Why this fascination for depressing stories lately?

[kentauros]

7. Your mention of "disaster porn" reminds me

that there are many members of DU that are "master disasterbaters!" Their is no disaster they read or see that isn't almost literally a sign of "the end times". When the reality of this forum is enough to depress one, why even bother with fictionalized accounts?

I did make this thread partly to get your opinion on this, as I know you had read "The Road" and liked it, though you had also said how much it had depressed you. I've seen the listings for the movie, but never stopped on it. There are some dystopian or post-apocalyptic movies I will watch, usually directed by Luc Besson ("Delicatessen", "City of Lost Children&quot but those are really enjoyable movies and often quite funny. You don't have the expectation that there's anything even remotely possible in attaining such a future, so it's easy to detach.

Now, even with your better description of what The Hunger Games are about, I still don't find myself with a desire to either read the books or see the movies. I guess, as people have pointed out, it's written for a younger audience, so I'm probably not going to be attracted to the things that they are. Most violence, even the "fight for survival" kind, pretty well turns me off, too. It's fine if the violence isn't the main focus of the story, as would be the case in, say, "The Professional". That's more of a story about a friendship, than the fact that Leon's a "cleaner". What he does for a living doesn't really show up until much later in the movie. What I can surmise about "Hunger Games" though is that the violence will be a major part of the story, what with all that "fight for survival" and that "there can be only one" outcome.

I'm sure the movie will make hundreds of millions, and make a multi-millionaire out of the author, but I won't be adding to that wealth. I have a friend that has been trying to talk me into seeing it, and I'm just going to have to tell him to go see it with someone else. I won't be participating in the mass-experience