by Joe Giambrone
A futuristic bread and circuses gladiatorial sacrifice — will it discomfit the next generation and open their eyes?
I have to admit that I don’t go to the theater very often. There isn’t a hell of a lot of “product” I’m willing to pay to see, much less pay top dollar while being assaulted by advertisements and propaganda prior to the showing; it sometimes approaches Dante’s visions of Hell. I just want to shout at the screen about the idiocy and the offensiveness of the people producing these visual treats. The mindless corporate whore characters, their canned charisma beaming down as they sell the junk food or car or mobile phone — where are the rotten tomatoes? The glorious stormtroopers get a plug as well, with Riefenstahl type camera work and the unquestionable greatness of the men in uniform. How best can we worship?
So, when I do venture out I like to be sure it’s going to be worth the time and effort and mental assault. The Hunger Games was worth the ordeal, though not a perfect movie by any standard. The PFB blog has already examined the Politics of the Hunger Games in a post by Bob Burnett, and he did such a great job I’ll try and avoid redundancy.
Perhaps it’s due to Jennifer Lawrence, who is one of the most interesting American actresses of the day. Her unstoppable performance in Winter’s Bone nearly redefined what a no-budget indie passion project could rise to in America today.
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