Today brings a new and extended 'The Giver' trailer for the upcoming adaptation of the classic, award-winning young-adult novel of the same name by Lowis Lowry, and featuring Meryl Streep as a strict authoritarian figure in a dystopian future (because these are the only kinds of futures young adults have).

The 'Giver' trailer showcases the film's use of black and white, which shifts to color as its young protagonist Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) begins to learn the startling truth about the world he inhabits, a world where people are forced to take medication every morning and their choices are made for them in an effort to keep them in line. That bit of truth comes from an enigmatic figure known as The Giver, played by the always lovably gruff Jeff Bridges.

In keeping with young-adult themes of oppression and dystopian futures, the science-fiction film presents a narrative in which Streep's Chief Elder seeks to create a sameness among the people, which young Jonas threatens to dismantle when he begins to learn that people have the ability to feel and govern themselves individually. Sure, it's similar in a lot of ways to stories like 'The Hunger Games' and 'Divergent,' but keep in mind that 'The Giver' novel was released in 1993, several years before we knew about Katniss Everdeen and Tris Prior.

'The Giver' also stars Katie Holmes, Alexander Skarsgard, Taylor Swift and Odeya Rush, and hits theaters on August 15.

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