DIANA writes:

I realize that compared to the health debacle, the obesity epidemic, the national debt (do we ever hear about that anymore?), the immigration crisis, the pizza crisis, and the lavalike flow of LGBTQRSTUV “rights,” this may seem trivial, but since the movie Catching Fire is setting the world alight, I thought a brief word was in order.

Catching Fire, for those who are not familiar with it, is based on the 2009 science fiction young adult novel by Suzanne Collins, the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy. The Hunger Games refer to the competition in which representatives from the 12 districts of Panem (the fascistic successor to the United States), a boy and a girl, kill each other in a brutal outdoors 15 day survival competition, televised for the viewing of the decadent residents of The Capitol (the rulers of the Panem). The heroine, Katniss Everdeen, is the winner of the 75th Hunger Games. Catching Fire concerns what happens to Katniss after she wins.

This time, I’m not being taken in by the hype, and I won’t go even if I get a comp ticket. Time is money, and The Hunger Games franchise is worthless trash.

There are many implausibilities in the story, but I will only focus on one. The one that rankles me the most, and which for some reason I did not focus on in my unfavorable report to you of a year ago, is the implausibility of a teenaged girl beating boys in a physical competition.

In the books, heroine Katniss is described as an undernourished little Appalachian sparrow. In the films she is played by a healthy-looking (by Hollywood standards) mid-20s actress. The difference is irrelevant to the truth. Women are vastly inferior to men as athletes, and no normal woman would ever prevail in a direct physical confrontation with a man, even one with low testosterone.

Even today, the art of ballet acknowledges and honors this difference, because it is performed live, and women can’t lift men. The great choreographers made an art of the male’s deference to female grace and beauty.  The danseur was the on-stage proxy for the ideals of the aristocratic code of deference. Balanchine: “Ballet is woman.”

But in a medium where reality can be suspended (“the magic of Hollywood!”) women confront men physically and prevail. Is it surprising that in the real world, gender confusion reigns, and people think that cosmetic surgery can actually change one’s sex?

Diana adds:

In anticipation of the inevitable, “But Hunger Games is really conservative at its core” objections….

Last year, someone disagreed with my dismissal of Hunger Games: “In fact her strong family devotion and self sacrifice stands in contrast to the self-absorbed, anti-family feminism so favored by our liberal elites.”

This misses the point, and is characteristic of so much latter day pseudo-conservative commentary, which amounts to begging crumbs at the liberal table. If it says something good, it’s conservative. I beg to differ.

The genius of Hollywood is that it wraps its messages in attractive packages. I’m not saying that Katniss is a bad girl. In fact she has only wonderful qualities: she is intelligent, self-sacrificing, has leadership qualities, and is resourceful. Not one flaw. The hero always has a tragic flaw, no?

(In addition to all of her marvelous qualities, she doesn’t even menstruate.)

I’ve got many other criticisms of Hunger Games, but until asked, I’ll confine my dismissal to its major problem: an utterly unbelievable heroine. Too good to be true and possessed of Wonderwoman-like superpowers. That’s OK in a superhero movie, but Katniss is presented as gritty reality.

A popular culture that enshrines a Katniss Everdeen as a realistic heroine is absolutely of a piece with a culture that is characterized by hallucinatory reality.

As I read your quotation from Eric Voegelin, I realized that he was perfectly describing the appetite for stuff like Hunger Games. What is the fundamental “experiential drive” of the mass audience appeal of these diversions? An audience that has lost sight of sexuality, gender difference, and actually, the primal drive of hunger itself.

Diana continues:

The NY Times on Katniss Everdeen:

“A thrillingly atypical heroine.”

I’ll say.

The reviewer admits that the Hunger Games “bears some resemblance” to a Japanese film, Battle Royale. What a lie. The entire premise of the kids-killing-kids reality show is blatantly ripped off from this Japanese film. No one who works for the NY Times can admit this because the Times is a key functionary of the US entertainment industrial complex.

— Comments —

Natassia writes:

I read all three books. Instead of feeling satisfied and wishing there was more to follow (as I did after reading The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia), I was left feeling, well, blah.

And after a bit of reflection I realized why I felt so dissatisfied–there is zero mention of spirituality, religion, or God. The whole thing was nihilistic to its core. All those people suffering under tyranny and experiencing hopelessness seemed so unrealistic because in the real world where there is immense suffering one can also find immense faith.

But there was no faith in these stories, unless you include the faith the people had in Katniss as their mascot of sorts. There were no true martyrs for righteousness–only the desperate self-sacrifice of a young woman for her little sister, which was noble to be sure but not true martyrdom. Even an animal will sacrifice itself to protect its family.

Did Good triumph over Evil in this book? The fact that I even have to ask that question should say everything.

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