Another Multi-Question Hunger Games Interview: Join Me!

March 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Raycom Media, part of the Tributes Network of news broadcasters, believe it or not, wrote to me yesterday for my answers to generic questions about teaching The Hunger Games. Several of you enjoyed sharing your answers to the previous questions from a reporter I shared here so I pass on this interrogation with the same pledge I made before, namely, if you send your answers and personal information to john at HogwartsProfessor dot com, I will pass them on to the Raycom reporter (whom I have urged to contact Prof. Joel Hunter at ASU’s Honor College and our own Prof. Baird-Hardy because they actually use the Panem Saga in their classrooms).

Without further ado, then:

Question 1.       What is your personal interest in the Hunger Games series? Have you taught the Hunger Games in the classroom before?

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Filed Under: Hunger Games

New Hunger Games Clip: The Sutherland-Ross Version of Snow Political Overreach and Misunderstanding of Books’ Meaning?

March 16, 2012 by 2 Comments

We noted here that Director Gary ‘the Boss’ Ross was enamored of actor Donald Sutherland’s understanding of “where the nature of power comes from and he understood how pernicious that power was and how President Snow used that power.”

He gave me a glimpse into that side of the world that was more vivid than anything that I had seen. In fact Donald wrote me such a compelling backstory to his character that I ended up incorporating some of those ideas into a couple of scenes that I added for him which are still in the movie and I think are very good.

The studio clearly feels this atextual addition is also “very good” because in addition to the stills from the Snow-Crane scene they’ve been sharing with media, today they released another film clip that is that scene.

Three quick notes:
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Filed Under: Hunger Games

You Want Hunger Games Movie News? Check It Out

March 16, 2012 by 1 Comment

Melissa Anelli Surveys the First Reviews

Scholastic Shares Soar After Earnings Feast On ‘Hunger Games’

Not unrelated? Scholastic Store in NYC SoHo Hosts Free Movie Night Party

Jennifer Lawrence on Josh’s Kissing and Playing with Fire

Den of Geek: Hunger Games a Great Sci-Fi Flick!

Mockingjay.Net: Full Collection of Premiere Interviews with Cast (“It’s a War Movie!”)

The Hunger Games Movie Has Sold Out >1,000 Theatres a Week Before Release

Parade Interview: Jennifer Lawrence on How the Kardashians Are Like ‘The Hunger Games’

Jeanne Wolf’s Hollywood: Jennifer Lawrence Describes Herself as Having “Survival Skills of Poodle”

People magazine’s Cover story and multiple Features on The Hunger Games this week

Really, to keep abreast of this stuff, you need to use a Google news aggregator or, better, just stay tuned to Mockingjay.net, the Hunger Games fan site that never sleeps. I learned about all of the above Movie Madness stories from MJay… Back to the books!

Filed Under: Hunger Games

What You Missed Last Night at the Capitol’s Movie Premiere

March 13, 2012 by 1 Comment

Or was this session with Caesar Flickerman and the Celebrity Careers required viewing in Panem?

Filed Under: Hunger Games

Literary Alchemy and The Hunger Games: Three Podcasts

March 13, 2012 by 3 Comments

I spent a good deal of time in my talk about Catching Fire last night at Full Circle Books discussing the alchemical symbolism of that second novel in the Panem Saga — the Pearl imagery and references, especially, but also the novel as albedo in the series and its own three stage process in the Quell — and the questions afterwards were almost entirely on that subject. Which shouldn’t surprise me, especially inasmuch as the Ring Composition of the books augments the hermetic punch you never see coming in this wild reading experience.

‘A Different Drum Beat’ recently wrote a very kind post about my work (among others!) but especially concerning Travis Prinzi’s and my efforts to explain literary alchemy and its renaissance post Potter in popular literature like Twilight and The Hunger Games. She linked to three podcasts Mr. Prinzi and I did two years ago on the subject, and, though it couldn’t include discussion of Mockingjay, it is still a valuable look at the how’s and why’s of alchemical artistry.

So, if you want to get a grip on Hunger Games’ inner magic and meaning, check out those 2010 Hog’s Head Pubcasts about Literary Alchemy right here: parts I, II and III. The ‘Ring Composition supplement podcast can be heard here. And let me know what you think!

Filed Under: Hunger Games, Literary Alchemy