Article Response--- The Hunger Games

            While reading the article “The Hunger Games” by Peter Travers, I noticed how the author spends a great deal of the article relating the movie The Hunger Games, which the article is a review of, to many other movies, specifically the movies from the Twilight series. I think the comparison of these two movies really helps Travers to get his point across about this movie. I think it helps him to get his point across because both these movies have a lot in common. They were based of books, and the directors had to figure out where to make changes so as to keep the movie appropriate while balancing both the romantic and violence from the books.

            Both The Hunger Games and Twilight were originally books, that were turned into movies. This is not the only similarity they share. They are both about strong willed girls, who end up in a scary, violent situation, where they are put between to guys, both who they care a lot about. In the article, Travers mentions this, and noticed how although in the book The Hunger Games there is more of a focus on the love aspect, it as not as intense and as important to the situation as in both the book and in the movie Twilight. Travers mentions this when he says, “Are you Team Gale or Team Peeta? You might not care as much, since neither has the exotic allure of a vampire or a wolf.” While saying this, he is shortly saying that although there is romantic competition, it doesn’t not bring you in, like it does in Twilight between the wolf and vampire. He goes on the mention that he thinks this is one of the reasons that viewers and critics have rated The Hunger Games as the better movie.

            In the article, it is mentioned that although the movie is great, it is hard to compare it to the book because of the restrictions that were put on the movie. Since The Hunger Games is a young adult book, it would do extremely poorly in the box offices if it were rated anything worse than PG 13. Because of this, much of the violence that was included in the movie had to be toned down, to keep it appropriate. Although this is not one of the comparisons Travers makes in the article, his past comparisons make you think further. While making Twilight, I’m sure the directors were faced with very similar circumstances as The Hunger Games. Although, like earlier stated there restrictions were more romantically sided, as oppose to The Hunger Games, which had to be more careful with violence.

            Overall I think the article was very well written, and Travers did an excellent job writing it. One thing he did that improved the article was the comparison to the Twilight books, and movies. This made you look at the movie in a different way and really made you think about some of the challenges that went in to making this movie, or any movie based on a book for that mater. Considerations that take place go way further that just restrictions of violence. It also makes me wonder, if there were no restrictions, and it could be exactly like the book, would it be better or worse?


Article: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/the-hunger-games-20120321

Plagiarizing Questions

·      What did the student do wrong? What could he/ she have done to include the source correctly?

The student plagiarized from someone else’s work, and stole their words. They didn’t quote it, they just took it, and they didn’t cite their sources. Instead of just plagiarizing, the student could have paraphrased the quote into their own words. They could have also taken parts of the quote, and cited it as the quote, not taking credit as it being their own writing.

·      Write a sentence using the original source correctly; use a quotation or paraphrase. Also, make sure to cite correctly. Consult my post on citing sources.

The painting Starry Night the background that contains many hills that go up and down, behind that there is a small little village, that gives of a calm vibe. I started thinking about how the town gave off that after reading the article “A Brief Understanding the Starry Night Paintings.” In the article, the author states: “There is a peaceful essence flowing from the structures.”

·      What are at least three ways to avoid plagiarizing?

1.     Quote directly

2.     Paraphrase

3.     Cite sources correctly

Blog Entry on Student Reading Responses

            I read both Gabby’s and Eliza’s blog posts. While reading Gabby’s blog post on Glass I noticed a lot of really great features of her blog, which really made in stand out. One feature I noticed in her blog was that she did a really great job providing examples, and when using examples she cited them clearly, and correctly. The text examples and quotes she used really helped her to prove her point and make the reader understand. Another great feature of her blog was that not only did she give you examples to support her thesis; she also did a really good job describing those examples, and explaining why they happened. She also included the lessons, and themes from the book, and gave some opinion on what she thought was happening without overdoing it.

            Eliza’s blog post on Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire was also extremely well written, and full of amazing features that made it complete. She had a very elaborate idea and thesis, which she supported well. Her post was way more than just a summary although she did provide enough background for it to make sense. She compared and contrasted many different ideas, further than her opinion. She provides important life lessons, not just from the clear focus of the book, but what she found analyzing the book, and really digging deeper into the themes, and reading between the lines. Another great thing that she does in this blog is that it doesn’t feel like an essay. Although it has everything that an essay should have, she writes it in an entertaining way. You almost feel like someone is saying this while talking to you.

            After reading these blogs I found a lot of really good elements that were included in them, that could help me to improve my blogs. One example of something that I saw in these blogs, that I think I could use in my blogs to improve them is using specific text examples and quotes. This is something I don’t usually put in my blogs, but Gabby’s blog was a good example of how they can really help to support your blog. Another thing that I saw in these blogs that could help my future blogs is providing lessons from the book. Whether they’re clear lessons that you can get from pretty much just reading the back cover, like Gabby’s, or more elaborate lessons, that you really have to dig for, and read between the lines to find, like Eliza’s. Those were just two examples of elements that I saw in these two blogs that I think can improve my blogs. Overall the two blogs I read were very well written, and provided me with ideas, and ways that can possibly help me to write better blogs in the future.