I've always been sort of obsessed with dystopian literature. Ever since I read The Giver in fifth grade I've always been fascinated with a world that is created to be Utopian but has this awful underbelly. Also I'm not a huge fan of capitalism and therefore I like reading about what happens when capitalism goes to its extremes. Also, I'm morbid and like when the world gets all messed up and the future is pretty fucking bleak. So enter The Hunger Games. I read the first book after the second book came out because it got a lot of hype and I'm a sucker for that sort of stuff. I consumed it, bought the next book and impatiently waited for the final book to come out. And as a lover of this series, I shall now present the awesome things about this book (and a few things that aren't that great but I overlook for the love of the genre).
1. Katniss is an antihero: Let's be straight, Katniss is pretty annoying, especially in the third book. You sort of start rooting against her and hope the rest of the series is from Peeta's perspective. It's pretty rare to find a series you love but you hate the narrator. But this is actually what I love about her- she's real. She's 16 years old in the first book. She's selfish, annoying, self righteous and doesn't want to take orders. Basically she's a teenager. She doesn't claim to be anything more than what she is, and the author doesn't give you more than that. She isn't a hero, and doesn't claim to be either. She doesn't want to be the Mockingjay but does it because she wants to save Peeta. She is not an altruistic person. Her one and only good deed was volunteering in her sisters place. But this is because Katniss knows something about herself: she is capable of killing, and her sister isn't. We are rooting for a person to be the last one standing in a battle to the death with other kids her own age who have done nothing wrong other than get their name drawn in a shitty lottery. She isn't a good person, she's a survivor in a world that downright blows.
2. Panem is awesome: For those of us who are fans, we want more Harry Potter books. Not because there is more to understand, but because we don't want it to end. We don't care what form it takes, be it about Dumbledore's adventures before Hogwarts or the first War with Voldemort or about Voldemort himself- we just want it because we love the world that JK Rowling created. With Panem though, there is so much to understand. Where are the districts located? How did the Hunger Games start? What were they like in the beginning? What started the first Rebellion? How did the Capitol control the districts before the Hunger Games? How did it become established that the districts would be focused on a sort of USSR production type society? Why was District 13 the one destroyed? These are all unanswered questions that will more than likely never be answered. But Panem is a really awesome world that exists without existing. It's America, only the continent got smaller and the states are districts that we don't know the exact location of (other than Colorado gets to be the Capitol and District 12 is the Appalachian mountains somewhere around VA/NC).
3. Peeta and Gale both have pros and cons: Let's face it- we love Peeta because he is a smooth talker. He says some pretty romantic things. But the kid is sort of useless. He would have died in the games without Katniss and he's pretty gullible to think there would be no fallout for the whole berry situation. But he's very loyal and loves Katniss despite her being an utter bitch. Then there's Gale. Gale is strong, a fighter, and let's face it- hot. But Gale is also an egotistical asshole who believes the ends justify the means. Maybe it was character assassination, but I think we were always supposed to believe that he and Katniss were very much alike. If Gale had been chosen to be in the games, he would have been just like Cato, and though he wouldn't have killed Katniss himself, he would have wanted to be the last one standing. The point is they each have good and bad qualities, just like real people. Katniss chose the person whom she felt best complimented her own personality and gave her something she desperately needed.
4. President Snow is legit scary: I'm happy they got Donald Sutherland to be President Snow in the movie because for some reason that guy freaks me out no matter what his character is. Snow is scary. He isn't a Stephen King character but he knows how to manipulate a crowd and suggest to you what will happen if you cross him. When he visits Katniss in Catching Fire you're scared for her because he's someone she isn't smart enough to fight. She might be physically strong but that guy is smart and always two steps ahead on how to work the situation. He and Katniss understand each other that way, but it doesn't mean she can compete.
5. Other people did it first (but not necessarily better): Look, I understand, Battle Royale came out in 1999 and the movie came out in 2000 (I think). It has the same concept: A group of kids are forced to kill each other until there is only one survivor and it's government controlled. That is where the similarities end. For starters, no one else knows this is going on. The kids are on a field trip, are drugged, and wake up in this situation. No one is watching it on TV and making bets on it and even though it's government operated the general public doesn't know what is going down on this island. Also, there are way too many characters to keep up with. Battle Royale is awesome, but I don't think it's right to say it's a straight up rip off. The Running Man by Stephen King focused on this concept of televised violence. But it's also somewhat of a choice. The people are poor and dying and are going there as a last resort but they are choosing to be on this "game show" all on their own. No one made them audition. But it doesn't make the concept any worse, and it is a very astute commentary on our culture made before the whole reality show mania got out of hand.
6. There are a slew of plot holes: I know he says it in the movie and I am pretty sure he talks about it in the book too but Gale makes the point that if no one watches, then the Hunger Games won't have any power. And this is true, but the only place that it really matters where they watch is the Capitol and they'll never stop watching because their children aren't the ones being killed. Part of me doesn't understand how they became so disenfranchised that they don't care to watch kids die, while another part of me thinks maybe they don't know it's real. Maybe they think they don't really die and it's all fake and they would never know because they don't go visit the districts. But they have to know it's real because they sponsor them and send medicine and food and stuff. I don't know, it's a question that is never answered: how they can justifiably accept that human sacrifice is necessary for rebellion. Also, why don't the kids just refuse to kill each other? I mean, the Capitol can just blow the arena up and they'd all die, but that goes against the whole concept of the Games. If the kids all got in there, looked around and said "I don't really want to kill you, let's just hang out" the Games couldn't exist. Instead they just accept that they need to become cold hearted killing machines. Maybe that's the point of brainwashing the Career districts, they'll kill at random so everyone else better get with the program too. This is something Battle Royale does better, if they don't kill anyone or participate, their collars get detonated and their heads explode. Why can't people move from their district? It's never discussed that they can't but Katniss never gives an indication that they can. I guess it makes sense with the whole totalitarian concept but you'd think you could move from your district (just not to the safety of the Capitol). These plot holes make me love the series more, mostly because I keep thinking I'll get the answers. I love the mystery of it all!
7. We don't focus too much on who loves who: Katniss doesn't sit around wondering if she should pick Peeta or Gale. She actually doesn't spend a whole lot of time on that at all. She thinks about it, but she doesn't obsess about it. If she was Bella all she'd do is sit around thinking about which boy she was going to love forever and ever. Peeta doesn't spend the whole time trying to convince Katniss of his love and Gale doesn't do much of that either. They all know there is something more important going on and spend an appropriate amount of time swooning over one another. I like the balance (even though there were times I didn't want some of the more romantic moments to end).
Overall, this series has its share of problems, but at its core it's really awesome. Katniss is a pretty crappy person, and I love that. I love that we aren't supposed to think she's a heroine because she's not. She's a normal girl who has normal girl issues (mostly with her own arrogance) and even though she has these setbacks, she achieves a lot. She makes a lot of mistakes, but she also makes a lot of smart (albeit unpopular) choices as well. She isn't a role model per se, but I'd rather be a Katniss than a Bella any day.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Why I hate Twilight (and you should too)
My sister and I read Twilight a long time ago. We are all about reading cheesy young adult novels and that made Twilight right up our alley. So we got it from the library and read it. This was before the super hyped up phenomenon started so we weren't on any kind of wait list for it. In short: it was awful. This is coming from someone who owns every single copy of Sweet Valley High- even the Senior Year series! I say this to establish my very low standards for a romping good time. Here is a list, with a subsequent explanation as to why Twilight is horrible:
1. It is poorly written: when your main explanation for why a girl is smart is because she goes to to library and reads Withering Heights (which this book is a really bad rip-off of) that isn't an argument. Especially since she never goes back to the library or reads after she falls in love with Edward!!!! Also, I don't care how good looking Edward is, you do not have to explain it to me every fucking time he enters a scene. I get it- he's cut from marble blah blah blah, you have a creepy obsession with a perpetually 17 year old boy, Stephenie Meyer. Even Robert Pattison thinks it's creepy. Basically, she had a dream about a good looking guy and she wrote some really long fanfiction that somehow got published.
2. Apparently all girls should listen to boys, not matter what: Look, I get it, it's true love! I can totally get into that when I'm reading- it's really not that hard for me. I don't question why Romeo and Juliet killed themselves even though they knew each other for a week and were only 14 years old. I just accept true love. But when you are basically telling young girls that when your boyfriend breaks up with you, it's perfectly normal to be comatose for months on end, shit isn't cool with us anymore. Then, when you start to act like a person again and hang out with a new guy, once the old boyfriend comes back you need to drop that other guy like a hot potato! and if you even think about hanging out with that other guy again, it's perfectly natural for your old boyfriend to pull the carburetor out of your car so you can't go. Also, every idea you have is stupid and only the man can make decisions.
3. Sex is bad and that's why it is appropriate: Working in a library we get book challenges everyday. Usually because of bad language (everything), witchcraft! (Harry Potter) and sex (again...everything). The Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty is challenged a lot because Jessica wants to have sex and says the fuck word. A high schooler wanting to have sex? that's awful! That isn't even close to being true! But whatever, people can challenge whatever they want for whatever reason they want. Anyway, Bella wants to jump Edwards sexy, undead bones. It used to be that if a girl had sex with a vampire having a baby wasn't a problem (since, you know, they're dead and therefore do not produce semen that swims upstream!) but Stephenie does not care what centuries of vampire lore tells us! Her vampires are different (Mormon) and can go outside (it's sparkle time) and they don't eat people! (lame). Edward won't have sex with Bella because it's wrong to have sex if you aren't married! Edward does not have a soul. Vampires do not have souls and therefore do not know right from wrong (this is why it is easy for them to go around killing and eating people). But since this is thinly veiled Mormon, Jesus-y lecture material, the man has to teach the dumb woman all about what is right and wrong and they can't have sex unless they're married. Well, just like in olden days, Bella now wants to get married straight out of high school. She has her dowry is hand (an old truck and some werewolf friends who may come in handy once we fight the "evil" and more interesting vampires) and is ready to walk down the aisle. Edward takes his sweet time (4 books, which is 4 too many) and they finally get married, have sex and she is a vampire. The best part about this whole series is Edward believing the baby is evil and will kill Bella so they want to give her a back alley abortion! This is the most awesome thing ever because he and Jacob are going to rip open her stomach and pull the evil out. Sadly this does not happen, but still, it's pretty fucking awesome (my book would already be challeneged, I said the fuck word twice...oops, three). But either way, parents think this series is appropriate because it tells their kids not to have sex. And while I don't disagree with that (I was almost 21 when I had sex the first time, so it's not like I was a wild and crazy kid), I disagree with the way it was presented. Which brings us to...
4. It's antifeminist propaganda: I don't like when women degrade women, sort of like how I don't get women who support Rick Santorum. Maybe it's because I studied feminism in my first round of grad school (I collect degrees like baseball cards), but when people, especially other women, set our own gender back it annoys me. Bella shouldn't be listening to everything Edward says, she shouldn't be flattered that he stalks her and she should be really pissed off when she tries to choose her friends for her (telling her she can't hang out with Jacob). Instead she just listens to him and thinks the behavior is appropriate. All this does is tell young girls that this is okay. In reality, this behavior is a warning sign of an abusive relationship. If I were 14 and in love with this series, I would want an Edward, and if my boyfriend did these things, I would be flattered because he loves me like Edward, but in the real world this isn't really when it stops. This is just the beginning of something worse. Isolating a person from their friends and family, telling them what they can and cannot do- this is all bad news bears. This guy is emotionally abusive, and if it weren't a love story he would be physically abusive as well. Stuff like this is worse than reading curse words or girls who fear being the last living virgin (a la Jessica Darling). Also, Bella is always perceived as inferior to Edward. She is the human- therefore she should have the higher moral ground. I have the moral compass of Doctor Faustus (and if you don't know who that is but you can recite Twilight to me we are not friends), but even I know things that have to be "taught" to Bella. Meyer basically tells you sex is a bad and dirty thing, and maybe that's what she's been taught (I'm Catholic, and I use that term loosely. I only say it because I went through catechism and therefore earned it, so I don't know a whole hell of a lot about Mormon teachings that aren't well known to the general populous) but how is that better than being told sex is a free for all and we should have it with every person in sight? Either way you're getting a pretty fucked up view of what sex is. Bella could have been so much more. She could have been a real heroine, but instead she's Mary Sue. She's me, you, your best friend, that pretty girl on the cheerleading squad- she's everyone and no one at the same time. There is no depth to her and that's the point. You can make yourself Bella and be in love with Edward. Bella was not created in order to be a strong woman, she was created to be any woman. This is a disservice to our gender. This is the biggest problem with Twilight. Bella has nothing to fight for other than spending time with Edward while Edward gets to go out and save the world. Why can't Bella fight too? Why can't she have good ideas instead of always getting hurt and need saving? Why can't a girl be the hero without having to have some sort of special superhuman strength? Wouldn't that be a better lesson- that a girl is strong enough to fight with and be in love with a vampire even without having the super human sparkle strength to go with it? Why can't Bella have a life that isn't Edward centric? Why do readers not question the motives of this series?! And why, for the love of God, do middle aged women try to sexually molest poor Robert Pattison? It's total fontrum.
1. It is poorly written: when your main explanation for why a girl is smart is because she goes to to library and reads Withering Heights (which this book is a really bad rip-off of) that isn't an argument. Especially since she never goes back to the library or reads after she falls in love with Edward!!!! Also, I don't care how good looking Edward is, you do not have to explain it to me every fucking time he enters a scene. I get it- he's cut from marble blah blah blah, you have a creepy obsession with a perpetually 17 year old boy, Stephenie Meyer. Even Robert Pattison thinks it's creepy. Basically, she had a dream about a good looking guy and she wrote some really long fanfiction that somehow got published.
2. Apparently all girls should listen to boys, not matter what: Look, I get it, it's true love! I can totally get into that when I'm reading- it's really not that hard for me. I don't question why Romeo and Juliet killed themselves even though they knew each other for a week and were only 14 years old. I just accept true love. But when you are basically telling young girls that when your boyfriend breaks up with you, it's perfectly normal to be comatose for months on end, shit isn't cool with us anymore. Then, when you start to act like a person again and hang out with a new guy, once the old boyfriend comes back you need to drop that other guy like a hot potato! and if you even think about hanging out with that other guy again, it's perfectly natural for your old boyfriend to pull the carburetor out of your car so you can't go. Also, every idea you have is stupid and only the man can make decisions.
3. Sex is bad and that's why it is appropriate: Working in a library we get book challenges everyday. Usually because of bad language (everything), witchcraft! (Harry Potter) and sex (again...everything). The Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty is challenged a lot because Jessica wants to have sex and says the fuck word. A high schooler wanting to have sex? that's awful! That isn't even close to being true! But whatever, people can challenge whatever they want for whatever reason they want. Anyway, Bella wants to jump Edwards sexy, undead bones. It used to be that if a girl had sex with a vampire having a baby wasn't a problem (since, you know, they're dead and therefore do not produce semen that swims upstream!) but Stephenie does not care what centuries of vampire lore tells us! Her vampires are different (Mormon) and can go outside (it's sparkle time) and they don't eat people! (lame). Edward won't have sex with Bella because it's wrong to have sex if you aren't married! Edward does not have a soul. Vampires do not have souls and therefore do not know right from wrong (this is why it is easy for them to go around killing and eating people). But since this is thinly veiled Mormon, Jesus-y lecture material, the man has to teach the dumb woman all about what is right and wrong and they can't have sex unless they're married. Well, just like in olden days, Bella now wants to get married straight out of high school. She has her dowry is hand (an old truck and some werewolf friends who may come in handy once we fight the "evil" and more interesting vampires) and is ready to walk down the aisle. Edward takes his sweet time (4 books, which is 4 too many) and they finally get married, have sex and she is a vampire. The best part about this whole series is Edward believing the baby is evil and will kill Bella so they want to give her a back alley abortion! This is the most awesome thing ever because he and Jacob are going to rip open her stomach and pull the evil out. Sadly this does not happen, but still, it's pretty fucking awesome (my book would already be challeneged, I said the fuck word twice...oops, three). But either way, parents think this series is appropriate because it tells their kids not to have sex. And while I don't disagree with that (I was almost 21 when I had sex the first time, so it's not like I was a wild and crazy kid), I disagree with the way it was presented. Which brings us to...
4. It's antifeminist propaganda: I don't like when women degrade women, sort of like how I don't get women who support Rick Santorum. Maybe it's because I studied feminism in my first round of grad school (I collect degrees like baseball cards), but when people, especially other women, set our own gender back it annoys me. Bella shouldn't be listening to everything Edward says, she shouldn't be flattered that he stalks her and she should be really pissed off when she tries to choose her friends for her (telling her she can't hang out with Jacob). Instead she just listens to him and thinks the behavior is appropriate. All this does is tell young girls that this is okay. In reality, this behavior is a warning sign of an abusive relationship. If I were 14 and in love with this series, I would want an Edward, and if my boyfriend did these things, I would be flattered because he loves me like Edward, but in the real world this isn't really when it stops. This is just the beginning of something worse. Isolating a person from their friends and family, telling them what they can and cannot do- this is all bad news bears. This guy is emotionally abusive, and if it weren't a love story he would be physically abusive as well. Stuff like this is worse than reading curse words or girls who fear being the last living virgin (a la Jessica Darling). Also, Bella is always perceived as inferior to Edward. She is the human- therefore she should have the higher moral ground. I have the moral compass of Doctor Faustus (and if you don't know who that is but you can recite Twilight to me we are not friends), but even I know things that have to be "taught" to Bella. Meyer basically tells you sex is a bad and dirty thing, and maybe that's what she's been taught (I'm Catholic, and I use that term loosely. I only say it because I went through catechism and therefore earned it, so I don't know a whole hell of a lot about Mormon teachings that aren't well known to the general populous) but how is that better than being told sex is a free for all and we should have it with every person in sight? Either way you're getting a pretty fucked up view of what sex is. Bella could have been so much more. She could have been a real heroine, but instead she's Mary Sue. She's me, you, your best friend, that pretty girl on the cheerleading squad- she's everyone and no one at the same time. There is no depth to her and that's the point. You can make yourself Bella and be in love with Edward. Bella was not created in order to be a strong woman, she was created to be any woman. This is a disservice to our gender. This is the biggest problem with Twilight. Bella has nothing to fight for other than spending time with Edward while Edward gets to go out and save the world. Why can't Bella fight too? Why can't she have good ideas instead of always getting hurt and need saving? Why can't a girl be the hero without having to have some sort of special superhuman strength? Wouldn't that be a better lesson- that a girl is strong enough to fight with and be in love with a vampire even without having the super human sparkle strength to go with it? Why can't Bella have a life that isn't Edward centric? Why do readers not question the motives of this series?! And why, for the love of God, do middle aged women try to sexually molest poor Robert Pattison? It's total fontrum.
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