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[courtneystriker]

azula sketch

[courtneystriker]

I think the Hunger Games series sits in a similar literary position to The Lord of the Rings, as a piece of literature (by a Catholic author) that sparked a whole new subgenre and then gets blamed for flaws that exist in the copycat books and aren’t actually part of the original.

Like, despite what parodies might say, Katniss is nowhere near the stereotypical “unqualified teenager chosen to lead a rebellion for no good reason”.  The entire point is that she’s not leading the rebellion. She’s a traumatized teenager who has emotional reactions to the horrors in her society, and is constantly being reined in by more experienced adults who have to tell her, “No, this is not how you fight the government, you are going to get people killed.” She’s not the upstart teenager showing the brainless adults what to do–she’s a teenager being manipulated by smarter and more experienced adults. She has no power in the rebellion except as a useful piece of propaganda, and the entire trilogy is her straining against that role. It’s much more realistic and far more nuanced than anyone who dismisses it as “stereotypical YA dystopian” gives it credit for.

And the misconceptions don’t end there. The Hunger Games has no “stereotypical YA love triangle”–yes, there are two potential love interests, but the romance is so not the point. There’s a war going on! Katniss has more important things to worry about than boys! The romance was never about her choosing between two hot boys–it’s about choosing between two diametrically opposed worldviews. Will she choose anger and war, or compassion and peace? Of course a trilogy filled with the horrors of war ends with her marriage to the peace-loving Peeta. Unlike some of the YA dystopian copycats, the romance here is part of the message, not just something to pacify readers who expect “hot love triangles” in their YA. 

The worldbuilding in the Hunger Games trilogy is simplistic and not realistic, but unlike some of her imitators, Collins does this because she has something to say, not because she’s cobbling together a grim and gritty dystopia that’s “similar to the Hunger Games”. The worldbuilding has an allegorical function, kept simple so we can see beyond it to what Collins is really saying–and it’s nothing so comforting as “we need to fight the evil people who are ruining society”. The Capitol’s not just the powerful, greedy bad guys–the Capitol is us, First World America, living in luxury while we ignore the problems of the rest of the world, and thinking of other nations largely in terms of what resources we can get from them. This simplistic world is a sparsely set stage that lets us explore the larger themes about exploitation and war and the horrors people will commit for the sake of their bread and circuses, meant to make us think deeper about what separates a hero from a villain.

There’s a reason these books became a literary phenomenon. There’s a reason that dozens upon dozens of authors attempted to imitate them. But these imitators can’t capture that same genius, largely because they’re trying to imitate the trappings of another book, and failing to capture the larger and more meaningful message underneath. Make a copy of a copy of a copy, and you’ll wind up with something far removed from the original masterpiece. But we shouldn’t make the mistake of blaming those flaws on the original work.

[courtneystriker]

I don’t give a shit about the live action series because I think adapting something from a visual medium to another visual medium is pointless and I think atla is perfect as it is, but the only thing I want to see in the live action series is the conversation between Zuko and Aang when they were stuck in the tar just straight up vibing for like 10 hours 

[courtneystriker]

the fact that the main takeaway for some people reading the prequel is that they now wish for haym.itch’s/finn.ick’s/joh.anna’s/an.nie’s games is highly concerning?? the original trilogy constantly criticises the games themselves and collins would never write and thus profit off of something that is laid out as so highly immoral? aside of the fact that we know roundabout what happens in all of their arenas (and fanfiction exists) i think it really goes to show who read the trilogy with an ounce of critical thinking and who went all uwu over these tragic souls

[courtneystriker]

when it comes to tales of ba sing se, everyone always talks about leaves from the vine, but y’all momo’s story is so sad :( 

[courtneystriker]

I was surfing the atla tag yesterday

And whoever pointed out that lightning bending represents manipulation and emotional abuse, and that uncle Iroh taught Zuko how to process it and let it go is a genius and now I’m in tears.

I second: Iroh developed the technique by studying water benders because in science, water flow and electricity are described using similar theory but also, because water benders are known to have a strong sense of family and contentedness. Iroh taught Zuko that when he’s hit with lightning that he will feel overwhelming energy, but to feel it so that he can control its path, not to let it touch his heart, and to let it go. Zuko uses this technique but he ultimately never redirects lightning AT someone. I don’t think I’ll ever get over this now.

[courtneystriker]

Appa’s Lost Days had no buisness being THAT sad. Like……. tHeY HAD NO RIGHT TO DO THAT.

[courtneystriker]

THG- PARTY ROCK IS IN THE HOUSE TONIGHT by Jessiphia

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[courtneystriker]

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes A New Hunger Games Novel by Suzanne Collins

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Gaang + Summer

[prints here]

[courtneystriker]

TBOSAS spoilers

I think the best part overall is that it’s a fall story: you don’t agree with the main character’s actions. I was a little uneasy with his actions from the very first chapter. By the end, he’s not a good person and you expect him to become a much worse one. Yet at the same time, the world around him? It’s even more horrifying. You still get the sense that it’s the war-torn society and broken institutions that are continuing this cycle of violence. 

“Teach the ignorant as much as you can; society is culpable in not providing a free education for all and it must answer for the night which it produces. If the soul is left in darkness sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.”

–Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

And yet, Snow’s not really redeemed. He’s choosing to do bad choices, and is both “causing the darkness” and “left in darkness.” I don’t really want him to be redeemed, and yet there’s still the tragic element along the lines of Cato’s death: that even though he does awful things, the system he operated in was even worse than him. 

[courtneystriker]

I just finished The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and one thought keeps circling around in my head.

SPOILERS! MAJOR SPOILERS!

The final moments between Lucy and Snow felt like a mirror to the end of the 74th Hunger Games. I feel like Snow kept waiting for Katniss to do what he did, turn on Peeta to save herself. This idea probably carried through the rest of the series where he just kept waiting for her to save herself like he did. Any thoughts on this?

[courtneystriker]

Laughing my butt off at this paragraph from Ballad:

Wasn’t this the exact same thing he told Katniss about his downfall? He was too busy watching The Mockingjay, he didn’t see Coin coming?

🤣

I guess he never learned

[courtneystriker]

I had no idea how nostalgic I could be at the sight of these chapter numbers

[courtneystriker]

What the hell, Suzanne??? I can't pronounce half the names in the book.

[courtneystriker]

did anyone else catch that transition from being referred to as “coriolanus” throughout the story to just “snow” during the epilogue? shows how he lost his innocence and boyhood and has made the conscience choice to follow his family name and history above his freedom, choice, and individuality