Should we go to see the first part of the last part of the Hunger Games movies? The third book in the series was the weakest. And the film – makers watered that weak book even further. So I’m wondering if it makes sense to watch the movie. Is anybody else going? Thoughts, suggestions, recommendations?
The First Part of the Last Part
Clarissa's Blog 
I’m going to see it, mostly to see how they handled Finnick’s PTSD. I don’t like seeing movies based on books, with a few exceptions, but I watch them anyway in the hopes of finding those exceptions.
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This book is not a work of art, so there isn’t much for filmmakers to spoil. 🙂
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I really liked the third book. It was by far my favorite of the three, because it carried the meaning of the games to the war. At the end of the day, the rebels were no better than the Capitol. There is no “good” and “evil,” since the good guys used the same sort of tactics as the bad guys, and that means choosing a side isn’t always a black-and-white sort of affair. And things end in basically the same condition they started in. I think Fie Upon This Quiet Life explained my position much better than I could. :p
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I really think the third book is underrated. I thought it was the weakest of the three until I taught all three books in the series, and really carefully studied book 3. I now think it’s better than book 1, which seems to be everyone’s favorite. My fav, actually, is book 2, but I think book 3 is much, much better than people generally say it is.
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I didn’t like Book 3 because the whole series hinged on the actual games. That was the original, new, inventive thing. And in part 3, there are no games. And without them it just becomes a futuristic enactment of a war. And then the ending is kind of blah.
But I think we will see the movie anyway.
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True, but they make a point of saying that the assault on the Capital is just like the games. The Capital is the “arena,” with so many of the same features that arenas typically have, and they also use the teleological suspension of the ethical in the war, the same way most people do in the games. That ends up being the breaking point for Katniss and Gale, since his suspension of the ethical ends up (spoiler) killing Prim. I don’t know. I thought there were some brilliant philosophical takeaways in there.
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You are a really good literary critic if you can offer such a profound analysis of this book. All I did with it was, “Nah, not too entertaining.” I now feel cowed and chastened.
And I’m definitely going to see it now. Whatever your school is paying you, it’s not enough. 🙂
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I ended up skiing the movie last night. I thought that it was tremendous. Jennifer Lawrence’s performance was top notch. And they did a great job with the subtleties of the text.
By the way I can’t take credit for the phrase “teleological suspension of the ethical.” That comes from Kierkegaard but it is very applicable to this text.
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Some Yankees wandering through the wilderness acting deranged. This is the summary I can draw after exerting to the fullest extent my literary critic’s capabilities.
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Time’s leaves
With blood dewdrops
And Tantalus insanely awake!
I am the notion
From the chemist
Soothing all wrinklesThe pornographer’s Bible
May as well be idle
When of this you take your portion.
With correct regret we part
The inches of our intent on the chart
Like Columbus bent on cliff-edge destination.
“Farewell!” so say eleven year old tears
To the butchered carcass of his father
“Au Revoir!” says the helpless friend
Of the determined suicide soon a statistic—
The worm and the ceiling of means and ends
The cockroach and the remote Cathedral roof
Play the same side in the game
And playing oppose each other’s experiences
Oppose each other’s knowledge that you and I
Are perhaps on the same side of the sin,
the sign of sincerity.
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