Hunger Games: Two Thumbs Up

[Gibonius]

District 2 provides the Peacekeepers and also has stone masons. I think District 1 was luxury goods.

It's true, most other districts the people are worried about being fed and making quotas at the mines/fields/etc to consider training. I believe in the books the children in the lesser districts are discouraged from training too.

Training was hypothetically illegal. The weird thing was that the D2 kids trained because they didn't have to work, while all the other districts worked their kids. Except 12, apparently. None of the kids got to work in the mines until they hit 18, so why did they never spend any time training? My only theory was that they were too hungry and poor to care.

 

[JLibourel]



Not much time for combat training when you're busy in the fields, mines, fishing, etc. You sound like spoilt child of District 3.
And for the record, I honestly did not picture anyone being black when I read the books. Olive or brown skin was the darkest complexion often mentioned.

But in point of fact a lot of real-world combat skills were developed by poor, oppressed people living hardscrabble, hand-to-mouth existences. I am pretty sure the Brazilian martial art of capoeira was developed by black slaves, who disguised their moves as dance. Karate was the creation of the oppressed peasants of Okinawa. Various agricultural implements have been co-opted as weapons, such as the nunchuks. Various forms of stick and cudgel fighting have evolved among poor people around the world. The rich oppressors and overlords had swords and armor, so the poor and oppressed had to improvise ways to defend themselves.

The District 3 boy killed by Cato is described as "scrawny" and "ashen-faced." Doesn't sound particularly "spoiled" to me.

 

[bassmanpatsfan18]

^ District 3 is not considered to be one of the career districts in the books.

 

[sexandcandy]

this movie is only good if you've read the book. if you haven't, you'll feel like it is lacking a lot and ultimately leave going wtf

 

[Neo_Version 7]

First of all, Career tributes are known to volunteer so that explains a lot of their motivation to take up fight training pre-Reaping. Secondly, with Peacekeepers and various other Capitol officials prowling the streets and keeping guard at major locations throughout the Districts, venues for practicing "karate" are severely limited. Lastly, two kids are picked every year. Two names out of hundreds. Granted, a lot of these are repeats, but the chances of being picked at a young age are quite slim.

In any event, any form of training is practically outlawed because it might, oh, I don't know, encourage rebellion. You know, the thing that started this whole event in the first place.

 

[Gibonius]



In any event, any form of training is practically outlawed because it might, oh, I don't know, encourage rebellion. You know, the thing that started this whole event in the first place.

The Capitol did not have a particularly rational or effective plan for discouraging rebellion.


They don't go into it much, if at all, but I wonder what the cause and setup for the original rebellion was. The districts still existed, they were apparently still single-product producers with the Capitol acting as the beneficiary. Seems like rebellion would be natural under those conditions and they just doubled down on oppression to make up for it.

 

[Neo_Version 7]



The Capitol did not have a particularly rational or effective plan for discouraging rebellion.

That doesn't mean they would be first in line to make weapons readily available to the public, teach everyday District citizens how to shoot, or instruct self-defense tactics.

All this to say, the Tributes were given practice sessions before the actual games to develop their combat/survival skills which provided an illusion of a level playing field.

 

[whiteslashasian]

There was also the wiped out District 13 ("graphite mining" district from the previous rebellion) that the Capitol waves in front of the surviving districts as a deterrent.

 

[Gibonius]



That doesn't mean they would be first in line to make weapons readily available to the public, teach everyday District citizens how to shoot, or instruct self-defense tactics.

I meant that the people themselves would try to train, not that the Capitol would train them. Lots of ways to train without using real weapons. Basic fitness, strength training, using training weapons (wooden swords, etc). The District 12 people seem to have taken the "ah just *******" approach to the whole thing, assuming that their tribute would be murdered without a chance every year. Given the lax enforcement in 12 overall, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

There was also the wiped out District 13 ("graphite mining" district from the previous rebellion) that the Capitol waves in front of the surviving districts as a deterrent.

True, but the Capitol doesn't do a very good job giving people any kind of psychological escape valve for their oppression. The whole tactic was apparently "We'll ******* KILL YOU if you rebel!", while constantly giving them more and more reasons to do so. Even pretending to be reasonable, applying some veneer to the oppression, would have given it a little more realism and depth.

 

[Neo_Version 7]

Again, there is a slim chance of being selected. I would say that many families would rather take that risk as opposed to wasting valuable resources on their child unless they were to actually volunteer -- not to mention the lack of time to properly train (between school and household chores in addition to their other responsibilities out at sea or in the fields). It takes a lot more than willpower to ensure a healthy, athletic physique too. Food for one, which the Districts are a little short on, kind of matters too.

Wooden swords are not the same as real swords. The weight matters. The force in which one pierces, slashes, etc. matters. Though obviously, the same cannot be said for a trident, a bow, or a knife. And assuming they did have access to such weapons, who would train them? Where could they train to apply what they learned? Katniss is so skilled because in addition to real world experience in the woods (which was illegal in itself btw), she was taught by her father. Not sure other starving adults would take the time to fashion makeshift spears and give a bunch of children lessons.

The Capitol wouldn't take too kindly to a bunch of child soldiers. And I think it would be pretty obvious when every child in the Reaping shows us looking like a Thresh.

 

[JLibourel]



Again, there is a slim chance of being selected. I would say that many families would rather take that risk as opposed to wasting valuable resources on their child unless they were to actually volunteer -- not to mention the lack of time to properly train (between school and household chores in addition to their other responsibilities out at sea or in the fields). It takes a lot more than willpower to ensure a healthy, athletic physique too. Food for one, which the Districts are a little short on, kind of matters too.
Wooden swords are not the same as real swords. The weight matters. The force in which one pierces, slashes, etc. matters. Though obviously, the same cannot be said for a trident, a bow, or a knife. And assuming they did have access to such weapons, who would train them? Where could they train to apply what they learned? Katniss is so skilled because in addition to real world experience in the woods (which was illegal in itself btw), she was taught by her father. Not sure other starving adults would take the time to fashion makeshift spears and give a bunch of children lessons.
The Capitol wouldn't take too kindly to a bunch of child soldiers. And I think it would be pretty obvious when every child in the Reaping shows us looking like a Thresh.

Well, that bit would be interesting to the samurai, perhaps collectively the greatest group of swordsmen that ever existed--they made extensive use of the wooden bokken and the split-bamboo shinai in their training. I seem to recall that the great swordsman Musashi Miyamoto used a bokken to defeat several sword-armed adversaries on one occasion.

You seem to ignore the fact that in the real world poor and oppressed people have secretly honed formidable fighting skills with some regularity, as I mentioned in an earlier post.

I note that most of the "children" in the movie, withe exception of little Rue, are portrayed by actors born circa 1990-1992!

It is interesting to see Gibonius and me on the same side in a forum discussion. I believe that's a first!

 

[Neo_Version 7]

Yes, because comparing the disciplined, methodical samurai to a bunch of starving, physically unfit 16 year olds is the same thing. Not quite the same, mind you, but close enough.

 

[Gibonius]



It is interesting to see Gibonius and me on the same side in a forum discussion. I believe that's a first!

Well we're not in CE, so it's allowed

 

[JLibourel]

Thinking about this thread, it occurred to me that an awful lot of training and practice in knife fighting, use of improvised weapons and hand-to-hand combat goes on right now in the reformatories and penitentiaries of contemporary America. However, totalitarian District 12 might be, it appears to afford more freedom and privacy than a penitentiary. So, if the convicts can pull it off here....

 

[Steve B.]

Just finished the book. Pretty true to the movie IMO.