Pastor Kevin Swanson took two of his daughters, paper and pen in hand, to the movie theater to see “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” and made them take notes about the movie to discuss later on his Generations Radio program. Swanson, a leader in the patriarchal fundamentalist homeschooling movement, naturally was aghast at the portrayal of “Hunger Games” heroine Katniss Everdeen as an icon of the rebellion against the tyrannical Capitol.
Swanson said that the fictional Panem’s main problem was a lack of male leadership (aside, you know, from its president).
“Think about the men,” Swanson said. “They were tyrants, they were wimpy, they were led around by the nose by women. Peeta is a puppy dog, he was cute, he was nice, he was fluffy and he did everything that his mistress told him to do. He was the puppy dog.”
“Girls, if society is so broken down and there are no fathers left, probably no sheriffs with courage and guts to defend the people from tyrants, what do you get when you don’t have any men?” he asked. “I guess you get Katniss, and Katniss is going to save society. It’s also interesting that the most popular movies that people watch are movies about witches, about vampires and about little girl anarchists, revolutionaries.”
