The second installment of The Hunger Games films hit theaters Nov. 22, 2013. The first film intrigued me enough to watch the sequel and I feel it surpasses the original in every way. The Hunger Games world takes place in a dystopian future where the population of Panem has been divided into districts due to a past rebellion. Each year one male and female are taken from the population of the districts to perform in the Hunger Games ceremony, a kind of survival arena until only a single participant remains. Victors are awarded a lifetime of wealth and removed from lottery eligibility. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire picks up where the last film left off. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), young victor of the Hunger Games, finds herself trapped with the decision she made to cheat the system in the first movie. She’s haunted by the acts she committed in the Hunger Games competition and forced to perform a sort of raggedy Miss America tour as part of her victory. The film has less action and violence than the previous Hunger Games. The focus is instead on the narrative established for the first film. Katniss Everdeen engages in a victory tour of the 12 districts of Panem with her co-victor Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). They must continue their farce of a relationship for the public eye or else risk harm to their families. The false relationship they portray to the population of Panem feeds a growing revolution. As Katniss and Peeta read prepared statements on their victory tour, tension erupts and citizens demand something other than the government-mediated truth. Each of the characters in the film seem to operate with their own motivations, leading to some pleasant twists and turns as the story unfolds. On the whole, the film feels like a more mature effort than the previous installment. The characters are more clearly-defined and have more time to develop outside of the action sequences. With a 146 minute runtime, it takes advantage of the time and space to pursue a more focused narrative than the first film. More importantly, the ending sets up anticipation toward the next film rather than...
Let the Games Begin
posted by Maria Costasnovo
“I’m sorry about the mess in my room,” says Sydney Latchaw while she opens the door. But it’s clear from her room how organized Latchaw is: her books are perfectly arranged, the kitchen is so clean you can see your reflection and the bed is perfectly made. Latchaw also is using her organizational skills to pull together ‘The Hunger Games’ for all the residents of the campus, an idea she’s had for two years. “I thought it was going to be this big,” she says, indicating her initial belief that organizing the event wouldn’t be too overwhelming, “but I think that as soon as I started to write everything down, it was like ‘oh this is all a hard work, we’re going to need all the RAs on board.'” The Hunger Games is a movie based on a novel written by Suzanne Collins. In the story, an apocalyptic event destroys civilization and a new nation called Panem, divided in 12 districts, is established in North America. Each year, two young representatives from every district are selected to participate in The Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death. “I know this last time the movie came out there was a huge group of students that got really jazzed about it,” Latchaw says, “So a friend and I were like ‘well, we could do Hunger Games on campus.’ And so we came up with this whole system of challenges and stuff like that to mentally test the participants.” Even though, according to Latchaw, the organization of the game is hard, she has almost everything planned out. To start, she will set out boxes in the dorms’ hallways, in which students can enter their names. “And then at the Vampire Ball, which is going to be another...
Jackalope Magazine is the student magazine of Santa Fe University of Art and Design. Building on the interdisciplinary nature of our education, we aim to showcase the talent of our university and character of our city.
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