a little theory about Mockingjay: Parts 1 and 2

I have an idea about the Hunger Games movies. It’s something I’ve toyed with a bit since reading the books as they came out – yes, for once, I was the one who had read all the books first and had to STFU to avoid spoiling people.

Mostly it’s on my mind because we just finally Mockingjay Part 1 last weekend, and I thought it was really good and quite faithful to the first half of the book. But it’s very much a middle movie, and I don’t think people are reading it as a “middle” movie, because it’s supposedly the first half of the conclusion (as evidenced by the name) and because it’s the first half of the third book. And I think that’s causing some some of the complaints about stretching the story.

But the more I think about the structure, the more I’m seeing the first book (and film) as almost a prequel to a primary arc which spanned two books. Yes, they’re connected, tightly so. But I’d argue the events of The Hunger Games sets up the the action of Catching Fire and Mockingjay, and that those two books (and three films) form an arc of their own – and that the first half of Mockingjay really is its own piece, thematically.

I mean, let’s face it, Catching Fire is kind of a restart. It’s kind of a restart storywise – not from worldbuilding standpoint, no, but a bit of a narrative restart nonetheless. You’ve just got the characters’ backstories already. It’s a chance to restart, in media res.

As other examples of this phenomenon, I offer Book One of Elfquest vs. The Grand Quest (books 2-4, which form one story), and also, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

I’m thinking that seen in this light, dividing Mockingjay into two films makes a lot more sense. Giving the middle of a story like this time to develop and breathe is sound, rather than rushing in to the big climax; you’d like to be able to treat this separately. (See also the variety of parallels between Mockingjay Part 1 and The Empire Strikes Back, particularly with Peeta and Han, who is, let’s face it, still in Carbonite, even if they’ve got him moved back to rebel territory, and who will start being freed in Part 2…)

Part 2 will tell me whether or not I’m on crack. Part 1 was so much lower key than the previous two films, in so many ways. That can read as being less ambitious – or as a lot more tightly confined, which isn’t just thematically appropriate, but is arguably thematically necessary to the story.

So if the atmosphere and character of Part 2 changes sharply from Part 1, I’ll consider that a degree of confirmation. You can change tone sharply between films without it feeling forced; if they’d done all of Mockingjay as one film, the feel of one or the other half would’ve been sacrificed, and I think to the detriment of the overall story.

I just kind of wish they’d gone all the way and given them separate titles. I can see why not to, from a marketing standpoint – but from an artistic standpoint, I rather wish they’d had.

But, yes. That’s my theory. Thoughts?

ps: We’ve had a lot of people posting in the Maker of Things comments section! Add your own, or check out what people have been saying, there’s a surprising lot already.

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The American torture regime

There's very little more to say about the American torture regime I hadn't already said before over the last many years, before people stopped listening. Americans like their torture regime almost as much as they like their police state. Nothing I've seen in this report is really new, and before you fall over yourself quoting John McCain's recent comments, remember how much time he spent actively protecting, supporting, and suppressing information about everything that's in this report. He's an opportunist and that's fucking all.

So if you're a supporter of the barbarism of torture and support the American torture regime, please just save us both some time and unfriend me now. I just had to do that on Facebook and I'll do it here too.

And just in case anyone feels like saying anything about "reasonable debate" about torture: you can't have "reasonable debate" about anything so devoid of reason. I will not waste my time on it or the psychopaths who try to legitimise torture by pretending it is a "reasonable" position. It is not. It is intrinsically the opposite of reason.

Torture's sole intelligence purpose is to get the answer you already want to hear, regardless of whether there's anything true in it. Beyond that, it is about nothing other than pathological sadism and lust for revenge. It is its own means and its own end, and nothing but.

Do you think torture had been abandoned before out of the goodness of peoples' hearts? No. It had been abandoned because people figured out this is all it is.

So if you support torture anyway, that tells me all I need to know. And what I know is that I do not fucking want to know you. I mean it: unfriend me. Now.

incoming windstorm at the lair; we may be down Thursday

There’s a windstorm coming in tonight and tomorrow; it’s supposed to get quite windy (95-100kph gusts) by Thursday afternoon, so we may lose power and go offline around that time. There won’t be much warning, necessarily; we have 45 minutes or so of offline power, but we don’t tend to want to use all of it staying online if we know we’ll be down overnight.

And since tomorrow is the day I was planning to remind everybody about the Hey, Creative Followers! Show People your Stuff! post, I’m doing an extra round of that now, just to be safe. Go add your creative output to the list in comments for Monday’s big repost!

Or if you don’t have something to post, go look at the list now, it’s pretty cool. :D

If we do go down, the Bandcamp site (http://music.crimeandtheforcesofevil.com) will stay up, and we hope you’ll consider pre-ordering Bone Walker just to help us dig out. And pay for the mastering. And all that. Or really just to make us feel better. One or more of those. :D

Mirrored from Crime and the Blog of Evil. Come check out our music at:
Bandcamp (full album streaming) | Videos | iTunes | Amazon | CD Baby