That Awkward Thursday is a feature hosted by Wholly Books where it's not only okay but encouraged to share your awkward moments! 

That Awkward Thursday is a feature hosted by Wholly Books where it's not only okay but encouraged to share your awkward moments! 

I haven't done this feature in quite a while but the other day something happened and it made me think of this feature. I have been wanting to bring it back but I have been running low on topics so this seemed like the perfect time! 

Let me preface this by saying that this is a very, very personal post. Also, you should know that I love my husband very much and that we do get along...most of the time! ;)

Saturday was my birthday. I wanted to go to the beach and stay the night but the weather wasn't cooperating so we decided to go out to eat and do a little shopping. When we got home the kiddo was tired out and went to bed so I decided I wanted to watch Catching Fire. My husband hadn't watched it so I thought we could watch it together. He had seen The Hunger Games and liked it so I thought he would enjoy Catching Fire. However, when we were finished he didn't say much about it. It was late and way past his bedtime so I figured he was just tired. Fast forward two days later, he makes a snide comment about this horrible movie that I made him watched and how violent it was to some of my family. Then a couple of days later he said it again to his family. 

Few things get me as angered or fired up as people that go around talking about things I love. I hate when people start talking about the violence in YA literature and movies. I. HATE. IT. So to be quite honest, when my husband started talking about The Hunger Games being violent and calling it "sick junk" (yes, that's a direct quote) it ticked me off.  The thing that ticks me off isn't that they or he say it's violent because let's be honest it kind of it. It's that people (my husband included) act like that because it is violent that people shouldn't watch it or that it is in some way promoting violence. I could understand if it was violent for no reason but it's not. There's a reason for the violence. Art imitates life. 

I didn't say anything to my husband right away but later on when we were alone I brought up the subject. I told him that if he thought the movie was promoting violence then he had missed the point Suzanne Collins was trying to make. I asked him why he thought that way. He gave me a couple of examples.  He didn't like the harshness of the Capitol and the fact that Katniss still hadn't won. He said that he likes to pull for the underdog and that so far the underdog hadn't won. He didn't like the way the people of the Capitol dressed. He was also worried that the Capitol was going to torture Peeta in the next movie and he didn't want to see that. I, then, began to explain to him why some of the things happened the way they did. I explained to him how Effie's character development was central to the theme of the movie/book. Effie begins the series loving the Capitol. She loves the clothes, the luxuries, the crazy fashion.  She tells Katniss and Peeta how lucky they are to be there. However, in Catching Fire, when she has to draw Katniss's name for the Quarter Quell you see her feelings toward the Capitol change and her heart breaks when Peeta volunteers for Haymitch. Later, Effie tells Peeta and Katniss that they deserved better. I think that scene is the one that really portrays how her perception of the Capitol has changed. She has seen the Capitol as it really is. Evil. I also explained that Katniss couldn't beat the Capitol in the first or even second book because it is a three book series plus a revolution takes time. I didn't go into with him how Katniss's defiance with the berries in the first book in itself was a victory. I told him that the reason that Collins portrays the people of the Capitol the way she does is because she is showing how ridiculous people can be when they live a life of luxury and naivety. This point is portrayed in the scene where Peeta is offered the liquid that causes people to throw up and he says that people are starving in the districts while people in the Capitol are throwing up so they can have more room to eat more food. I could go on and on with all the symbolism but this isn't an English paper so I'll move on. I think I've made my point.

After I was finished, I'm still not sure it changed his opinion but I did at least feel better for having said my piece. Still, sometimes it does bother me knowing that no matter how hard I try he just isn't going to get my love for literature. He isn't going to understand the symbolism or hidden meanings in books or movies. He's not going to have my passion for books. He just doesn't get it and I honestly don't think he ever will. I feel like there's a piece of me he will never get and I hate that. 

Does anyone else have husbands, boyfriends, ect that just don't get the symbolism and meaning in arts and literature or your love for books? Does this bother anyone else? How do you deal with it?

Books vs. Husband

Round 1: Books

    This round goes to books because let's face it my husband was just wrong on this subject! ;)