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I live in a small town so I expected that there wouldn’t be many people attending the midnight opening, but AMC screened The Hunger Games on all ten screens and every screening was nearly sold out.
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I warned my gentleman friend that he couldn’t mock me for how I reacted during the movie because I knew I was going to get close to the rapture and didn’t want to be judged for it. I attended the midnight showing even though I had to teach the next (same) morning. I started counting down to the movie well before opening day. That development took things to a whole new level. This obsession intensified well before I realized the first movie would be released in March. I wanted the best for all of them even when all seemed hopeless, was hopeless. I daydreamed about Katniss, Peeta and I suppose, sometimes, stupid Gale as well as the other compelling characters-Cinna, Rue, Thresh, Haymitch, Finnick, Annie. I was so invested in the books I couldn’t stop talking about them. I was completely without shame.Īfter finishing The Hunger Games, I quickly read the next two books in the trilogy-my obsession, at this point, was raging and white hot. I found myself gasping and hissing and even bursting into tears, more than once. I particularly appreciated what the books got right about strength and endurance, suffering and survival. There was so much at stake, so much drama and it was all so intriguing, so hypnotizing, so intense and dark. More than that, The Hunger Games moved me. I wanted to keep walking so I could stay in the world Collins created. The book captivated me from the first page. I knew I was in love with The Hunger Games when I did not want to get off the treadmill. Yes, it’s good for you and weight loss and whatever, but normally, I work out and want to die. I do most of my leisure reading at the gym. Given my abiding interest in pop culture, I’m not sure how I missed the books. In December 2011, I didn’t really know much about The Hunger Games. My devotion to Peeta is so strong, so serious, I have made a Venn diagram detailing his best qualities, which are many.
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Peeta is a place of solace and hope and he is a good kisser. He can throw a sack of flour, is what I am saying. He frosts things and bakes bread and is unconditional and unwavering in his love and also he is very, very strong. I cannot even fathom how one could be on any other team. I am not the kind of person who becomes so invested in a book or movie or television show that my interest becomes a hobby or intense obsession, one where I start to declare allegiances, or otherwise demonstrate a serious level of commitment to something fictional I had no hand in creating. I have found myself inexplicably drawn to these books, the complex world Collins has created, and the people she has placed in that world. She is a young woman who has no choice but to fight for survival-for herself, her family, her people. She is a young woman who is forced to become stronger in circumstances that might otherwise break her.
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The series tells the story about a young woman, Katniss Everdeen, who doesn’t know her own strength until she is confronted by her need for that strength. I have seen the movie four times and have plans to see it again. In March 2012, the movie was released and thus far has earned nearly $460 million worldwide. There is merchandise including a Katniss Barbie, which Katniss would absolutely hate. The Hunger Games was on the New York Times bestseller list for 100 weeks. There are more than twenty foreign editions.
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More than 2.9 million copies of the books are in print. Catching Fire and Mockingjay, the next two books, were released in 20. The Hunger Games, released in 2008, is the first book in a trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I am always interested in the representations of strength in women, where that strength comes from, how it is called upon when it is needed most, and what it costs for a woman to be strong.Īll too often, representations of a woman’s strength overlook that cost.