The Latest Hunger Games Teaser Trailer Should Excite Libertarians

It preaches a fundamentally libertarian message of the inherent evils of centralized government.

The Mockingjay lives!

That's the message of the second teaser trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1, which depicts anti-government rebels hacking a propaganda transmission circulated by the creepy central government.

The forthcoming installment of The Hunger Games movies—which were adapted from the best-selling book series by Suzanne Collins—should excite libertarians. It preaches a fundamentally libertarian message of the inherent evils of centralized government, excessive taxation, slavery, and police brutality, and features freedom fighters motivated by self-ownership and local autonomy.

The series is hugely popular across all age demographics, but especially among kids and teenagers. It can't be a a bad thing that so many young people now have a Harry Potter-esque reverence for Katniss Everdeen, a protagonist whose message to the government is essentially "you don't own me."

Watch the latest trailer below. The previous trailer is available here.

Comments

[MJGreen]

The Mockingjay lives!

NERD!!!

[waffles]

More Ever

[sarcasmic]

From the title I thought it was going to show a naked Jennifer Lawrence. Now I'm disappointed.

[Tim]

Jay Leno lives!

[Restoras]

I've been using my son's interest in the books and movies to highlight the Evil that is government and Liberty is the only viable alternative.

[Bill]

I predict he will rebel and become a Progressive! Sorry! 🙁

[Restoras]

You jerk!

You never know, of course. However, I do think (hope??) he is a bit too much like me to go progtard. He made a comment to me during the winter Olympics about how the biathlon is weird because it has guns whereby I pointed out to him that guns are just another tool that can be used for good or bad, just like a knife, fire, a bow and arrow (which he loves to shoot), a badge, or a bucket of water. That piece of Captain Obvious logic appealed to him more than the logic that guns are bad...because they are bad.

[Zeb]

I think there is hope. Everyone says that kids will rebel against their parents', but I think that you will find that for the most part kids pretty much follow their parents' politics, even through high school. Especially if the parents actually explain the reasoning behind their views, which it sounds like you do.

In my younger days, I identified as liberal, which my parents definitely were, but I've always been so naturally anti-authoritarian and contrarian that I don't know how I ever thought that.

[sarcasmic]

By the time I was in high school I'd read the LTR books several times, as well as most of the Dune books. I never had much trust/respect for authority, and I bet those books had something to do with it.

[Restoras]

I wouldn't be surprised. In addition to those I had read Animal Farm and 1984 for summer reading, I think before my junior year - those left a lasting impression, especially Animal Farm since it was a blatant rebuke/refutation of socialism and state power.

[Obama's Buttplug]

Heller's Catch 22 the summer after 9th grade did it for me.

[Zeb]

I think that really is the best book ever. Certainly the best humorous fiction about war.

[Rasilio]

I had an aunt that was a hippy send me a bunch of books to read when I was like 12. Among them were LOTR, Animal Farm, Brave New World, and 1984.

However while they made me very anti authotitarian they didn't stop me from being basically a pro military Republican in High School however. It wasn't until later when I was in the Air Force and saw just how incompetent the bureaucracy was and then discovered Robert Heinlein and Jerry Pournelle that I became a libertarian.

[Restoras]

However while they made me very anti authotitarian they didn't stop me from being basically a pro military Republican in High School however

[Restoras]

Crap! Need an edit button already! I meant to say that, yes that was me as well though I didn't join the armed services...

[Doghouse Reilly]

Are there a lot of ex-DoD folks on this site? Seems like more than a few people here have shared horror stories from the titanic bureaucratic mindfuckery that happens therein.

[UCrawford]

Nothing about that movie series excites me. Nothing. It's just a bunch of horrible films with ridiculous plots, crappy dialogue and even crappier acting.

[Rasilio]

You sound like my 14 year old when presented with something he is unfamiliar with/has decided for no good reason to dislike.

[kinnath]

I watched the first movie, and it was terrible.

[Restoras]

I have seen the first two - and they aren't what I would call well done. I do like the theme and my kids like them, and it is better than every piece of crap on the other kids channels.

[kinnath]

it is better than every piece of crap on the other kids channels.

After reading many highly positive reviews, I was shocked at just how weak the movie was. Jennifer is pleasant enough to look at, but the whole movie is just plain boring.

The books were written for teen-aged girls, and the movies reflect that.

[Almanian!]

I'm with UC. Saw them, was hoping for greatness, was sorely disappoint instead.

Awful.

[XM]

A dystopian society in movies like this is usually one note. The government will urge unity while exploiting the underclass. The power hungry government set out to conquer some indigenous people for material gain or perform experiments on them. It's a depiction / caricature of what passes as an evil corporation.

In a libertarian film, the government coercion would be more subtle. It'll sacrifice liberty in the name of equality and infringe on the rights of groups who are genuinely unsympathetic. A private, wealthy corporation might be the main character.

[Bill]

Yes. In the books, the biggest thing is the central govt. takes most of the taxes and the home province gets special treatment and they are all rich. So, it's a more egalitarian focus.

[Bill]

But still has libertarian overtones.

[Brandybuck]

Yeah, so does conservatism and progressivism. Just because you're fighting an authoritarian government does not mean you're libertarian.

[sarcasmic]

the central govt. takes most of the taxes and the home province gets special treatment and they are all rich

So it's like The Beltway.

[Tim]

Just so.

[Stormy Dragon]

the biggest thing is the central govt. takes most of the taxes and the home province gets special treatment and they are all rich

The ritualized child sacrifice doesn't qualify as "the biggest thing"?

[NoVAHockey]

tax policy is clearly more important than the welfare of children.

[waffles]

As evidenced by all of the references to monocle-polishing orphans round these parts.

[Restoras]

Well they have to earn there keep somehow! I like to have mine pick out the oakum.

[CE]

All states sacrifice children.

[toolkien]

Anyone else getting tired of Reason trying to tell us what we should think? The POTUS is libertarian, the SCOTUS is skewing libertarian etc etc. Reason should be reflective, not inflective.

As for the movies/books, I haven't read or seen any of them. Star Wars was about a band of young, good looking folk striking at The Empire, white hats against the black hats etc etc, but are supposed to think it was "libertarian"? That Lucas was/is libertarian? If Collins is, great, but I want a little more than soft adverts and being nudged by an editorial board.

I'm almost beginning to detect a trojan horse aspect to Reason's approach. How about a plank by plank interview with Collins on the depth of the libertarianism invested into her works? That would be worth a read.

[Zeb]

I think you are over-thinking it. Reason just wants to be a cultural as well as a political magazine. I think it's nice to see a little optimism about the directions the culture is going in sometimes.

[Rasilio]

I think something that is rather amazing on that front is that as hardcore leftist and progressive as Hollywood is they keep making more and more movies/books/tv shows/etc that have what can only be seen as libertarian themes of individual liberty and the right to self determination.

[Restoras]

I'm not sure that's intentional. Fighting against overarching power does make for much better movies than, say, acquiescing to it...

[CE]

Notice that the overarching power is always right wing and fascist. They think the rebels are Democrats.

[Rasilio]

Oh I don't think it is intentional.

JK Rowling clearly had no libertarian intent in Harry Potter but the whole series could be read as one long screed about how those in power are incompetent, craven, and not to be trusted.

[Rasilio]

I don't know what Collins politics are (it would be cool if someone from Reason actually interviewed her to find out) but the books are pretty explicitly individualist and libertarian. Whether that was intentional on the part of the writer or just a side effect of writing a novel of teenage rebellion set on a larger stage is rather irrelivant, it is still exploring themes that libertarians should want people to think about.

[Stormy Dragon]

Yeah, what's with an opinion magazine having opinions on things!?

[Warty]

No. Jesus Christ. If you think Matt's column was literally saying that Obama is a libertarian, there's no hope for you.

[Almanian!]

WHAT??!!

YOU HAVE SHAKEN MY WHOLE WORLDVIEW!!

[Almanian!]

LITERALLY

[Bill Dalasio]

I have to go along with some of the skepticism here. It's too easy to walk away from all this concluding that the problem with Panem is that "the big old meanies in the Capitol don't want to share", that better, more selfless, Top Men would make it all good. A better, more libertarian, line would note that sometimes the people who want to drive you into slavery have stars in their eyes and visions of a "brighter tomorrow".

[Rasilio]

Don't know if you read the books but in them it was shown that the leaders of the rebellion were no different or better than the capitol.

In fact it even has them engaging in a false flag operation against a bunch of kids who are being used as human shields during the final battle outside the Presidental estate

[Bill Dalasio]

Can't say that I have. I'm just going by what I've seen of the movies. And what you say still doesn't get at the core of the problem, does it? The problem isn't that some men are bad, or even that most men are corruptible. Even if we could find angels to rule us, we'd still be better off being free, rather than ruled.

[The Other Kevin]

I have read the books, and (avoiding spoilers here) by the end of the third book Katnis realizes that the proposed replacement leaders are just as corrupt and immoral as the original leaders. In other words, nobody in authority should be trusted completely.

[Lord Humungus]

By the time I got to the third book, I wanted to throw it into the fireplace.

[Rasilio]

The third book did kind of suck pretty bad. It is clear that Collins had no clue how successful the first 2 books would be and if she had originally had any thought at all about it even being a series it is clear that she had not really thought out how to end it and was then forced to push out something crappy on a deadline to satisfy a publisher looking to capitalize on the success.

This is one case where I really hope they make significant changes to the end of the story

[sarcasmic]

It preaches a fundamentally libertarian message of the inherent evils of centralized government, excessive taxation, slavery, and police brutality, and features freedom fighters motivated by self-ownership and local autonomy.

I can see lefttards seeing that as what happens when conservatives/libertarians take over (after all, conservatives are Nazis and libertarians are even further to the right), with what they need being good progressives to seize control of the central government and share the wealth.

[Rasilio]

Yeah, except as The Other Kevin notes above. At the end of the books the Rebel leaders are shown as being no different or better than the leaders of the government

[Trials and Trippelations]

So I shouldn't play the audio books as my father in law and I drive a moving truck across the country?

[Drake]

White bullpups - Tavor's? I'm at least interested.

[Tony]

Maybe one day libertarians will graduate to grown-up books.

[Zeb]

Movies based on grownup books. Jesus Christ, dude, at least get it right.

[Restoras]

And perhaps one day Progtards will learn to read.

[Zach] Carter admitted he didn't know who Alger Hiss was and that he hadn't read The Looming Tower. Those two questions are standard questions for Hewitt's interviews.

But then Carter said he hadn't read various other books, such as Bernard Lewis' Crisis of Islam, Robin Wright's Dreams and Shadows, or Thomas P. M. Barnett's The Pentagon's New Map. He said he hadn't read Dexter Filkins' The Forever War but that he'd "read a lot of the stuff that he's written for The New Yorker." Filkins joined The New Yorker in 2011. He said he does not read politician's memoirs, including Cheney's or George W. Bush's. That he was unaware that Bill Clinton had bombed Iraq in 1998 or that Gadhafi had reportedly disarmed in 2003. He admitted he doesn't know who A. Q. Khan, the father of the Pakistan bomb and godfather of Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs, is.

It's such a display of ignorance that it seems almost unfair.

http://thefederalist.com/2014/.....s-problem/

[steve walsh]

Slightly OT: I am tempted to call it ironic that the generation that so famously rebelled against government and authoritarian civil structures has been so instrumental in growing and strengthening the size and scope of the government until I realized that them hippies are being totally consistent. They didn't object to government control and authority, they objected to the people of the time having the authority. Now that it's them holding the reins of power they are totally okay with telling everyone else what to do.

I always knew there was a good reason to hate them.