Freedomain Radio

I just completed the audiobook. It was extremely well done and I cannot wait to jump into the next book. So much symbolism was jumping around in my mind.

• The abuse of children by society.
• The death of Cato in the cornacopia being akin to a death within the womb (his parents decision to make him a career tribute).
• Rue and Prim being aspects of Katniss' personality that she is trying to preserve. 

Some interesting aspects:

• Katniss' doubts about her skills.
• Katniss' mistrust of other people's intentions.
• Capitalism is completely disrupted by the Capital and the black and grey markets help people to survive. 

I found this article that seems to indicate that this trillogy is extremely libertarian and approaching the conclution of anarchy.

http://stopthestate.blogspot.com/2012/04/libertarianism-in-hunger-games-trilogy.html 

"Libertarians will be pleased to see that the question Collins seems to be pondering by the third book isn’t what type of government is best, but whether we should even be governed at all.  The reader is left with an undeniable feeling that the people of Panem would be better off not only without the current regime, but without the supposedly better replacement as well. "

This sounds too good to be true!

Jeff Tucker has chimed in on the Hunger Games as well.

http://lfb.org/today/democracy-is-our-hunger-game/

I finally got around to see the movie everybody has been talking about.

I definitely agree with Stef that is was so super strange that the children did not seem to show any signs of trauma or distress over the fact that they were being forced to kill each other. The main heroine kissing her love interest after nearly having her throat slit and then seeing someone's head bashed to death, was just sick. The subject matter was treated so lightly. I had to remind myself that KIDS ARE BEING FORCED TO FIGHT TO THE DEATH! because the movie was not emphasising the gravity of that at all.

I know how annoying it has become whenever someone mentions "Battle Royale" in relation to The Hunger Games, as if they are so hip because they know about a popular Japanese movie from ten years ago. But I have to say, it's a much better movie that does treat the subject matter of kids being forced to fight to the death appropriately. Stef also mentioned that in The Hunger Games, the main character's childhood trauma was not dealt with well. In Battle Royale it is dealt with very well. The main character in that witnessed his father commit suicide, when another child was a very young girl her mother sold her to a pedophile, and the teacher who organises the battle royale has issues with his own daughter. It's very clever in that respect. Although, if Stef thought the Hunger Games was too violent then maybe Battle Royale is not for him.

Is Romeo and Juliet "pro-suicide"?

Hunting for propagandizing assumptions within literature - to the exclusion of all other methods - is one of the failures of post-modernism. It's a literary technique that has populated the academy with leftists. But more importantly, it's a sign of a banal intellect, because it's a form of zealotry. It turns art into an arena whereby the failures of art are demonstrated instead of understanding it as a beautiful expression.

I noticed this movie fails with people who did not read the books.  Since it's written from first-person, you don't get to see on-screen the inner horror Katniss feels.  The kiss is better explained in the book:  "impress" the people watching so they donate medicine to the dying boy.  One of the reasons I like this series is that in the 2nd and especially 3rd books, the author shows the traumatic effects of forcing children to commit violence against each other.  I don't think it's annoying to mention a very similar book and movie to this series.  You're sharing your opinion, not trying to impress anyone with your knowledge of fancy trivia!