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Hunger games/Rue/Racism/BunnyBean
Bunnybean, you brought this up in the post about Zimmerman below, but since I am like 3 years behind, I just read The Hunger Games last week (actually, I read all 3 books in less than 2 days b/c I had to know what happened).
Anyway, I read an article about Rue and the racist tweets right after I finished the first book, and I'd seen movie posters so I knew Rue in the movie was black before I picked up the book. Actually, I take that back - I knew there was a black female character b/c I'd seen the movie posters, not her name.
So yeah, I read the book, and when I read the racist tweets article, I was like 
because I thought it was BEYOND OBVIOUS in the book that Rue was black, that District 11 = South/slavery reference - like to the point that I almost thought it was bad writing and I was beaten over the head with the reference (if it hadn't been YA, I would have really been on the bad writing train).
Both the racism of those tweets and the straight up stupidity stunned me. Did these people even read the book?
And yeah, this post is kind of pointless, but since I read the book 3 years after everyone else, I wanted to talk about it now.
Re: Hunger games/Rue/Racism/BunnyBean
It could have been pretty obvious, but I skimmed through parts of the book and missed that she was black. I said in a previous post that I always pictured her as a redhead for some reason. I totally didn't catch the district 11=the south but now that people have quoted all of it I realize it was pretty obvious.
I would never want to be tested on my knowledge of the details of HG because I was so anxious to get to the end I think I missed a lot.
It's these kinds of stories that remind me what a bubble I live in.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
I agree with Toledo.
Also, Suzanne Collins' writing style was very stream of consciousness, imo. Less than Handmaid's Tale, but still there. I felt like going from one line to the next could have changed the story line dramatically. I think that was one of my biggest gripes about things. Sometimes it seemed to happen so fast I couldn't keep up with what was going on. So, the fact that people glossed over that part doesn't surprise me.
The fact that a person wouldn't have remorse because she's black does, and it's appalling.
Zuma Zoom
Good point. And I can see skimming/reading fast to see what the hell happens. I know I was tearing through the 3rd book at times to try and see what the end was going to be. I read slower through the first book, though. I think partially, though, that was a product of it being something that I really dislike (as far as genre - dystopian, I mean). I was trying to make myself take it all in still. But by the end of the 1st book, I wanted to know what happened so I was more invested anyway.
wait, what?! are you serious??
Yeah, this.
Given the state of education and literacy in this country I'm not shocked that teens wouldn't pick up on district 11 being the south though it seemed glaringly obvious to me. I'm also not surprised that reading comprehension is so poor as to miss the description of a character's appearance.
I am surprised that so many kids are apparently openly racist though.
FYI - I saw the movie this weekend. I sobbed when she volunteered, and I was a blubbering mess when Rue died and then when she saluted District 11.
There was a younger kid in the theatre who I swear had a mental breakdown. The parents had to take him out. There was a bunch of whispered, "but you read the books, you knew this was going to happen!" as they walked out.
Nope. Thank Texas.
http://blog.sfgate.com/ybenjamin/2010/05/21/texas-approves-renaming-slave-trade-as-atlantic-triangular-trade/
Edit - Slave is still in there, but yep, this is happened.
Farking Texas.
I read all three books this weekend (started Saturday and couldn't stop).
I agree about the racist tweets, either people have very poor reading composition or they didn't read the books thoroughly. It could be a combination of both.
ETA: Fwcking Texas. That op-ed made me want to tear my eyes our due to the typos / grammar errors. Still the message is clear. We need to give Texas back to Mexico.
my read shelf: