Posted on 11/22/2013 4:27:13 AM PST by Truth29
Mission accomplished, and with the sequel, the gloves come off. “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is a muscular, engrossing, unexpectedly bleak epic of oppression and insurrection, directed with dramatic urgency and a skilled eye by Francis Lawrence (“Constantine,” “I Am Legend”). Set in the fascist future state of Panem, the movie takes pains to show its young mass audience what living under a totalitarian dictatorship might look and feel like. But the sharpest aspects of “Catching Fire” — the parts that sting — play as an allegory for today. Very few people will take in this spectacle of a society amusing itself to death, of “reality games” and the vapid media hysteria that surrounds them, and not draw a parallel to our own televised bread and circuses. At its best, “Catching Fire” is a blockbuster that bites the culture that made it.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonglobe.com ...
I read the trilogy and it’s definitely a commentary on present and future totalitarian government. A modern day Atlas Shrugged perhaps.
I was VERY surprised at how much I liked the first movie and how much of it has ‘stuck’ in my brain. A lot of, ‘What would *I* do in this situation?’ thoughts. A good brain exercise! I was seriously expecting some Chick Flick, ala the ‘Vampire’ movies that were all the rage for a while there. *Rolleyes*
Sounds like I’ll like the second installment even better! I also see it as a modern take on Atlas Shrugged.
Kinda surprised Hollyweird green-lighted this one, LOL!
President Snow Job
Twilight meets a Brave New World.
It only matters if we win elections.
50 year SciFI fan.
Yes, and in the book and the movie, the President tries to kill the heroine and put down the rebellion with deadly force; sounds like where Dear Reader and his coterie are likely to go.
The book series is much better than the movie(s). I liked the books, except the last one, but didn’t care for the movie. I will be seeing the new one and hope if follows the book better.
But yes, the parallels are interesting. The first book was published in 2008, so considering the author is a woman, I would guess she was writing it from a “Bush” prospective. It’s just a happy accident that it really parallels the Obama administration better.
The first movie grossed close to $700 million world wide. The sequal was a no-brainer.
My 13 year-old daughter loves the books, and it’s given us many opportunities to talk about oppressive government and the duty of the people to resist tyranny. Now, when watching the nightly news, she understands the parrallels I draw between what’s going on in this nation, and the dystopian future she’s read about. Sowing some major seeds for future champions of liberty!
FYI - fans of the first movie might want to check out “The Hunger Games Bad Lip Reading” on youtube...absolutely hysterical.
Indeed - they probably meant the oppressive fascist government to show what it’d be like with conservatives in power.
you “no”?
yes, back to your “burro”.
President Snow Job has appointed the NSA, IRS, HHS and even the National Park Service as his peacekeepers (with plenty of hollow point ammunition purchased and in storage, we might add)
Yeah but it was still kind of funny so...no harm, no foul.
Yes, it was written from a Bush perspective. The author said it was inspired by a combination of the Iraq war and game shows. The theme is this: poor and middle-class people, dooped by faux patriotism, go against their own class interests and send their children to die in conflicts concocted by the fascistic right-wing overclass for purposes of entertainment, profit, and control. In other words, a pretty obvious lefty message about class exploitation.
John Nolte at Breitbart and Ed Morrissey at Hot Air both picked up on this and skewered the film in their reviews, and rightfully so in my opinion. I thought it was clearly written from a left perspective though with enough ambiguity that a conservative interpretation is possible if one insists.
Or if it becomes obvious to a large segment of society that elections no longer matter.
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