Zerovillie
Book
A Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and Newsweek Best Book of the Year It is an August afternoon...
Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology, 1880-1940
Book
How did electricity enter everyday life in America? Using Muncie, Indiana -- the Lynds' now iconic...
Debussy's Legacy and the Construction of Reputation
Book
Today, Claude Debussy's position as a central figure in twentieth-century concert music is secure,...
The Routledge Research Companion to Shakespeare and Classical Literature
Sean Keilen and Nick Moschovakis
Book
In this wide-ranging and ambitiously conceived Research Companion, contributors explore...
Olympic Collision: The Story of Mary Decker and Zola Budd
Book
It remains one of the most memorable moments in modern Olympic history. At the 1984 summer games in...
Red Scare Racism and Cold War Black Radicalism
Book
During the early years of the Cold War, racial segregation in the American South became an...
David McK (3372 KP) rated The Hunger Games (2012) in Movies
Jun 5, 2022
It's a trilogy of Young Adult (I hate that term! Us older adults can like them, too ...) novels, made into a quartet of movies.
This is the first in both the novels and the movie series.
While, yes, I have read those novels - I'm not sure, but maybe after originally having watched this film back in 2012 or so? - I can't really remember the full ins and outs of the plot - except the obvious! - although I am sure that, as always, liberties will have been taken, as movies and prose are two distinct mediums.
Set in the future dystopia of Panem (post apocalyptic America?), once every year the 12 districts are forced to randomly choose and send two teenagers - one boy and a girl - to The Capitol to participate in a televised fight to the death inside a giant man-made arena. Katniss Everdeen is one of those chosen from District 12, volunteering to take her sister's place when her sisters name is chosen during her first year of mandatory participation. The film (like what I remember from the book) draws a clear distinction between those from The Capitol - who view this all as a grand sport, and who are very definitely the haves of this world against those from the various districts (the have nots), while also taking the opportunity to make a point about how those in power can treat and abuse those without.
Yes, it's violent.
Yes, I'm sure some of the bloodier parts of the book were cut in order to get the PG-13 rating it does.
Yes, Jennifer Lawrence shines in the lead role
Yes, that *is* Chris Hemsworth's (otherwise known as the MCU's Thor) brother Liam.
True Yankees: The South Seas and the Discovery of American Identity
Book
With American independence came the freedom to sail anywhere in the world under a new flag. During...
Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses (2015) in Movies
Oct 25, 2017 (Updated Oct 25, 2017)
In the heart of Maori culture, lies the belief of Makatu, a curse or demon, that can allegedly be 'exorcised'. A poor young mother, Janet Moses, who either had mental health issues or was seemingly depressed, was confronted by her large family attempting to help her. Unfortunately their misguided deeply held beliefs included holding her down and plying water into her for days on end in a bid to rid her of a demon. And while they believed they they were assisting her, she eventually died after five days.
And of course a court case ensued about culpability. A truly terrible instance of dogmatic beliefs, cabin fever, and hysteria.
It's Been Beautiful: Soul! and Black Power Television
Book
Soul! was where Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire got funky, where Toni Morrison read from her...