Maru (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
yakalskovich) wrote2012-03-30 06:46 pm
yakalskovich) wrote2012-03-30 06:46 pm
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Maru Yakalskovich spreads fandom and civilisation
My Little Lady was both bored and ouchy just now (she is old enough to be ouchy in a TMI way now; well, she turns 13 tomorrow), so to distract her, I took her to my computer to show her something, and when I said 'Bad luck we can't watch movies', she said 'Why not?' and I looked and saw I had some episodes of Doctor Who on my netbook.
One of them was a standalone, so I introduced my Little Lady to the Doctor. Her English is finally good enough. Never mind her grades, she can follow an episode of Doctor Who, so that's good enough for my standards.
She got what was funny in the beginning, then she got why the next part with their dad being missing and the dreadful telegram was so sad, she followed it right along, asked for a word here and there, I told her what she couldn't know (What is a police box? What is a TARDIS?), and we got to half-time when her folks wanted to leave and go home, as all her little brothers have a strep infection.
We'll continue the episode tomorrow. If we can have an USB stick, we might even hijack the huge TV in their living room.
In any case, advancement of civilisation was achieved.-
One of them was a standalone, so I introduced my Little Lady to the Doctor. Her English is finally good enough. Never mind her grades, she can follow an episode of Doctor Who, so that's good enough for my standards.
She got what was funny in the beginning, then she got why the next part with their dad being missing and the dreadful telegram was so sad, she followed it right along, asked for a word here and there, I told her what she couldn't know (What is a police box? What is a TARDIS?), and we got to half-time when her folks wanted to leave and go home, as all her little brothers have a strep infection.
We'll continue the episode tomorrow. If we can have an USB stick, we might even hijack the huge TV in their living room.
In any case, advancement of civilisation was achieved.-
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And I already know every single part of the film Hunger Games because they are unable to keep from talking about it. LOL
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It gets better.
Spectators are allowed to assist the tribute they are betting on by sending them gifts -- food, medicine, etc -- during the games via air delivery. The audience has no interest in the kids who will be killed off in the first few minutes of the Games so the tributes work very hard to convince the audience to back them -- thereby upping their chances of survival.
Each killing is met with increasing excitement as it means the finalists are starting to emerge, making the stakes even higher.
In a nutshell, HG is a commentary on contemporary society (that delights equally in game shows, reality tv, televised executions, and horror -- remember when the videos of the Americans being beheaded was leaked to youtube and had more hits than ANY OTHER VIDEO EVER????) in a not-too-far-fetched setting. It reaches back to the barbarism of Roman entertainment and forward to the day when the government can capture everything we do on tv circuit.
Fucking brilliant!!!! I really hand it to that author! She took a hot topic and made it something children and adults can read.
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All of my 5th graders are reading Orwell's "Animal Farm". They hate it. Absolutely HATE it.
That same group could not get enough of Hunger Games and read and re-read and discussed the book endlessly. This is a new generation with new requirements. The intellectual subtlely that was part and parcel of our upbringing is completely lost on them. They have to have things that appeal to their tastes while continuing to educate them of the dangers inherent in our ways.
That is why I have so much respect for Collins. She took the same topic -- blood sport for the masses -- and packaged it in a way that made kids hungry for more.
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I also asked them what they thought the book was about. Almost every one of them pointed out that lack of humanity in the governing capital.
They didn't immediately make the connection between the dangerous games (sexual in some cases, murder in others) and the book but after we talked about it for awhile they did.
What I loved about the book was that instead of focusing on death, the tributes focus on staying alive. In no small part, this depends of the sponsors. So they will say, "I'm small but don't rule me out because I'm faster than the rest!" etc.
The capital is an extreme version of Rome - where the opulent lifestyle contrasts sharply with the dire poverty in the outlying districts. Emphasis is on pleasure and looks (looks like/sounds like -- Amerika!) and total self-indulgence. No one in the capital has to fight. They live off the fat of the land.
There are districts who are better off and can hire people to coach the children from a very early age so that they are at a strong advantage (think of the traditional delineation of German schools and the preparatory work that went into the Gymnasium students).
There is so much in that book! I continue to be wowed by how much Collins packed into it.
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I guess I can honestly recommend it to the Little Lady. And might want to read it myself.-
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It's marvelous!!!
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Sorry, I don't usually get passionate about kids' books but this one really blew me out of the water! Everyone of my students has read it. LOL
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"What happens if we choose entertainment over humanity? In Collins's world, we'll be obsessed with grooming, we'll talk funny, and all our sentences will end with the same rise as questions. When Katniss is sent to stylists to be made more telegenic before she competes, she stands naked in front of them, strangely unembarrassed. “They're so unlike people that I'm no more self-conscious than if a trio of oddly colored birds were pecking around my feet,” she thinks. In order not to hate these creatures who are sending her to her death, she imagines them as pets. It isn't just the contestants who risk the loss of their humanity. It is all who watch."
"Collins's characters are completely realistic and sympathetic as they form alliances and friendships in the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and engrossing. This book will definitely resonate with the generation raised on reality shows like "Survivor" and "American Gladiator."
"Impressive world-building, breathtaking action and clear philosophical concerns make this volume, the beginning of a planned trilogy, as good as The Giver and more exciting."
--Kirkus