Rachelleacomics - I'm Not The Enemy Anymore

I think the Hunger Games series sits in a similar literary position to The Lord of the Rings, as a piece of literature (by a Catholic author) that sparked a whole new subgenre and then gets blamed for flaws that exist in the copycat books and aren’t actually part of the original.

Like, despite what parodies might say, Katniss is nowhere near the stereotypical “unqualified teenager chosen to lead a rebellion for no good reason”.  The entire point is that she’s not leading the rebellion. She’s a traumatized teenager who has emotional reactions to the horrors in her society, and is constantly being reined in by more experienced adults who have to tell her, “No, this is not how you fight the government, you are going to get people killed.” She’s not the upstart teenager showing the brainless adults what to do–she’s a teenager being manipulated by smarter and more experienced adults. She has no power in the rebellion except as a useful piece of propaganda, and the entire trilogy is her straining against that role. It’s much more realistic and far more nuanced than anyone who dismisses it as “stereotypical YA dystopian” gives it credit for.

And the misconceptions don’t end there. The Hunger Games has no “stereotypical YA love triangle”–yes, there are two potential love interests, but the romance is so not the point. There’s a war going on! Katniss has more important things to worry about than boys! The romance was never about her choosing between two hot boys–it’s about choosing between two diametrically opposed worldviews. Will she choose anger and war, or compassion and peace? Of course a trilogy filled with the horrors of war ends with her marriage to the peace-loving Peeta. Unlike some of the YA dystopian copycats, the romance here is part of the message, not just something to pacify readers who expect “hot love triangles” in their YA. 

The worldbuilding in the Hunger Games trilogy is simplistic and not realistic, but unlike some of her imitators, Collins does this because she has something to say, not because she’s cobbling together a grim and gritty dystopia that’s “similar to the Hunger Games”. The worldbuilding has an allegorical function, kept simple so we can see beyond it to what Collins is really saying–and it’s nothing so comforting as “we need to fight the evil people who are ruining society”. The Capitol’s not just the powerful, greedy bad guys–the Capitol is us, First World America, living in luxury while we ignore the problems of the rest of the world, and thinking of other nations largely in terms of what resources we can get from them. This simplistic world is a sparsely set stage that lets us explore the larger themes about exploitation and war and the horrors people will commit for the sake of their bread and circuses, meant to make us think deeper about what separates a hero from a villain.

There’s a reason these books became a literary phenomenon. There’s a reason that dozens upon dozens of authors attempted to imitate them. But these imitators can’t capture that same genius, largely because they’re trying to imitate the trappings of another book, and failing to capture the larger and more meaningful message underneath. Make a copy of a copy of a copy, and you’ll wind up with something far removed from the original masterpiece. But we shouldn’t make the mistake of blaming those flaws on the original work.

I'm sorry but "siri pause" in the middle of the heartbreaking reconciliation was too funny

Daniel going all in on Loustat was not on my bingo card but RESPECT

So true

I’m not on Twitter anymore, and I have a rule for myself that I have to get news from outlets with trained journalists. It’s really changed the way I move through the world and process what’s happening. It changes how often I get angry and also the point at which I get angry. (Like, I get angry now with all of the available facts at hand.)

But I still find myself disliking other human beings a lot of the time. (This is a reason that I left Twitter. To feel that way less often. To like people more.)

Today I realized that Tumblr is the only place on the Internet that makes me like humanity. I’m not sure it will always be this way, but I’m grateful for it. It reminds me that I usually like people when I meet them in the real world, too.

Block any account that tells you not to vote.

You don’t need to waste your time investigating whether they are a bot or a psy-op or a misinformed rube. It doesn’t matter. Either way, they add no value to your dashboard. Block and move on.

Then make a plan for Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Register, confirm you’re still registered, check your voting location or register to vote absentee or by mail.

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grateful that this episode finally showed lestat as his true self,, a wet cat with abandonment issues who knows how to rock a dressing gown

you know i don’t think we often talk about how difficult it actually is to suddenly realize that a belief you thought was good and moral and correct was actually really fucking toxic. how you have to look at something and go ‘oh shit, oh i fucked up. oh this is going to take probably years at minimum to deprogram from my brain because of all the little ways this shit pervaded the rest of my beliefs’

so. to all the people picking up all the pieces of a recently shattered world-view and trying to figure out what is safe to keep and what has to be thrown away and started over

to all the people having to relearn how to even listen to other people

to all the people putting in the work to do better while struggling with the guilt that comes from finding out you were the asshole

i’m proud of y’all.

it’s hard to admit being wrong and even harder to change in the aftermath. just keep doing the best you can and just know that the effort is appreciated. everyone can change. everyone can do better. keep fighting.

For the love of god, please vote. Is Kamala perfect? Of course not. But I’d 1000% rather drive anywhere else than off a cliff.

Dear Undecided and Both Sides are Evil voters.

You wouldn’t be immune to christian indoctrination btw. You just think you would be bc you weren’t born into it.

"and thats the end of it. theres nothing else" daniel, seeing theres still half an hour left of the episode and cracking his knuckles; time to ruin a third marriage