The absurd about The Hunger Games

Okay. So, here is what I find utterly absurd about the kind of attention the Hunger Games has gotten, the fandom, et cetera, and why buying Mockingjay-pins made in China is so horribly contradictory.  Here we go.

We, here in the developed countries, are the Capitol. Ever thought about who plucked the fruit you eat? Who sewed your clothes? Who put together your computer? I’ll tell you who: the people in the Districts (aka the developing countries). In that way, one of the multiple issues of our society that the Hunger Games deals with is just that. At least, it is something that I thought of while reading the series, and it made me realise how very wrong it is. Sure enough, one can get a tank top at H&M for virtually nothing, and people are happy because we’re, for some reason, obsessed with money. But have you given any thought to how it can be that cheap? Well, because the workers have to work 13 hours a day, seven days a week, with minimal pay, of course. But hey, who cares? As long as it’s cheap, we’re happy. Except I’m not, because it’s so very wrong.

Let’s get back to the Hunger Games. I don’t think I’ve seen a single fan who doesn’t greatly dislike the Capitol and supports Katniss and those people. Yes, that’s all fine, I do that too, but what is not fine is not realising the connection between Panem and the world we live in today. Because the Hunger Games is not merely an awful story set in the future, but it also contains a shitload of critique toward our current world order, and I think that it’s important that we bring attention to that as well. I don’t think it’s wrong that it has a love-triangle and such elements, because if it wouldn’t, it probably wouldn’t have reached its current fame, but now that it is as famous as it is, it’s very important that we see beyond the love triangle and bring our focus to the actual, real life problems that the series deals with; one of them being how we let people work as slaves while we idly fret, not giving them a single thought. Seeing a label with the texts “Made in China” is so common people don’t even think to think on’t anymore. I can’t say for sure that this is something that Suzanne Collins is trying to tell us in the Hunger Games, but to me it is pretty damn plain and I’m surprised that more people doesn’t seem to see it. So, when buying a Mockingjay-pin that has been produced in China, rather than supporting Katniss, you contribute to the continued oppression of her and all the other people from the Districts. (Well, their contemporary counterparts, anyway.)

“BUT WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT ME TO DO THEN?” you might think. Don’t buy clothes from H&M, for example. Always choose Fair Trade. Buy second hand. Give a fuck about where the things you consume have been produced. Bring attention to this tragic world order. Do everything and anything. At least do something.

But, by all means, continue to buy clothes from District 8 while discussing the amazingly intriguing love-triangle that is, of course, the essential part of the series. (Psst: I’m being sarcastic in this paragraph. Don’t do that. It’s wrong.)

Roses, Glitter and Faerie Wings

~*~

Roses, glitter and faerie wings

Is what of which I am made

The thorns of the roses may sting

The wings do not always lift me

When I clutch the roses too hard

When too heavy to be lift I be

But it is worth the stings of the thorns

To be a rose-clad, glittering faerie

To then be fully free of mourns

It is worth to not always rise

To sometimes be left on the ground

Far beneath the freedom of the sky

To be a rose-clad, glittering faerie

And to then no worries carry

~*~

Marvel stop

I'm only slightly very pissed right now.

Here's three badass characters, yet only two of them get to actually look real badass, while the third... whips her hair?

What the fuck is up with that?

Natasha Romanoff is undoubtedly one of the most badass Avengers, yet does she get to look tough and menacing? No, she lookes like she's in a bloody shampoo commercial.

And what really pisses me off is that that's not even true to her character, at least not as she's been portrayed in the films. The Natasha I've gotten to know is tougher than most (tougher than Nick and Steve imo). It's really pleasant to see a female super hero who's only real purpose isn't to walk around and look sexy. Natasha is one of few really cool and well-treated female characters. She's a role model. An actual, good, female role model.

But, of course, we can't have that. In The Winter Soldier, she walks around having romantic relationships with multiple male characters, and of course, she has to walk around whipping her hair seductively.
On the both the Iron Man 2 and the Avengers poster she looked as badass as the male characters. But no, we can't have that anymore.

The only reason I wanted to see The Winter Soldier was because of her. But if this is what she's treated like, I'm not so sure.

Sorry 'bout that

Okay, um, hi. You might have noticed that I have been mysteriously gone for about one month. (You might also not have noticed, but in either case, you know it now.) I could go on by explaining all the things that has happened (I was in London and saw my favourite actor in a play last week, heyho!), but there hasn't been enough happening for me to blame my blogging absence on that.

I haven't been blogging because I haven't felt like it, quite simply. It's not that I don't having to write about; I simply just haven't felt an urge to blog about it. I have also kind of felt like I must blog, and when I feel like I must do something just because I must, it rather takes the fun out of it.

I have also used my more or less scarce spare time doing other stuff, which, frankly, I'd rather do than blogging. (I'll master ukulele playing soon, just you wait.) When I do feel like writing, I have a longer work of fiction which I work at, or I write failed iambic pentametres. Nothing blog-y.

Now, I'm not resigning from blogging. I'm keeping this blog in case I feel like blogging again (which might be tomorrow, or in three months), but I won't be as active as I was before this major break, at least for a while. There's no knowing what happens after a while. If you want to know when there's a new entry, you can always sign up for email notifications, farthest down on the sidebar.

For those of you who don't know me other than here, or those of you who don't know me everywhere, who want to keep stalking me online (please don't stalk me irl), I exist on a lot of other places:

• Twitter
• Wattpad
• Instagram
• Deviantart (I'm like never on there though)
• Tumblr

May the Force be with you.~

Why I did not finish The Secret History

Until earlier today I was reading my way through Donna Tartt's The Secret History, but at page 401 (of the existing 628), I stopped and moved on to another book. Now, as I obviously cannot write a full review on the book, as I had planned to do had I finished it, I have decided to instead write an entry on why I will not finish it.

In the beginning, or, rather, all trough the first half of it, it was very interesting; lovely group of main characters (some more difficult to sympathize with/understand, but interesting nonetheless); nice, adequate descriptions; fantastic use of language; etcetera. I particularly liked the way the ending was spoiled in the beginning of the book, namely the murder of a major character (I do not consider this a spoiler as it is mentioned on the very first page).

Or, rather, what I thought to be the ending. As it turned out, the believed "ending" occurred halfway through the book. Up to the point of the murdering, it was all very interesting; exciting at times, more puzzling at others, as books goes. Sadly, after the murder had occurred, the reading experience went downhill. For a couple of hundred pages it was interesting to be given an insight of the aftermath of a murder, but after a while it grew very dull, in spite of the entrance of FBI and all that; dull, in fact, to the point where I did not even care about how this all would end, and the book mainly bored me, and, in my opinion, when this is how you feel about a book, it is better to put it down and perhaps pick it up later, instead of staggering on slowly and without interest. (My mother wisely informed me that this is also a healthy approach to have to e.g. relationships.)

So, to wrap this up, that is basically why I stopped my reading of The Secret History on page 401. This might mean that I missed out on a fantastic ending or the breathtaking event on page 402, but that is something I am willing to sacrifice; especially as I am already on page 101 in Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay.

The Bird in the Birdcage

You have no idea

What it is like

To be me

Likewise,

I have no idea

What it is like

To be you

I am tethered inside my own, clustered mind

And I am afraid that if I ever were to leave

I would not find my way back

Into this clustered mind of mine

Maybe you feel the same

Or maybe you feel comfortable where you are

In your mind

Perhaps you are not tethered to yours

Perhaps it is not clustered

In which case, I wish I could be you

To know what it is like

To be where you are

Inside your free mind

As I have never been to such a place

Or perhaps

You do not wish

To let my clustered mind in

As yours is perfectly comfortable

Whilst mine is not

But I will never know

In fact

I have no idea

What it is like

To be you

Likewise,

You have no idea

What it is like

To be me

"You CAN'T wear that item like that!"

Welcome to a brand new episode of Things That Bothers Me. This week: people giving too many shits about how other people chose to wear their items of clothing, because this kind of criticism is something that I see far too often. (It might be one of those things that aren't really worth being bothered by, but as it happens, it bothers me, so now I'm going to write a blog entry about it because I want to.)

Far too often I happen to come by people going 'I can't believe people can wear that kind of crop top in this weather!' or, as I actually heard today, 'You can't wear leggings with just a small shirt! Leggings aren't pants!'. These are examples of people giving way too many shits about what other people chose to wear. No, I can't see why someone would wear a crop top with an open jacket when it's winter outside because it must be bloody freezing; neither would I wear leggings with nothing but a small shirt to accompany it, but as it happens, the people wearing it would, and one hopes that the people with crop tops doesn't freeze too much. I myself am not completely estranged to more 'unusual' clothing, actually.

Frankly, what I or you would or wouldn't wear is unimportant when it comes to what other people wear. Because they are neither you nor me, and them wearing whatever they wear doesn't affect either of us more than we let it do. If someone wears something that makes them feel pretty and comfortable (or whatever feeling they're going for), let them. Nothing suits one better than whatever gives one confidence and/or makes one feel comfortable. This might sound like a real cliché, but it's a cliché for a reason. People knocking on other people's confidence even though it's really not their business is just plain sad. Seriously. Don't.

Sadly though, people don't always wear certain items of clothing in certain ways just because they like them. There is, of course, the issue of fashion. I can almost certainly say that some of the people who wear crop tops and leggings don't do it because they want to, but because it happen to be fashion. Possibly, these people (or at least some of them) doesn't feel confident in these clothes at all, which is really sad, since one should wear one feels like. But since one hardly can tell them apart from the confident ones by the same glance that it takes to judge them, skip the judging part. This is a different problem which also needs a different approach; criticising someone's clothes won't help anyone in any case.

So, basically, don't criticise peoples way of dressing even if it doesn't make sense to you, because it doesn't have to make sense to you. Odds are that the person you criticise hasn't dressed in order to please you, anyway.