Danielle

Last November, sometime between a ten hour marking session and a term paper, I promised myself I would read The Hunger Games trilogy as a reward for finishing my first semester of graduate school. I had heard some good things about the books in the blogosphere, and who am I to resist an addictive young adult series when I need a break from all that thinking? My boyfriend, the wonderful guy that he is, even had a copy of the first book waiting on the seat of his car when he picked me up from the airport for Christmas break. I subsequently ignored him for the five days it took me to finish off the series (Sorry!). Like others out there, I love that a popular young adult novel features a strong, intelligent female protagonist who does not need romantic love to define her. Yet, what is most interesting about the book is the world in which it is staged; a world of inequality and narcissistic consumerism/voyerism that leads the protagonist, Katniss, to become – whether she wants to be or not – a symbol of resistance.

The way the self-centered, exploitative and superficial ‘Capitol’ is portrayed in the book and disdained by Katniss is a large feature of the book, which is why I am struggling with THIS:

It’s a teaser Tumblr for ‘The Hunger Games’ movie to be released in March. With all of the interesting dynamics of ...