August 29th Hunger Games

Centered in a world directed by tirany and savagery "The Hunger Games" written by Suzanne Collins is a story that has captivated viewers attention from all around the world.

The book introduces us into a world of cruelty, misery and hunger, but that at the same time parallel to this world, we find another extreme the world of Capitol, filled with vanity, luxuries and corruption.
In the first book of the trilogy, we are introduced to the protagonist Katniss, a young teenage girl, hard worker for her family.

Year by year the Capitol hosts and event called the hunger games, where two teenagers, boy and a girl are selected to be brought to an arena to fight for their lives, one must always die in order for the game to end. This is in a way to remind the country of what the government is capable of, and to ensure they wouldn't rebel.

The story is filled with metaphors and symbolism reflecting the world we live in.
Parallels to real life:
The story brings to mind the current situation lived in China, and the big contrast between
poverty vs the capitalistic regime. But mainly the inability to make your own personal choices.

Or the notion of having to give up your child when they are chosen to be in the hunger games,  a parallel to this would be the current problem in china and how each family is unable to choose how many children they have, and must pay a fine if they go over the "allowed" limit.


Which of the two sides is privileged  in the story?

There's no recognition whatsoever of individuals as such rather, the characters are seen as letters and numbers rather than people. With this loss of humanity comes the loss of everything else that comes with it, values, morality etc.

The author doesn't necessarily give us her opinion, but rather attempts to take us into this world and view things as they did .



Contradictions found in the story:
To begin with, the old style weapons vs high tech elements brought up later in the story,
The meaning of values, feeling and love: the characters aren't meant to have emotions, or the ability to judge, and yet the main character represents all of these together.

Some stories/movies that came to mind when reading this story were:
Inglorious Bastards
Fight Club
1984
Gladiator
300
Zena Warrior princess
Lord of the flies
Holes
Big brother
Rome

Expectations of the reader, and how the author plays with this:

The reader would normally expect the character to fulfill their original goal, rather she is defeated at the end. Although she survives she's unable to get herself out of the situation.

Another expectation could be a revolt from the children's side against the leaders.

An important movie to be paired with this book: 1984 or Holes

August 22nd

The story of the Wizard of Oz has become one of the best known classic North American movies of the 20th Century. I say North American, because it's not as well known outside of this region, at least not in such a traditional and cultural way as we see here.

The story was a hit not only with children but also with the older public. It became a revolutionary film because its known as the first to be presented in color. Using this particular skill to their advantage making it part of their story.

The basic plot of the story is about a small girl from Kansas, who is swept by a tornado along with her dog and taken into a completely different and new world. The story depicts her journey and adventures in trying to get back home.


It's a story full of symbolism, that has been criticized numerous times for different interpretations people have towards the events and characters in the story. Although it becomes difficult to give an exact definition and conclusion about these interpretations, and whether or not that is what the author intended to portray; I will attempt to make a recollection of the most important symbols and visual metaphors found within the story.

The first symbolism we notice is with the introduction of the characters.
Dorothy: the main character of the story, represents the values of the traditional american society, respectful, loyal, determined etc.

Uncle Henry: stereotypical dedicated farmer from the 1800s

Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow and cowardly lyon: all of these represent the notion of possibilities, and recognition of ones own capabilities and strengths that wether we feel it or not, we all have within us the ability to do and achieve what we want, we just have to have more faith in ourselves.

The Wicked witch of the East: represents all of the anti values within the american society. Our biggest fears, and temptations, with which we have to fight daily in order to stay as little affected by them as possible.

Good witch of the North: Represents the hope and faith Americans have towards their culture. The idea that within all the negative and bad things one may find, there's always a way out, and always someone willing to help you no matter how difficult the situation may seem.

Yellow brick road: is in a way a representation of knowledge and success. The path you ought to take in order to reach your goal, and in a way it also represents naiveness. In the story it was the path the characters were told to take to find what they were looking for, and blinded by this without asking questions they followed instructions. Only to find at the end that it had all been a lie and that what they thought they would find was in fact a simple fraud.

Ruby slippers: Although silver in the original story. They chose to make them ruby in the movie, one of the reasons being because of how the color looked along with the color scheme of the movie. Nonetheless both in the book and the film, the slippers are a metaphor for the power that so many strive to have.

Although all of these visual metaphors and symbols were interpreted by many viewers and critics; it was never affirmed by the author that this was in fact what he was trying to portray, or transmit through his story. Nonetheless it's interesting to see how the more times one sees the movie or reads the book, the more things you discover and bigger understanding you get of the North American Culture.