As of today, it’s one month until The Hunger Games DVD is released, so we’ll be revisiting some of our favorite topics about the Girl on Fire and the Boy with the Bread, but as filming for Catching Fire approaches, all the talk is about Victors of previous Games. Now in place, a firey Johanna, an award-winning Wiress and Plutarch, and a dream”boat” Finnick. Join me after the jump for some thoughts on why these choices may actually bode very well for the Quarter Quell next year. [Read more…]
Our Finnick is a Jolly Sailor Bold, and More Catching Fire Casting News
July 18, 2012 by 1 Comment
Breaking Down the New Breaking Dawn 2 Trailer
June 22, 2012 by 5 Comments
Wednesday was the first day of summer (well, technically Thursday was the first full day), and, for those of us who have been to Forks as many times as the young lady in the hilarious Time Warner television commercial, it was also Edward Cullen’s 111th birthday (and he doesn’t even need a magic ring to stay looking 17)! In honor of that auspicious occasion, Summit treated us with the “theatrical trailer” for Breaking Dawn part 2.
Check it out in the first comment box below if you haven’t seen it already. The trailer is widely available online (good thing, too, as the only movie I’ll be seeing in theaters for a while is probably one made by Pixar), and, as promised earlier this week, here are my thoughts, nit-picky and literary as they may be, on what we see, what we don’t see, and what we should be expecting.
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The Standard Rich and Famous Contract: Some Unconventional if Totally Appropriate Catching Fire Casting Suggestions
June 12, 2012 by 14 Comments
It seems like everyone is weighing in on casting suggestions for Catching Fire. The Girl on Fire site has been doing a “Finding Finnick” series; one of our recent posts presented a wonderful possible structure for the film, prompting a commenter to quail in terror at the thought of Harrison Ford as Plutarch Heavensbee. All of this prognosticating and wondering has led me to a very different possible direction for casting the Victors chosen to compete in the Quarter Quell. Why not cast actual celebrities, a la The Celebrity Apprentice and other horrible reality shows? Before you start throwing things at me, follow me after the jump to see my suggestions and to see why having actual athletes and movie and rock stars as the Victors would actually be completely in line with Collins’s story of entertainment as slavery for both its viewers and those it ostensibly glorifies.
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Hunger Games Article in New Issue of Carolina Mountain Life
June 6, 2012 by 1 Comment
In the Spring issue of Carolina Mountain Life, I have an article entitled “9 Reasons to Get Fired Up About The Hunger Games,” in which I outline some of the main reasons folks in western North Carolina, in particular, should be excited about the book and the recent film (and not for the same reasons the folks at the MTV movie awards hand out gilded popcorn, I can assure you). Due to some strange mutation in the set-up computer program, part of the article was left out in the final version of the magazine (though it was all there in proofs), and readers only got 51/2 reasons. Here, though you can read the entire article, whether or not you you live in or visit North Carolina! And if you do come our way, check out this neat magazine, in which I usually have an a literary article of some sort. Enjoy! And comment, please!
N. D. Wilson: Why Hunger Games Is Flawed To Its Core
May 31, 2012 by 15 Comments
A very thoughtful reader in Texas sent me this note:
Hello friends. I appreciate the work you do on this site and elsewhere. I’ve been keeping my eye on the conversation, particularly Christian and scholarly conversation, surrounding Hunger Games, and while the majority of that conversation casts the series in generally positive light, occasionally, I come across a more negative view. The Gospel Coalition recently posted an article by novelist ND Wilson that makes the case that the HG narrative is “flawed at its core.” It’s a convincing case, I think, and I’d love to hear what you all think. Thanks so much.
Thank you for this link and for the appreciation. I confess to being surprised you found this a “convincing case” because I couldn’t find the substance in any of his arguments. I don’t know who N. D. Wilson is, but I think I can file this complaint about readers over-reading Hunger Games and enjoying-it-for-the-wrong-reasons with A. S. Byatt’s complaints about Harry Potter. There’s no ‘there’ here and we’re left pondering the author’s motivation in making this kind of attack on another, more successful writer.
Three quick notes for your reflection, if, after reading the criticism leveled at Collins’ work, you think it merits a response:
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