Monday, April 9, 2012

Thoughts on Hunger Games

I've been something of a 'bad' woman...I haven't read Hunger Games yet. This has more to do with my still massive reading list than anything else.

I have, however, seen the movie. Which I'm told is considerably inferior to the books. Hopefully I'll manage to confirm that for myself soon.

What struck me the most is that my understanding of the books was wrong. Of course, given I always intended to get around to reading them, I've tried to avoid detailed reviews and spoilers, but honestly?

I thought it was YA Running Man. Who remembers that movie? Arnold Schwarzenegger and lethal game shows. Part of the message of Running Man was competition taken too far.

The same message lies in Hunger Games, but it's not about game shows. It's about the pageant industry. (And yes, it is also about class warfare and poverty, but...) The entire format of the Hunger Games as shown in the movie was that of a pageant. And every year, young women (mostly) do crazy things to win pageants. And mothers do even crazier things to get their daughters, sometimes their very young daughters, to win pageants. Who remembers the fake boob incident?

That's all I'm going to say, except to also note that the concept owes a lot to the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur.

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