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Good News: The Avengers Ruined Super Hero Movies

The Avengers is the perfect Summer Blockbuster spectacle. For other super-hero films to be interesting in the post-Avengers world, they must focus on story and characters over spectacle.

5 Uncomfortable Truths "The Cabin in the Woods" Reveals About Us

"The Cabin in the Woods" is a smart, original horror film that critiques our love of horror films as a participation in vicarious penal sacrifice.

4 Reasons to Take Communion with Katniss

HG-KatnissOver the past several posts, I've explored the story of Suzanne Collins' first Hunger Games novel (and the excellent film adaptation). We've seen that while we identify with Katniss, we have much more in common with the Capitol. That our culture distracts us from injustice with pleasure and entertainment just like the Capitol does. That just like Rome and the Capitol, our culture seeks to control our bodies, to convince us to devalue our bodies. And last time, that Katniss and Jesus both use their bodies as the primary site of resistance against the Empire's evil actions.

So what do we take from Katniss' example in The Hunger Games? How do we imitate Jesus, resist Empire today, using our bodies?

In the New Testament, Worship is how Christians wage war on Empire, and the center of Christian worship is the Communion Meal.

Appropriately, the meal is an embodied act that regularly reinstructs us how we can resist the story our Empire tells us and live in the reality of God's story. Communion teaches us how to resist the Empire's claims on our bodies and souls.

Here's how:

1. Communion affirms that our bodies are essentially who we are.

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What Katniss Stole from Jesus

Katniss uses her body to resist the Capitol's claims to own her. This echos Jesus' crucifixion and models for us how to resist Empires today.

Who Owns Your Body? The Hunger Games and Political Rebellion

In The Hunger Games, Katniss uses her body to resist the Capitol's story of power and control. She becomes our model for resisting today as well.

The Hunger Games: Bread and Circuses and Voyeurism

Watching The Hunger Games is problematic for a number of reasons...Since the rebellion 74 years ago, the government of Panem has staged Hunger Games once annually. The purpose of the games is ostensibly to remind the districts of the cost of rebellion, to showcase the Capitol's strength and to celebrate the high cost of peace.

But like every Empire, the real reason the Capitol stages the Games is to distract and entertain its citizens. To distract them from the Capitol's injustice.
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The Hunger Games: We Are the Capitol

While we sympathize with Katniss, we're actually more like the Capitol. We'd do well to heed the story's warning!

The Lorax

With a strong message about the dangers of Greed, The Lorax is a fun, funny film with a big heart and a powerful, timely message. Not the best of the Seuss films, but definitely worth seeing.

Why "Chronicle" is the Best Super-hero Film Since the Dark Knight

The best comics stories are the most human stories. Chronicle nails this by telling a great story about the danger of power.

Why "The Grey" Ended Like it Did

Though it's billed as an action/suspense film, The Grey is really a philosophical musing on the nature of reality and our place in it. If we miss that, the film's outstanding conclusion feels instead like major disappointment.
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