Buffybot ,'Dirty Girls'
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Game of Thrones and Philosophy
Edited by Henry Jacoby
The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series
Submission Guidelines:
1. Submission deadline for abstracts (100-500 words) and CV’s: July 6, 2011
2. Submission deadline for first drafts of accepted papers: August 22, 2011
Kindly submit abstract (with or without Word attachment) and CV by email to: Henry Jacoby (jacobyh@ecu.edu)
There is a list of possible topics at the link.
In regard to the Hunger Games - do they rig the lotteries to pick the contestants? so they can go for maximum anguish?
It's rigged against the poor and hungry. Does that count?
There is no indication of that, but I certainly suspected it at times.
Well, the entire system is rigged against the poor. I was thinking of more specific trickery, i.e., deliberately putting very young girls up against older, stronger people who've been training for the "game".
At least one of the lotteries was rigged, wasn't it?
I believe they rigged the lotteries. Maybe not in every district, and it was clear the poor could "buy" in so they were at greater risk.
In reality, any child treated like Harry would have grown up with a serious case of attachment disorder (that's what it's called, right?), and probably would never be able to create or maintain a normal human relationship--at least not without serious therapy.
But fictional reality is different. In real life, *most* children aren't suffering the kind of abuse and neglect Harry is (or if they are, chances are they're not reading books), but a lot of children feel isolated or misunderstood or unloved. Harry's story is a hopeful fantasy for them, and that's what this kind of book is supposed to be -- the fairy tale aspects of good vs. evil and secret worlds and magic remove remove it from the reality of CPS or foster homes and present it on a metaphorical level that a lot of readers can identify with, for different reasons.
If this were a realistic adult novel, of course, it would be not only horrifying but unbelievable.
But fictional reality is different
Wrod. I imagine most kids at sometime in their life feel like they've at least metaphorically been shoved under the stairs and no one gives a damn about them.
Well, in the richer districts the "Careers" would volunteer on a regular basis. In the poorer districts, whoever gets picked gets picked. When Prim got picked, it seemed like a freak chance. I suppose they could rig the drawings, but I'm not sure why they would bother. They're already plenty rigged with the tessarae and such.