tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post1940532548199066458..comments2024-03-29T04:56:23.027-04:00Comments on Cockeyed Caravan: Rulebook Casefile: Deathwish Fulfillment in The Hunger GamesMatt Birdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07319984238456281734noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-30467375789425497382012-04-06T07:40:26.530-04:002012-04-06T07:40:26.530-04:00Having not seen the film, and with no plans to, I ...Having not seen the film, and with no plans to, I can only reflect on what seemed to be the intent of the author through the books - the Capitol was supposed to represent a frenzied hedonism and sexuality and the sort of frothiness of life which was drummed out of the Districts. I can't say that I am comfortable with this as a film <i>because</i> of the HUGE amount of violence, but I'd be equally uncomfortable with a huge amount of sex - teen sex or otherwise. (There's a whole gatekeeper's conundrum inherent in this anyway, but in the book, when Katniss finally CAN relate to Peeta sexually, she struggles still. I think that's significant, but it's unlikely such a subtlety will make it to film.)<br /><br />I think I am one of those people who is on the friges of whatever Venn diagram is used in determining target audiences.<br /><br />I don't think I'm pretending a disgust with either violence or sex. We want to be entertained, as a species, and because violent/death urge films are what someone has perceived is entertaining, it is what is available, and it is what is consumed by most consumers.<br /><br />At the risk of sounding like a buttoned-down, über-conservative, I do agree that we should look at the motives for our stories - as publishing companies chomp at the bit for "the next Hunger Games," I'm afraid that dystopia violence scenario will be played out over and over - because, after all, we've already proved that life will have no value in the future, so let's just go with tons of fatalities and move forward... right?tanita✿davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01671822274852087499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-19414982739638742542012-04-06T00:03:51.405-04:002012-04-06T00:03:51.405-04:00Oh, it's definitely an American thing. Americ...Oh, it's definitely an American thing. Americans never seem to figure out that our love of death (at home and abroad) is so intimately tied to our hatred of sex.Matt Birdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07319984238456281734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13294573.post-16595494528915201322012-04-05T18:44:28.780-04:002012-04-05T18:44:28.780-04:00Well, Sigmund Bird, I sort of agree. I think you ...Well, Sigmund Bird, I sort of agree. I think you are right about the needs that rehearsing death and vicarious killing fulfills in certain genre narratives. <br /><br />But I'm not sure that THE HUNGER GAMES has anything to do with disaster movies, which always struck me as being about more leadership, authority and community in a moment of extreme crisis. <br /><br />And I think the elephant in the room of this post is just why THE HUNGER GAMES with its rampant bloodthirsty violence and sublimated puritanical attitude toward sex is so fundamentally appealing to Americans. Europe, where Freud first imagined both the sex and death drives, seems to have a much saner and more realistic attitude toward sex in everyday life and on-screen, even among adolescents. Maybe it's because the civilization over there is older, or they lived through more real bloodshed on their own soil or because they banished all their religious extremists over here.j.s.noreply@blogger.com