Hunger Games II

My dreams last night were a whirling, dizzying montage of weird images and violence. When I wasn’t asleep, which was a lot of the night, these same images imposed themselves on my brain. I lay awake thinking about the movie we’d seen yesterday afternoon: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire.  What did it mean, what was the message? Or was there even any meaning at all – perhaps it was intended to be pure entertainment. Other thoughts intruded, all confusing and without answers.

At some time in the night Spike got on the bed and lay pressed against my back, his warmth grounding me and settling me into some semblance of rest. Did he do it on purpose? Or was he just cold?

I remember why I generally avoid movies with violence (but would still see the movie again).

The movie, like the first one, had a central theme of Hope, which seems to be the theme of my blogs these days. It’s not that I’m without hope, or even that I’m depressed (I’m not); maybe, it is the season. Winter – seemingly without life; but, under the snow and earth lies a special kind of hope: the seeds of rebirth and rejuvenation. Maybe it is my own attempt at renewal (eating more healthfully, losing weight and exercising) that is sparking these thoughts. Or maybe I just need more chocolate!

Bjorn’s comment on yesterday’s blog was very astute – there is action in Alice Munro’s stories, an internal action as opposed to the guns and bullets action that we are exposed to in movies and TV. And much like the action in the Hunger Games, it too keeps me awake, thinking, always thinking.

“I think it is a lot of action in her short stories, but it's an other sort of action. Most of it goes on in the minds of her characters, and then it rubs off on the reader. You remember me starting to dream strange dreams after reading her in large portions. I guess my subconscious continued working with things I had read. “ ~ Bjorn

 

Nature looks dead in winter because her life is gathered into her heart. She withers the plant down to the root that she may grow it up again fairer and stronger. She calls her family together within her inmost home to prepare them for being scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. ~Hugh Macmillan, "Rejuvenescence," The Ministry of Nature, 1871