Who is Stick? An Experimental Video Project

Please, please, come join us as we flesh Stick out into a person! Every person counts in this community project!

All that I am is Earthseed....

Parable of the Sower takes a scary look into the future of America, a world of slavery, rampant drug abuse, and poverty.  The destructive actions of man have sent the world into a sharp environmental decline, full of climate change and withering forests.  All Lauren can do to survive is find a community of her own and cling to her idea of God.

In a way, that’s what people have been doing for centuries.  Religion is more than an explanation of how the world came to be.  For those who truly believe, religion becomes part of life.  It is how Lauren puts it on page 262, “What I am now, all that I am is Earthseed.”  When times are truly at their worst, religion thrives at its best.

The Tarot in Nova

 

I’m extremely interested in the Tarot cards and their significance in Nova.  Obviously there is a great deal of mysticism (and skepticism) surrounding the Tarot, but they seem to be of a higher importance in the universe presented in the text.  They transcend the realm of divination to the realm of cultural cohesion, pleasure, and advisor.  In the hands of Tyÿ, the cards are a powerful tool.  In the hands of Sebastian or the twins, the cards are a simple (or perhaps not-so-simple) game, a sport.  And yet for Mouse, they are something to apprehend, to doubt, to shun.

Inner Love, Outer Hatred: The Beginning and End of a Nation as Predicted by Black Empire

In reading George Schuyler’s Black Empire, we witness the rise of a great black nation as Doctor Belsidus leads legions of loyal, intelligent men and women to superiority.  He expertly designs and executes his strategies through careful manipulations through the fear, loyalty, ambition, hate, and in some cases love of those that follow him. Cold and calculating, Belsidus seems to able to feel only one emotion: blinding hatred for the white race.

Of One Blood: Race Lost in Melodrama

Of One Blood, while being a story focused around a utopia, is first and foremost a melodrama.  The story has a hero (Reuel), a heroine (Dianthe), a comic character (Charlie), and a villain (Aubrey).  The story is fraught with romantic intentions upon a female character who is lost, innocent, and doe-eyed.  The unhappy ending seems entirely avoidable, making it all the more tragic.  Despite the sad ending, poetic justice is achieved through Reuel’s orders.

The novel also contains the three P’s of melodrama: 1. Provocation, Reuel, after bringing Dianthe back from the grave, wishes to marry her and therefore leaves to Africa in search of wealth; 2. Pangs, While Reuel is away, Dianthe succumbs to Aubrey’s wishes despite that she is married; and 3. Penalty, Aubrey kills himself as a punishment for his crimes due to a spell cast by Ai.

Imperium in Imperio: The Racial Rainbow and Its Spectrum of Privileges

In Imperium in Imperio, we watch as Belton Peidmont and Bernard Belgrave struggle with the reality of harsh discrimination against their heritage. It's seen throughout the book that their differing skin tones serve as a base for a spectrum of privilege. Belton is a first-hand victim of racial abuse, but Bernard, being of a much lighter skin tone, feels the sharp jab of this discrimination not from a white adversary but through the harsh treatment of his professed love.

But that's getting ahead of myself.

The Hunger Games and Philosophy: Discipline and the Docile Body

I found the idea that the Capitol citizens were strictly controlled through their supposed freedom to be fascinating. Christina Van Dyke explains that Capitol society is structured to focus on fashion and society life because it draws attention away from politics and toward the self, which places President Snow in a relatively safe haven.

Capitol life centers on body modifications as an expression of self, which is essentially the only way they can achieve such. As far as the reader can see, there is no art, no literature, nothing to encourage depth of thought or character.

The Capitol hinges on social norms, manners and perspectives. Citizens are self-centered and attention-seeking. They are that way because they don't know how else to be.

Interestingly enough, Hank Green (of the vlogbrothers, a YouTube sensation) created a video talking about the implications of social norms that both compares and contrasts with Van Dyke's thoughts on the world of Panem and specifically the Capitol and further applies it to what that world reflects onto us as a privileged society in our own rights.





I'd like to see these two sit down and discuss their opinions on the series.