The Politics of The Hunger Games

I really may need to see this movie, and maybe even buy the books. Who doesn't enjoy a good old-fashioned political dystopia story?

And as the Hollywood Reporter points out, the best part is that everyone can read their own ideology into this future North America where the government maintains order by forcing children to fight to the death:

Occupy-Wall-Street liberals are loving the way the film portrays an extraordinary gap between the rich and poor as simply an innate evil. ... There’s plenty in Hunger Games for right-wingers, too. The most obvious message being that government overreach can lead to tyranny.

Here's my favourite, of course:

Writing for the Frederick Douglass Foundation, Mack Rights argues that there’s not only a powerful conservative message in Hunger Games but a Christian one, as well, since the story takes place after "liberals have succeeded in erasing God and Christ from the culture completely by successfully creating their own utopia – which is really a dystopian nightmare for anyone not in the liberal ruling class."

Throw in Lionsgate's blatant effort to cause fandom drama by comparing The Hunger Games to Twilight and you've got a lovely bit of political geek escapism.

Norway, Journalism and Stephen Colbert

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

"The point is, this monster may not be Muslim, but his heinous acts are indisputably Muslish. And we must not let his Islamesque atrocity divert our attention from the terrible people he reminds us of."

I'm really starting to think that Jon Stewart is the better comedian, but when it comes to insight and political commentary Stephen Colbert has gained the upper hand.

Uganda and the Anti-Gay Movement

There's a new development on the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda, which first made headlines in 2009.  It looks like the death penalty is being dropped from the bill, but there's a chance the rest of it will be voted into law after the new parliamentary session begins next week:

[A]ccording to AP news agency, MP David Bahati, who proposed the legislation, last month said that the death penalty "was something we have moved away from".

Pastor Ssempa also rejected this clause but nevertheless urged the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee to back the bill.

"The parliament should be given the opportunity to discuss and pass the bill, because homosexuality is killing our society," AP news agency quotes him as telling the MPs.

Two things grab my attention.  First, I wonder if the death penalty proposal was actually a trick designed to focus the backlash on an extreme position that they didn't really want - at least not for the time being. By backing away from it now, they can make a show of bending to international pressure and still end up with a bill that sentences gay people to life in prison.

Interview: Adrian Wooldridge

Adrian Wooldridge, Management Editor of The Economist and author of God is Back, discusses the global resurgence of evangelical religion. Original post at The Lumière Reader.

Former Evangelical Christians are usually difficult to spot. Many of us have had years to adjust since we put our days of Christian rock and Bible study groups behind us, and aside from a few telltale signs like a weird over-enthusiasm for the Theory of Evolution, we manage to blend in with the secular world pretty well.

But every so often something puts Evangelicals in the headlines – a movie like Jesus Camp comes out, or Sarah Palin starts talking about, well, anything really – and suddenly there we are plain as day, wincing in recognition, smiling tightly at the inevitable jokes. As much as we try to ignore it, this part of our culture isn’t going anywhere; and lately it’s been demanding more and more of our attention.

As someone who recently joined the ranks of “spiritual-not-religious” critics of the church, I found God is Back: How the Global Rise of Faith is Changing the World to be an eye-opening but uncomfortable read. Co-authors Adrian Wooldridge and John Micklethwait, writers for The Economist, make the case that instead of fading out in the face of modernity, religion – the American Evangelical brand in particular – is flourishing.

Interview: Bryan Bruce

Investigator Bryan Bruce’s new book re-opens the 2000-year-old case file on Jesus of Nazareth’s death. Original post at The Lumiere Reader.

It’s an image that sticks with you. Bryan Bruce, New Zealand documentary filmmaker, is in Israel with his camera crew, on his way to the River Jordan to film a scene at the spot where Jesus of Nazareth was baptised by John.

“I have to be taken under armed escort by the Israeli army,” he tells me over the phone, “with a tank behind me and an armoured personnel carrier in front of me, through a minefield, to get to the River Jordan. I get to the river on this spot, and on the other side are Jordanian tanks and armoured personnel carriers. And the Israelis shout across to the Jordanians, ‘If you don’t want to have your tanks filmed, you might want to move them slightly to the left.’”

This jarring contrast between Biblical mythology and political reality is the challenge of Jesus: The Cold Case, Bruce’s third book and its accompanying documentary. Drawing on his experience as a true crime investigator, Bruce takes on the New Testament narrative of Jesus’ death and comes to a grim conclusion about the role it has played in the religious and ethnic conflicts of the last 2,000 years.