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Titel
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The Hunger Games
Materiale:
The Hunger Games vol. 1, Suzanne Collins, Scholastic, 2008.
Hele bogen er læst.
Følgende kapitler er refereret fra forskellige grupper til resten af klassen:
23-27
Projekt/præsentation om Hunger Games:
Assignments for The Hunger Games
As a final assignment for The Hunger Games, we are going to do a little project on various aspects and different elements of the book. The project includes the following points:
• Groupwork: form groups of 4-6 people.
• Assignments: choose one of the assignments listed below.
• Product: decide on the form of the project – it could be a homepage, a video film, a news article, a poster, a PowerPoint, or something completely different and exiting – use your imagination!!! The only requirement is that your product must contain the elements in the assignment.
• Presentation: you are going to present your product to the rest of the class.
1. Muttations and other hybrids
Muttations or mutts as they are called in The Hunger Games, play a big role in Suzanne Collins’ book. The idea of artificially created animals, engineered in laboratories out of the flesh of multiple creatures, is one that’s been around for over a century in science fiction literature. In 1896 for instance, H. G. Wells wrote his classic novel, The Island of Doctor Moreau, which is one of the earliest dealings with the topic. (The book has also been adapted for the screen in the motion picture called Island of Lost Souls.) Look up facts about the novel by Wells and also look for/try to find present day examples of mutations or maybe even future applications for mutations. Also look up the term transgenic.
In your product you should deal with the following issues:
• Comparison between The Island of Doctor Moreau and The Hunger Games
• How mutts are used in The Hunger Games and for what purpose
• The future of artificially altered animals and transgenic science
2. Dystopia
In general, dystopian fiction portrays a bleak world in which everything is pretty much hopeless. A dystopia is not a fun place to live: people are oppressed, dehumanized, and frightened. Typically the government is highly centralized and totalitarian. The country Panem is an example of such a dystopian world. Dystopian writers usually try to warn us against dangerous social trends, and that if these trends persist our future will become terrible. Other dystopian novels include: George Orwell’s 1984, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
In your product you should deal with the following issues:
• The genre of dystopian fiction
• The different dystopian elements in The Hunger Games
• The lack of references to religion in the book
• Your thoughts on what present day social trends Suzanne Collins might be commenting on in her book
3. Greek Myths
In an interview, Suzanne Collins has once said that she enjoyed Greek myths and that the ancient myth of Theseus and the Minotaur was a big inspiration when writing The Hunger Games trilogy. According to Collins, she views Katniss as “a futuristic Theseus”. So who was Theseus and how does Katniss resemble him?
Source: http://www.scholastic.com/thehungergames/media/suzanne_collins_q_and_a.pdf
Look up the Greek myth of Theseus and Minotaur and also look up the Greek goddess Artemis.
In your product you should deal with the following issues:
• Greek myths in general
• The attraction of myths in literature – why are they used?
• The use of Greek myths in The Hunger Games
4. Reality TV
Reality TV has played a big role of TV entertainment throughout TV history. In recent years (the 21st century) we have seen an increase in competitive and survival shows, and the trend is that the shows get wilder and more dangerous in order to top last year’s shows. In The Hunger Games, reality TV is taken to an extreme where life and death is at stake.
In your product you should deal with the following issues:
• The growing influence of reality TV and survival shows in general
• The use of reality TV and survival shows in The Hunger Games
• The surgically enhanced people of the Capitol and their obsession with reality TV – is The Hunger Games a product of our own troubled Western world?
5. Panem et circenses
When the Roman Empire was at its height, the Roman gladiator games, in which fighters battled to the death in an arena often with dangerous animals thrown in, were extremely popular and watched by huge audiences. The Hunger Games are essentially an updated version of these events. The world of Panem and particularly the Capitol is loaded with Roman references. The word “Panem” comes from the Latin expression panem et circenses meaning “bread and circuses”.
In your product you should deal with the following issues:
• Find Roman references in The hunger Games
• The Latin expression “panem et circenses” and how this is related to The Hunger Games. Also include references from the film Gladiator or other relevant material
• Draw parallels to our modern-day society. Do we have circenses in our society?
6. Free assignment!!
Maybe you have a better idea for an assignment on this book. Feel free to make your own assignment. The only requirement is that it cannot be about the storyline itself since we have already talked about this in class. – And of course, it has to be approved by me…
Supplerende materiale:
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/h/the-hunger-games/book-summary
The Hunger Games, DVD
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