HUNGER GAMES, THE: MOCKINGJAY — PART 1 (2014)

THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY — PART 1 (2014). Francis Lawrence, dir. Peter Craig, Danny Strong, script, from an adaptation by Suzanne Collins from her novel. USA: Color Force, Lions Gate (prod.) / Lionsgate (US & UK dist), 2014 (see IMDb for details on very wide distribution. Philip Messina, prod. design.

Sequel to HUNGER GAMES, q.v. and THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (2013), Relevant here for complex, nuanced, and "multivalent" imaging and use of technology, both high and low, epitomized in the female lead's high-explosive-tipped arrows bringing down two menacing military aircraft, and in the ambiguous containment in the frequently high-tech "mechanized" underworld of the sanctuary for survivors in the supposedly destroyed District 13. The "underworld" here (our term) is bomb shelter, haven, and, simultaneously a kind of gentle, high-tech prison, contrasted with images of an outside world of beautiful forests and destroyed towns. In all the major locations, there is the theme of people's images being captured — our figure of speech — by surveillance cameras in one instance and by digital-film crews in several others. Note well screens within screens and the use of propaganda by both the nefarious totalitarians in The Capitol, and by the leaders of the heroic Mockingjay resistance. Audre Lorde said "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House,", and Machiavellian cynics have responded that they sure as hell can, given that "The Master" is often well supplied with high explosives. Still, the uses of propaganda and the camera's gaze fits in with images in the underworld of the Revolution that hint disturbingly at Party rallies and other exercises in the emphatically undemocratic.

5. DRAMA, RDE, 24/XI/14