Comments for virtus ex humanitas http://www.cryptocatholic.com finding worth in pop culture Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:35:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Bella Swan vs. Katniss Everdeen: agency, strength, and what we value in female protagonists by Father http://www.cryptocatholic.com/2012/01/twilight-saga-vs-the-hunger-games-agency-in-young-women/comment-page-1/#comment-32 Father Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:35:01 +0000 http://www.cryptocatholic.com/?p=188#comment-32 Thanks for the comment! I am right there with you in that I was expecting some kind of greater change by the end of the third book. I wanted Katniss to, as you say, wake up to positive action. She starts out oppressed and fearful, though defiant to a degree, and after many tests and trials and deaths she ends up... oppressed and fearful and still just a little defiant. I think that, if anything, Katniss realistically would have been far more traumatized. But that would have been entirely too depressing. I think that you're right to say that The Hunger Games is more a story of survival, whereas (I would say) The Twilight Saga is a story about coming into your own and the bonds of family. Thanks for the comment!

I am right there with you in that I was expecting some kind of greater change by the end of the third book. I wanted Katniss to, as you say, wake up to positive action. She starts out oppressed and fearful, though defiant to a degree, and after many tests and trials and deaths she ends up… oppressed and fearful and still just a little defiant.

I think that, if anything, Katniss realistically would have been far more traumatized. But that would have been entirely too depressing.

I think that you’re right to say that The Hunger Games is more a story of survival, whereas (I would say) The Twilight Saga is a story about coming into your own and the bonds of family.

]]> Comment on Bella Swan vs. Katniss Everdeen: agency, strength, and what we value in female protagonists by Tinuvielas http://www.cryptocatholic.com/2012/01/twilight-saga-vs-the-hunger-games-agency-in-young-women/comment-page-1/#comment-31 Tinuvielas Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:07:49 +0000 http://www.cryptocatholic.com/?p=188#comment-31 Thanks for these thoughts – very interesting and enlightening! I was disappointed with the third book as well. I guess I expected some kind of crisis and change of the protagonist, a waking up to positive action and heroine-status, according to the rules of fiction, one might say. Instead, the tendency went from Katniss "reacting" in the first book to "acting" in the second and then to passiveness (with the connotations of "passion" perhaps...?) in the last. Anyway, while the last book of the series failed to deliver emotionally (to me), it certainly draws a precise picture of the mental and emotional trauma which is a realistic result of the experience of violence such as depicted in the first books. This rather depressing realism may be the reason "The Hunger Games" is hailed by critics while "Twilight" is not: It's not really a hero-story, in the end, much less one of deliverance… Thanks for these thoughts – very interesting and enlightening! I was disappointed with the third book as well. I guess I expected some kind of crisis and change of the protagonist, a waking up to positive action and heroine-status, according to the rules of fiction, one might say. Instead, the tendency went from Katniss “reacting” in the first book to “acting” in the second and then to passiveness (with the connotations of “passion” perhaps…?) in the last.
Anyway, while the last book of the series failed to deliver emotionally (to me), it certainly draws a precise picture of the mental and emotional trauma which is a realistic result of the experience of violence such as depicted in the first books. This rather depressing realism may be the reason “The Hunger Games” is hailed by critics while “Twilight” is not: It’s not really a hero-story, in the end, much less one of deliverance…

]]> Comment on Badly Broken by Morgan Guyton http://www.cryptocatholic.com/2011/12/breaking-bad/comment-page-1/#comment-27 Morgan Guyton Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:20:51 +0000 http://www.cryptocatholic.com/?p=169#comment-27 I saw a few episodes of this show and really liked it. I think I probably haven't taken enough time to engage pop culture and it's caused my message to be somewhat impoverished as a preacher. I know about the news and the political issues, but I don't know much about the TV shows that make my parishioners laugh, cry, etc. So I'm very appreciative of the premise of your blog. I'm a bit of a snob myself. My wife watches TV while I lie on the couch with my French philosophy texts. I'll have to check out Walter White again. I saw a few episodes of this show and really liked it. I think I probably haven’t taken enough time to engage pop culture and it’s caused my message to be somewhat impoverished as a preacher. I know about the news and the political issues, but I don’t know much about the TV shows that make my parishioners laugh, cry, etc. So I’m very appreciative of the premise of your blog. I’m a bit of a snob myself. My wife watches TV while I lie on the couch with my French philosophy texts. I’ll have to check out Walter White again.

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