Last night we went to watch the first part of the last part in the Hunger Games series. Before the movie, we finally paid a visit to the new local gastropub.
“We have become so Americanized!” I told N. “We eat an enormous meal and then go watch Hunger Games.”
The gastropub served us some really disappointing pea soup because the chef believes that it’s OK to use canned peas to make pea soup. Today I will be making a real Canadian split pea soup to erase the bad taste of those canned peas from my mouth. The fish tacos, however, were sensational. And the scallops were not bad at all. There were some fans of mine among the patrons and they kept telling the waiter to say hi and send messages in Spanish. This made me feel glad that I’m no longer a drinking person.
The movie proved to be very good, so thank you, everybody who recommended. It is quite an achievement to make such a good, solid movie out of the weakest book in the trilogy. Of course, the movie would have benefited from reducing it by at least 30 minutes. There are several superfluous scenes like, for instance, the scene on the staircase. It introduces no new insights into the characters: yes, the mother is useless, the sister is a damsel in permanent distress, and the protagonist is a teenage drama queen, but we’ve known all this since the first scene of the first movie in the series. There are also way too many scenes where the camera zooms on the protagonist’s face, making the viewers privy to the actress’s hopeless struggle to convey emotion. As a result, she just looks severely constipated, and the viewers get bored.
Judging from the nearly empty theater – and that’s on a Saturday night! – the movie is doing much worse at the box office than the previous two parts of the series. This is not surprising, given that there are no Hunger Games in this part of the trilogy, and the Hunger Games were what made the series original and attracted viewers and readers. Another reason for the series’ downward trajectory is that the economic well-being of the viewers grows, the recession is receding into memory, and the viewers don’t identify with what they are seeing on the screen any longer. (Not that they ever had reason to identify, coming to the movies after enormous, delicious meals, but it isn’t like these things are ever reasonable.)
But here is something you probably didn’t know: in Russia, the ticket sales of Mockingjay, Part 1 are 15% higher than the ticket sales of Catching Fire (the second and the strongest film in the series so far.) Russia is at war, and its people need inspiration to keep up the military effort. I find it very interesting to trace how the audiences’ response to entertainment differs and why.
In Germany, ticket sales are up as well. That was to be expected since most of the action in Mockingjay, Part 1 is set underground, and Germans could never resist subterranean imagery. They will watch anything as long as it happens in a tunnel or a shaft.
In terms of acting skills, the generational chasm between the older, more seasoned actors and the younger, really vapid ones is very distracting. When Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson or Stanley Tucci appear in the scenes next to the actors who play Katniss, Peeta or that other guy (Gale, or what is his name?), the younger actors disappear completely. The scene where Julianne Moore is talking to Jennifer Lawrence is extremely unfortunate since Lawrence is completely washed out by the striking and even somewhat artistically gifted Moore.
What’s great about the movie is the abundance of very expensive, very impressive special effects. They make the movie very entertaining and just a good way to spend a relaxing, escapist couple of hours.
I’m now considering going to see Interstellar in 4D because that has got to be even more escapist.
Clarissa's Blog 
\\ Germans could never resist subterranean imagery. They will watch anything as long as it happens in a tunnel or a shaft.
Any reason for that?
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Germans are very eschatological. Their culture is obsessed with death, darkness, the mystical dark forces. Germanic cultures tend to be this way.
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I just now realized I misread this. But I stand by my assertion that Germans have a fascination for the scatalogical as well.
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\\ Germans are very eschatological. Their culture is obsessed with death, darkness, the mystical dark forces. Germanic cultures tend to be this way.
When I hear the word “Europe,” I think about 3 countries: England, France and Germany. I do know something about the English culture (and language 🙂 ), but practically nothing about the other two, except their participation in WW1 and WW2.
Have no idea what “Germanic cultures” exist, except the German culture, and what are their reasons for being eschatological. Why do French have the reputation of light-hearted, pleasure-loving people, while their closest neighbors so into death? Which major stages of development of the two cultures led to this?
If you want to write about light-hearted matters nowadays, I would love to read a (series of) post(s) on the topic of German and French cultures. 🙂 Even if you aren’t an expert, I know nothing and think some readers are more or less the same, while others may contribute.
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“Why do French have the reputation of light-hearted, pleasure-loving people”
– That just really depends on who is advancing the stereotype. 🙂 For many people in the world, the French and stingy, cheap, and permanently sulky. 🙂
[ I’M TALKING ABOUT THE STEREOTYPE OF THE FRENCH, NOT THE QUEBECOIS. THE QUEBECOIS HAVE A VERY DIFFERENT SET OF STEREOTYPES ATTACHED TO THEM.]
Germanic cultures are those who speak Germanic languages. English is a Germanic language but with very strong Romance influences. French and Spanish, for instance, are Romance or Latin cultures. These cultures have their own cultural traditions (folk tales, folk music, etc.) that obviously overlap withe the Germanic ones but still differ greatly. I’m not a specialist in Germanic cultures but if you look at their folk tales, gosh, it’s the creepiest shit ever. And then compare these folk tales to the Persian and Hindu folk tales that the Muslims brought into the Iberian Peninsula and that inspired the entire Romance culture of Europe. Those are way lighter and more humorous than the heavy-handed, depressing German ones.
Just imagine a child growing up on the German folk tales (take The Hobbit. That is heavily Germanic) and a child who grows up on Hodja Nasreddin tales. Who will be a happier child? I think the answer is obvious.
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\\ Just imagine a child growing up on the German folk tales (take The Hobbit. That is heavily Germanic) and a child who grows up on Hodja Nasreddin tales. Who will be a happier child? I think the answer is obvious.
I thought it depends on the child’s parents’ behavior till s/he turned 3 years old, regardless of fairy-tales.
What about Russian language and fairy-tales?
I read brothers Grimm in my childhood and enjoyed them.
Have always especially loved (some of) Hans Christian Andersen’s tales too. Turns out he came from a Germanic culture, may be, it also had an influence on him.
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“I read brothers Grimm in my childhood and enjoyed them.”
– Have you read the original version? Because that’s some cruel, heavy shit. What we read in the USSR, was the heavily sanitized version that has very little to do with the blood and gore of the original.
“I thought it depends on the child’s parents’ behavior till s/he turned 3 years old, regardless of fairy-tales.”
– Normally, the parents have also been formed in the same culture and share the same archetypes. Unless we are talking about international adoption, and the lack of shared archetypes is one more reason why they are problematic.
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I’m unconvinced, Spanish culture seems very death obsessed, much more so than French or Italian (IME). It has a lighter side as well (it’s telling that light hearted Zarzuela was a thing but no tragic operas came out of Spain) but there’s a lot of angst and blood there too Lorca, for example, is not exactly a barrel of laughs.
I agree that German (Deutsch) culture is both scatalogical and subterranean (Das Boot suddenly makes much more sense) but I don’t think of those as necessarily related.
Also death obsession in Germany seems more related to duty and principles (as in Wagner) whereas it’s much more tried to erotic themes in Spain. These are all just my impressions, I guess your mileage varies….
One thing I’ve noticed in the last few years is just how badly German usually translates into Polish (given the cultural history I’d expect a closer match and wonder if it goes into Russian or Czech any better). Scandinavian stuff ends up much more readable in Polish.
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“We have become so Americanized!” I told N. “We eat an enormous meal and then go watch Hunger Games.”
The Americanized thing to do is to eat during the movie. :p
When Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson or Stanley Tucci appear in the scenes next to the actors who play Katniss, Peeta or that other guy (Gale, or what is his name?), the younger actors disappear completely.
What’s funny is that Jennifer Lawrence has won an Academy Award and just isn’t in the same league acting wise as the older actors, (who’ve also won and been nominated multiple times. I’ve only seen her in the Hunger Games, and I wasn’t terribly impressed with her acting. I’m not sure whether it’s because they toned down the violence and the injuries the characters suffer or whether she’s coasting on her looks or perceived persona (sorry) but I never bought them as people desperate enough to gladiate for food. I don’t know how much the series suffers from the lack of Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
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So true. The perfect, blooming skins and the ideal teeth of these supposed victims of starvation are very confusing. Their appearances scream, “Rich!”
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Plus, everybody is trying to talk Katniss into eating but she makes faces at the food because she has more important things to think about. Like her boyfriend.
Yeah, that’s totally what starvation cultures look like.
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It’s not even the leads. It’s that everyone in the poor districts looks like they’re not hungry or have ever been hungry and they just need a good bath. Plus being hungry and fearful is very aging. You should really see some background people who look like Sharbat Gula in terms of their aging, but I don’t know that most moviegoers would get that.
I get that for various reasons, they’re not going starve themselves down like Christian Bale. And then in the books, they get very injured and it does have lasting physical effects but you’d have no idea from the way it’s treated in the movies.
I don’t even know how the leads are going to handle the PSTD the characters suffer from.
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She should be hoarding and hiding food like there’s no tomorrow and freaking out at the rations. Or really any of the background characters from that same district.
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Exactly!! People who experienced starvation have a very intense relationship with food. And so do their children and grandchildren. They just don’t push away a full plate with a bored look. But this is a society where nobody has seen hunger or has a historic memory of it so the inconsistencies don’t bother anybody.
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I could accept perfect blooming skin and ideal teeth (not like you’ll find a Hollywood star without them) but having Katniss moon over her boyfriend by not eating is absurd.
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Sorry if this a just an aside. What’s your recipe for “real Canadian split pea soup”? It it’s not any trouble. I can’t get “into” the “Hunger Games”. I saw the first. I thought it was an emotionally expoitive movie. In “Winter’s Bone” I thought Jennifer Lawrence’s performance moved a well written, and well plotted noir movie into something riveting. Seems to me the “Hunger Games” didn’t offer her that challenge. But that’s just me.
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Here is the recipe: https://clarissasblog.com/2010/12/25/clarissas-split-pea-soup-with-bacon-a-recipe/
Enjoy!
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Thank you.
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Tinned peas in split pea soup? WHAT PLANET IS THIS?!
I don’t even like marrowfats in tins — I soak my own when I need them. Morrison’s cheap veg bouillon cubes do an excellent job for the soaking.
I suppose as movies go “Interstellar” could have been better, but I found it to be a sentimentalist post-“peak space age” piece where nostalgia and techno-optimism join forces, giving you the hope that some sort of post-singularity triumphalism pulls humanity out of its seemingly inevitable end, even if the means tend to leave you somewhat incredulous.
Especially if you can grok the maths, so to speak …
I also suppose I’d find it less awful if the music bearing down on the movie were less imposing — a little less relentlessness, maybe a little more like Górecki. I’d at least have taken the more serious parts a bit more seriously.
Otherwise, even the Germans eventually put the Bürolandschaft into a shaft, although Paul Virilio did them one better by putting it into a bunker church for the penitent masochist. 🙂
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Why in the world would a restaurant use canned peas for pea soup? Dried peas are cheaper than canned peas, and most of the soaking time can take place when all the staff has gone home. Besides if you’re pressed for time, you could easily use a pressure cooker for the lentils. :p
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I have absolutely no idea. I always order pea soup when it’s on the menu, and this is the first time I’ve seen this.
Canned peas make the soup taste really weird.
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\\ Have always especially loved (some of) Hans Christian Andersen’s tales too.
Found a curious fact about him at Russian wiki:
Ханс Кристиан Андерсен рос очень утончённо нервным ребёнком, эмоциональным и восприимчивым. В то время физические наказания детей в школах были обычным делом, поэтому мальчик страшился ходить в школу, и его мама отдала его в еврейскую школу, где физические наказания в отношении детей были запрещены
I suppose it was maximum till the age of 14 since “В возрасте 14 лет Ганс поехал в Копенгаген”
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I’m deeply convinced that children shouldn’t be let near Andersen or Saint-Exupery.
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Saint-Exupery’s “The Little Prince” isn’t depressing, unlike some of Andersen’s tales. And Andersen also has tales with happy endings, like “The Snow Queen,” “Thumbelina” and “The Ugly Duckling.” “The Emperor’s New Clothes” is even funny. Btw, I loved “The Little Mermaid” which is horrible from feminist pov.
Curious:
Андерсен злился, когда его называли детским сказочником и говорил, что пишет сказки как для детей, так и для взрослых. По этой же причине он приказал, чтобы на его памятнике, где первоначально сказочника должны были окружать дети, не было ни одного ребёнка.
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Everything Andersen ever wrote is horrible from the feminist pov. Except for the emperor’s new clothes but that’s a very tiny exception.
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Hans Christian Andersen and St. Exupery are terrifying. I think that’s why Disney only touched the The Little Mermaid and didn’t bother with the rest of Hans Christian Andersen or St. Exupery.
Here’s a short horror story version of the The Little Prince
Tangentially, last night on the radio I heard a dance remix of “The Hanging Tree” which seems a little off.
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