• New Hunger Games Profile Posters Provide New Glimpses With a Capitol Touch

    ByElizabeth
    9 Comments

    Lionsgate, the company in charge of the new Hunger Games film to be released in March, has just put out a series of striking new posters that each feature one of the story’s major characters, photographed in profile. The images are fascinating, and not just for their surface meaning (Come see this movie! Buy loads of popcorn!). In fact, their underlying meaning is just as riveting as the actors’ distant stares. Follow me after the jump for some overall thoughts on this whole poster campaign and some insights on each one. Read More “New Hunger Games Profile Posters Provide New Glimpses With a Capitol Touch”

  • Miss Universe Pageant Goes All In for Hunger Games?

    ByJohn
    3 Comments

    A recent Blogpost entitled Miss Universe Pageant or Hunger Games Costumes? was sent to me by the ever watchful James and I confess to being impressed by two things: the outrageous tackiness, even self-mocking quality of the Miss Universe costumes, which is to say, how demeaning they were to both the women and the countries involved, and, correspondingly, how appropriate this was to the link this Blogger makes between the costumes, the Capitol audience, and the Hunger Games children dressed for that audience to mock.

    I think I was most impressed that Ms. Collins’ attack on this sort of thing has penetrated popular thinking sufficiently that we find this connection between book theme and visible reality being made, dot to dot, online and in magna voce.

  • Citizens of Panem being “Processed” Now

    ByElizabeth
    13 Comments

    So, a few weeks ago, we posted here about the new Capitol website being launched in conjunction with the forthcoming film of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games (the fact that it is specifically a film tie-in website is indicated by the fact that the countdown to the next Games is not for next summer, but for the film’s March release date). Those of us who registered on the site using our social media (i.e. Twitter or facebook) were assigned a District and then told we then had to wait for our “District Identification Passes” or DIPs (snort) to be processed. Starting this past weekend, “citizens” began getting emails directing them to proceed with registering (interspersed with visits to the website which, for some odd reason, was briefly switched to a Latin text, but more on that later). For more on the experience, and on the fascinating ironies of this little marketing ploy, follow me after the jump. Read More “Citizens of Panem being “Processed” Now”

  • CNN Tries to Catch On with Hunger Games–and Fails Miserably

    ByElizabeth
    6 Comments

    Today, CNN posted an article that predicts, wow! That this Hunger Games thing just might be a big deal. The tone of the article is ridiculously glib, apparently in an effort to deflect from the fact that such an article makes the folks at CNN look further behind the times than the crowd that keeps popping up with “Hey, this Harry Potter stuff is actually Christian! Who knew?” The reporter, who is listed as being “special” is evidently either not familiar enough with the book to get the basics correct (like the relationship between Katniss and Peeta prior to the Reaping) or is trying too hard to be cute. Once again, the mainstream media is missing the real power of this story, thinking that it will be a big hit because of the sex and violence factors, and completely failing to notice (again) the power of this story or its razor-sharp critique of that very gore and smut industry. After all, The Hunger Games uses a story of real, sacrificial love to reveal the tragedies produced by a culture obsessed with violence as entertainment. As the movie’s release date draws near (posters are already up at the local cineplex) we can expect more of this nonsense. But then again, how likely is CNN to get what this story really does? After all, the mainstream media and its news-as-entertainment focus is part of the beautifully woven (and very sticky) web Suzanne Collins has woven. It really isn’t that shocking that they can’t see the message our crafty spider has posted with her riveting tale.

  • Guest Post: Aristotle’s Look at Suzanne Collins’ Mockingjay

    ByJohn
    5 Comments

    Today’s guest post is a special look at Suzanne Collins’ Mockingjay in light of the Aristotle’s ideas of friendship that are found in his Nichomachean Ethics. The writing and subject matter are challenging, edifying, and simultaneously raise our understanding of the text(s) in play while stretching our way of thinking about life as we live it. I look forward to reading Hog Pro All-Pro’s response to this guest effort almost as much as I do to the hoped-for next dispatch from our newest contributors (short bios at end).

    Katniss Everdeen is a one of the more fascinating characters of contemporary young adult literature. More fascinating still is Katniss’ relationship with Peeta Mellark.  It is hardly an exaggeration to say that their relationship drives the trilogy.  We would go so far as to say that the trilogy is a essentially a love story between these two characters. Although the Hunger Games–brutal and hellish–are meant to keep the tributes disunited, we see a uniting of hearts between the tributes of District Twelve.

    What makes their relationship so intriguing is its ever-changing dynamic.  Peeta repeatedly sacrifices himself and declares his love for Katniss, both on camera and off.  Katniss responds in a variety of ways, ranging from shoving him into vases to spoon feeding him broth.

    However, just because something is dynamic does not mean it is unpredictable.  We propose that Katniss’ feelings for Peeta evolve over time through Aristotle’s levels of friendship, as outlined in his Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII.

    Read More “Guest Post: Aristotle’s Look at Suzanne Collins’ Mockingjay”