Something no one tells you when you’re going through a tough time, is that even the smallest people will remember you. They’ll wonder why you haven’t bought food for your dog, where the pictures of your boyfriend went, or why their favourite cashier hasn’t been there for awhile. People notice you. People love you. Even if it’s for your jokes, even if it’s for your patience, even if it’s just seeing you around. People miss you. People love you. People care.
I’m grateful for everyone who is still here today, no matter how hard it is.
I still remember when I quit my old job at a McDonald’s, I was talking about how it was my last day, and had accidentally left the drive thru window open. The lady in the window overheard me and said “oh no, you’re quitting? I’ll miss you, you were always so nice!” And I almost sobbed. This random lady came through my drive thru enough to recognize me, enough to care that I was leaving, despite having barely had a single conversation other than what I had to say to do my job. People really do remember you, especially if you’re nice.
don’t let capitalism convince you that people are selfish loners. We are social creatures who have survived only because we are capable of great love.
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.
THIS POST WAS MADE FOR ME. Literally nobody gets how profound The Hunger Games are as a piece of literature, actually, because it’s been lumped in with all of the copycats that came after it.
“I’m tired of love triangles” THE HUNGER GAMES IS LITERALLY AN ALLEGORICAL FICTION REFLECTING ON THE MERITS OF JUST-WAR THEORY.
This is a FASCINATING article where Suzanne Collins talks about this. Basically, just war theory - popularized by Thomas Aquinas, and I didn’t know she was Catholic, so that makes a TON of sense how she would know about that, anyways, just-war theory advocates for this idea that a war can be just based on certain conditions being met. In the Hunger Games, Katniss is a stand in for humanity generally, a sort of neutral figure whose going through this moral/philosophical battle. Gale represents a favorable view of just-war theory, whereas Peeta represents - if not pacifism, then certainly at the very least, a rejection of war.
THATS WHY ITS SO FUCKING PROFOUND that Katniss ends up with Peeta, like, can we just collectively admire for a moment, the final passage of Mockingjay, now that we get that what’s actually going on is a statement re: cycles of violence and the needs of humanity?
“Peeta and I grow back together. There are still moments when he clutches the back of a chair and hangs on until the flashbacks are over. I wake screaming from nightmares of mutts and lost children. But his arms are there to comfort me. And eventually his lips. On the night I feel that thing again, the hunger that overtook me on the beach, I knew this would have happened anyway. That what I need to survive is not Gale’s fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that.”
I MEAN. GOD. GOD. WHAT POETRY THAT IS. Humanity cannot rely on war, and hatred, and violence, it does not need it to live, it cannot feast forever on bread and circuses gained from blood. This passage nearly makes me cry every time I read it, it’s SO lovely.
Cock is one of my favorite tastes. Not only
that, but balls smell amazing. It makes me go a little crazy on it to be
honest. Like, I cannot get it far enough down my throat to be
satisfied. I’m only satisfied when I feel those intense, powerful,
salty, hot pumps of cum down my throat. When I sit back on my heels,
look up at you with cum all over my mouth and slobber running down my
neck, hair all fucked up and wipe my mouth with the back of my arm and
ask you if I did a good job and you cannot even speak because I’ve
drained all of your energy out the tip of your dick….. That’s when I’m
satisfied.
john green u nasty and ugly as hell shut the fuck up
sweetie, you are literally so out of line it’s fucking unbelievable. i
could drag you so hard right now but i know you’ll just end up crying.
i’ve roasted you before and you know it. chances are you’ll just say i
bullied you because you’re gay and have different skin. talk shit get
hit, you don’t wanna mess with me kiddo; i’ve got a black belt.
i know threats are fucked up but that’s all i’ve been receiving all day,
probably from her royal hoodrat olive and all of her nasty friends. but
you can gang up on me and make fun of me for being goth all you want.
i’ve been hurt a lot. my first boyfriend cheated on me, my dad screams
if i forget to do my chores, and there are some days i don’t even want
to get out of bed in the mornings.
i’m a jaded teenage girl. i’ve been through shit that you wouldn’t even
dream of. you think your life is hard? try asking the cutest guy in your
grade out in the middle of the cafeteria only to find out he has a
fucking girlfriend. you don’t know my life or my story so keep my name
out of your nasty mouth. life is a battlefield and it looks like i’ve
already won.
character in a movie: Oh no, angry dog, please don’t bite me!
the dog: I’m at work! I’m doing so good at being at work! I’m barking because my handler gave the sign ‘bark’! I am going to get such a good grade in being a dog actor, which is completely possible to achieve, and normal to want! I am doing a great job! I am proud of myself for doing such a great job! I love this, because I’d make it physically impossible to get anything done if I wasn’t enjoying it! I’m barking!
I love seeing dogs and wolves in movies because they’re acting so vicious but also their tails are wagging so hard unless the post-processing guys specifically edited out the tails (which is slightly less obvious but also hilarious in a different way once you spot it).
This is why I love the dog in the original casting of The Thing so damn much. I have never seen an acting dog move with such a deliberate, calm intent. It was like every single motion and gesture this animal made was intentional.
Apparently, according to the behind-the-scenes documentation, this dog was just fuckin like that. Almost never, if at all, looked at the camera crews and production teams. Never excitedly wagged his tail on set no matter how much of a good boy he was being. If he did, it was the same… deliberate motions.
His name was Jed, and even though he’s a dog, he deserves an oscar. He was an exceptionally good boy.
Jed also played the role of White Fang in the 90s Disney film version!
I honestly can’t imagine a better portrayal of a stoic, aloof White Fang, who gradually softens, than Jed. Good boy.
