Like imperial Rome, the country of “The Hunger Games” is a once-free society now dominated by a corrupt and rapacious capital city. A president exercises, in effect, the power of an emperor.
Posted on 11/13/2014 9:41:01 AM PST by Bratch
The latest installment in “The Hunger Games” film franchise opens on Nov. 21 and promises to be another blockbuster. What accounts for the movies’ success? The obvious answer, of course, is the combination of the irresistible Jennifer Lawrence and Hollywood special effects with a rollicking good story.
But we shouldn’t ignore the deeper themes of the tale, which are not only classic but classical, reaching back to Greece and Rome and the very foundations of Western culture.
At the heart of the story are three beautiful, heroic young people: Katniss Everdeen and her male romantic interests, Peeta Mellark and Gale Hawthorne. They form a love triangle, but they also represent, from the point of view of the ancients, an aroused citizenry banding together and fighting for freedom against an evil empire.
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Like imperial Rome, the country of “The Hunger Games” is a once-free society now dominated by a corrupt and rapacious capital city. A president exercises, in effect, the power of an emperor. He lives in a grand city called the Capitol, and his government feeds off its provinces, much as ancient Rome did. The people of the Capitol radiate a baroque and overripe luxuriousness, like the lords and ladies of imperial Rome, while the provincials are poor and virtuous.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Like imperial Rome, the country of “The Hunger Games” is a once-free society now dominated by a corrupt and rapacious capital city. A president exercises, in effect, the power of an emperor.
” He lives in a grand city called the Capitol, and his government feeds off its provinces, much as ancient Rome did.”
Exactly as Washington DC and the surrounding Maryland and Virginia areas do now.
These areas have become the wealthiest in the world.
I liked the first two books (and movies). I didn’t care for the third book as much. Looking forward to the third movie, though.
I liked the second movie a lot. There were a quite a large number of references in it to Imperial Rome and its hedonistic excesses.
Can’t wait for the next movie.
Same here. First two books were very good. Half way through the third book, it just fell off a cliff. It’s as if they had a deadline to get it to print and just slapped it together. Left a bad taste in my mouth after thoroughly enjoying most of it.
I don’t think the popularity of this has anything to do with the particulars of the plot, but rather it is due to the relative scarcity of decently implemented dystopian movies, for which there is always a deep hunger. The author of this article is trying too hard to draw deep conclusions from the success of this movie, when the real reasons for its success are much simpler.
I thought the author was pointing towards simple - and timeless - reasons for the success.
Not only does the Capitol District represent the inside-the-Beltway crowd of our modern neo-fascist oppressors, led by His Holiness the Emperor Barack I (the Ignorant), the abused outer Districts represent the states far from D.C., in geography and in politics. Sarah Palin of Alaska and Jan Brewer of Arizona - they ARE Katniss Everdeen.
No they are not! Katniss does not in any way crave or want notoriety or fame, she just wants to be left alone to be herself. She rises to the challenge when needed, but never in any way craves to be in the lime light or to be a politician.
I am betting there are "Katniss" people out there in our population, and I pray one day someone like her will rise to the challenge and lead us.
The themes of ritualized entertainment involving doomed participants, the theme of a ruling class that is bizarre in their eccentricities and excesses, the theme of a youthful sacrifice. These are indeed timeless themes in both fiction and real-life. And they are certainly present in the hunger games. But I don’t think they are why the hunger games is successful, and that is where I think the author over-reaches. I believe that the success is derived from successfully transporting the viewer into a dystopian world, and that because that is rarely done adequately in Hollywood, the film succeeds because it taps into that demand. You could remove all of these timeless themes, replace them with any other kind of drama/action combination, and as long as the dystopian world was captivating, the movie would succeed. Just as Blade Runner, Aliens, the Fifth Element, 1984, the Walking Dead, the Book of Eli, the Road etc., have done.
I finally saw the movie a couple weeks ago. Didn’t see what all the hoopla was about. The actress, Scarlett whatshername, was too dead pan faced.
It had a built in captive audience before it was ever published by scholastic. It was on required reading selection lists from the get go. Not to say HG isn’t good or worthwhile or whatever, but these kids books that go on to become multi-media juggernaut franchises usually have a tremendous step up simply from the children’s book publishing industry.
“To that end, librarians have perfected the art of the “booktalk,” a term that, in recent years, has morphed into a transitive verb: Horning describes “The Hunger Games” as “a really fun book to booktalk.” A booktalk is a pitch, several minutes long, delivered to fellow librarians, teachers, parents and young library patrons. Librarians are invited to speak at schools and bookstores, or they travel to branches to help fill in the gaps for overworked local librarians. They are, in effect, unofficial traveling salespersons for the books they love, supported by the apparatus of respected, publicly funded institutions. Parents and teachers who are too busy to keep up with new children’s books themselves treat their advice as gospel. Andrew Medlar of the Chicago Public Library not only orders books for 79 branches and booktalks his favorite titles to his staff, he compiles lists of recommendations that are posted to the library’s website and distributed in schools, bookstores and libraries. He also nominates for important prizes.”
“There were so many ways that high school teachers could use this in their curriculum that we felt that it was important for them to know about it,” said Heather Hebert of Children’s Book World in Haverford, Pa. A classroom assignment will result in multiple sales, which is why many booksellers make a point of sharing advance reader’s copies of promising books with local educators. “We’ll get a few extra ARCs and give them to the teachers,” says Becky Anderson of Anderson’s Bookshop, which has two stores in Illinois. “They’ll start reading that book out loud in class to the kids, just to tease them with the first few chapters.” Then, “we send out a pre-sale form so all the kids can buy it.” It’s a strategy that’s worked like a charm for many a drug dealer.”
From here:
http://www.salon.com/2012/03/18/the_making_of_a_blockbuster/
More people reading is a great thing, especially kids, but man that is quite a machine to guarantee success and create a built-in audience for future movies/TV shows.
FReegards
some of the books they push are probably not very suitable for kids either
and then they hire morons for the film versions
I don’t care for these movies either.
The character she plays, Katniss, didn't have a lot to be excited about.
In "Silver Linings Playbook" Lawrence plays a crazy young woman and is a hoot!
I like her because David Letterman said to her: You and I aren't anything alike. (in so many words.)
Her reply: Thank God!
I agree she was great in SLPB but she’s very flat in HG. On another topic, weren’t the books supposed to be some artful critique of the Bush administration?
Actually I meant Anerican Hustle but she was good in the other film too.
I think the Katniss character was supposed to be deadpan. Her environment is totally depressing and little to smile about.
Lawrence, OTOH, is a "wild child" who says exactly what she is thinking and works at remaining "normal."
True or not, don't know, but I read that her parents wouldn't allow her to try acting until she finished high school...so she finished in 2 years with a 3.9 GPA...got her first acting job at age 14.
Google hunger games Bush administration and you’ll get a million hits.
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