Quite often, our favorite television shows, novels and movies have much more depth than is visible on a superficial level. By taking the time to explore the deeper or hidden meanings, we can actually find that our pop culture holds the keys to understand the tenants originally proposed by ancient deep thinks like Socrates, Aristotle, and Lao Tzu. What’s wonderful about the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series of books is that they take all of those shows and movies and dissect, searching for the philosophical core, explaining things in layman’s terms.

But movies and novels aren’t the only aspects of pop culture with themes that are more than they appear. The series has looked at many comic book topics such as Green Lantern, Batman, and the X-Men. Most recently the series took a look at the Avengers, realizing just how much of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes harkens back to the golden age of thought.

Read the whole review at ComicBooked.com.

1. Aside from The Hunger Games and Philosophy, can you tell us about some of your other works?

George Dunn: One of the things that has interested me since my student days is how good literature—and I put many popular novels and movies like The Hunger Games in that category—can get us thinking about some of the more vexing aspects of the human condition. As a philosopher and a teacher, I’m always on the lookout for ways to connect the philosophical issues that interest me with the pop culture media that my students and I enjoy. That interest led me to author a number of chapters for books in the Blackwell Pop Culture and Philosophy series, including books on Mad Men, Twilight, Battlestar Galactica, X-Men, Alice in Wonderland, and Iron Man. I’ve also edited several books in the series, The Hunger Games and Philosophy being my third and possibly the one of which I’m most proud.

Nicolas Michaud: Well I have written a great deal for Pop Culture and philosophy-type books. I was in Twilight and Philosophy, Final Fantasy and Philosophy, and Stephen Colbert and Philosophy, just to name a few. Feel free to check out my authors page to see more: www.amazon.com/author/nicolasmichaud. For the most part, my writing is in the world of academic philosophy, but I also have a real interest in fantasy writing and writing children’s books, and I am in the process of trying to get a few stories published.

Read the whole Q&A at The Hunger Games Trilogy Fansite.

1. What do you think of the changes made from the book to the film adaptation?

I thought that the filmmakers did an excellent job of translating the book to film. They found some creative and mostly successful ways to supply the audience with the crucial background information that readers of the book have by virtue of constantly being in Katniss’s head. My only real misgiving concerns the flashbacks of Peeta throwing Katniss the loaves of bread. Will moviegoers who haven’t read the book grasp the significant that gesture? On the plus side, I loved being able to peek behind the curtain to see what the Gamemakers were up to during the games. That was a nice touch.

Read the whole Q&A at The Hunger Games Trilogy Fansite.

The premiere of “The Hunger Games” movie Friday (March 23), has sparked discussion across the country, including the campus of Indiana University where the author of the best-selling “The Hunger Games” triology, Suzanne Collins, received a bachelor’s degree with distinction in 1985, with a double major in telecommunications and theater and drama.

“‘The Hunger Games’ is cautionary tale set in post-apocalyptic world. The opening of the movie, based on Collins’ books set box office records over the weekend.

Why has “The Hunger Games” struck such a powerful chord with audiences?

“The Hunger Games” is a cautionary tale about what human society could easily become, with the opportunity to reflect on the capacity for goodness in human beings,” explains IUPUI professor George Dunn who is a co-editor of “The Hunger Games and Philosophy: A Critique of Pure Treason,” a collection of essays that explore the wide range of philosophical issues raised in the “Hunger Games” trilogy.

Read the whole article at the Pulaski Post.

“The Hunger Games” book series is huge among young adults, and the highly anticipated movie version is huge at the box office already. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film has already racked up over $15 million in advance ticket sales, coming close to the number three place currently held by “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1.” Box office projections are hyping a $145 million debut this coming weekend.

But it’s not just tweens and co-eds who have been devouring the series. Older readers have shown a healthy appetite for Suzanne Collins’ dark series about teenagers forced to fight to the death, and they’re expected to make up a large percentage of the films’ audience. Other book-inspired franchises like “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” did well across age groups, but neither had the pre-hype or breathless excitement we are seeing for this film.

Listen to the entire podcast at 89.3 KPCC.

Themes of poverty, injustice, oppression – and yes, hunger – feature prominently in the story line of The Hunger Games, the film franchise launching this weekend.

Now, those issues are migrating off the page and silver screen into the real world. Fans of the dystopian world depicted by author Suzanne Collins are being urged to get involved with social-justice issues, such as fighting hunger.

Read the article at the Christian Science Monitor.

Because the movie focuses on teens as the main characters, University of Indianapolis philosophy instructor George Dunn said the film’s premise has many teachable moments, RTV6’s Myrt Price reported.

“The characters have flaws and care about the same things most kids care about,” Dunn said.”They’re put in a situation where they have to deal with problems and have to make some difficult moral decisions, and they rise to the occasion.”

Dunn said the movie is different from other teen-targeted films such as the “Twilight” saga because the main female character isn’t waiting to be rescued, but instead, she’s determined to save the day all by herself.

Read the entire article at The Indy Channel.

It may not be made of brains, but it’ll certainly be food for thought.

This episode we switch gears a bit and instead of discussing more comics, we tackle the Green Lantern and Philosophy book! Each of us has read selections from the book, with varying degrees of entertainment. Is it good? Is it bad? Listen in and find out!

Listen to the podcast at The LanternCast.