No, it’s not the Reaping, but there will be some pretty intense crowds this weekend as fans anticipate the release of the Hunger Games film adaptation on DVD. There are actually websites devoted to helping a person locate a release party, and Toys R Us is really pushing its line of HG-themed toys and merchandise at its 12:01 event on Saturday morning. If this hullaballoo makes you feel like a shallow Capitol citizen, some events are more educational and meaningful. At our local YMCA (western NC) our Hunger Games event will be on August 19.
We’ll be showing the film on the big screen in the new Chapman Center at 7:30, but before that, we’ll have a host of activities related to the story, some of which are just for fun, of course: crazy Capitol face-painting, an inflatable obstacle course, cakewalk with prizes from the Mellark Bakery (actually, from volunteers who bring cakes and cookies, and donations from the local grocery bakery department, where the manager was baffled when I told him we’d be thrilled with items that were burnt or going stale; he hasn’t read the book), etc.
Other events are more thoughtful. We have volunteers demonstrating archery, trap setting, and native plant identification (um, no, there’s actually no such thing as nightlock, but don’t eat these poke berries, either). We’ll have a trivia competition (book, not movie questions), and I’ll do my talk on the novel’s Appalachian connections. In addition, the entire event is a fund raiser for a program that offsets Y membership costs for those who can’t afford to join (you shouldn’t have to go in the Reaping to train like a Tribute, right?). We’re charging folks $5, but only $3 if they bring a canned good for the local food bank, to help fight real hunger.
Thanks to Delee Scott, our Y membership and marketing director, and his team of great volunteers, this should be a super event that brings in some of the book’s deeper meaning. I am so glad I turned him onto this amazing novel!
So, what about you? Are you getting the DVD? Going to an event? Tell us about it!
Wish I was close enough to attend, Elizabeth! It would be a great Sweet Sixteen event for my daughter, but considering she’s flying back from Spain on the 17th I think she would be too jet-lagged to appreciate the event.
The poke berries, while they shouldn’t be eaten, are terrific for creating a deep red dye or ink. The US Constituion was actually written in pokeberry ink.
Always wanted to try choke-cherries myself. I read about them in The Gang Goes to Mill.
As soon as I saw them in the movie I knew they used pokeberries for the nightlock. I grew up in the woodlands of Virginia and many of the plants featured in the movie are native to both NC and VA. I love that since they shot the movie in NC, they used real plants that grow there instead of silk or plastic.
Wish I lived close enough to participate in y’all’s festivities!
This is a bit after the big release, but on September 1, 2012, I’m hosting a live, online webinar event called “The Hunger Games and the Science Fiction Tradition.”
Here’s the description:
How does the story of Katniss Everdeen – the District 12 tribute, the Girl on Fire, the Mockingjay — fit into the genre tradition? Join award-winning scholar Dr. Amy H. Sturgis as she discusses The Hunger Games (both in book and film form) as science fiction. The multimedia presentation will consist of four sections (“Mythological Underpinnings,” “Futuristic Science,” “Post-Apocalyptic Nightmares and Dystopian Landscapes,” and “Young Adult Heroes and Heroines in Science Fiction”) followed by a live Q&A session. This two-hour event will take place 11am-1pm EST on September 1, 2012.
A detailed outline of the topics to be discussed and additional information is available here.