Salon.com > The Hunger Games http://www.salon.com Sat, 18 May 2013 21:30:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Who’s to blame for gun violence? Movie critics! http://www.salon.com/2013/02/16/whos_to_blame_for_gun_violence_movie_critics/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/16/whos_to_blame_for_gun_violence_movie_critics/#comments Sat, 16 Feb 2013 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13203925 At last the real villain has been revealed in our poisonous and circular culture of violence: It’s me. Well, OK, maybe not me personally, but the underpaid, disheveled and endangered tribe to which I semi-reluctantly belong, the movie critics. Even by an optimistic count, America is down to a few dozen professional film critics, most of whom traipse back and forth between screening rooms in Manhattan and Los Angeles, often appearing to have recently arisen at 7 o’clock in the evening. (The general fashion statement and social mode, as a friend once put it, is one of “Troll Under the Bridge.”) And yet, according to a baffling new article in Harper’s by cultural critic Thomas Frank, our sad-sack crew is a crucial enabler of American gun violence. (That’s a firewalled link, so I’ll try to quote liberally from the article while staying on the fair side of fair use.)

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/16/whos_to_blame_for_gun_violence_movie_critics/feed/ 97 Top 10 Wikipedia pages of 2012 http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/top_wikipedia_pages_of_2012/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/top_wikipedia_pages_of_2012/#comments Thu, 27 Dec 2012 22:29:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13156051 Johan Gunnarsson, a computer science student in Lund, Sweden, has assembled a list of the most viewed Wikipedia pages of 2012.

The Daily Dot speculates, probably correctly, that the top two answers, "Facebook" and "Wiki" owe their popularity more to clumsy computer users than genuine curiosity. The rest of the list, though, can be read as a guide to the things people want to know about that they don't want others to know they want to know about. Except maybe Google.

1) Facebook

2) Wiki

3) Deaths in 2012

4) "One Direction"

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/top_wikipedia_pages_of_2012/feed/ 3 Hollywood’s real-life hunger games http://www.salon.com/2012/11/15/the_hollywood_hunger_games/ http://www.salon.com/2012/11/15/the_hollywood_hunger_games/#comments Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:20:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13073072 Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jennifer Lawrence for making the point: You don't have to go to ludicrous extremes to play a part.

The 22-year-old star of "The Hunger Games" came under some seriously BS criticism in certain circles last spring over whether her Katniss Everdeen was sufficiently emaciated-looking to be convincing. As Manohla Dargis complained in the New York Times, "A few years ago Ms. Lawrence might have looked hungry enough to play Katniss, but now, at 21, her seductive, womanly figure makes a bad fit for a dystopian fantasy about a people starved into submission." The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy, meanwhile, duly noted her "lingering baby fat." 

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/11/15/the_hollywood_hunger_games/feed/ 31 Real-life hunger games http://www.salon.com/2012/08/07/an_increasingly_hot_planet_salpart/ http://www.salon.com/2012/08/07/an_increasingly_hot_planet_salpart/#comments Tue, 07 Aug 2012 20:03:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12974680 The Great Drought of 2012 has yet to come to an end, but we already know that its consequences will be severe. With more than one-half of America’s counties designated as drought disaster areas, the 2012 harvest of corn, soybeans, and other food staples is guaranteed to fall far short of predictions. This, in turn, will boost food prices domestically and abroad, causing increased misery for farmers and low-income Americans and far greater hardship for poor people in countries that rely on imported U.S. grains.

This, however, is just the beginning of the likely consequences: if history is any guide, rising food prices of this sort will also lead to widespread social unrest and violent conflict.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/08/07/an_increasingly_hot_planet_salpart/feed/ 12 A “Hunger Games” sequel wish list http://www.salon.com/2012/04/12/a_hunger_games_sequel_wish_list/ http://www.salon.com/2012/04/12/a_hunger_games_sequel_wish_list/#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:59:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12856721 The Playlist doesn't break news all that often, merely seeing fit to be a one-stop shop for the movie news that everyone else breaks during the day (I don't mean that as an insult, the Playlist is the site I go to if I only have time to surf one movie news site in a given day). So it's somewhat of a big deal that the Playlist broke a pretty major story last week, confirming that director Gary Ross will not be back to helm the second and/or third films in the "Hunger Games" franchise. There had been rumblings all week about contract negotiations, and Ross has now politely passed. The site chalks it up to Ross' lack of desire to stay in the same universe for the next several years combined with a somewhat low-ball offer from Lionsgate. Whatever the case, Ross is gone and the hunt for a new director is on.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/04/12/a_hunger_games_sequel_wish_list/feed/ 20 The message of Jennifer’s body http://www.salon.com/2012/03/29/the_message_of_jennifers_body/ http://www.salon.com/2012/03/29/the_message_of_jennifers_body/#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12755231 Jennifer Lawrence’s body — her perfectly lovely, slender-but-not-rail-thin, able body — is presenting more complications than it rightfully should. Whether it’s Hollywood blogs referring to her as having “lingering baby fat” or as being “big-boned,” or the New York Times simply stating that she didn’t look “hungry enough” to play Katniss Everdeen, the resilient hardscrabble heroine of "The Hunger Games," all eyes are on Lawrence’s body. And, predictably, critics of the critics were quick to jump in to point out the ludicrousness of essentially calling Lawrence too hefty to play Katniss.

I’m just as tired as the next film-loving feminist of seeing the beauty myth played out ad nauseam on screens big and small. But the story here is neither Lawrence’s size nor even the Hollywood thin imperative, but rather why Lawrence was cast in the first place.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/03/29/the_message_of_jennifers_body/feed/ 37 The new girl power http://www.salon.com/2012/03/26/the_new_girl_power/ http://www.salon.com/2012/03/26/the_new_girl_power/#comments Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:48:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12735801 Like a lot of other people, I spent a good chunk of last week talking about "The Hunger Games." Because I've written about the books for various publications over the past couple of years, journalists called me up for quotes about the series' appeal. Along with the usual questions about depictions of violence, the popularity of dystopian narratives in young adult fiction and whether or not Katniss Everdeen is a "good role model" for girls, there usually came a point where the interlocutor observed that the movie was going to make the books hugely popular.

Well, yes. But also: no. "The Hunger Games" series was already hugely popular, long before the movie was even shot. The first book alone has spent well over two years on the USA Today bestseller list. The films will doubtlessly promote the sales of even more books, but isn't that a bit beside the point? The books made the movie a hit, not the other way around. The real story of this weekend's record-breaking box office returns for the movie version of "The Hunger Games" is the awesome cultural power of young readers, especially young girls.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/03/26/the_new_girl_power/feed/ 55 The sexual politics of “The Hunger Games” http://www.salon.com/2012/03/22/the_sexual_politics_of_the_hunger_games/ http://www.salon.com/2012/03/22/the_sexual_politics_of_the_hunger_games/#comments Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12716601 If there were ever a good time to be a young woman, this isn't it. As if a massive backlash against contraception and sexual freedom, a recession and a perverse diet culture weren't enough, it's almost impossible to get tickets for the new "Hunger Games" film.

As you certainly know by now, in "The Hunger Games," Katniss Everdeen is a teenage girl living in a dystopian far-future America where children from slave communities are forced to slaughter one another on television for the amusement of the wealthy. Katniss is moody, rebellious, deeply committed to protecting her mother and baby sister, and can incidentally shoot a man's eye out through his windpipe. Right now, millions of nice young ladies all over the world want to be her. This should probably worry Rick Santorum more than it seems to.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/03/22/the_sexual_politics_of_the_hunger_games/feed/ 45 “The Hunger Games”: A lightweight Twi-pocalypse http://www.salon.com/2012/03/20/the_hunger_games_a_lightweight_twi_pocalypse/ http://www.salon.com/2012/03/20/the_hunger_games_a_lightweight_twi_pocalypse/#comments Tue, 20 Mar 2012 22:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12708811 In the world of "The Hunger Games," the celebrity culture and media overload of our age have been rolled back to something that approximates the middle of the 20th century, crossed with the Roman Empire. Instead of today's narrow-casted onslaught of Internet, cable and satellite entertainment, there's one TV channel and one reality show, which occupies the entire culture as nothing has in the real world since perhaps O.J.'s Bronco chase, or the Challenger disaster. In Panem, "Hunger Games" author Suzanne Collins' nightmarish future version of America, it's as if the first season of "Survivor" or "American Idol" is on the air year after year, with real killings, no competition and ratings that never go down.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/03/20/the_hunger_games_a_lightweight_twi_pocalypse/feed/ 198 The making of a blockbuster http://www.salon.com/2012/03/18/the_making_of_a_blockbuster/ http://www.salon.com/2012/03/18/the_making_of_a_blockbuster/#comments Sun, 18 Mar 2012 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12673521 "You don't know how many times I've watched that thing," said Caitlin, 10, about the trailer for "The Hunger Games," a movie based on the first of three dark, brutal, bestselling novels by Suzanne Collins. A boy at her school told her she had to read the first book, and after that, "My mom says I started a revolution," passing the books from one classmate to another. Now they're all obsessed. Caitlin's grandmother (a fan as well) made her a replica of the survival-gear-stuffed backpack that the book's heroine, Katniss Everdeen, nabs at the beginning of a life-and-death competition set in a bleak future America. Caitlin and her closest friends talk about "The Hunger Games" several times a day, have nicknamed each other after the characters and are deep in plans to make their own Flip camera video of the book. When the Hollywood version comes out on Friday, they'll be there, celebrating Caitlin's birthday by catching the late-night opening at a San Francisco theater. The only other movie she's even been close to this excited about is "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/03/18/the_making_of_a_blockbuster/feed/ 36 What came before “The Hunger Games” http://www.salon.com/2012/03/14/what_came_before_the_hunger_games/ http://www.salon.com/2012/03/14/what_came_before_the_hunger_games/#comments Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12673691 With the Harry Potter series fading in the rear-view mirror and the heroine of "The Twilight Saga" having surrendered both her virginity and her humanity, Hollywood executives and media-showbiz insiders expect the forthcoming film adaptation of Suzanne Collins' young-adult bestseller "The Hunger Games" to fill an enormous pop-culture void. Lionsgate, the struggling studio that will distribute director and co-writer Gary Ross' movie version -- which stars Jennifer Lawrence as intrepid huntress and heroine Katniss Everdeen -- eagerly awaits an infusion of hundreds of millions of dollars from teens, tweens and young adults all over the globe.

At this point, the success of the "Hunger Games" film franchise seems like a sure thing. Questions of how big and how much remain to be answered, and should occupy accountants, semioticians and breathless entertainment-industry reporters for several years to come. But the question of where "The Hunger Games" came from is arguably more interesting than the question of where it's going. If you think that Collins' ingenious yarn about a dystopian future North America where enslaved teenagers are forced to fight each other to the death -- as both televised entertainment and a form of social control -- feels vaguely familiar, you're not alone.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/03/14/what_came_before_the_hunger_games/feed/ 66 “Hunger Games,” Taylor Swift reinvent soundtracks http://www.salon.com/2012/03/13/hunger_games_taylor_swift_reinvent_soundtracks/ http://www.salon.com/2012/03/13/hunger_games_taylor_swift_reinvent_soundtracks/#comments Tue, 13 Mar 2012 18:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12672251 Clad in a modest dress and made up to look like she’s not made up, Taylor Swift wanders pensively through a bare wilderness in her new video for “Safe & Sound.” It’s the first single from the upcoming “Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond” and a rarity in today’s pop landscape: a true soundtrack hit. The clip, which was directed by Philip Andelman, strives for Post-Apocalyptic Rural; you almost expect to see zombies off in the mist, lumbering toward brains. But nothing attacks Swift on her walk through the wilderness, and the only activity she encounters are fires off in the distance — an omen of storms and doom approaching.

Nothing much happens in the video, but its muted color palette, patient pace, and most of all that looming threat make it unusually effective. With its piercing guitar theme and the subdued production courtesy of T Bone Burnett, the song reflects that mood, even as it gives so much time over to lyric-less passages. Swift may be better casting than even Jennifer Lawrence, who plays the heroine Katniss Everdeen in the film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ young-adult novel. The 22-year-old singer-songwriter is arguably the most successful musician of the moment, and her two songs — “Safe and Sound” and “Eyes Open” — will ensure that the “Hunger Games” soundtrack will sell very well.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/03/13/hunger_games_taylor_swift_reinvent_soundtracks/feed/ 8 What Occupy can learn from the Hunger Games http://www.salon.com/2012/01/08/what_occupy_can_learn_from_the_hunger_games/ http://www.salon.com/2012/01/08/what_occupy_can_learn_from_the_hunger_games/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=11870941 “YOU CAN’T EVICT AN IDEA,” proclaim the banners fronting an otherwise dull building in east London, owned by banking giant UBS but inhabited and decorated by squatters from the Occupy movement. They’ve adapted the phrase from Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s graphic novel "V for Vendetta," in which the titular terrorist explains his seeming immortality to a detective who has just shot him: “Ideas are bulletproof.” A poster of V’s trademark Guy Fawkes mask smiles eerily at all who walk into the foyer of 8 Sun Street, now dubbed “The Bank of Ideas” and used as a community center. The caption underneath reads, “We are the 99%, and so are you.”

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/01/08/what_occupy_can_learn_from_the_hunger_games/feed/ 16 Pop Torn: 10 pieces of culture we’re feeling iffy about http://www.salon.com/2011/06/18/pop_torn_timberlake_weed_portman_baby/ http://www.salon.com/2011/06/18/pop_torn_timberlake_weed_portman_baby/#comments Sat, 18 Jun 2011 15:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/06/18/pop_torn_timberlake_weed_portman_baby 1. Natalie Portman is now a mommy: The "Black Swan" had a little duckling this week that she is naming god knows what. Probably something odd though … that's how celebrities are, you know?

2. Speaking of which: Robin Williams named his daughter Zelda because he liked the video game.

3. Gwyneth Paltrow just can't stop being "Glee"-ful: The GOOP founder showed up at the live show on Thursday night in New Jersey to sing "Forget You." Again? Again.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/06/18/pop_torn_timberlake_weed_portman_baby/feed/ 14 “The Hunger Games” vs. “Twilight” http://www.salon.com/2010/09/05/hunger_games_twilight/ http://www.salon.com/2010/09/05/hunger_games_twilight/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 23:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/laura_miller/2010/09/05/hunger_games_twilight Is Katniss Everdeen the antidote to Bella Swan? That's a question guaranteed to irk fans of "The Hunger Games," Suzanne Collins' trilogy of dystopian young-adult novels, the latest of which, "Mockingjay," has currently captured the No. 1 spot on the nation's bestseller lists. "Hunger Games" fans don't appreciate seeing Collins' far more sober and ambitious books likened to "Twilight," Stephenie Meyer's swoony vampire romances. Too bad, because so much about "The Hunger Games," from its crossover success with adults to the crowds who packed bookstores when "Mockingjay" went on sale at midnight on Aug. 24 to its teenage narrator with her tangled love life, prompts the comparison.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2010/09/05/hunger_games_twilight/feed/ 26