Katniss I think your points re: the character of Katniss and the 2easy on the read" quality of the books are good ones, and can explain the popularity quite a bit, especially for someone for whom the nitty-gritty of the world building doesn't really matter much.
BTW, I LOVE KATNISS, but some little cracks developed in my love for her because her "Dog with Two Bones" love triangle story is REALLY NOT MY THING. I mean., personally I am not at all fond of people who "don't know what she/he want" and view this as a big weakness of character.
Worlbuilding/technology
For me, the world building matters a great deal, especially in science fiction. For example, the fact that no developed technology is going to use coal is important to me. We don't use coal. I think you are right in saying that Collins used coal mining because this is something she knows, but why should I care what subject is more convenient for the author to write about? I care for world building and the use of coal doesn't fit the picture of the well-developed technologically world at all. :P
As far as technology goes, it seems like technology IS highly developed, but the advanced technology is purposefully kept from anyone who isn't part of the Capitol. So I suppose you can imagine that only the people living in the districts use the coal.
No, I can't imagine this. In the well-developed technologically world, even if the "fruits" of technology were withdrawn from the population of the districts (which is possible), the fact that more advanced machines should have been used to produce everything still remains. I mean - I can imagine the population of districts being kept in a slave-like state, but why are they still using manual labour doesn't make sense (because they could have produced more using machines). To explain this on example: take Apple plants in China. People there are made to work 80-hour week (with overnights), their pay is a low, and they basically have no privileges whatsoever. But they don't make iPods using manual labour (or coal)!
And maybe this is all part of the Capitol's grand oppression scheme.
Well, it can be! But I need an explanation in this case, why /how, this is what the worldbulding is there for .
There are a lot of interesting themes and motifs in the book about being oneself, surveillance and performance. Plus, I've always been a fan of dystopias.
A lot of those themes are taken from something else, 1984, for example?
I think this is kind of unfair though. Ophelia commited suicide and it was via drowning and she was all alone and is offstage. Rue was impaled with a spear and dies as Katniss sings her to sleep. The only common theme is the flowers. Nothing about the way her death is portrayed is similar to what Shakespeare wrote.
For me the comparison was so obvious, I can't even. :D Ophelia's death has always been a symbolic "death of innocent bystander" which is very similar to Rue's death, in it's symbolism.
Greek/Roman references
Plus, it also helps tie into the idea of "panem et circenses"
Oh, I understand that Collins is trying to use Roman and Greek ideas and myths (Minotaur as well) , but I don't need the overuse of Greek/Roman words to "get it". Because with this overuse I immediately start thinking "why? How?". I mean - why would USA start using Roman names all over the place?
PS: Although I wrote a lot, I am mainly just trying to explain my position. But I understand your position too. :D We are just assessing this from two different perspectives - I am familiar/interested in technology, but I appreciate that not everyone is. So far, from what I gather from "Hunger Games", I would imagine Susanne Collins doesn't really know or care much for technology at all.
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Date: 2011-12-13 04:51 pm (UTC)I think your points re: the character of Katniss and the 2easy on the read" quality of the books are good ones, and can explain the popularity quite a bit, especially for someone for whom the nitty-gritty of the world building doesn't really matter much.
BTW, I LOVE KATNISS, but some little cracks developed in my love for her because her "Dog with Two Bones" love triangle story is REALLY NOT MY THING. I mean., personally I am not at all fond of people who "don't know what she/he want" and view this as a big weakness of character.
Worlbuilding/technology
For me, the world building matters a great deal, especially in science fiction. For example, the fact that no developed technology is going to use coal is important to me. We don't use coal. I think you are right in saying that Collins used coal mining because this is something she knows, but why should I care what subject is more convenient for the author to write about? I care for world building and the use of coal doesn't fit the picture of the well-developed technologically world at all. :P
As far as technology goes, it seems like technology IS highly developed, but the advanced technology is purposefully kept from anyone who isn't part of the Capitol. So I suppose you can imagine that only the people living in the districts use the coal.
No, I can't imagine this. In the well-developed technologically world, even if the "fruits" of technology were withdrawn from the population of the districts (which is possible), the fact that more advanced machines should have been used to produce everything still remains. I mean - I can imagine the population of districts being kept in a slave-like state, but why are they still using manual labour doesn't make sense (because they could have produced more using machines).
To explain this on example: take Apple plants in China. People there are made to work 80-hour week (with overnights), their pay is a low, and they basically have no privileges whatsoever. But they don't make iPods using manual labour (or coal)!
And maybe this is all part of the Capitol's grand oppression scheme.
Well, it can be! But I need an explanation in this case, why /how, this is what the worldbulding is there for .
There are a lot of interesting themes and motifs in the book about being oneself, surveillance and performance. Plus, I've always been a fan of dystopias.
A lot of those themes are taken from something else, 1984, for example?
I think this is kind of unfair though. Ophelia commited suicide and it was via drowning and she was all alone and is offstage. Rue was impaled with a spear and dies as Katniss sings her to sleep. The only common theme is the flowers. Nothing about the way her death is portrayed is similar to what Shakespeare wrote.
For me the comparison was so obvious, I can't even. :D Ophelia's death has always been a symbolic "death of innocent bystander" which is very similar to Rue's death, in it's symbolism.
Greek/Roman references
Plus, it also helps tie into the idea of "panem et circenses"
Oh, I understand that Collins is trying to use Roman and Greek ideas and myths (Minotaur as well) , but I don't need the overuse of Greek/Roman words to "get it". Because with this overuse I immediately start thinking "why? How?". I mean - why would USA start using Roman names all over the place?
PS: Although I wrote a lot, I am mainly just trying to explain my position. But I understand your position too. :D We are just assessing this from two different perspectives - I am familiar/interested in technology, but I appreciate that not everyone is. So far, from what I gather from "Hunger Games", I would imagine Susanne Collins doesn't really know or care much for technology at all.