Anyone know of a guy named Harry Reeder? He is a pastor at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, AL. I came across an article he wrote entitled, "Cultural Narcissism and a Titanic Lesson". It takes him a while to get to the point, but coming from me, that is sort of a compliment.
So, the shorter Harry goes like this. The story of the MOVIE Titanic differs greatly from the story of the actual SHIP Titanic. The movie, Harry says, was a technological and cinematic success but was, however, a "factual failure". The movie portrayed the event as an example of "class warfare". You had Leo, the poor guy, hooking up with Kate, the rich girl. Or maybe she was just the girl who was dating the rich guy. Doesn't matter. Point was, the rich folks were staying up top where they were safely ferried away by the lifeboats and the poor folks down below were left to drown.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Hunger Games
I'm halfway through. Which is to say I've read the first book and I'm halfway through the second. It is very difficult to critique because I've read so very little that can be compared to it. I think if you've enjoyed any of the teeny bopper Twilight books, you would probably really enjoy the Hunger Games series. I tried to read Twilight but was thoroughly nauseated and bored. Aside from an interesting premise, (and by interesting, I mean interesting enough to spend 5 minutes thinking about it) the story was painfully slow and intellectually numbing. Sorry if you liked it. This is just one man's opinion. Still, I don't see how anyone who is exposed to good fiction would think that book was well-written. I'm actually a bit uncomfortable just re-living the week or so I wasted on it. In the end, I simply wanted to regain my adulthood and return to a more literate world.
Hunger Games has moments that are like that, too. And it seems, the longer the book goes on, the sillier it gets. Almost as if the author really wants to indulge in talking about a teenage girls' interests. And she's really been trying to rein it in and stick to the story. And as the story moves along, either she just can't help herself or the editors identified the market for the story and she began talking more and more about the all-too-boring details. What makes this book good is the creativity and the action. It is certainly NOT an insightful look at relationships - offering us those wonderful moments of being able to relate to remarkable characters. These characters are remarkable because of what they DO - not because of what they say about us.
This teenage girl who can survive in the wilderness and shoot squirrells with her bow and arrow - doesn't care about her physical appearance or makeup or her hair or her clothes and yet we're subjected to LOTS of information about all of these things. I'm offering this disclaimer: if you read these books and you're thinking, 'how did Tommy take this part seriously?' - well, it was hard.
Hunger Games has moments that are like that, too. And it seems, the longer the book goes on, the sillier it gets. Almost as if the author really wants to indulge in talking about a teenage girls' interests. And she's really been trying to rein it in and stick to the story. And as the story moves along, either she just can't help herself or the editors identified the market for the story and she began talking more and more about the all-too-boring details. What makes this book good is the creativity and the action. It is certainly NOT an insightful look at relationships - offering us those wonderful moments of being able to relate to remarkable characters. These characters are remarkable because of what they DO - not because of what they say about us.
This teenage girl who can survive in the wilderness and shoot squirrells with her bow and arrow - doesn't care about her physical appearance or makeup or her hair or her clothes and yet we're subjected to LOTS of information about all of these things. I'm offering this disclaimer: if you read these books and you're thinking, 'how did Tommy take this part seriously?' - well, it was hard.
Monday, February 6, 2012
The Confession by John Grisham
I'm really kind of irritated. I'm irritated at myself for not being able to put the book down. I stayed up way too late reading The Confession by John Grisham. And I am irritated at the author because I didn't even like the book. I thought it was cliche, cheap, easy shots all the while stinking of political correct garbage and yet it was wrapped up in a compelling narrative that kept me wanting to know what was going to happen.
It's very anti-capital punnishment and while he pushed some buttons in that department and prompted me to examine my own thoughts and feelings about the death penalty, it was so conveniently packaged in favor of the accused that the author turns it into a straw man, easily pushed over.
But the thing that bothered me most was the ever-present race theme in the book. As in many of his books, he writes in the South and this was set in Texas. The thing that bothered me is that the white characters in the book are mostly evil or at best, tragically flawed. And the black characters in the book are all principled innocents. I may be casting a wide net so I am thinking, a character review is in order...
It's very anti-capital punnishment and while he pushed some buttons in that department and prompted me to examine my own thoughts and feelings about the death penalty, it was so conveniently packaged in favor of the accused that the author turns it into a straw man, easily pushed over.
But the thing that bothered me most was the ever-present race theme in the book. As in many of his books, he writes in the South and this was set in Texas. The thing that bothered me is that the white characters in the book are mostly evil or at best, tragically flawed. And the black characters in the book are all principled innocents. I may be casting a wide net so I am thinking, a character review is in order...
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