'The Hunger Games : Catching Fire' Reaction Paper

The Hunger Games Trilogy is theoretically a young-adult series about a girl's brawls in a post-apocalyptic world where food is scarce and children battle for the entertainment of the upper classes. The 2^nd book of this trilogy entitled ‘Catching Fire’, in my opinion is science fiction for it gives the readers and its viewers a window of a world only ‘The Hunger Games’ can give. It is an alternately thrilling and depressing view of a world burning with hope that Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence) unintentionally started by simply surviving her first Hunger Games. The Hunger Games = The Quarter Quell – survivors, sacrifices, deaths, love, friendship, alliances. A whole new world where anything can happen in just one second or maybe two, it doesn’t matter because in the blink of the eye, everything is not the way it’s supposed to be. A vast arena made of technology only a few can ever imagine. A new technological basis I could wish for over and over again. It is completely different. In one word, startling.

“The past determines the future” as quoted by the elder’s, some do believe, some don’t. But what made me believe in this is the Catching Fire. It is a complete shadow of The Hunger Games. The Quarter Quell which happens every 3 years has an exact goal as to the Hunger Games – one survivor from the 12 districts will be held as the victor. Only one, not two, not three, just one. It is a past practice that is being held in place, and that’s the reason why maybe it lasted in 75 years and counting. The Quell is a distinction of what is going to happen in the future. It is still a symbol of the manifestation of rights, injustice, bloodshed and sorrow. Catching Fire is indeed one movie that depicts the past, present and future of human society.

Technological gain and advancement in the modern world still shows uncertainty whether it will do good or bad in the 13 districts. But one thing is certain, that this advancement in the field of technology is planned by the Capitol – for benefits, money, vices. With these improvements, they can do whatever they want. It would’ve been better if the 13 districts together with the Capitol worked together in order to maintain the wealth they have. But instead, the people suffered more. They were continuously beaten by guards, no one escapes, and nothing remains when onslaught happens. Technology advanced to another level and this is clearly shown in Catching Fire’s battle schemes, arena, weaponry, entertainment (like how Caesar’s able to reach Katniss and Peeta).

To sum up, Catching Fire presented other-worldly and exceptional advancement in the world of technology. But this technological advancement instead of giving relief to the people of the 13 districts did no good to them. Everything in life, I guess is never an option or chance, but rather a choice.

A failure – science, technology and society in the world of the 13 districts.

le catching fire reaction paper

The movie, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, was done in a futuristic setting with futuristic science and advanced technology making it a science fiction movie. The Games’ arena and its equipment themselves portrays technological advancements and their culture represents a post-apocalyptic way of living. Post-apocalyptic fiction is under science fiction which displays a world or a civilization after a catastrophe. Take their advanced arena, equipment, aircrafts, etc. as an example. Undeniably, the movie is under science fiction.

Since it is a science fiction movie, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a commentary on future human society. Although some things can be traced back to the past, and some can be related to the present human society, the movie depicts the future human society more. For example, the Games are similar to the Rome’s gladiatorial games – a fight to the death.  The tributes play the role of the gladiators. Gladiators were commonly slaves or condemned criminals who are forced to fight other gladiators or wild animals for punishment or just entertainment for the audiences in the Roman Empire. Similarly, tributes were selected annually to be part of the Games as a punishment for the past rebellion against the Capitol. The Hunger Games is televised for the entertainment of the rich people at the Capitol much like Roman elites. Also, comparing it to the present, the movie includes reality shows and entertainment which people today find these kinds of shows interesting and enjoyable to watch. Though somehow their society (in the movie) was more like from the past, the splash of technology makes it look like the movie was a commentary on the future human society.

Advancements in technology and knowledge about science do not guarantee a success in the world of the 13 districts. Only the Capitol benefits from it. They have the money and wealth to produce and buy what they want. It should have been better if all of the people in the movie, not just the rich ones in Capitol, benefit from the technological advancements. Progress in technology was seen in their transportation, entertainment (like the camera they used to interview Peeta and Katniss), etc. However, most of their technological advancements were used only in violence and entertainment for the rich.

Overall, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire displayed extremely advanced technology and exceptional scientific knowledge. Technology (especially machines) should have made the world of the 13 districts easier but no. Like we always tackle in our class, “Technology is neither good nor bad.” But I guess it depends on how you use it to your advantage or to the whole society’s betterment.

Science, Technology and Society in the world of the 13 districts, for me, failed. L

Catching Fire: Reaction Paper

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is marketed as belonging to the genre of Young Adult (YA) because it is targetting an angst-driven audience who can relate to the grim setting and action-packed story of Katniss Everdeen and the Tributes. Even so, it is also undeniably a work of science fiction which integrates technological advancement with the plot of the story: A fight to the death, along with computer-generated baboons makes a box-office hit. Take the movie's futuristic helicopter, the hovercraft, as an example. Better yet, think about the cool hologram computer system which assigns and produces threats and challenges to the teenage Tributes.

Actually, the movie's concept can be taken as an extension of the sci-fi protest films prevalent in the 70's and 80's (see Blade Runner). What I found interesting about Catching Fire is that I cannot have questioned its post-apocalyptic logic vis-a-vis a knowledge of what has happened before and what's happening around the world right now. Dictatorship? Nothing new. Poverty? Nah. A dizzying swirl of gadgets, mode of transport, attire, and televised reality shows? You get the idea.

A word about the elite: They are always the benefactors and beneficiaries of technological advancement. They have the money to produce and buy them. This is true for the futuristic Capitol in Hunger Games. This could also be true for us, in real life. There is no middle class in the Hunger Games. The dichotomy is only between the poor, working-class people of the 12 (or 13?) districts and the elite residents of the Capitol with their technology and funky hair 'do. Definitely, The Hunger Games franchise revolves around a post-apocalyptic world where we see an advanced level of technology and social standards. But this is only visible in the Capitol. The 13 districts are poverty-stricken, and scarcely anything can be associated with the “progressive”domain of the select few who reside in Panem's capital. Meaning, only a small percentage of people actually benefit from Panem's technology. Who are they? The elite. The 1%.

The Hunger Games is televised for the amusement of the rich people at the Capitol but for the horror of those watching their home-grown “heroes” back at their respective districts. When we inspect the role of science and technology in the Hunger Games, it offers us a bleak view of what technological progress can mean at a time of tyrannical pressures of the Capitol (personified by President Snow) to the almost-hopeless workers from the districts. Since we can only catch a glimpse of the 13 districts through their Tributes, what we know about them is mostly implied. We know that each district has its own industry because the Tributes wore costumes according to what their district produces. But the people from the districts are like the working-class of present-day countries in miniature, like how cheap laborers in China manufacture iPhones of today.

Verdict

 “Progress” in Panem's tech and society: Fail.

GDaysX (Reaction Paper)

Written by: Denise Anne Castro, 2013-14434

GDaysX 2013

We live in a digital age. Almost everything finds its way back to technology. We spend so much time online that many think we are starting to liken our lives to the mechanism of robots: lifeless, devoid of feeling, and hooked on technology. There always seems to be something lacking. How can we grow and keep up with the fast-paced world of the Internet without losing sight of values in real life connections? The answer to this question was tackled by Gail Tan in her keynote speech for GDaysX held in Xavier School last November 23, 2013. According to her, the business strategy of Google all boils down to what the user wants. They go beyond the usual profit-driven trail. Instead, they answer the question “Why answer for whom?”

Gail Tan

Google tools engage and educate the users. For example, Google Politics and Elections helped Filipino voters to find precincts and avoid areas of violence. During the recent Typhoon Yolanda, Google created a crisis map to locate shelters and flood-prone areas. They also launched the open source Person Finder to find people missing from the typhoon. Over the years, Google Maps has evolved and roads have become more and more specific.

At present, the developments of IT have made businesses all over the world more productive and dynamic. According to Herald Uy, it all starts with collaboration. He presented demos of the Google innovations that make collaboration a lot easier. One of the tools discussed was Google Calendar. It allows teams to coordinate plans and block dates in order to avoid conflicts. There is also Google Docs which is similar to Microsoft Word except files are more accessible. A team can work on a document together, comment on each other’s output and edit mistakes. Another amazing creation is Google Hangouts which allows a group of people to have video chats together. Lastly, there is Google Drive. It is a cloud storage device that offers up to 15GB of storage for free.

Herald Uy

YouTube is also another Google-run website. On the surface, YouTube is merely a video-sharing website. However, it goes beyond that. According to Trixie Canivel, YouTube is also a great platform for business. The advertisments flashed before watching a video are great ways of enhancing product recall. YouTube can also help a person build a brand by extending his/her online reach. Loaded marketing is done under three minutes or less but the best part of it all? It’s done under the guise of entertainment.

The magnitude of time we spend online is definitely no secret. There is no use denying that technology will continue to evolve over the next years. What’s important is how we can drive the digital trail using crowd accelerated innovation. We need to be able to bring together different forms of knowledge but at the same time, build communities and tap desires. Keeping the human element alive in a technological collaboration is a big challenge but with Google, this daunting task is possible.