Latest / On the Same Page: A KCPL Podcast / Chapter 6: A Tribute to the Hunger Games

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Chapter 6: A Tribute to the Hunger Games · On the Same Page: A KCPL Podcast

0:03
Welcome to The Next Chapter. I'm Evan. And I'm Tanya.
0:07
And we are your co-hosts of On the Same Page, a KCPL
0:12
podcast. We're gonna just kind of recap our book
0:16
festival that we just had. Gosh, I mean,
0:21
it is just one day, but it feels like a lifetime when you're there,
0:25
you know? There's so much going on, so many things
0:28
happening all over the place. But I had a blast though. Me too. And I
0:33
got to meet a childhood hero of mine. Well, not meet, but I
0:36
got to see R.L. Stine speak. So that was really fun. Okay. Okay.
0:40
I mean, you were in the same room as he was breathing the same air.
0:42
So, you know, that's close enough, right? That counts as meeting.
0:46
Yes. I love your sound effects that you did.
0:50
That amped it up from me doing it last year.
0:53
So I'm glad you could be there and help me do that. Yeah, absolutely.
0:56
And I, I My favorite thing, like, let's do a live play-by-play of what's happening
1:00
and, you know, what's going on. And so, you know, that was probably my favorite
1:05
moment of the day because that was just a lot of fun.
1:09
And seeing all the costumes, it's always so cute.
1:11
Mm-hmm. There were some really cute ones.
1:16
There was a tiny, tiny baby that was the Hungry Hungry Caterpillar.
1:20
That was pretty adorable. I think that's— I've only done
1:24
the book festival for 2 years now. I think that's the smallest person
1:28
I've seen in a costume. So, okay.
1:32
Yeah. And wasn't that— and wasn't— didn't the mom carrying the baby have
1:36
like butterfly wings on? She did. So like, you know, you've got
1:40
the— you've got the baby that's the hungry caterpillar and the mom's the butterfly.
1:43
Like, you know, that, that was— yeah, that was pretty cool. That's a pretty cool
1:47
costume. And there were 2 inflatable dinosaurs
1:51
both running at full speed in the parade, which I thought was hysterical.
1:55
That was, that was great. It gave me flashbacks to Summer Library
1:59
Club and, you know, all the dinosaur things we
2:03
had going on over the summer. So, um,
2:06
but if you're listening and you had a chance to come out, thanks, thanks for,
2:09
thanks for stopping by. I mean, we had, I believe, over 5,000
2:13
people come and check out the West Virginia Book Festival,
2:17
which is amazing. And we're glad you, um, took time
2:21
on your Saturday afternoon to stop by and hang out with us at the Vandalia
2:24
Health Center. And we're officially in fall full
2:28
swing. Those cool evenings are here, and it's my
2:32
favorite time of the year. The other day,
2:36
I just rolled down all my windows, sat out in my car,
2:39
and was reading just because it was cold outside and it was
2:42
night. And since it's getting colder, there's less bugs flying everywhere.
2:47
They're kind of quieting down.
2:51
And so, that's another reason that I love this time of
2:54
year. And well, also, I mean, pumpkin season's
2:59
in full swing. Pumpkin spice and all the, uh,
3:03
pumpkin things that are out there. I, I can't get enough
3:07
pumpkin. Me either. I bought pumpkin spice tea on my
3:10
honeymoon to bring back home. That's awesome. Uh,
3:14
yeah, we're recording this a little bit later than normal because we,
3:18
you know, had the book festival, uh, and so, you know,
3:22
um But so we are post-book
3:26
festival and fall is in full swing.
3:30
And, you know, we were just talking about pumpkins, which is,
3:33
I think, is a great introduction. So this month's episode,
3:37
and we're also doing a special episode this month as well,
3:41
it's all about The Hunger Games. We're going
3:45
to have a Hunger Games November. Before we get into that, we're going to introduce
3:49
you who we have joining us today to
3:53
talk with us about The Hunger Games. We have Amanda
3:57
Gibson, which if you listen to our podcast, you might recognize that name.
4:01
She is a repeat guest on our podcast. So welcome,
4:05
Amanda. Hello. Happy to be here. Yes. Remind our listeners
4:09
what you do again. Yeah, I'm the adult programming librarian
4:14
stationed here at the main library in downtown Charleston. So I
4:18
handle all the— most of the adult programs that you'll
4:22
see at the main library and some throughout our library system
4:25
as well. Okay. Yeah, you're, you're the,
4:29
the programming guru for the grown-ups. Indeed.
4:33
Let's just get started and let's talk about like our
4:36
Hunger Games experience. Like, um,
4:40
what got you into the series? When did that
4:44
happen? Uh, just a little bit about your experience
4:48
with The Hunger Games. Yeah, so I can't even remember
4:52
when I read The Hunger Games. It has been a while for me.
4:57
Of course, I loved the series when it came out, but I haven't
5:00
had time to read the 2 newest books yet, but I
5:03
really want to because I think the newest book
5:08
from Haymitch's perspective is going to be really,
5:11
really good. I think he's always a standout character.
5:16
Woody Harrelson plays Haymitch,
5:20
and I And of course, he's always stood out
5:24
to me because, I mean, Zombieland, obviously, right?
5:28
Yes. And so I love him as an actor. So I think he just plays
5:31
the character so well. So I think his backstory— I
5:35
don't even know if he's going to be in the new movie. I'm assuming not
5:38
because it's from his younger perspective. But I
5:42
think just his character itself is so interesting and
5:46
heartbreaking as well. Um, so I just,
5:50
I like, I want to get his perspective on things. I listened
5:54
to the new Sunrise on the Reaping. I listened to the audiobook actually while
5:59
I was on my trip. Heartbreaking is— that's accurate.
6:02
We won't spoil anything. We're not going to talk about that because it's,
6:06
it's coming up. But so I will say, like, I remember,
6:11
uh, I went into The Hunger Games like completely blind
6:16
when I— the movie came out. I was in college at the time
6:20
and it's like, oh, there's this movie and sure, let's go see it.
6:24
And I had no idea about the series or
6:27
anything. And I watched that first movie and
6:33
I was hooked. I had to find— like, I had to read the books.
6:36
It's like, I can't wait to watch the movies and then read
6:40
the books after the movies are done, which is what I like to do.
6:46
But it's like, gosh, I gotta dive in. And I read
6:50
them all. Relatively quickly,
6:53
especially when you consider the fact, like, it was during college when I also had
6:57
to be balancing, you know, actual schoolwork and
7:01
responsibilities and assignments and all that stuff. But I,
7:05
I was hooked from the very beginning.
7:09
And, you know, I think the thing that fascinated
7:13
me the most about it that kind of got me into it was just the
7:16
idea of just thinking about how did, how did it
7:20
get here? You know, like, how is this okay? Why are
7:24
these people just like signing it like this is just reality
7:28
for them? And this is just all happening.
7:31
And I just, I couldn't fathom
7:35
like, how is this where they are?
7:40
And so I think that's kind of what drove me into the series and
7:44
Katniss's rebellion against that.
7:48
I think that was what drew me in. Yeah, it's funny that you
7:52
mentioned that because my husband listened to the newest audiobook with
7:56
me and he was excited to hear the story because he
8:00
was very curious about how does a society get to this place
8:04
where they accept this as their reality. And I think the
8:08
first movie and obviously the book does a good job of making
8:11
you believe how they got there. Um, and then the
8:15
prequels kind of go into that even more. So I think she
8:19
did a really good job. I mean, I've only read the Ballad of Songbirds and
8:23
Snakes. I have not done Sunrise on the Reaping yet. I am
8:27
waiting till after the movie on that one. I think she does it— she did
8:30
a really good job with Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes because sometimes prequels can be
8:34
very formulaic and you kind of already know certain
8:38
things and like, well, this character is not in danger because you
8:42
know they survive, right? It takes away some of that element
8:46
of surprise on things. And You know, I think she did a really good job
8:50
of providing enough new information
8:54
that we didn't know that you kind of lost
8:57
sight of all the things that you did. You weren't focused on all the,
9:00
well, this isn't going to happen that way, and, you know, all that stuff.
9:03
So I think she did a really good job with that.
9:07
Yeah, I really loved Ballad as a book. So yeah,
9:11
I mean, it was really good. And the movie
9:15
did a good job too. And that's another thing. I think overall,
9:19
this whole series. The movies do— I mean, I think they do justice.
9:23
I definitely think the books are better, but I think, I think
9:27
they do the books justice at the very least. Like,
9:30
I loved all the movies and the books. And so,
9:34
I mean, I don't really have a huge amount of complaints about it, which,
9:38
you know, someone who enjoys books more
9:42
than movies usually, that's saying a lot. The first
9:46
movie came out And that's what got me to read the series too, because I
9:49
saw the movie and what I really loved about it was
9:53
Katniss as a character. Like, she's so resourceful and
9:57
independent and District 12 reminded me of Appalachia.
10:01
And I like Jennifer Lawrence and I think it's kind of cool that they— she's
10:06
from Kentucky and played this kind of character. And I didn't
10:10
know that. Yeah. Yeah. I forget what town. In Kentucky she's
10:13
from, but she is from Kentucky. And I liked how the whole district
10:17
operates. Like, they live in the system, but they have,
10:21
they have their own way of doing things, and so does she.
10:25
And that really— her and her district really drew
10:29
me into the book series. Uh, on here I have us talking
10:32
about like some of our favorite moments from
10:36
the series. Uh, it's, it's not really necessarily a moment
10:41
per se, but it's, uh, It's a piece of media
10:44
that is involved in lots of moments.
10:48
And that is The Hanging Tree,
10:52
that song, and that's— which,
10:56
Amanda, we won't get into it, but I will say that there
10:59
is a part in Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes as well that
11:04
involves that song. And I was looking in preparation
11:08
of this episode, I was looking at that song,
11:11
and like, it has been compared to other
11:15
types of like Appalachian-style music,
11:20
um, as a— what, what is called a murder
11:23
ballad. Yeah. And so like, it reflects real, you know,
11:27
Appalachian style of music.
11:30
And it also has been compared
11:33
to, um, there's some writings that Frederick
11:38
Douglass had in his memoir That
11:41
some of the language and things
11:45
could have been inspired by that from Suzanne Collins.
11:49
So, it has a— because the theme of that song,
11:53
I could also see applying to the Deep South in
11:57
our world. So, that's probably one of my
12:01
favorite things from the series is that song as a form
12:04
of rebellion and taking this moment and using
12:08
it to fuel, um, the rebellion. That's probably
12:12
my favorite thing from it. The way music is integrated in
12:15
the book and in the movie is one of my favorite things about Ballad.
12:19
Well, you know, the last time I was on here, I talked about my cats,
12:23
and I'm going to talk about my cats again because I think about
12:27
when Peeta was disguised
12:31
in, like, what was it, the muddy, like, lake bed or a tree
12:34
trunk or something. I don't know. He covered himself with forest gunk
12:39
and to hide. And my, one of my cats,
12:42
her name is PETA. Um, and I think the shelter,
12:46
we got her from the Kanawha County Animal Shelter and it's her shelter name.
12:49
And it stuck because she's like really good at hiding in plain sight.
12:53
So I think, I think about him like emerging a
12:57
lot just because of my cat.
13:00
But I will say, I think, I think my only
13:04
gripe with the, um, with the movies was Peeta.
13:08
I remembered liking him more, I think, in the books
13:12
than I did in the movies. I think that was my— I, I do remember
13:16
that. I feel like there was something— I'm gonna spoiler.
13:20
Spoiler. Yeah. Should I spoiler? I mean, if it's from the main series,
13:24
it's been out for a while. Yeah, I think you're okay. There is something with
13:28
the death of Rue that I feel strayed from in the movie compared
13:32
to the book. And I can't remember what it was off the top of my
13:35
head now, but I remember that part. I mean,
13:38
in both the book and the movie, it's a heartbreaking part and kind of a
13:41
formative moment for Katniss. But I can't remember what it was now, but there's some
13:45
kind of deviation that I had a problem with whenever the movies
13:49
came out. But I think that like The Hunger
13:53
Games hit us so hard, especially, you know, like For
13:57
me, I read it, I guess, during my teenage years, right?
14:00
So that message of like rebellion and dystopian
14:04
fiction really hit home, I guess, because you're a teenager.
14:09
So I think for a lot of us that The Hunger
14:12
Games really just hit us during our formative years.
14:16
So being the target audience when it came out.
14:19
Yeah, I missed it by a little bit. I was more Harry Potter
14:23
and then Twilight, and then
14:26
I think Hunger Games came out. But like,
14:30
you know, that, that, that general young adult, like,
14:34
kind of, kind of, kind of speaks. And it even speaks,
14:37
I mean, now in lots of different ways too. Like,
14:41
it, yeah, you know, says a lot of things about,
14:45
you know, how we respond to things around us and
14:49
how we choose to let things happen. You know, we also talked
14:53
about Dungeon Crawler Carl last time I was here, and I'll bring that up again
14:57
because I'm now on book 5, so I'm making progress.
15:01
And I think that kind of dystopian fiction,
15:05
political writing is very interesting,
15:09
you know, comparing and contrasting to the real world. I think dystopian fiction
15:12
gives us an outlet to kind of explore our own politics
15:17
in a sense. Yeah, so like The Long Walk last fall.
15:21
I don't know, I read the book for the first time because the movie was
15:24
coming out. And it's funny because Francis Lawrence also directed
15:28
The Long Walk, and I thought that was a good choice because he's
15:32
made the Hunger Games movies. So wow.
15:36
Yeah, that movie was great. Was it good?
15:40
Because I also know that I think they, um, well, you read the book and
15:45
watched the movie. There's some deviation there too at the,
15:49
at the end, I think. And I haven't watched the movie because I,
15:53
I will read the horror books, but I don't want to watch the horror movies.
15:56
Um, they freak me out. So anyways,
16:00
but, um, but yeah, that's another good one, like a dystopian fiction.
16:05
My favorite moment from The Hunger Games movies is
16:09
when she's wearing the wedding dress and she starts spinning and she
16:13
turns into the Mockingjay on stage. I've seen that movie
16:18
several times, still gives me chills every time I watch it.
16:21
And that's just something I love about the movies is the costuming.
16:25
Yes, so iconic. And Effie,
16:29
her monarch butterfly look in the same movie, one of my
16:33
favorites. It's just so good. Yes, what's her name? Effie Trinket.
16:37
She's like the, the MC of the events.
16:41
Yeah. Um, you know, she's a character that you kind of love
16:45
to hate or hate to love because she's just—
16:48
you're right, her costuming is just incredible.
16:52
Oh yeah, I mean, the, the costuming throughout like
16:56
the whole, the whole show, the whole like series, um,
17:00
is, is really, really incredible. Um, how they brought
17:03
it all to life, like the whole thing overall, the visuals of,
17:08
you know, um, how they put that together. I mean,
17:12
they're, they're, they're really well, they're really well done.
17:15
So what, what characters do
17:19
you identify with the most? Or, you know,
17:23
is there any particular district you feel like you would belong in?
17:27
I like 12. And I really love Katniss as a character.
17:32
I don't think, I don't think I'm like Katniss, but I
17:36
love her character and her district.
17:39
In Sunrise on the Reaping, I really love Maisie Lee Donner.
17:43
And once you read the book, we'll talk more about it, but she, she's so
17:47
funny and kind of sarcastic. I really like her, her character in Sunrise.
17:50
You know, when I was looking at like character, like there's
17:56
It's funny because usually in books and things, like, I can find like a
18:00
character that I like absolutely connect with and that I identify
18:03
with. And, you know, in The Hunger Games series,
18:07
it's— I had trouble nailing down a character. Like,
18:11
I don't know if it's because it's like so alternate to like our
18:15
reality and like I don't know what I would even do in these circumstances,
18:20
you know. But I— so I cheated.
18:23
Um, I didn't really cheat.
18:27
I went and I looked at, um, you know, some Myers-Briggs because
18:32
I know my Myers-Briggs, uh, letters and kind of saw which
18:35
characters lined up with those same type of things.
18:39
And so, uh, Peter Millar was,
18:43
um, in, in my, in my wheelhouse there with the Myers-Briggs
18:48
and As someone who is a fan of Gale,
18:52
um, and, and, uh, it's like,
18:56
oh man, uh, I— but I do love Peeta too, and I realized Peeta was
19:00
the right one for Katniss. But I just, I just, I felt bad
19:04
for Gale from the very beginning, you know? Like,
19:08
him and Katniss grew up together. Like, he protected Katniss. He watched
19:11
over her. Like, he has to watch Peeta and Katniss
19:16
basically fall in love, pretend, and then it happened
19:20
for real. And then, like, yeah, I always felt bad
19:23
for Gale. So, but I can see parts of Peeta
19:27
that I, I could, uh, you know, identify with. And he's a very
19:30
empathetic individual, even on coming out on the other side
19:35
of the, you know, uh, torture that he goes through. Like, he's emotionally
19:39
strong after that. Like, he— his core is still PETA.
19:43
And so I could, I could identify with those, those things.
19:47
What's your Myers-Briggs? ENFP. Okay,
19:51
I'm an INFP. Okay, I could see that.
19:55
Yeah, I could see that. Do they— you're gonna have to look up and see
19:58
what character matches the INFP in
20:01
The Hunger Games, uh, world, um, just to see.
20:05
I enjoy doing that with all sorts of fandoms, taking the Myers-Briggs
20:09
and seeing what characters people have assigned to them. I'm gonna have to
20:13
try that now. The last time I took it, I was an INTJ, so I
20:17
really liked, um, it must be District 4. I had to quickly
20:21
Google a list of the districts,
20:25
but I think District 4, I remember like
20:28
she met one of the guys from District 4 and he was, it's the
20:33
fishing district. I think he was like, I don't know, his costuming
20:36
was really cool. Yes, yes, I know who you're talking about. Yeah.
20:40
Was it Finnick? Is that his name? Finnick. Yeah, yeah,
20:43
I like that character. Um, he stood out to me. I can't
20:47
remember what his costume looked like in the, in the movie, but I just remember
20:51
thinking he seemed really cool. I think District 4, you know,
20:54
also is a very interesting one because District
20:58
4 is, I think, one of the ones they call like the career district.
21:03
That's kind of what they, what they do. That's where
21:06
Mags comes from. Oh, okay. Like the older
21:10
lady, like she was also from there. And like,
21:13
you know, just, it's a very interesting, um,
21:17
district. I Googled mine and it said Rue would
21:21
be an INFP. It also said INFPs have a low
21:25
survival rate in The Hunger Games.
21:28
So bye guys.
21:33
Bye. Oh no, I think I wouldn't
21:37
survive. I can fully, fully say that I would not survive.
21:40
That is just absolutely not. Oh, you know, that's another
21:45
thing is like this dystopian fiction and stuff, um, also gives us an outlet
21:49
to see like how would we react to these situations.
21:52
Yeah, yeah, I would not, I would not survive.
21:56
Realistically, what I probably would do is I would look in like the,
22:00
like the group and find out who the youngest is And I
22:04
would like jump in front of them and protect them. It's like,
22:07
if I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna die, I'm gonna protect someone else.
22:11
Like, it's like, if I'm not gonna survive anyway, I might as well protect somebody
22:14
while I'm here, you know? Like, I just— I know
22:18
I would die in like the stupidest way possible.
22:22
I just— like, if I were Peeta, I would be hiding in the,
22:26
in the riverbed and I would just—
22:30
yeah, I would get like my face squished in by like
22:34
being stepped on or something, be like, oops, there she goes.
22:41
So, so what do you think you would be like if you were on the
22:44
opposite side though? Like not, not in a district, but like what about the Capitol?
22:49
How would you— how would your Capitol life be?
22:52
For me, for me, if I was in the Capitol,
22:56
what I really hope I would be doing And I
23:00
feel like, Amanda, you, you would be on the same page here. I would hope
23:04
that I would be working in, in, in like, uh, the library and— oh
23:09
yeah, passing out like undercover like district
23:12
materials and like, you know, like these, these things that they don't
23:16
want us to know. Um, the secret
23:20
history of District 13. Uh-huh, exactly,
23:23
exactly. Like these banned materials that, you know,
23:26
they aren't— people aren't supposed to know about. I feel like I would want to
23:30
be Um, you know, passing these out
23:33
and giving people information. Um, I don't
23:37
know if that's actually what would happen if I was in the Capitol, but,
23:40
you know, that's what I would want to be in the Capitol.
23:44
I'd do a similar thing, but I would get people to talk to me
23:48
and just listen, listen, listen. Just whatever information I would get
23:52
that could help, get it out there.
23:56
Yeah, you just play the ego game, like build up their ego, get them
24:00
to talk, you know? Like, that's, that's probably what I would do. Yeah,
24:03
which I guess is sort of what Plutarch is, right? Like,
24:07
he's kind of playing besides. So I
24:11
just, I would want to go to all the parties with all of the food.
24:15
I mean, that's fair too. They do live a lavish
24:19
life. This is something I've been seeing online lately
24:22
a lot, um, as someone who is a mega
24:26
fan of Wicked, and the last
24:31
2 years have had the pleasure of having a Wicked November
24:36
where, you know, we had those 2 movies come out back to back.
24:40
Now this year there is none, but we do have Hunger Games.
24:44
It got me thinking about a lot of parallels
24:48
that I see between the Capitol citizens
24:52
and the citizens of the Emerald City.
24:55
Because in both terms,
24:58
they— there's things going on outside their walls
25:02
that they don't really see or that they don't know or fully understand.
25:06
And they're living in almost like a little bubble with their leader who
25:10
is not what he appears, uh, you know.
25:14
So during all this and prepping for this,
25:17
it got me thinking like, wow, there's actually some similarities there between,
25:21
uh, The Hunger Games and, and Wicked. It's a fun little tidbit
25:25
for those of you out there who may be like me and mourning the,
25:28
uh, Wicked November. Um, you can still have
25:32
a Wicked November without a new movie. That's something I like about
25:35
The Hunger Games. They show how their coverage of The Hunger
25:40
Games really affects the way the Capitol citizens see them and
25:44
imagine what their lives are like, which I think
25:48
is why Effie— you can kind of love and hate her because she just lives
25:52
in a totally different world and she thinks this is a great and honorable thing
25:55
that she's doing, you know. So yeah, it's kind of all she knows.
25:59
Well, we've talked about lots of things to get people excited for this new,
26:03
uh, movie. Or if you haven't read either of the new books,
26:07
you know, maybe it's something you might want to check out.
26:11
And I think we've successfully prepared
26:15
people for seeing what's next.
26:19
Thank you, Amanda, for joining us today. You're welcome.
26:23
And so this is, this is just part
26:28
1 of our November episode, or maybe
26:32
we'll call the other one 0.5, and like,
26:35
who knows how we'll go with the scheming of it. But this is just one
26:39
part of what we're doing this month, and we, we thank you
26:43
for listening. This is On the Same Page KCPL Podcast.
26:47
I'm Evan, and I'm Tanya, and we'll see you
26:51
in the next chapter.