I haven’t seen the movie, but I enjoyed this review. It talks about the paradox of social justice movies spawned out of a system that makes that justice impossible. I don’t know if it is fair to the movie, but I think this insight is vital to escaping the labyrinth we currently inhabit.
Apparently “Hunger Games” is based on a thoughtful novel about empire where citizens are pitted against one another in a reality show reminiscent of colosseum days. In the book apparently the focus falls upon the inner anguish of one contestant forced to kill or be killed. Ironically, in the movie, the audience ends in cheering for the actual hunt. So a novel intended to reveal the brutality of our situation, in the movie, becomes an example of it.
The same point has been made on a recent Disney movie based on Dr. Suess’s criticism of consumer culture. A book intended to criticise consumerism, becomes itself a commercial. .
There is nothing wrong with enjoying such movies, but at some point they should help us realize that capitalism has turned our entire world into one big infomercial. It pits us against one another in the kind of hunt pictured in “Hunger games”. As long as we do not realize that war and pollution are the natural by products of our economic system, smart money is on the Minotaur.
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I got to see The Hunger Games after my 15 year old niece begged me. Not a bad movie, though I didn’t think much of it from the trailers. I’m not familiar with the book, and it sounded like the Running Man from the 80s. Undecided if I will blog review the movie. But I’d like to see a sequel.