Hunger Pains: My Take on The Hunger Games

I will start this by saying that I haven't read The Hunger Games, my husband hasn't read The Hunger Games, and my kids have not read The Hunger Games.  These are purely my opinions, and I am not judging anyone who has a different opinion (and I'm quite sure that I have many friends who disagree with me).  :)

I've known about the books for quite a while, but decided not to read them or have the kids read them.  Then, the movie came out.  My kids weren't asking to see it, but since all MY friends were talking about it, I considered it.  James and I read lots of reviews of it, and in the end, I decided that we could take the three oldest kids to see it (12, almost 14, and 15 years old).

Were there any redeeming qualities to the movie?  Yes.  The overall message was good: the devaluing of human life and use of violence and killing for entertainment is a very bad thing.  Sacrificing for others, even if it meant death, was also a prevailing theme in the main character Katniss as was going against societal norms for the sake of what was right.

But while the message of the movie was good, it was not lost on my 15 year old that we were sitting in a movie denouncing violence for entertainment sake, and yet there was an audience in the theater cheering when kids were killing other kids.  I understand that the plot line of children killing other children for a television show is a means of showing the absurdity of it all and pointing to what happens when we become desensitized to violence.  However I can't escape the fact that the target audience of the books and movie (young adults aka teens) many times doesn't have the analytic skills to process the message.  The result is a bunch of kids that are participating in exactly what the movie/books are speaking against.

So what are my ultimate feelings about it?  I'm not sure.  It was a thought-provoking movie, but I'm not sure that I want to read the books.  From what I understand, the violence in the movie is a very "clean" version of what happens in the books.  The idea of the movie was disturbing, but it wasn't visually hard to watch for me.  But books in general tend to have a much more emotional and deep connection, and I'm just not sure I want to go there with the violence and the very thought of what is happening.  Is it something that I really want to give that much room in my mind?  James is going to read the books (when we finally make it through the waiting list at the library).  And for the kids...I'm not sure.  I think the older two would be able to handle it (we'll see after James reads them), but I'm not sure that my oldest daughter wants to read them after seeing the movie.  I know that my 12 year old daughter, who was pretty disturbed by the movie, won't be reading them any time soon, not that she wants to.  So, I don't really know.

If you want my advice on whether or not to take your kids to see the movie (and I know you didn't ask, but I will give it anyway), I would say it depends.  If they've read the books, I can't see how it would be worse for them seeing the movie.  But if they haven't read the books, I wouldn't take a child who couldn't really process what was going on and why.  I know that these books have been compared to Lord of the Flies, but the difference is that reading Lord of the Flies isn't "the cool thing to do" and movies of said book aren't box office hits.  Most people wouldn't have their kids read Lord of the Flies until they were able to comprehend it on a deeper level, and most kids (or adults) wouldn't read it of their own accord.

I guess it all boils down to this....the movie (and I'm assuming the books) definitely had a message that made you think.  And thinking is good.  I'm just not sure that dwelling on that message, especially for kids (and some adults) on whom the message is lost, is a good thing.  And it just might be a bad thing.

Phillipians 4:8  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.