Posted on 03/24/2012 4:50:45 PM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network
It seems a box office phenomenon is happening right now.
"The Hunger Games", from previews, seems to be setting all sorts of records this weekend.
Very captivating camera work, and a sort of 'blade runner' sort of theme it would seem.
I saw the movie last night and just finished the third book today. Here’s my take. There are 12 districts run by the Capitol. The Capitol produces nothing but government and depends on the 12 districts for everything. 74 years ago the districts rebelled and lost. Their punishment is to select a boy and girl between 12 and 18 each year at a ceremony called the reaping. They participate in an event called the hunger games that takes place in an arena. It is a fight to the death, and the last one standing is the winner.
It is a story of vicious tyranny vs a compassionate and intelligent individual. Not having read the books, I see this story as the tale of the beginning of the end of the tyranny. Nothing else would really suffice. Additionally, when the president/ dictator in the movie spoke of “hope” i had to restrain myself from shouting out “hope and change!”
That’s fine. The books were adapted as internationally distributed and translated movies and comics.
Both are set in alternate reality futures.
In Battle Royale, Japan won WWII.
And yet the victors of Battle Royale I still perpetrate a 9-11 type destruction of Western(? American?) skyscrapers at the opening of BRII and even escape to be with apparent Afghanis in the hills at the end of BRII.
So much for alternative futures.
By the time the second book came out SOMEONE must’ve brought it to her and the studio’s attention.
It’s too bad this movie didn’t come out before the Iraq war. Then maybe the kids from flyover, the ones who were sent in to be killed and maimed, would’ve understand how their underclass status made them easy victims of manipulation by the aristocratic class, and would’ve stood up like the heroine of Hunger Games and struck a blow for freedom against the chickenhawk one percenters.
Janet Mefford and a woman from Focus on the Family talked about this yesterday. They said the left intended this to be an anti-war, one percenter, violent (kids killing kids) movie. Apparently, lots of schools are taking kids to see this as field trip.
You haven’t read it - have you.
Read all 3 books, saw the movie and liked it a lot. I was worried that they would make the movie left wing but they stuck to the story very well. It is a great example for our young ones to see complete government control and tyranny in action.
In book 3, becoming a republic is specifically mentioned as a goal.
My ten year old boy loved the books but I’m still thinking hard about letting him see the movie becuase its tough seeing kids killing kids. Of course he sees that on the nightly news every week.
Haven’t read it, haven’t seen it. Just reading the tea leaves here.
I haven’t seen the movie yet but really want to. The books were fantastic. Anti-despotic government, dystopian, strong female lead (I’m the father of two daughters). Can’t wait to see it and will have my girls watch it when they are old enough.
My bet is - she didn’t read it.
It is anti-tyranny - not anti war.
My son’s school had the book assigned as well. I can’t see what a leftist would think was in this flick to interest them. Maybe the “strong female” bit - but frankly - toward the end - I noted the actress kind of looks like Palin.
And she hunts, and kills, and cooks ...
It's only now that Americans can see Battle Royale and its sequel movie widely, thanks to the Blu-ray disc release that just came out less than a week ago.
In the books all of those things are caused by the tyrannical central government.
You know what they say about assuming....
It isn’t a great book. it is a decent book. Amazon has it for about $5.
Think “Rollerball, Soylent Green, Bladerunner, Hunger Games ...”
mmmmmmmm...soylent green
In other words you are flat out guessing... Ignorance is curable.
Woody Harrelson is one of the producers. He’s a big leftwinger. So is Lenny Kravitz, another of the producers. I don’t know the backgrounds of the other individuals listed as producers, but I’ll bet they’re all libs.
The Collins lady who wrote it sounds like a lefty in the little blurbs I’ve seen. Her book was picked by the leftwingy American Library Association for top ten kid’s fiction books.
The circumstantial evidence points to this film being just another piece of leftist agitprop in the dystopian genre. We’ve seen a number of these in recent years. V for Vendetta and Children of Men come to mind. What they have in common are a fascist, rightwing tyrannical government, and a persecuted/manipulated 99 percent. These films express a leftist fear of government, not a conservative one.
No, silly, I’m not guessing. I’m putting the evidence together and drawing a conclusion. The author sounds like a lib in her statements about the movie. She conceived the book while channel surfing and seeing a gameshow followed by coverage of the Iraq war. So it came out of the same period as other leftwingy dystopian films with similar themes. The movie has flaming leftwingers listed as producers — Woody Harrelson for instance. I just think it’s unlikely that something with a conservative message could come out of all of this.
I remember back when Avatar came out and there were a number of Freepers who swore up and down that it had a conservative message about property rights and not being bullied by an oppressive government. I finally had to go see that one to confirm what was pretty obvious, that it was a piece of flaming leftwing agitprop. I don’t think this movie has such obvious leftwing bias, but I think it’s a leftwing movie nevertheless. I could certainly be wrong, but I’ll bet I’m not.
They are so left wing - probably the types who think calling conservatives “Nazis” and “Fascists” is thoughtful.
Without having the first clue of what they are talking about.
I can see it - since from their point of view the bad guy is ALWAYS the evil conservative. In a weird sort of way - maybe it is the ultimate Leftist Projection movie. Kind of funny.
If you can start from their assumptions - which are insane - then I can see it. Unless you start with their assumptions - the story misses their target by a mile.
It would be interesting - to analyze - what they think they are saying. For instance - the coal miners would be the poor union guys being taken advantage of by the owners - since they have no contact with coal miners - they just assume the characatures, and assume the owners, etc.
Justlike the Hollyweird elite see themselves as “rugged individualists” like - how “gutsy” Ellen Degeneres was - when she came out as gay - to a world that already knew, in a culture that rewards her for it. So gutsy! Like Fluke was “gutsy”. etc.
Normal people - will see the tyrannical big central government - front and center.
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