The Hunger Pains: A Parody— Better Than Nightlight

The Hunger Pains: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon

The Hunger Pains: A Parody is a parody of Susanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. The Hunger Pains: A Parody,is written by The Harvard Lampoon. The Harvard Lampoon is also the author of Nightlight (a parody of Twilight) and Bored of the Rings (a parody of The Lord of the Rings). Having read Nightlight, and not liking it that much, I can say that The Hunger Pains: A Parody is a much better book than Nightlight. While I have not read Bored of the Rings, I would like to read it in the future.

The Harvard Lampoon changes the characters’ names in The Hunger Pains: A Parody. Instead of Katniss Everdeen, the main character’s name is Kantkiss Neverclean. Instead of Peeta Mellark, the love interest’s name is Pita Malarkey. Gale Hawthorne becomes Carol Handsomestein. Effie becomes Effu. Katniss’s sister Prim becomes Prin, which is short for Princess. One of Kantkiss and Pita’s competitors in the Hunger Games is named Archie Nemesis. Archie Nemesis is a play on words; Archie Nemesis is not a very nice character. In fact, he’s a ruthless killer.

Description of Winning The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games used to be an eating contest, but quickly became a fight to the death in which one tribute was named the victor after killing all the other tributes. There is a lot of emphasis on food, especially in the depiction of Pita Malarkey. Pita is obsessed with food, and is always eating something. Pita is also depicted as being needy, whiny, and fat. In The Hunger Games, Peeta suffers a serious leg injury; in The Hunger Pains: A Parody, Pita suffers from a bloody finger.

Kantkiss and Run in a comic book version of The Hunger Pains

Instead of being an alcoholic like he is in The Hunger Games, Haymitch’s character Buttich in The Hunger Pains: A Parody is a gambler. He bets on everything, including the tributes he’s in charge of. He predicts that Pita will die and Kantkiss will die fourth. Rue has been changed to Run, a baby who makes stinky poo. A lot of the characters fart. At Super Fun Day, everyone in the crowd puts their middle finger in the air.

I did not like that Pita dies on the operating table during a breast reduction surgery. I thought it was weird that he came back to life as a chubby puppy with a bagel around its neck. I thought it was weird how Kantkiss fell for Archie Nemesis, even though Archie doesn’t even like her. Archie’s allergy to puppies was pretty interesting. I liked how Kantkiss played with the puppies, but why were there puppies there in the first place? I thought it was disgusting when Pita blew his nose on a hamburger bun and then Buttich ate it and exclaimed that he didn’t know these things had mayonnaise on them.

Overall, I thought The Hunger Pains: A Parody was pretty silly. I laughed out loud many times. Some aspects of The Hunger Games have been taken out or changed. Some parts of The Hunger Pains: A Parody were made up. I would recommend The Hunger Pains: A Parody to fans of The Hunger Games and fans of humor. I would give The Hunger Pains: A Parody a B, because it was good, but not great.

 

What Is The Next Harry Potter / The Hunger Games?

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

 

What is with the sudden trend in calling every book series that has some popularity, the “next Harry Potter” or the “next Hunger Games?”  In most cases, these book series are not as popular as Harry Potter or The Hunger Games. Is it because Hollywood is lazy and is always trying to make popular books into successful movies? Is it because Hollywood is always hoping and searching for “The Next Big Thing?”

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

I heard that people were calling Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga the “Next Harry Potter.” I have read all the books in the Twilight series and I don’t like them as much as I like the Harry Potter novels. I loved the Harry Potter series. Twilight has been criticized as being horribly written. However, it paved the way for stories about love triangles. It also led to a new genre called “paranormal romance.” It led to the terms “Twi-hards” and “Twi-moms” as well as the debate between “Team Edward” and “Team Jacob.” There have been numerous parodies of Twilight, including Nightlight: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon. Vampires and werewolves have always been popular in our society. Most people I have talked to about the Twilight books have been really negative about them. They hate them with a passion. They like to see the Twilight movies in theaters and then laugh at them. They have probably not read the Twilight books, so therefore they should not be entitled to diss them. I don’t think the Twilight novels can be compared to the Harry Potter novels because it would be like comparing apples to oranges. I also don’t think that Twilight can be called the “Next Harry Potter” since Edward, one of the main characters, is barely in the second book New Moon. Twilight was created out of a vivid dream Stephenie Meyer had, in which Edward the vampire, appeared to her. Also, Breaking Dawn Pt II was the worst of the Twilight movies because it was so over the top stupid.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

I heard recently that Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy is being called “The Next Hunger Games.” Why? Is it because both The Hunger Games and Divergent belong to the genre known as dystopian literature? Is it because dystopian literature is a hot genre these days?  Is it because The Hunger Games and Divergent have been made into movies? The film adaptation of Divergent comes out in March 2014 and Hollywood has already decided to do a sequel, regardless of whether or not Divergent does well at the box office. When I read Divergent, I saw some similarities to The Hunger Games, specifically how in both books teenagers were forced to fight each other. In Divergent, however, they were not supposed to kill each other. I like both The Hunger Games and Divergent. I do see a potential problem for the film adaptation of Divergent— it probably won’t appeal to young male viewers because in the book there is a lot of kissing. However, the violence would probably appeal to them.

The Dust Lands: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

The Dust Lands: Blood Red Road has been compared to The Hunger Games. I have never heard of this book or of its author Moira Young. I also do not know anyone who has read this book. Publishers Weekly calls it “A natural for Hunger Games fans.” MTV’s Hollywood Crush blog describes it as “Better than The Hunger Games…This book will blow you away.”  Novel Novice blog wrote that, “When it comes to YA dystopian literature, The Hunger Games pretty much set the bar. Blood Red Road by Moira Young may have just raised that bar.”

The Hunger Games by Susanne Collins

While Harry Potter was written for children, many young adults read it and enjoyed it. Young Adult (YA) literature has been around since the 1960’s and 1970’s, but may not have been as popular as it is today. The Twilight novels belong to the YA genre but also the paranormal romance genre. The Hunger Games led to the invention of YA dystopian literature. Divergent and Blood Red Road belong to this genre too. Maybe this is why everything that is written is called the “Next Harry Potter” or the “Next Hunger Games.”

Divergent: Welcome to Veronica Roth’s Post-Apocalyptic World

“One choice decides your friends. One choice defines your beliefs. One choice determines your loyalties— Forever. One choice can transform you.”

 

Divergent by Veronica Roth

When I first heard about Veronica Roth’s Divergent, I thought it was similar to Susanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. Both books are part of a series. Divergent is the first book in Veronica Roth’s series, and is followed by Insurgent and Allegiant. The Hunger Games is the first book in Susanne Collins’ series, and is followed by Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Both of these trilogies have been made into movies. Divergent comes out in theaters on March 21, 2014. Divergent and The Hunger Games belong to the genre known as dystopian literature, or post-apocalyptic literature. They both have lots of violence in them. Unlike The Hunger Games, though, in Divergent there is not a love triangle. Despite all these similarities, Divergent is a great book. It stands on its own in the dystopian genre. Veronica Roth has a promising career as a writer.

Dauntless the Brave

Divergent is about a sixteen- year-old girl named Beatrice Prior, who must decide on Initiation Day which faction she will belong to for the rest of her life. Beatrice was born into Abnegation but doesn’t really feel like she belongs there. Not feeling like you fit in is a common feeling of most teenagers. Choosing what you want to do for the rest of your life is a very difficult decision to make for anyone. Choosing to leave one’s family forever is another decision, which is tough to make by oneself. After her aptitude tests, Beatrice is told that she is Divergent, but is not told what that means. Being Divergent is dangerous, but Beatrice does not know why. Tori, Beatrice’s test administrator explains, “Beatrice,” […] “under no circumstances should you share that information with anyone. This is very important.” Tris decides to switch factions and join Dauntless.

When Beatrice joins Dauntless, she changes her name to Tris. Tris must go through a series of tests, along with the other Dauntless initiates and transfers. She makes friends with Christina, Will, Al, Uriah, Marlene, and Lynn. Tris has never had any friends before. She also makes enemies with Peter, Drew, and Molly. Everyone has met someone who is or was a bully, and knows how difficult it is to deal with them. Tris is attracted to one of her teachers, a mysterious eighteen-year-old man named Four. Who is Four? What are his secrets? Why is he called Four? Why is he trying to protect Tris from the Dauntless leaders finding out about her being Divergent? Tris learns more about being Divergent when she has another conversation with Tori in Tori’s tattoo parlor, “Among other things, you… you are someone who is aware, when they are in a simulation, that what they are experiencing is not real,” […] “Someone who can then manipulate the simulation or even shut it down. And also…” She leans forward and looks into my eyes. “Someone who, because you are also Dauntless… tends to die.” Being Divergent does not just mean that you are someone who can cheat on a test. It means that you think differently than everyone else.

Divergent has a lot of violence in it. The students at Dauntless learn how to fight, and they must fight against each other whether they want to or not. They fight against their friends and their foes. One of the students, Edward, is stabbed in the eye by Peter and Drew, after Edward is ranked first and Peter is ranked second. Peter saw Edward as his rival and wanted to eliminate him. I liked how Tris dealt with the bullies. She is a strong female character because she not only stands up for herself, but she also stands up for her friends. She is not afraid to speak her mind.

Overall, I liked Divergent a lot. The one thing I had a problem with is that later in the book, Tris and Four cannot stop kissing. They kiss even though people are dying around them. They should be trying to stop more people from dying instead of kissing each other. There could have been someone who told them that now is not the time for you to do that, but there wasn’t. If there had been, it would have been cliché because you see that all the time in movies. I get that Tris and Four like each other and maybe even love each other. I also understand that both Tris and Four have trouble with intimacy. If they have so much trouble with intimacy, then why are they always kissing, holding hands, and hugging each other?

Shailene Woodley as Beatrice Prior

I look forward to reading Insurgent and Allegiant. I also look forward to seeing Divergent, which stars Shailene Woodley as Tris and Theo James as Four. I recommend Divergent for those of you who are fans of The Hunger Games or other dystopian literature.