Category Archives: Film
Oh, That Catching Fire Poster…
We’ve got a special guest post from a fansite friend today! Specifically, Arowana Flounder from Panem Propaganda is hear to talk about the new Catching Fire poster and the references we all REALLY thought of when we saw it! Not everyone knows their art like Them There Eyes, but dammit, we know our Disney movies!
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Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon?
From the looks of the new Catching Fire Movie Poster, Katniss has. Look at her, she’s probably wondering why the grinning bobcat grinned too.
District 12… Is near a canyon?
I can’t say I wasn’t a little disappointed when the Catching Fire poster was revealed. I know a lot of people had been expecting stills or a second trailer or some sort of footage, but I was pretty excited to hear it was a movie poster. Great! Maybe we’ll see a bit of the arena, or some of the new characters!
Many of my friends see my obsession with the Hunger Games series as amusing (and, I think, a little psychotic) so I was looking forward to being able to show them a kickass poster. Instead I see Pocahontas pondering plunging into the waterfall…wait…those clouds…they kind of look like wings or something…It’s a Mockingjay! Katniss is the Mockingjay! I get it!
No one else will! Not if they haven’t read the book! It isn’t kickass like I wanted it to be so that I could show off to people who don’t know the series. It’s mellow and picturesque, and I’m afraid people are going to think it’s a Homeward Bound story where Katniss traverses Panem on foot to find her mother and Prim, who’ve gone on a vacation to San Francisco.
I saw a fan made poster that was absolutely amazing, and it’s probably the reason I’m so disappointed with the official one:
It’s just so atmospheric, and there are new characters holding weapons! That’s pretty exciting right? And two of the characters have their shirts off, something for the ladies *wink wink nudge nudge*. I mean the arena scenes are obviously the best bits of the second book, aren’t they?
Why would Lionsgate make a poster NOT using the most exciting bit of the story, but, instead, featuring the main character looking like Chief Powahatan’s daughter? It’s not like she’s a well-respected member of her society fighting against the oppression of a more technologically advanced (and rather dandy) culture… no, wait…
Ok, it’s not like she’s been trapped in an organised relationship with a guy that it seems to make so much sense for her to be with, but she has confusing feelings for another…oh no wait.
And she doesn’t have a best friend that seems to always get forgotten about in retellings of the st—wait… (Poor Madge).
I’ll admit that last one was pretty tenuous, (this is my first ever blog post and you should be nice!) but the first two strike a chord right? At least they did with me. Suddenly I DID get it. She’s the girl watching her home change. The trailer showed us the changes, all the excitement, now the poster shows us the girl that we saw go through some pretty tough stuff in the last movie, finally home like she wanted to be.
Now here she is, her arrow nocked in place, ready to struggle again, a new day dawning, a new fight ahead of her.
Actually, ok, it might be a little exciting! Who cares if she’ll never know how high the sycamore grows?!
I Bet Peeta Paints With The Colours Of The Wind,
Arowana Flounder
Catching Fire in Cannes
Greetings for the land of no Internet (and pre-scheduled posts!) It’s time for our super exciting round of guest posts to begin!
We kick things off with Aeris, aka The Girl With The Flowers, a French Tribute with a special perspective on the promotion of Catching Fire in Cannes! Take it away, Aeris!
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It’s that time of the year again. Spring? First of all, rain, wind and me hugging my hot water-bottle because the heating’s been officially turned off in my flat does not constitute spring to me. But the point is, I’m actually talking about the Cannes Festival! You know, the stuffy red carpet event which takes place near The Croisette each year in France.
Pretty, isn’t it? *sigh*
Now, I used to take an interest, because I like independent, artsy movies and the Cannes selection usually does a good job of pinpointing which ones are going to be great. Until last year that is, when Amour received the Palme d’Or. And I unsuspectingly, even anxiously went to see it. And thus lost 2 hours of my life and promised myself I would never listen to the festival’s opinion again.
I had to eat my words though, because rumors have been swirling since early April that our very own The Hunger Games: Catching Fire possibly, maybe, might be Cannes bound. Oh, not in the official competition, because Catching Fire is not the type of movie to be selected for that. I mean, even Lord Of the Rings didn’t make it so, you get what I mean. Franchise movies aren’t big in Cannes, sadly. Awful, boring, cringe-worthy, badly acted Movies like Amour are, though. Anyway, where was I? Right. Catching Fire! *channels her inner Jen and shakes like a Chihuahua in anticipation*
Imagine that in your backyard!
So we very recently got confirmation that some kind of promotion for CF was being made in Cannes, at the Majestic Barrière hotel, and let me tell you, it looks good.
Actually, no, it looks FANTASTIC. Can I have one of those for my garden please? And maybe the fiery posters too? No? Even if I say pretty please?
They are going all out on this, and then we hear that Jennifer Lawrence was in attendance at the Catching Fire party on Saturday! Why do I not live in Cannes? (Well, because I live in Paris and other than the fact that the weather is better in Cannes and yes, this year, Catching Fire is actually there, there wouldn’t be much of a point of me living in Cannes. Also the Catching Fire Premiere will take place in Paris, so I’d rather stay there).
Rumor has it they are using this to promoting Mockingjay Parts 1&2 to “international buyers”. Eh. I have to say, I’m not quite convinced about this rumor. Are there really any “buyers” left who are not convinced by the power of The Hunger Games franchise? Who still wonder if they should distribute the movie in their countries?
Europe seems pretty involved with it already. (That being said, I’m a little disappointed in my own country’s “fan attitude”. Or maybe I’m just an über-fan, as in a Tribute, and they are just normal people whose lives do not revolve around The Hunger Games. I can’t quite remember how that feels, so I’ll let it go).
Aeris + Jen = BFFL
Well, whatever the reason, being in Cannes is giving Catching Fire some cred, even though it isn’t in the running for the Palme d’Or. It also might give us news, as they’re most likely going to do some sort of presentation, or even show some footage. And of course, any Jennifer-at-an-event-where-she-will-be-interviewed-and-NAIL-it possibility is something to be thankful for. Also, she and I will be in the same country for a few days, and although I won’t see her, it’ll make the possibility of us becoming BFFs slightly (very slightly) more possible for a few days.
Who said telepathy didn’t exist?
Aeris (The Girl with the Flowers)
Party Like a Capitol Star
In Chapter 6 of Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins writes of a lavish Capitol party that Katniss attends at President Snow’s mansion. We seen bits of it in the teaser trailer for the movie – you all know that part where the creepy guy touches Katniss’s feathery sleeve, right?
At Cannes, there’s a lavish Capitol party going on as well, thrown to celebrate the 75th Annual Hunger Games… or, you know, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Several people walk around in Capitol get-ups, bright neon drinks are being served, and Jennifer Lawrence is in attendance at this party on the beach.
The buzz around the party however is that there have been rumors surrounding possible footage from the movie to be shown. Whether that has happened, we haven’t found out yet, and if it does get shown, it will probably stay at the party (What happens in Cannes, stays in Cannes, am I right?).
Which makes us overwhelmingly jealous that we plebs aren’t there!
These are okay to drink
Some advice to everyone there? Don’t touch the clear drinks in the tiny-stemmed wineglasses.
Every time someone says Girl On Fire, DRINK!
Twiffidy
Easy, Breezy, Beautiful, Capitol Covergirl
I think we all knew a day like this would come, a day when it was official in our minds that The Hunger Games is a cosmetics companies wet dream come true. Yep, I said wet dream. It’s true though, because today it was announced that Covergirl Cosmetics is partnering with Lionsgate Studios, and creating an entire Capitol based campaign for the up coming release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Am I surprised by this development? Nope. Am I disappointed? Not really, because this is a bona fide money-maker of a franchise, and Covergirl is one of the most commercial, and successful cosmetics companies in the world. Covergirl are also no strangers to partnering with successful, and highly commercial ventures, like America’s Next Top Model the hugely popular modeling competition program hosted by former super model Tyra Banks. Come to think of it, Tyra Banks even wrote a Hunger Games-esque novel, called Modelland not too long ago. Anyway, Tyra and her attempts at authoring mediocre novels aside, Covergirl and Lionsgate are in for a real treat, and the treat is most likely making a butt load of money.
It’s no stretch of the imagination that with these two companies partnering up,
More like this, less like anything we’ve ever seen before.
they’ll likely come up with some fairly interesting ad campaigns that will pique even the most illiterate individual’s interest. I’m also not surprised that the
campaign being teased already is Capitol focused, we are the Capitol, there’s simply no way to get around that fact. I only ask this if both companies, don’t skimp, don’t hold back, if you want to go Capitol, go Capitol. And when I say Capitol, I mean Wizard of Oz meets Brazil, meets Marie Antoinette, meets French and Italian haute couture, covered in feathers, and painted baby blue. Think of a peacock, add sparkles, with a dash of the Jazz Age– do not be scared, do not pass go, go crazy like you’ve never gone crazy before. Then breathe, and then scream, and then design to your hearts content. I also suggest some Radiohead, and some Pixie Stix be purchased ASAP, maybe some Bjork for good measure.
This is the Capitol, ladies, and gentlemen… not Top Model.
Them There Eyes
The New Catching Fire Poster
Yesterday a new poster for Catching Fire was released to the public, and yeah– that happened. I could literally leave it at that, because right now I’m feeling like the saying “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” might be a good idea to employ, and also I’m a little bit exhausted from all the feelings, and– y’know, life? Believe it or not, us here at Victor’s Village do have lives, and a lot of our lives have nothing to do with The Hunger Games.
It’s taken me a long time to come to terms with this fact, but we don’t have to like everything released having to do with The Hunger Games franchise. However, I think we all kind of wish we did. Which brings me to this, I can respect the new poster, appreciate its artistic aesthetic, the supposed back story, the color scheme, whatever– but all I get when I look at it is, it looks like a book cover from the ’80s. This was my Honest-I’ve-Just-Woken-Up reaction to it in all its trademarked Instagram-ed filter-y glory. And there I sat in my Frank Lord Wright-esque desk chair, in desperate need of a coffee, and perhaps in need of some consolation, and commiseration, because as much as I know on an intellectual level that I don’t have to like everything designed, and released for this franchise– like I said above, I wish we did, or I wish I did. So, I felt like my feelings were wrong, that if didn’t like it there’s something wrong with me, maybe I’m not sensitive enough, I’m not open-minded enough, I didn’t know enough about 19th century oil paintings, I’m not a big enough fan to embrace everything and all things Hunger Games, and also, perhaps I’m a horrible human being? I didn’t go get that coffee, I sat in my chair, I emailed a friend, who thankfully got back to me within minutes– and it was a salve to my own disjointed, disillusioned thoughts, because they also didn’t like the poster, and they’re just as invested in the film franchise as I am. And then I started seeing other people’s reactions, reactions like this one.
I could have gone on an entirely different route with this article, I hope you know that. I could have waxed philosophic over the artistic merit of the poster, how it’s a beautiful, and beatific portrait of Katniss, like something that should be accompanied by Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, that she looks stately, warrior strong, that the clouds are ethereal, that the wings in the clouds are symbolic, and give me butterflies in my tummy, but, guys– they don’t. I can embrace the idea that this poster, and the Capitol portraits from a couple of months ago, are perhaps paintings done by Peeta Mellark, which is why their aesthetic, and their styling are similar, but what I keep thinking is– this isn’t going to grab people’s attention in the right way. However, does that really matter? The film is coming out in six months, this is one poster in probably a string of others to be released, we might even get more released at San Diego Comic Con in a couple of months. This poster is a blip, really– just a blip, and in a matter of weeks there will be something new we can painfully over analyze, intellectualize, and give back stories to, to make our selves feel better.
Until then my friends, until then.
Them There Eyes
Write For Victor’s Village!
No, you didn’t stumble upon an extra post for this week! This is just a quick messy post asking for longer, less messy posts from YOU.
The Girl With The Pearl is heading to the land of no Internet access for her sister’s wedding next week and we need your help! With new posters, the Instagram, and the fandom going as crazy as ever, do you have an opinion to share about The Hunger Games books, movies, or fandom?
We’ve got your opportunity right here! We’re seeking out some stellar guest posts because, believe it or not, we know that our opinions aren’t the only ones that matter!
If you’ve got ANYTHING to say about The Hunger Games books, movies, merchandise, fandom, etc. that you’d like to share with tons of members of the fandom, write it up and send it to thevictorsvillage@gmail.com! Wit preferred, but not required. As long as your writing isn’t a hot mess (we have faith in you!), we’ll post it up to be share with other fans!
Oh, and if possible.. send them our way soon!
Any questions? Send us an e-mail or sound off in the comments!
With posters like this, how could you NOT want to get your discussion on?
Insta-What?
Ah Instagram. The second I got a phone that could use it, I downloaded Instagram and started posting filtered pictures of food and silly pictures of my friends. Since then, Instagram has become a marketing tool for many, including YA franchises like The Mortal Instruments and yes, now, The Hunger Games. 
With the re-introduction of Capitol Couture a few months back came a Capitol Couture Instagram, and a couple of days ago, The Hunger Games itself got one as well, so far posting two pictures of the Catching Fire hardback, first the cover and then the first page of Part I, “The Spark”. Most intriguingly, though, was that both were captioned with the date May 14th, which is this Tuesday.
If a Lionsgate entity teases a date pre-movie release, fans tend to jump to the conclusion that it’s a trailer. Since the teaser trailer was just released and is only now in theaters, we’re willing to doubt that.
So what is that May 14th date about then? We’ve got stills, maybe we’ll get more? Maybe another poster? One of our favorite memories of the ramp-up to The Hunger Games movie coming out was the clever puzzle-hunt reveal of this poster, so maybe Lionsgate has something similar in store. Or even a resurrection of theCapitol.PN? Considering they’re posting pictures of the book, it might even have to have something to do with it.
Since the movie is a little over 6 months away, I’m not getting my hopes up for anything too big, but it’s exciting nonetheless. It’s great that we seem to be getting something new each month, keeping the fandom awake and so not dead.
Instagram is totally a Capitol thing
Twiffidy
So Dead
There’s this phrase that I’ve been hearing far too much for my liking lately, and the phrase is “this fandom is so dead.” Sometimes there are variations to the phrase, like “this fandom is dead…” but that’s not really that much of a change, because it’s just as impacting, just as negative, because the meaning is the same, as well as– um completely misused! I don’t know if any of you out there have ever experienced a fandom actually dying, but I have, and even when a fandom dies, it never really does, especially if it’s a community based around a television series.
Me, I’m a life long X-Phile, that’s a devout fan of The X-Files, which is a television series that premiered 20 years ago this year. It was ground breaking, it was innovative, it was smart, it was thought-provoking, it was scary, emotional, sexy, and hilarious, it was in many ways one of my best friends. Yes, I just called a television show a friend, but it’s true, it was there every Friday night on Fox, until of course it was moved to Sunday nights where it was the ending anchor piece to the night’s line-up of comedies like The Simpson’s, and I think for a time That ’70s Show. Sunday is where I hung out with it for
almost 9 years, Sunday night was a ritual of anticipating hanging out with my good friends Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Walter Skinner, Byers, Langly, Frohike (pronounced Fro-hickey), Alex Krykec, (Cry-check), Marita, The Cigarette Smoking Man, The Well Manicured Man, Mr. X. Deep Throat, and yes, even Agent Pendrell, who was sadly never given a first name. That’s until it ended in 2002, and that’s when the lull began, unless you count 2008 when a horrible film that I’m pretending didn’t actually happen, was made and released. However, even after that disastrous film that didn’t happen in my world, even though a friend gave me a copy of it, and I never watched it, because lalalala, stupid movie was stupid– the fandom hasn’t died. You know what it’s doing? It’s napping!
Which is what’s happening with The Hunger Games fandom! It’s napping, or dormant if you prefer. Dead to me means literally and figurativly unable to be revived, no one cares about it anymore, it’s buried, gathering dust, it’s just dead. By that definition The Hunger Games is not dead, because I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but we’ve got three 
forth coming films to look forward to, none of them are being put on a shelf, we’re not waiting around 5 years to hear if Katniss’ story will be completed– we know that we’re going to get those three films. So, next time I see someone say “this fandom is dead” I may not be able to control myself, because dead means lifeless, dead means we have absolutely nothing to look forward to, that we’re watching the stars of our favorite whatever do other projects, tuning into them doing interviews on late night talks shows, and hoping, and praying that they get asked a question about that project you wish they would revisit. That is not us! Seriously, it’s not, and while things may be quiet, and a little bit sleepy right now it was only last month that we got out first teaser trailer, which trended on Twitter for a while I recall, and now it’s been viewed 25,054,284 via Youtube. We also got a brand new site launched for our use, and our pleasure, that’s not dead like behavior, that’s very much so alive behavior.
So, if you have the urge to use the word dead to describe this fandom before, say 2016– do yourself the favor, and don’t.
A Little Hunger Games Movie Love, For Once
As a fandom, there’s a lot of complaining about The Hunger Games. We don’t like actors or hair color or certain lines in the movie. We especially don’t like the people who don’t like the things that we DO like. We’re an uppity crowd, more so than many of us would like to admit. We’ve learned that this is true of EVERY fandom, not just The Hunger Games fandom.
What we sometimes don’t realize is this: We are so freaking lucky to have a successful film adaptation of the series happening right now, even if it can’t please every person under the sun.
Just look at the cover!
Believe it or not, the admins are Victor’s Village also have our OTHER fandom addictions. Perhaps an unhealthy number of them, but we don’t mind one bit! One of mine is Delirium by Lauren Oliver, which has gained a lot of steam over the past couple years but tends to be a love/hate kid of fandom (Lauren doesn’t deal in happy endings or neatly tied bows at the end of her books, ever!) Delirium was set to be made into a television show and then… it wasn’t.
The rights were optioned and the script was written. The actors were cast and the great debate began. The hair naysayers went NUTS because Hana was a brunette instead of a blonde. The pilot was shot and the tide began to turn. Pictures found their way online. Actors openly expressed their excitement for the project. Delirium trended worldwide on Twitter TWICE. Admittedly, we felt a little invincible.
… And then Fox decided to pick up an iRobot rip-off, a House-plays-lawyer drama, a show that sounds suspiciously like Southland, and a Sleepy Hollow remake (to compete against Once Upon a Time, we assume) over Delirium.
Do I sound bitter? I am. I ain’t even gonna hide it. ARRRRRGHHHHHH!
All of our fandom glory came to a screeching halt for a day as we realized nothing may come of the story we love. That doesn’t mean that all hopes have been dashed (Shameless plug for the Don’t Stop the Deliria campaign!), but we’ve become a little jaded and deflated. We know we’re not the only fandom who has suffered when amazing books are sold and placed neatly on the shelves, possibly to never be seen on a screen ever. Lionsgate is currently doing that with John Green’s Looking For Alaska, which is freaking criminal.
Now, imagine if that was The Hunger Games. Imagine if Lionsgate bought the rights to The Hunger Games and decided NOT to make the movie. At the time, the dystopian genre hadn’t been tested onscreen and teen movies often left a bad taste in peoples’ mouths, so they did take a risk there. What if they gave the movie a much smaller budget and ended up halting production? What if the first movie didn’t impress execs and they decided not to release it?
As a fandom, we may not love every single detail of The Hunger Games movies, but we should feel damn lucky that we have them.
I Need to Incorporate More Charlie Brown Screams,
The Girl With The Pearl
Show me the money!
Just imagine.
You’re walking down a Capitol street, your bright pink mink coat wrapped around your dyed-blue shoulders and your heel-less shoes stomping up the way. You come across this shop with a dress covered with ruffles – I’m serious, even the ruffles have ruffles – and you decide you have to have it. You reach into your pocketbook and you pull out…
What?
Something that I’m always interested to know when it comes to futuristic societies in books, TV and film is what has happened to the money. Since Panem is located in North America, it’s widely accepted among the fandom that it is comprised of parts of the United States, Canada and Mexico. It would not make much sense for just the American dollar, Canadian dollar, or the Mexican peso to be used as the currency of the nation.
We know that the “currency” of District 12 is primarily in the form of trade – though in the movie Katniss does ask the lady who sells her the mockingjay pin “How much?”, implying some use of money – but it seems unlikely that it is that way across all the districts and even more unlikely for the Capitol. Not to mention that in District 12, the trade economy seems more or less de facto rather than Capitol-sanctioned, considering the Hob goes up in flames in Catching Fire.
So back to the scenario above. Do you hand over a card similar to our credit and debit cards? Has paper money at least in concept withstood the catastrophes that occurred prior to the formation of Panem, so you’re offering a bill worth 15 pans (15PN for short)? Is there a machine that scans your eyes or your fingerprint or a chip imbedded in your neck that links to a bank account?
We don’t know how the money thing actually works in Panem, but we know how the wealth does: the rich are über rich and the poor are devastatingly poor. Whatever the rich have, they have a lot of it, and whatever the poor have they barely have any of it.
Yo dawg that dress cost 2000 nemmies that’s outrageous
Twiffidy
