While the outer districts look upon the Games with horror and foreboding, the privileged, spoiled, and ridiculous citizens of the opulent Capitol love every minute—like we worship football or any given reality show. To them, these deaths are only a good show. Like many good sci-fi fables, Hunger Games says a lot about us: our voyeuristic culture, the tempering distraction of mindless entertainment, the balance of compassion and self-preservation, the interconnectivity of the haves and have-nots, hope and fear as controlling agents, and children's loss of innocence.
One of my favorite moments occurs just minutes after the Games begin. Children already lay dead. Katniss has fled to the forest.
As she rests, a butterfly lands on her leg. For a split second, her face lightens. She is back home. Just a girl. And then—like a shot—she is snapped back to the harsh reality that she will never be carefree or innocent again. The Hunger Games is rated PG for intense violent thematic material and disturbing images—all involving teens. Take the rating seriously. While most death blows occur off screen, the films shows many children dead or falling lifeless to the ground. One boy is shot in the chest with an arrow.
A girl is stabbed by a spear. One boy has his neck brutally and suddenly snapped. One girl's body is grotesquely disfigured by insect venom. There are scenes of peril involving large dog-like beasts attacking kids. Click for reprint information. This slideshow is only available for subscribers. Please log in or subscribe to view the slideshow. Already a subscriber? Log in to continue reading. To unlock this article for your friends, use any of the social share buttons on our site, or simply copy the link below.
To share this article with your friends, use any of the social share buttons on our site, or simply copy the link below. Sections Home. We see and hear the horrors of the world potrayed on our news casts, our hearts break, then we go back to living our comfy lives of abundance and peace.
For me, The Hunger Games is a call to action. As youth watch the upcoming movie, and as they read the books, I pray that there will be adults around them that help them to process what they have seen. For me, The Hunger games is not entertainment, it is a reflection of the reality of the world around us. Will rise up in defense of the defenseless, or will we continue to see the news as little more than another half hour of entertainment in our day?
Thanks for the very interesting interpretation of the series! I greatly enjoyed your take on the series. As always, the comments on the blog have helped shape my perception. Many astute readers have given me great insight, and I appreciate it. I do think that your view of the books gives excellent talking points.
When Snow revealed what truly happened to Prim, she was understandably reluctant to believe him. Even as the evidence mounted, she still kept trying to find reasons to deny the uncomfortable truth. From everything that we experienced through her eyes, we would have to believe that she would be every bit as opposed to the idea of another Hunger Games as Peeta was. It seemed to me that it was not the final Hunger Games proposition that she was considering, but rather how best to answer that question to avoid letting Coin know that she was onto her.
She mentions that he watches her closely before answering in agreement. Thanks for your comment, Jon! I appreciate the read. Again, you reveal a line of reasoning I missed. Thank you so much! I am currently in the middle of the series and in the middle of several conversations concerning the merits of this adolescent genre among Christian family audiences.
I think that since these books are possibly going to become a mainstay of this generation much like Harry Potter to the last few, i think that it would be beneficial for parents and anybody else who deals with teens to read these books. They have the potential to change culture and the way teens think. Most of the popular books are made into movie, which is where is become interested, and spread to an even broader audience of people.
One thing I noticed Wartick say was that there is violence and a brief sexual clip and that children should not read this series. That got me thinking about how desensitized this culture is becoming not that i am bashing this series, because it does sound very interesting with violence and immorality. Anymore, everything on TV seems to have to include violence, immorality, or somebody getting made fun of to be considered popular.
When i think about it everything I like includes violence or inappropriate comedy. This culture is becoming more and more desensitized and who knows where it will be in a few years.
However, after reading this comment it really made me think about what it is that entertains me. Murder and sexual exploitation, although the plot seems to go much further then this, does not seem to me as things I should think of as entertaining, but unfortunately these things are appealing to our generation and culture today.
The reality is, however, that those things are a part of our culture and those are things that people like. This is a huge book right now that many teens and young adults are reading, so if those parallels are evident then it could be very useful if used in the right way with appropriate discretion.
I have not read these books, however I do plan on it. I have recently learned to love reading. I never did as a child, but as I have grown older I have learned to enjoy it in my free time. I love the fact that books are becoming popular again. However, the content of the books may not be very beneficial for anyone to read.
I am worried about the content of the books that are popular. Between Rowling and Meyers you have witchcraft and a horrible love triangle between a dead guy, a wolf, and a horribly confused girl. Yet, I feel as Christians we try and add Christian themes to books, movies, and other entertainment to justify it in our own eyes. If you look hard enough, and construe things far enough you can find Christian themes in anything. What really needs to be done, instead of us trying to justify it in our own eyes, is look toward the word of God as to whether these things are beneficial.
We have a very smart and crafty enemy lurking in the background who will do anything to see us fall. I have read all three books in the series and quite enjoyed all three of them. Collins does a great job of getting the reader immersed in the story. Their question caused me to reflect on my own reading of the Bible. These three books became my life for that one week. That realization led me to caution the student toward moderation in reading these stories and those like it.
I went through some scriptures with the student and encouraged them to read the Bible as a whole book, not little sections that tend to not click together in our brains.
As far as these books being damaging, I would say they are fine for high school and up. Middle school is a closer call, because they have not had to face many of the emotional or situational issues presented in the books. I would encourage moderation to any student who is wanting to read these books. They are well written and full of circumstances that the reader can relate to on some level. I would venture to say that none of us have had to compete in a Gladiatorial arena, but the relational issues raised, the pain of losing those close to us, and frustration with parents are issues we all have to face at some time in our life.
Thank you for your blog. I really enjoyed reading it. I have to admit that I never knew anything about the books other than they are very popular as of recently. After reading this blog and looking at the supplemental links I think that these might be interesting books to check out.
It seems like these books would be OK for high school students or upper high school students but no earlier. Some of the content does seem disturbing and I do not know how they would handle it. While there may be some things that we can pull out of these books, we should use them as a learning tool sparingly. I think that this can be said about these books, while we can pull things out of it, there are just enough things in them that can be damaging to kids.
Even while not endorsing the ideas of murder or sexual exploitation I still do not think that it can be appropriate for younger readers. With all this being said, as long as the readers is mature enough and can handle it, more power to who ever wants to read the books. They do sound interesting and I may check them out myself. These books do seem to be the next big things in this genre of fiction books.
Due to this I suggest that as youth workers and parents we read these and know what the next generation is reading. It will help us to understand what our youth is thinking and what the changes in the culture are to come.
I think that in the same ways that we might examine typical pop culture, these books must be examined in the same way. However, I will say that the discussion that does get raised with books like this can at times be a little too analytical.
Concerning the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the books were written for the purpose of entertainment and as rumored to best C. Lewis in writing a great epic; however, we have analogized them, and brought them in to our own world, interpreting them based on our experiences.
We will in no doubt do the same with these books and movies. As the fad becomes more popular we will use them, create events around them, and maybe even write a sermon series loosely based upon them. However, the trick is to be responsible; one would not creating a lesson series for a 2nd grade sunday school based on the Hunger Games. I really enjoyed reading your take on the Hunger Games trilogy.
Most of our middle school students in our youth group have read or are reading the Hunger Games. I myself am currently working on reading the books. I also have noticed quite a bit of parallels between the Hunger Games and Christianity. These parallels can create some great discussions.
These books seem like the books of choice for this generation of teens, so i believe that anyone who works with youth probably should read or learn more about these books. They both decide and scheme on how to hurt the other teams. They are able to destroy all their food, but in the midst of this, Rue is killed.
Deeply saddened by her death, Katniss morns. All the while, the society has been watching her through hidden cameras. So, they too mourn for the death of the youngest competitors and see the compassion in Katniss. Suddenly, the district from which Rue hails, rises up. They start a rebellion against the government and the games. A romantic relationship develops between Katniss and Peeta when the contestants are told two people can win from the same district.
Though this is a point the movie is making, it only has a negative impact on society. In the Sudan, for instance, children are being taken, desensitized by watching violence, given a gun, and killing. So, why would you want to watch the same thing happening in a Hollywood Blockbuster? If you walk out of the theatre feeling uncomfortable, you're always free to reduce the story's meaning to a Subway sandwich. The critique is gone; it's just the stuff that remains. Here's what's more terrifying. This is the second movie in the franchise, and the second time there's been tie-in merchandise like this, which has emerged to very little criticism.
One can only presume it's being sold because it sold so well last time around. Even the forthcoming final film in the trilogy like Twilight and Harry Potter is being split into two parts to maximize profits. By nature, these are violent films that also critique violence; in what feels like a rebuke of the films of Quentin Tarantino, who claims to do the same thing, Catching Fire leans toward implying the actual gore as much as possible, instead of showing blood and wounds.
But that doesn't lessen the impact. Teenagers and grownups die. People are hunted down and shot. A trusted mentor is beaten before Katniss's eyes. One beloved character is cruelly whipped in the town square and the lashes are visible. Poison causes ugly boils on characters' skin. Characters kiss several times, and Katniss and Peeta share a bed for comfort after the PTSD becomes too much to bear they don't have sex. One female character strips naked in an elevator, a bit seductively, but all pertinent parts remain out of sight.
Haymitch is still a raging alcoholic, and after one particularly bad day Katniss, who is 17, takes a swig, too. In sum, the film would be good for many parents and teens to watch together, but particularly sensitive people may need to steer clear.
That said, this is more or less the Movie Event Of The Year, and Christians especially ought to acquaint themselves with what everyone's talking about, even if they don't see the film themselves. She tweets at alissamarie. This slideshow is only available for subscribers. Please log in or subscribe to view the slideshow. Already a subscriber? Log in to continue reading.
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