Posted on 03/27/2012 6:46:41 AM PDT by rhema
I finished The Hunger Games last night - 2 AM or so... great fun read. I'm also reading On Character - Essays by James Q Wilson, they dove tail nicely... Good and evil are defined in traditional terms in both books. It's religion - just not obvious.
A certain conservative blogger (who is banned on this site) described the film as feminist propaganda in the guise of a snuff film marketed at kids. Gotta love the Internet.
Does it have a point? Killing people randomly is bad?
Does it have anything to do with reality?
Look, if you want to subject your kids to stuff like that, its your prerogative.
The problem with monopoly, compulsory schooling is that there is no escape for literary dissidents such as myself.
And literature is playing for keeps. It’s religion by other means.
The Humanist Manifesto crowd intended it that way.
-—If there were no god, man would invent him.-—
How do you know?
It’s about a society that was cut off from the outside world and developed differently. It’s a fantasy. Literature is supposed to disturb...like Aristotle said, purge that stuff so you don’t have to deal with it in real life. Can kids be exposed to something as disturbing as ‘Crime and Punishment’ or ‘King Lear’? It is high school we’re talking about I presume.
Like the article implied, there is really nothing original about this film, or the books for that matter...
A part of me was entertained by the movie, the other part was disturbed by the giddiness of the patrons who were mainly little teen and pre-teen girls and boys who don’t seem to see through what the film is trying to communicate to them...
There were several moments in that long film (2hrs 20mins) that you could have heard a pin drop...Everyone was apparently stunned by some of the scenes, but of course the romantic trist was predictable, and what I believe most of the teenage crowd was there to see...
IIRC, that movie was rated PG-13...I believe it should be noted I considered it to be a HARD PG-13/SOFT R rated film...
Like I said a part of me was entertained, but a part of me wondered what was so socially redeeming about it??? What does it say about our world we live in now...You know, reality???
I have not read the book(s)...Not sure I have a desire to do so...So I went in and didn’t see this country’s future, or anything resembling America, past, present or future...
I kinda thought this was more like an “alternate” reality in popular Sci-Fi vernacular...
What was amzing to me is how sheeple the district people were, and how 17th century the “Capitol” (ruling class) carried themselves...Don’t know why it lasted even 74 years with this type of “game” going on before someone finally decided they had had enough...
I wonder how long it would take us (in our reality) to say enough is enough???
Too many cowards out there...There may be a few, but we’ll get chopped up and mixed into the meat you buy at the grocery store these days for our efforts...
I will hold out final judgement on the series of books and films coming out of this franchise...I give this first installment a 5 out of 10 for effort...
Maybe the sequals will complete the series and warrant a better outcome and consideration from me...
We’ll see...
- Evelyn Waugh
Some smart man said so. I just can’t recall who it was. :o)
I haven't read the books, but is this a case of either an unreliable narrator or unsupported bragging by one of the characters (think Colonel Klink bragging about Stalag 13). Or maybe the author just decided that internal consistency got in the way of the story telling. Or even a case where the fanboys memorized the stories, while the author just cranked them out and didn't remember all the details like Arthur Conan Doyle's case of Dr. Watson's wandering war wound.
There is not a lack of “religion” in LOST, the series-but although it plays like it is Christian at times, this series is based on New Age and the Occult (sorry to ruin it for you), but having watched the whole thing (and ‘bought’ a couple of the seasons, and then regretted it-I threw them away rather than sell them and subject others to this trash!~ In the end this show isn’t a “science vs. religion” thing it is purely the “Mystery religion” of the devil mentioned in The Revelation of John.
Was that the episode where the situation was like Earth but if the Roman Empire hadn't fallen? That episode bugged me because the plot point relied on confusion between sun and son, which would only take place in some Germanic languages but not in Latin.
There’s no “thank God” ever on broadcast TV. Standards and practices is afraid people will complain they’re taking the Lord’s name in vain.
Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer.
English translation: If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.
Épître à l'Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs (1770-11-10)
These days, all teenage literature is disturbing. Just take a walk through the Young Adult or Sci-fi/Fantasy section of B&N or your local library. It’s a horror show.
The other problem is that literature is presented as, “Here’s something.” “Here’s something else.” There’s no rhyme or reason to the presentation or analysis. Even worse, the implication is either that pursuing meaning is not worthwhile, or simply impossible.
No they’re not. The kids know them because the kids read them and talk about them. Kid culture self perpetuates very well without any help from the schools. You can tell the kids are reading them voluntarily because they went to see the movie, nobody ever pays to watch movies made from assigned reading.
I haven’t seen the film - could be true about it. It’s not true about the book. Well, ‘snuff film’ part might be right - the idea behind the book is a fight to the death in a future day arena. If accurately portrayed in a film, it would be gruesome - twenty-four teens go in - one is to come out. There’s some twists and turns that make it into a love story - but the deaths are detailed and some are overdone even in the book. Hmmm, might skip the film.
That was the FIRST highly vaunted book!!
First person present writing will never get popular with the writers, it’s too difficult and counter intuitive. Series that use it have been popular with readers before, but because so few writers are comfortable with it it never takes off.
I saw the movie,took my entire family.I did see God in the good versus evil,The heroine only killing in self defense or in mercy,as she killed the last boy to end his suffering.I saw it in the way she cared for the little black girl.I saw it in the way she prepared a funeral for the little girl,and in the way thar her black partner saved our heroine because of her treatment of the little girl.I saw no sex or nudity anywhere in the movie,and the blood and murder scenes were toned down to the point that you almost wondered if anyone actually died.I dont really even recall any cursing.I saw the way she inspired hope in people,Like a younger Sarah Palin perhaps.I saw her sacrifice herself for her younger sister,and in the way she was able to save both herself and her partner.
I saw God,maybe you dont or cant,but I did,and I saw good triumph over evil and inspire hope in a hopeless populace.
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