(not My) Meta - Blog Posts

I don't know if this has been talked about before, but I really disliked the way the Careers were characterised in sotr. They felt like more of a caricature than in thg1, even if they were the minor antagonists in both. But they seemed more believable in thg1, although they had less lines. More competent? Like, if they trained for the Games for years, why would they be so airheaded? If it were up to me I'd make sure my volunteers were both strong and bright. And teach them how to prepare for the interviews!

And them always being the bully stereotype misses out on really interesting topics. For sure fame is one of the motivators, they're teens made to believe the Games are the highest honour, but why do they always have to be fame seeking brutes? Why don't we ever see them from the angle of training to protect the younger or sick kids from their district, even if it's just implied? If someone is guaranteed to volunteer each year in the career districts, the non career kids have stress-free teens (unless there's a QQ twist, I guess). They can take all the tesserae they need because it doesn't really matter how many times your name is in the bowl, their parents need not worry, no one's starving...

Idk, I guess all these things can be implicit because we know the system, and it makes sense they're minor antagonists because we seem them from a non career pov. But. I feel like there's a lot of missed opportunities world building wise when it comes to Career districts; not in a way that woobifies them (they're not the most oppressed district if such a thing can be compared, although, they're still district yk) it's just!!! interesting stuff that makes sense and I wish it was more present. I have more to say but this post will be more of a jumbled mess than it already is lol.

That’s it. THAT’S what SOTR should’ve been.

As someone who has spent way too much time thinking about Haymitch, I always suspected that the first sparks of resistance started around the 50th (mostly based on the symbolism of Maysilee being established as the OG owner of the mockingjay pin, really). The Capitol suddenly reaping double the amount of kids? That’s majorly pushing the boundaries of what even the most oppressed districts would accept. People are angry. People are restless.

Then, out of nowhere, comes this kid from the most underprivileged loser district of them all, and he has no qualms about announcing that he doesn’t give a shit about their games. Instead of dying a quiet and swift death like he was supposed to as a D12 tribute, he then proceeds to use his sheer force of will, an outrageous amount of audacity and his own intelligence and wits to crawl his way to the biggest fluke victory ever, ruining their grand quarter quell.

That’s it. That’s enough to inspire resistance, wouldn’t you think?

The force field thing was bad, but not kill your entire family bad. I think the killings would’ve happened in response to rising unrest post 2QQ in district 12 and perhaps even other places - know where your place is, or you’ll end up like Haymitch.

We did not need a contrived plot to blow up the arena. We just didn’t. And the evidence of what she originally intended is still right there in the text. I think so, anyway.