After “Twilight,” “Fifty Shades of Grey,” “Bridgerton,” and “Harry Potter,” Anaïs and Marie (AMIES podcast) are diving into another era-defining saga: “Hunger Games.” This cult series isn't just another young adult blockbuster—it's the heartbeat of a generation's coming of age.
The AMIES Pedigree: A Podcast Steeped in Pop Culture Rituals
- Host Lineup: Anaïs Bordages and Marie Telling, both close friends and TV critics, have carved their podcast AMIES (produced by Slate Podcasts) into a pop phenomenon. Their previous seasons have tackled iconic franchises like “Friends” (with one host a longtime fan, the other a fresh initiate), “Twilight,” “Fifty Shades of Grey,” “Bridgerton,” and “Harry Potter”—each rewatched, analyzed, and bantered over for listeners’ (and sometimes their own) pleasure.
- Production Magic: With editorial production, editing, and direction led by Aurélie Rodrigues and charming illustrations by Anaïs Lefebvre, AMIES keeps both spirit and aesthetics sharp. Their podcast motifs even include original music like “Haunting Euphoria” by Boris Nonte, and “Rise up and Reign” by Louise Bernadette and Jason Tarver.
From Forks to Panem: The Pop Cultural Leap
For AMIES, binge-watching major sagas is practically tradition. After their stints navigating the hormonal vampires of Forks and the pastel intrigue of Regency England with “Bridgerton,” Anaïs and Marie turn to a dystopian world: Suzanne Collins’s “Hunger Games.” The saga, which they describe as having “rhythmed their life as young adults”, is a new terrain for re-exploration—at least for one of them. The podcast revels in these contrasts: one host is generally a seasoned fan, the other a curious newcomer or a sufferer of acute pop culture amnesia. The dynamic offers the podcast’s signature blend of nostalgia, critique, and comic exasperation.
What distinguishes “Hunger Games” in their eyes? It stands with “Twilight” and “Harry Potter” not simply as a box office juggernaut or a book-to-film adaptation, but as a saga that shaped the collective narrative of young adulthood. The dystopian survival arena, broadcast “battle royale” style, reflects more than literal danger—it echoes the competitive, sometimes absurd survivalism of the turbulent teen and young adult years. The cultural resonance is such that AMIES aligns it with events like the Eurovision—only (they joke) “instead of singing, you have to kill minors.”
AMIES’ Approach: Love, Irony, and Relatability
- Personal Ritual: For Anaïs and Marie, every new saga is a ritual, both personal and generational. “Hunger Games” joins the roster of cult series seamlessly, anticipated by its thematic kinship with their previous forays.
- Generational Rhythm: Their angle isn’t only about recaps or reviews. It’s about reflecting how these stories provided a sort of calendar for a young adult’s emotional evolution—an excuse to rewatch, to debate, to reminisce (fondly or mockingly) about what it felt like to “grow up with Katniss” and her world.
- Comic Distance: The hosts wield humor as both a shield and a lens. The idea that one would, given the choice, simply volunteer to be “out first” in the Games—lazy, exhausted from life and gym class dodgeball alike—isn’t just self-deprecation: it’s an acknowledgment that the stakes, though deadly in-film, play out as recognizably mundane anxieties and apathies.
Conclusion: A Journey Through Young Adult Icons Continues
Through AMIES, “Hunger Games” becomes more than a saga of televised teen slaughter. It’s another pop milestone in a podcast voyage that recognizes the deeply human drive to bond, remember, and occasionally cringe at the stories that raised us. Anaïs and Marie’s summer mini-season promises not only rewatch and review, but a layered, laugh-out-loud, sometimes knife-sharp conversation about what makes a saga truly “cult”: it grows alongside—and sometimes despite—us.
Follow AMIES for future episodes—a podcast by Anaïs Bordages and Marie Telling, courtesy of Slate Podcasts, with delightful production by Aurélie Rodrigues and visual charm by Anaïs Lefebvre.
