One Sci-Fi Ancestor Of The Dystopian YA Genre Was Ahead Of Its Time
'Logan's Run' is extremely similar to 'The Hunger Games,' 'The Maze Runner,' and more, for better or worse.
Two essential parts of the Young Adult genre are dystopias and protagonists who are, well, young. Decades before franchises like The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, and Divergent, there was a '70 sci-fi movie that in many ways is the ancestor of YA as we know it. The entire premise of Logan's Run is that there are only young adults inside the dystopian future city where they all reside. When they turn 30 years old, a tiny crystal in the palm of their hands blinks red, and then it's time for life to end — unless they attempt to flee to a supposed safe haven known as Sanctuary. Occasionally brilliant, occasionally convoluted, Logan's Run is a 50-year-old sci-fi cult classic that was ahead of its time despite being so clearly a product of the '70s.
A somewhat loose adaptation of William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson's 1967 sci-fi novel, Logan's Run escaped years of development hell and hit theaters on June 23, 1976, in part because the studio made substantial changes to the book. The age when life must end was raised from 21 to 30, the outside world is more post-apocalyptic, the nature of the Sanctuary the runners attempt to flee to got a drastic overhaul, and the ending is totally different. In the book, Sanctuary does exist, and the identity of one character is revealed to be someone else entirely. Not to mention, the larger world is basically intact, just totally bizarre. The book was also born out of the 60s youth movements, and the idea that the then-young baby boomers would outnumber the older population.
That said, the basic setup in both film and book is more or less the same. And it's the type of premise that's contrived, yes, but also fascinating and rich with thematic potential that many YA novels would echo decades later.
Set in the 23rd century inside a domed city where post- apocalypse remnants of humanity live in a state of carefree pleasure, Logan's Run stars Michael York as Logan 5, a "Sandman" whose job it is to hunt down and execute runners trying to escape their fate. The only alternative is "carrousel," a movie-only public ritual that the populace believes destroys physical bodies so they can be "renewed." Following an encounter with a runner wearing an ankh symbol and a dalliance with a woman (Jenny Agutter's Jessica 6) who wears an ankh around her neck, Logan 5 is unwillingly tasked with going undercover as a runner to find this supposed Sanctuary. The crystal in the palm of his hand blinks four years in advance, and soon Logan finds himself earnestly looking for Sanctuary as he tries to save his own skin, escape the city, and perhaps even put an end to this entire way of life.
The vibe — including the clothing, funky Jerry Goldsmith synth score, and Farrah Fawcett in a small role — all make Logan's Run very much a piece of '70s sci-fi in a way that modern viewers might find a little corny. York, star of Cabaret who would later be known for playing Basil Exposition in the Austin Powers series, brings a confident British charm mixed with a sense that Logan 5 is naive to the point of being kind of a dope. The characterization works with Logan 5's journey from pampered cop in a futuristic fake utopia to unlikely freedom fighter, but it also can read as a little silly, same with the aesthetics.
Look past those aesthetics (which may be dated but are quite competent, as Logan's Run shared an honorary Oscar for visual effects with the '76 King Kong remake), and Logan's Run's dystopia is quite chilling. Sure, the people live lives of luxury inside a domed city full of hedonistic attractions, but are they really living? Certainly, they're not living for a long time, and even during the 30 years they have, there are no families, little sense of freedom, and nobody is thinking about the future. Why should they? Aside from the misguided belief that they might be reborn to start a 30-year cycle again, there is no future for any of them.
Because Logan's Run upped the age cut-off from 21 to 30, the characters are a little bit older than the Katniss Everdeens of YA literature. (York was 34 playing a 26-year-old when he starred in Logan's Run.) Still, Logan's Run works as a coming-of-age tale because of how the central premise forbids anybody coming-of-age. It would be overstating things to call Logan's Run a direct inspiration for the YA wave of the '00s and '00s. Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins claims she'd never heard of Battle Royale, the Japanese series whose premise is similar to The Hunger Games' teenage fight to the their doom. The ancestors of the modern YA subgenre can be found all over the place, including a few years before Logan's Run's release, in A Clockwork Orange or Rollerball.
Logan running in Logan’s Run, a likely thing for him to do.
Yet even if it isn't a straight line from Logan's Run to The Maze Runner and its ilk, the movie feels especially similar, perhaps never more so than near the end when Logan's Run gets a bit over its skis. Things start to get a little convoluted, worldbuilding shortcomings and contrivances become more obvious, and the big ideas that were so intriguing get brought down in their execution. The climactic fight in Logan's Run takes place in the ruins of the U.S. Capitol while a bunch of semi-feral cats are leaping around. The steps that got the movie to this point don't make any less sense than whatever's happening in The Maze Runner sequels, for instance. Many YA novels, with their elaborate post-apocalyptic settings and various means of making the protagonist special in a strange society, lose the plot a bit. That doesn't make the premise any less great, and that's the case with Logan's Run.
Logan's Run's flaws are amusing and far from fatal; at worst, these are amusing eccentricities of a bygone era of filmmaking. At best, it’s all a connection to the big, messy ideas of a genre with a staying power much longer than 30 years.
