Wednesday, November 1, 2017
The Hunger Games
I think an interesting aspect of the opening is that it's told in present tense. It's actually a pretty artificial way to narrate. (Do people really think: "I wake up. Now I am putting on my boots which are made of leather. Now I am going outside," etc.) However, it captures the immediacy of the events, the nowness of everything. She is still describing the Hunger Games, the tessarae, etc. for us as if we don't know what those things are, as if we are aliens from outer space and don't know the ways of this world. But we learn to go through the motions w/ her so that we find out what happens--it's a plot-heavy book. Also, it's very much about the media which is as immediate as things get. Things happen and they're filmed about and sent out into the world. Many of us knew about yesterday's terrorist attack in NYC right after it happened b/c our phones told us about it and even sent us pix. And people on the other side of the US and some even outside it found out at the same time as we did.
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Professor Talbird I hope you don't mind if I repeat myself. As I said in class, I believe that this book is a very distorted way of the world repeating what it once was. The quote "history repeats itself" by, someone that I can't think of right now, is is the perfect example of what is going on here in this book. The class system is set up like the cast system of the Indian culture many years ago, the gladiator stage of Greece and even with the current media twist. Taking three weak points of our past and present to create this terrible society and an almost satire way.
ReplyDeleteIn an almost satire way*
DeleteI believe the book is very interesting and for me it describes the fear of many people in our society like many of sci-fi films tend to be about. The fear of there being a society in which the rich and wealthy basically have total control over everything. This is a constant fear in our current society seeing how our country has been threatened with nuclear war. But like this book and the movie that fear constant division amongst us can be broken down further like Susan Collins did so with the districts in the novel. The problems that divide us constantly such as racial tensions, police brutality, politics, terrorism, mass shootings, etc. I also see the games itself as a form of cruel entertainment for the rich in which only they gain and don't care much about the people in the game. It's similar to the NFL currently in the way the league benefits and gains so much money and many players have been diagnosed with brain trauma after they have retired from the game and the league has been criticized from the way they have handled players health and also the way players are compensated.
ReplyDeleteWhat I read in the book and viewed in the movie is what is going on in our world today. Distractions are created to keep our focus on the disasters of the world. Meanwhile the real issues that we face today are not being resolved. I decided a while ago not to watch the news. It is very rare that you view something positive other than killings,police brutality, suicides, bombings, sexual harassment, fraud and the list goes on and on. distractions to keep you scared, loosing hope in the system that is provided to help.
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