Sacred and Secular Places

 The Hunger Games (2012)

The movie The Hunger Games is a prime example of secular place. The movie takes place in a futuristic country called Panem which is divided into 12 districts and a capitol. Each year, 2 representatives of each district are chosen to fight in the hunger games which is essentially a fight to the death game which is broadcasted for everyone to watch. Most people in Panem disagreed with the hunger games and the arena is considered a secular place because the government is controlling this space against their will and there are negative feelings towards that space. 

This movie is comparable to the movie Agora because of the secular places and the relationship between the characters. In Agora, Patia's secular place is the Library of Alexandria where is practices philosophy and sits in deep thought about how the Earth revolves around the sun. Because of her beliefs, she gets pitted against her past students and she gets stoned to death. Comparing that to The Hunger Games, Katniss' secular place is the arena where she is in deep thought on how she is going to survive the game. She is also pitted against 23 other people who she does not want to kill but has to in order to win the game.

This movie also compares to the movie Martha Marcy May Marlene because they both include negative secular spaces and the main characters have internal battles .  In Martha Marcy May Marlene, the secular place is the cult house where Martha was given a new identity and was taught to just exist in the world while also being tortured and manipulated. Martha's line of right and wrong gets very blurred and is essentially incurable. Similarly in The Hunger Games, the arena is the secular space where Katniss is somewhat given a new identity since she has never gotten so much attention before. She is also being tortured because she fears for her life and struggles to kill the other tributes off because she feels that it is wrong to do so.

Reality TV is the Opiate of the Masses (Robert Ebert)

The Hunger Games: Film Review (Hollywood Reporter)

Mobilities

The World's Fastest Indian (2005)

The movie The World's Fastest Indian is the true story about Burt Munroe who built the fastest motorcycle in New Zealand and Australia. He built it in his garage and he took it out to race frequently. While he liked to race in his home country, he always had dreams of going to the U.S. and racing at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The reason I chose this film is because Munroe saved up the money and pursued the journey to America.

Ideally, he wanted to fly and ship out his motorcycle, but it was too expensive so he opted to get a cargo ship ticket. While this is not the traditional way to travel, Munroe still had a tourist gaze of what the U.S. is going to look like but that soon got broken down when he arrived in Los Angeles.  He experiences bureaucracy, skepticism and indifference of the city people which was unsettling to him. He was also expecting to see lots of white people, but he runs into a transgender black woman at the motel, a hispanic car salesman, and a Native American who helps him when his tailor fell off the hitch. This really opened his eye on how diverse America through its landscapes and people.

This film mostly aligns with the Wah Do Them because the idea of tourism throughout both films. Both main characters go on an international trip and their perspective of that place completely changes by the time they leave. Both characters ran into people they never thought they would cross paths with and that changed the way they perceived their trips 

In relation to La Jaula de Oro, it is similar because the main characters are moving place to place by themselves and have high expectations on what this place will provide for them. Munroe had a good outcome in America since he set the highest speed record at the salt flats, but he had a rough start at first. He had to overcome many obstacles such has getting his motorcycle through customs, finding a car, and getting low on money. Juan also had struggles coming to America. He had to start the journey over twice because he got deported the first time and he lost his friends one by one throughout the trip as well. Unfortunately, America was not what he thought it was going to be because he was the last one standing in his group working at a meat packing facility. 

Is that a cork on the gas tank? (Roger Ebert)

An Old Man and His Bike, Chasing an Impossible Dream (New York Times)