4226: Her True Power Revealed
I don't know if I even want to bother with spoilers, because anyone who would be interested is already well-familiar with the material, and anyone who isn't isn't likely to care about spoilage but might actually be interested in what I have to say if read on accident. [PROTIP: I totally want everyone to read what I have to say and agree with me, OR correct me if I'm totally wrong. But I realize there's shit that needs to get done.]
So, I finished reading The Hunger Games, which ends on an annoying-enough cliffhanger [the movie kind of hints at a different one but leaves the "happy" ending intact] that I'm obliged to at least look up what happens next to ensure the thing that bugs me is, in fact, resolved. I'm just going to list the pros and cons and go from there:
Pros:
+ strong woman character [I'm told it's a bad idea to call females females without also calling males males, though I think it makes sense to go the female route because Katniss is sixteen, in that sort of in-between girl and woman that's awful to endure especially for one who isn't certain which she wants to be--"girl" or "woman"]
+ encourages an interest in archery [though it'd be nice if increased awareness of "general survival techniques" and "the plight of the poor" also came out of this]
+ accurately-ish represents the struggles of the very poor who have to scrape by to survive, including foraging, hunting, and even digging through others' trash
+ accurately portrays the culture shock of the excesses of the very rich from the POV of the not-so-well-off
+ accurately describes survival techniques a la Man vs. Wild [RIP Bear Grylls's career]
[[or, it sounds accurate--I didn't really sit there and fact-check every little thing like purifying water with iodine 'cause it was a bathroom reader and will take me like five hours to do if I sit here and do it right the fuch* NOW]]
+ accurately represents that inherent awkwardness of unrequited teenage romance ["Does he like me? Do I like him? WTF's going on?"]
+ ...kinda sorta encourages trying rabbit and squirrel, I guess, vs. eating nothing but McDonald's burgers
Cons:
- is about a government that enforces and televises kids killing each other
I personally would add that the use of first person present tense is maddening--I've only read one other book that uses it and, while the core concept was engrossing, I absolutely HATED the use of "this is happening right the fuch* NOW" language. It really doesn't strike me as natural, though I realize it's a preference thing.
*I typoed this and left it--and even changed the second instance--'cause why not, it's kinda funny XD
When I describe the world to C**, he goes on at lengths about how the core concept doesn't work, because a government systematically killing its own people--even an easily-replenished number--is not self-sustainable. ["Look at North Korea! It doesn't work!"] While it's conceivable that those who have been born into a system of such senseless and sadistic*** demonstration of the power of the government over its citizens might have been conditioned never to question this because somehow there are more and more powerful "Peacekeepers" than citizens[?], it doesn't describe why--seventy-five years ago--people just accepted the initiation of the Hunger Games upon their defeat. A concession that "at least ONLY 24" kids have to die every year vs. however many were dying in the uprisings? An Author in the Sky who had no real clue how to make such a thing believable because people [who aren't brain-damaged] don't operate that way?
**THIS use of present tense is different, because I say "when X happens, Y happens" vs. "I X right the fuch NOW, and Y happens"
***I hesitate to say "barbaric" because barbarians don't seem like they would create such a contrived scenario--they'd "just execute them" like President Snow says in the cutaway scene in the movie that wouldn't have been in the book due to the book being first person from Katniss's POV. But I'm picky with words like that. Also, it's more like in Saw XIVIIX12 Whatever where the "killer" makes the victims cut THEMSELVES up--it's sort of torture porn, I guess.
This is sort of what doesn't sit well with me with some other stories and affects my ability to enjoy them--like Source Code: [Spoiler (click to open)]It's centered around a "simulation" universe that perfectly duplicates the real world down to details they couldn't possibly know in order to replicate, and it's those details the central character needs to discover in order to accomplish his mission. I get that the movie doesn't work without that gimmick, but that just means the movie doesn't work.
Of course, I think Source Code is at least well-made for the narrative they used--I'm not so impressed with the execution of The Hunger Games as a movie.
Ultimately I kinda get the same impression from Hunger Games as from John Dies at the End: Something's telling me I should like it, but I don't--not really. I guess there's a "horror" element that draws people in, and I'm not completely at ease liking horror. Although JDatE at least has some funny parts, while the best parts of Hunger Gams was Haymitch/Woody Harrelson being an ass, but that could easily have been written into a less horrific [see what I did there?] story.
I guess there are some really maudlin parts, too, that would be touching in a different story. Like a war story--I can at least get behind that for the [pseudo-]historical accuracy. The "this is a gesture that means 'I have lost someone I deeply loved'" thing kinda feels like trying too hard to make the reader fall in love with a story about a government that enforces and televises kids killing each other.
[Also, they cut out the tongues of criminals.]
I mean, Mortal Engines isn't much better in the way the upper-class treats the lower-class, but at least it's about cities on giant tank treads that eat each other. *thumbs up*
...I think my criticism of The Pelican Brief is much more subdued by comparison. Maybe I'll cover that more in-depth later, 'cause it's BUTT O'CLOCK RIGHT THE FUCH NOW
So, I finished reading The Hunger Games, which ends on an annoying-enough cliffhanger [the movie kind of hints at a different one but leaves the "happy" ending intact] that I'm obliged to at least look up what happens next to ensure the thing that bugs me is, in fact, resolved. I'm just going to list the pros and cons and go from there:
Pros:
+ strong woman character [I'm told it's a bad idea to call females females without also calling males males, though I think it makes sense to go the female route because Katniss is sixteen, in that sort of in-between girl and woman that's awful to endure especially for one who isn't certain which she wants to be--"girl" or "woman"]
+ encourages an interest in archery [though it'd be nice if increased awareness of "general survival techniques" and "the plight of the poor" also came out of this]
+ accurately-ish represents the struggles of the very poor who have to scrape by to survive, including foraging, hunting, and even digging through others' trash
+ accurately portrays the culture shock of the excesses of the very rich from the POV of the not-so-well-off
+ accurately describes survival techniques a la Man vs. Wild [RIP Bear Grylls's career]
[[or, it sounds accurate--I didn't really sit there and fact-check every little thing like purifying water with iodine 'cause it was a bathroom reader and will take me like five hours to do if I sit here and do it right the fuch* NOW]]
+ accurately represents that inherent awkwardness of unrequited teenage romance ["Does he like me? Do I like him? WTF's going on?"]
+ ...kinda sorta encourages trying rabbit and squirrel, I guess, vs. eating nothing but McDonald's burgers
Cons:
- is about a government that enforces and televises kids killing each other
I personally would add that the use of first person present tense is maddening--I've only read one other book that uses it and, while the core concept was engrossing, I absolutely HATED the use of "this is happening right the fuch* NOW" language. It really doesn't strike me as natural, though I realize it's a preference thing.
*I typoed this and left it--and even changed the second instance--'cause why not, it's kinda funny XD
When I describe the world to C**, he goes on at lengths about how the core concept doesn't work, because a government systematically killing its own people--even an easily-replenished number--is not self-sustainable. ["Look at North Korea! It doesn't work!"] While it's conceivable that those who have been born into a system of such senseless and sadistic*** demonstration of the power of the government over its citizens might have been conditioned never to question this because somehow there are more and more powerful "Peacekeepers" than citizens[?], it doesn't describe why--seventy-five years ago--people just accepted the initiation of the Hunger Games upon their defeat. A concession that "at least ONLY 24" kids have to die every year vs. however many were dying in the uprisings? An Author in the Sky who had no real clue how to make such a thing believable because people [who aren't brain-damaged] don't operate that way?
**THIS use of present tense is different, because I say "when X happens, Y happens" vs. "I X right the fuch NOW, and Y happens"
***I hesitate to say "barbaric" because barbarians don't seem like they would create such a contrived scenario--they'd "just execute them" like President Snow says in the cutaway scene in the movie that wouldn't have been in the book due to the book being first person from Katniss's POV. But I'm picky with words like that. Also, it's more like in Saw XIVIIX12 Whatever where the "killer" makes the victims cut THEMSELVES up--it's sort of torture porn, I guess.
This is sort of what doesn't sit well with me with some other stories and affects my ability to enjoy them--like Source Code: [Spoiler (click to open)]It's centered around a "simulation" universe that perfectly duplicates the real world down to details they couldn't possibly know in order to replicate, and it's those details the central character needs to discover in order to accomplish his mission. I get that the movie doesn't work without that gimmick, but that just means the movie doesn't work.
Of course, I think Source Code is at least well-made for the narrative they used--I'm not so impressed with the execution of The Hunger Games as a movie.
Ultimately I kinda get the same impression from Hunger Games as from John Dies at the End: Something's telling me I should like it, but I don't--not really. I guess there's a "horror" element that draws people in, and I'm not completely at ease liking horror. Although JDatE at least has some funny parts, while the best parts of Hunger Gams was Haymitch/Woody Harrelson being an ass, but that could easily have been written into a less horrific [see what I did there?] story.
I guess there are some really maudlin parts, too, that would be touching in a different story. Like a war story--I can at least get behind that for the [pseudo-]historical accuracy. The "this is a gesture that means 'I have lost someone I deeply loved'" thing kinda feels like trying too hard to make the reader fall in love with a story about a government that enforces and televises kids killing each other.
[Also, they cut out the tongues of criminals.]
I mean, Mortal Engines isn't much better in the way the upper-class treats the lower-class, but at least it's about cities on giant tank treads that eat each other. *thumbs up*
...I think my criticism of The Pelican Brief is much more subdued by comparison. Maybe I'll cover that more in-depth later, 'cause it's BUTT O'CLOCK RIGHT THE FUCH NOW