Stories

My name is Dave and I am a story addict.  Last night my wife and I went to see The Hunger Games, and in two minutes, I was hooked.  I loved it from start to finish and I could see it again tonight.  I read the books and burned through them like a fire.  Couldn’t put them down.  Good writing, great characters, great plot and thematic depth that yields a surprising richness of meaning. 

One of the chief pleasures of my life from as early as I can remember has been the experience of being hooked on a novel or a play or a movie.  Sometimes I feel a sort of guilt that I care so much about these non-real characters that when I am in the middle of their lives, I cry or laugh with joy as I read or view, but the tragedies and joys of neighbors and friends often elicit far mere tepid emotional responses from me.  I realize this happens because I have submitted to the world of the story and allowed myself to be manipulated by it.  But still, sometimes it seems a bit silly to behave in such a way.

But enough of this Calvinist self-flagellation and on to the Hunger Games movie.  Wow!  First off, no novel made into a movie, in my memory, sticks as closely to the written text as this one does. The characters seem to have jumped right out of the book and into them movie—except perhaps the Woody Harrelson character who was more likeable and less a drunkard than the Haymitch of the book. 

Both book and movie draw on certain archetypes and also on earlier stories, movies and TV shows but without being imitative or stealing from them. Often just a single line of dialogue or scene makes the connection and perhaps some of the connections I saw were not even intended.

For starters there is “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell which has always been on my short list of all time best short stories. (People of my generation know it because it was anthologized in a lit book used in many high schools in the 5O’s and 60’s.) Then there’s Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” evoked by the “reaping” scene.  I suppose William Goldings Lord of the Flies must also be included because of the children fighting, though the principle characters seem not to be infected with the blood lust of Golding’s boys.  

Several scenes suggest The Truman Show.  The opening of the Games with the chariots suggest, perhaps Ben-Hur, but a the very least any movie that involves human slaughter at the Roman Coliseum. And then there are the TV shows—American Idol and Survival and The Miss America Pageant and the Academy Awards. 

When we read books and watch movies, we build a sort of mental encyclopedia that enables us to recognize and be enriched by allusions done well.  The Hunger Games uses those allusions, sometimes to deepen our feelings (“The Lottery” scene), sometimes to heighten the satire (the Miss America Pageant interviews).

Enough for today.  Perhaps in a later post, a few words on the important themes.