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The Hunger Games: Your imagination is racist and you should feel bad
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Also why did the camera go to utter shit as soon as they appeared.
They spend all their resources "pissing" on the districts (or keeping them in line, if you prefer) so that they can get resources from the districts to support their lavish lifestyle. Although maybe not clearly spelled out in the movie, it should be apparent that the Capitol is mostly an upperclass society that uses its superior tech to subjucate the districts to keep them providing resources.
Let's think about this line of reasoning.
That was another problem I had with the actual Games. If the situation can constantly be manipulated by outside forces (including the people who are in charge of the Games), why would anyone care about the games or do things like bet money?
If the line on Cowboys/Giants was Giants by 3 but there was the possibility that Jerry Jones might suddenly shoot fireballs at Eli Manning, not only am I not putting money down, I'm not giving a fuck about the outcome of the game.
Who would give two shits about this stupid game?
Because you'll get fed if your tribute wins.
And how does a dude get the impression they're using all their resources for pissing? They have hunger games every year--ostensibly it's a sustainable venture (74 years and still going), so they're not pissing away anything they can't afford to.
Actually, the books do cover this in some regards. The setting really does have a lot in common with something like Fallout because part of the reason there are so few people willing to go outside the fence is because (Edit: book 1, 2, 3 and movie spoilers, SPOILERS like they are going out of style ... and computer games)
And you know why I think Atomic Ross is having such a disconnect from the rest of us who read the books first? Because the movie is utter shit on so many of these topics the books explicitly covers and is shit in many other ways, not the least of which making the places and people of the Districts, especially her district, sexy (nutrition) and romantic instead of the fucking ghetto land described in the books. Even if you have only read the first book, you are not going to have the full story because of how much of the information Katniss has in the first book is straight up Capital propaganda she learned in "school".
That's actually a big part of it. I don't feel empathy for most of these characters because even the ones that are supposed to be the worst off of all (Katniss and Peeta) still live better than many free Americans do in places like West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Everyone is handsome and pretty, and no real suffering is seen.
I think I see what your primary issue is and I also feel it is a primary failing of the movie as compared to the book.
There is no Hunger in The Hunger Games.
In the books people die of starvation in with astonishing regularity, it's just an accepted thing that you might fall asleep hungry and not wake up. The movie absolutely did not get this point across and it seems to be what is most of the criticism is hinging on. It difficult to accept the entire notion of the oppression because the movie didn't sell it very well. I simply took it as rote that they were desperate for food because I knew, from the book, that they were.
The movie pulled a lot of punches. Especially considering how much a PG-13 rating will let a movie get away with, it was an awfully sanitized and soft version of dystopia. It pulled literally every punch it could.
She almost starved to death as well, because she was too young to put more entries into the games.
Also, might want to ensure book two and three spoilers are also labeled as such. Somebody who's only seen or read the first might think they're safe.
Oh man, I am the worst for that, thanks for the reminder. I just don't even think about it, I want to discuss it ALL. Went back and edited for a label thingy.
When I saw District 12 in the movie it was gorgeous. My vision of it in the book was a concrete wasteland with shitty, decaying structures that often didn't even have windows. It was ugly and desolate and the only way anybody could eat was because people went into the wilderness to find food. They skip over it in the movie, but the District 12 market is full of wild game. Even the Peacekeepers buy it, IIRC.
There was one of those last page, unlabeled. *sigh*, I hate spoilers
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A) Katniss hunts and is able to trade, something that's very risky to do.
and
B) Peta lives at a Bakery at the 'rich' part of town. Needless to say, he eats.
um, ok. they get resources from the districts and then use those resources to construct a society ehere they live like kings by keeping the districts subjucated. it's a pretty standard concept. if you want to start discussing the amount of resources it would require, and what the breakdown between security/luxuries/tech is, well, that's not entirely relevant to the plot. If you accept that it can be done in, say, game of thrones or pre-1789 france, why is it so difficult to accept that it can be done in future world?
First of all, I don't read Game of Thrones, so I accept nothing.
Second, while the economic relationship between the Capitol and the Districts may not be critical to the plot about "Katniss and Peeta in the Hunger Games," if the conceit the plot is based upon can't stand up to scrutiny then I can't hardly be asked to suspend my disbelief.
In Panem, it's more like "Bread to remind you we will kill you in the Circuses."
Hell, it happens right now in North Korea. Of course NK also has that cultish state pseudo-religion, and they called it "divine right of kings" for a reason, back in the day. Of course there isn't such an awed, semi-religious faith in the powers that be, just a hate for 'em.
Hunger games has some weaknesses if you over-analyze it. People don't live in misery without having some sort of cognitive dissonance. Even the peasants of the worst feudal states truly believed that their lord was preferable to being raped and pillaged and enslaved (man, slavery is another thing that history tries to sweep under the rug) by whatever foreigners and/or neighbors happened to be in raiding distance.
Which is another point, slavery or (insert favorite euphemism here) aren't popping up on my cursory Hunger Games search, even though you have no human-intelligence robots and a culture of decadent self-indulgence by the ruling class. It's hard to find a culture that doesn't have it's tip-top overlords enjoying the thrill and power of ordering people to serve and service you in your own home. This segues neatly into the fact that a 16 year old girl who had to provide for her family for several years has "sold herself," been sexually assaulted, or at the very least known someone in such a situation by age 16 (or whatever age she is) and we're just kind of hopping past these dark realities of human nature.
Which I have to say, I'm okay with. That stuff is a little too depressing. And while the political situation may have some credulity issues, so did Star Wars. The Emperor and the Empire ruled by FEAR and blew up planets just to make a point. We let it slide because the point of the story was, "evil empire, good rebellion, woo revolution!" And that was fun.
Avoxes seem like they're basically slaves. No idea on later books, but I'm guessing they aren't limited to serving tributes.
Oh yeah, forgot about those dudes. movie didn't mention them, they just were redshirts in the background.
note i'm not defending the book/movie i'm just trying to say that i don't think it's a stretch to believe the circumstances.
That's true. 74 years isn't all that long.
1) Submit, and accept their INCREASED punishment ("Executions for the ringleaders, and 4 Hunger Games tributes every year. Suck it up.")
2) Become self-sufficient, without venturing out into the monstrosity-ridden wilderness in mass and dying to Tracker Jackers or similar horrors
3) Make do for the time being, and hope that the Capitol doesn't have enough stockpiled resources to just wait them out. This would be made a little easier if the other districts would join your rebellion, but how do they know about it?
None of those options really sound great, or persuasive enough to rip people out of their learned helplessness.
If faith is just a silent tribute, mine is just a desperate act.
It's definitely long enough to beat submission into plenty of people though. However in the books (massive book spoilers)
When I saw District 12 in the movie it was gorgeous. My vision of it in the book was a concrete wasteland with shitty, decaying structures that often didn't even have windows. It was ugly and desolate and the only way anybody could eat was because people went into the wilderness to find food. They skip over it in the movie, but the District 12 market is full of wild game. Even the Peacekeepers buy it, IIRC.[/quote]
Why would it be a concrete wasteland? Its in the middle of coal-mining country, they generally would have houses made out of wood due to its abundance in the area. I thought the movie did a great job of capturing a suffering downtrodden coal-mining town. This was especially true when you then compare it to the lavishness of the capitol. Katniss was a little too cleaned up in the beginning though, I will give you that.
Book 3 Spoilers
What is this from?
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Edit: since a5ehren might want the full name: Transmetropolitan, essentially the story of Hunter S. Thompson and the election/presidency of Evil JFK set in a strange and far-flung future. It's more interesting than the Hunger games, but otherwise off-topic.
I enjoyed it and found it easy to follow. My only complaint is that I found the pacing a little slow around the start of the actual games.
It's reality TV, not an organized sports league striving for parity. I'm sure there are people that bet on survivor, and would bet on "Survivor: Xtreme! Death edition! Now with children!" were it a thing.
It's definitely a must read. Probably one of the best comic books to come out in the last 10 years.
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