Newspapers / Brevard College Student Newspaper / April 6, 2012, edition 1 / Page 8
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Page 8 Opinion The Clarion | April 6. 2012 Think first: you might be strip searched By Melissa Sullebarger Did you know that you can legally be detained in a prison for having a headlight out, having unpaid parking tickets, or riding a bike without an audible bell? These aren’t all of the minor offenses for which you can be legally locked away, there are countless others, but what’s the big deal, right? It’s not like they keep you in prison very long, sometimes not even a full night. No one would say that it’s a pleasant experience, but it’s not like the prison officials can strip-search you for violating dog leash laws. Oh, wait, scratch that, thanks to a new Supreme Court decision, they can. So if you’re ever taken to prison for something minor, and the prison staff decide that you look suspicious enough to warrant it, they can legally make you strip yourself naked, even if you’re only in for a traffic violation. Strip-searches were formerly expected to be reserved for those arrested for violent or drug-related crimes. This particular court case was sparked off by a man named Albert Florence, who was arrested back in 2005 because of a seven- year old warrant that said he had failed to pay a fine. This fine had, in fact, been paid, and Florence had the receipt to prove it with him at the time, but he was taken to a local jail anyway. Tie spent a full week in the jail before the matter was cleared up, and in his brief time there, was strip-searched twice. Florence sued, and it is this case that was appealed all of the way up to the highest court in the land, where five of the nine justices saw nothing wrong with this complete violation of an innocent man’s privacy. Is this decision, in and of itself the creation of a police state? Of course not. But it sure sounds similar to search without a warrant (violating the fourth amendment), and when lined up with other recent government decisions, like the bill passed in December that allows American citizens to be detained without a trial if they are suspected of terrorist activities (again violating the constitution), it shows a concerning trend. Hunger Games: may the odds be ever in your favor By Olivia Fawcett StaffVVntei^^_ For those of you who have not seen the Hunger Games yet, you are missing out! For those of you holding out to see the movie until after you read the book, read faster! Not to mention. The Hunger Games ended up making $155 million dollars the opening weekend, making it the third highest grossing film in North American history, beaten by The Dark Knight, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt. 2, according to CNN. A quick synopsis of the book, for those of you who have not yet read it. The novel revolves around a sixteen year old girl named Katniss Everdeen, who lives in District 12, one of the twelve districts in a dystopian United States, now called Panem. Ever since the war with the Capitol, two tributes from each district, one boy and one girl, are chosen to compete in the Hunger Games, a cruel game show that the Capitol puts on as a reminder to the people of Panem that they are controlled by the Capitol. The rules of the Hunger Games are simple, twenty four teenagers ages 12-18 are drawn at random, twenty four go in and only one comes out.. .alive. The story follows Kitniss from the moment she takes her little sister. Primrose’s place in the Hunger Games until the very end. The movie itself stays pretty true to the book, probably because Suzanne Collins insisted on writing the screen play. Katniss is played by Jennifer Lawrence, and I think she does a pretty good job at, she keeps true to the character’s quiet nature and fantastic archery skills. Then again if you were trained by an Olympian archer, you would probably be pretty good. Woody Harrison plays the role of Haymitch Abernathy, a drunk who is Katniss and Peeta Mellark’s (the male tribute) mentor during the games. Harrison’s portrayal of Haymitch is actually pretty similar to that of Tallahassee from Zombieland, sarcastic and rude. Yet the two characters have such different backgrounds and have such different roles, that it did not bother me that much. The other actors in the movie were memorable in their own way, from the handsome semi-love interest Gale, to a red headed tribute Katniss nicknames Foxface. Each character is in my opinion represented in a way that follows as true as possible to the characters that Suzanne Collins wrote about. 1 also enjoyed that during the movie, a lot of behind the scenes moments were shown. The President of the Capitol as well as the layout designer of the games are shown and given significant roles. I believe this is just to keep fans interested and to set up the second and third movies that are bound to come out due to the success of this one. Recently though, fans expressed forms of racism when it came to the casting of the tributes from District 10, Rue and Thrush. In the book on page 42, Rue was described as having “dark brown skin and eyes”, while Thrush the male tribute was described the same way. The character Cinna, Katniss’s designer, was never identified as a certain race, yet the public was outraged when the character ended up being African American. Like every movie, it cannot include every detail of the book. However, they forgot one of the most important parts of the novel, how Katniss received her mockingjay pin. Once again for those of you who haven’t read the books, a mockingjay is a hybrid bird created by the Capitol that will mimic speech and tunes. The pin was given to her by the mayor’s daughter, a girl named Madge, who was not included in the movie. Instead, Katniss gives the pin to her little sister. Primrose, to protect her. Primrose then gives the pin back to Katniss when she volunteers and takes her little sister’s place in the games. A second part that I did not think was accurate was the portrayal of the relationship between Peeta and Katniss. Let’s keep it simple and say that in the book, the relationship is more one sided than it is in the movie. As for the setting, the movie was filmed locally in our very own backyard; the games took place in Pisgah and DuPont! If you watch closely, you can tell that Katniss is swimming at Hooker falls, and walking/climbing both Triple falls and High falls. Overall I would give the movie 4.8 out of 5 stars, because a couple of things bothered me, but overall it was a fantastic movie, that I highly recommend seeing, regardless of having read the book or not.
Brevard College Student Newspaper
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April 6, 2012, edition 1
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