I Think The Hunger Games Series Sits In A Similar Literary Position To The Lord Of The Rings, As A Piece

I think the Hunger Games series sits in a similar literary position to The Lord of the Rings, as a piece of literature (by a Catholic author) that sparked a whole new subgenre and then gets blamed for flaws that exist in the copycat books and aren’t actually part of the original.

Like, despite what parodies might say, Katniss is nowhere near the stereotypical “unqualified teenager chosen to lead a rebellion for no good reason”.  The entire point is that she’s not leading the rebellion. She’s a traumatized teenager who has emotional reactions to the horrors in her society, and is constantly being reined in by more experienced adults who have to tell her, “No, this is not how you fight the government, you are going to get people killed.” She’s not the upstart teenager showing the brainless adults what to do–she’s a teenager being manipulated by smarter and more experienced adults. She has no power in the rebellion except as a useful piece of propaganda, and the entire trilogy is her straining against that role. It’s much more realistic and far more nuanced than anyone who dismisses it as “stereotypical YA dystopian” gives it credit for.

And the misconceptions don’t end there. The Hunger Games has no “stereotypical YA love triangle”–yes, there are two potential love interests, but the romance is so not the point. There’s a war going on! Katniss has more important things to worry about than boys! The romance was never about her choosing between two hot boys–it’s about choosing between two diametrically opposed worldviews. Will she choose anger and war, or compassion and peace? Of course a trilogy filled with the horrors of war ends with her marriage to the peace-loving Peeta. Unlike some of the YA dystopian copycats, the romance here is part of the message, not just something to pacify readers who expect “hot love triangles” in their YA. 

The worldbuilding in the Hunger Games trilogy is simplistic and not realistic, but unlike some of her imitators, Collins does this because she has something to say, not because she’s cobbling together a grim and gritty dystopia that’s “similar to the Hunger Games”. The worldbuilding has an allegorical function, kept simple so we can see beyond it to what Collins is really saying–and it’s nothing so comforting as “we need to fight the evil people who are ruining society”. The Capitol’s not just the powerful, greedy bad guys–the Capitol is us, First World America, living in luxury while we ignore the problems of the rest of the world, and thinking of other nations largely in terms of what resources we can get from them. This simplistic world is a sparsely set stage that lets us explore the larger themes about exploitation and war and the horrors people will commit for the sake of their bread and circuses, meant to make us think deeper about what separates a hero from a villain.

There’s a reason these books became a literary phenomenon. There’s a reason that dozens upon dozens of authors attempted to imitate them. But these imitators can’t capture that same genius, largely because they’re trying to imitate the trappings of another book, and failing to capture the larger and more meaningful message underneath. Make a copy of a copy of a copy, and you’ll wind up with something far removed from the original masterpiece. But we shouldn’t make the mistake of blaming those flaws on the original work.

EPILEPSY WARNING FOR HUNGER GAMES

During the evacuation in District 13, when everyone is decending the stairs, there is a very strong flashing blue light.

Please be aware of this if you’re seeing the movie and your epilepsy could be triggered by this.

The flashing ends once the 3 characters are through the doors (sorry, trying not to spoil too much as well).

Please reblog to spread the word.

 the hunger games is basically hadestown with more murder

don’t tell me peeta wouldn’t go into the underworld with only the power of love and song and accidentally start a revolution like orpheus (yes i know katniss is technically the one who started it in the books but she’s Eurydicie in this  - hungry young girl, fuck this romance nonsense, better survival instincts et cetera - cause i feel liker Eurydice is the true hero of the musical)

i mean, one of the songs is literally called “his kiss, the riot” 

they’re both stories about trying to save your loved one and accidentally starting a whole thing you weren’t really trying to start, but now that it’s started they’re sure as hell not gonna stop it

plus i think patrick page would be a good president snow

Could you explain this one: "friendly reminder peeta most probably suffered from abuse from his mother throughout the majority of his childhood"? How?

friendly reminder only 800 people were saved from district 12 ✿◕‿◕✿

no bUT LIKE

mags knew her days were running out and she decided that instead of letting death come to her she would go into that arena and help the resistance because she wanted to die for something meaningful

mags volunteered to take annie’s place knowing really well that she wasn’t gonna make it, because she preferred to die rather than risking losing annie and having finnick live without her 

mags was an eighty year old lady volunteering to go fight to the death once again for a new world that she probably knew she would never see

and if that isnt the punkest thing you have ever heard in your whole goddamn life then you can get the fuck out of my face