Podcast Preview – Hunger Games vs Battle Royale

In a recent NY Times article, Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games, reports that she didn’t know of Battle Royale until after her book was published.  It would appear that two key factors contributed its popularity.  Throughout the recent decade young adult literature has been on the rise from Harry Potter to Twilight.  Couple that with a zeitgeist of doom and gloom as evidenced by the TV show, Doomsday Preppers, and an upswing in predictions of the end of the world in our near future and you have the right environment for the commercial success of a dystopian novel focused on teenagers.

Nonetheless,  The Hunger Games has been criticized as an Americanized imitation of Battle Royale.

In this week’s ComicBooked podcast, available now, we discuss the two movies and weigh in on the debate.  Who triumphs: Katniss and Peeta or Shuya and Noriko? Or do they belong in their own distinct arenas?  Join Jeremy, InfaPlat and yours truly as we do battle in our podcast arena and catch up with a recent review of The Hunger Games.