greatest of understatements - Twilight as a cautionary tale for Teen Chastity, Beautiful Creatures as a metaphor for being intellectually & sexually repressed by a conservative upbringing are only a couple examples in a genre rife with them. Metaphors themselves are not inherently the problem, but if a metaphor is too obvious, it runs the risk of distracting from the story. As with love triangles, the story works best when it is not ABOUT them. Metaphors work best as vessels of thematic meaning within an already compelling story, but when a story cannot be interesting without them, one must question its validity as a well-written story to begin with. Sometimes, even, you find yourself watching a young adult film that lacks both unsubtle metaphors and an interesting premise, and that is a depressing sight to behold.