The Hunger Games Movie -- A Few Thoughts

I just got back from the Hunger Games movie and had a few striking thoughts.  Don't worry, no spoilers (I don't think).

For those of you unfamiliar with the series, the 3 books are set in a post-apocalyptic-type North America.  We've got "The Capitol" in the Rockies, the center of power brimming with technology, out-of-this-world gourmet food, and a rich and self-obsessed population.  The rest of the land is divided up into 12 "Districts."  The 13th District was destroyed by the Capitol after they crushed an uprising, 74 years ago.  Each year, the Capitol orchestrates The Hunger Games: entertainment for the Capitol dwellers, and broadcasted to the rest of the population to remind them who is in charge.  2 "tributes" are selected at random from each District, and thrown somewhere together in the middle of nowhere with one purpose: they are forced to kill each other off, until only one tribute is left.  Oh, one more thing.  The tributes are all children, between 12 and 18 years old.

I just finished the first book last week, and enjoyed it (apart from the 1st person/present narrative style, very......different). This is far from my favorite series ever, but it was exciting, and I felt the author was trying to get a message out.  Maybe I'll need to read books 2 and 3 to get the whole message, but I thought it was something like this: the people from the Districts are all constantly threatened, even terrorized, their own land's natural resources being stripped from them to be enjoyed by others, and they feel powerless to do anything about it.  Or, another interpretation (as one of my friends pointed out to me): modern society is obsessed with reality TV shows and violence.

I expected the movie to be much like the book, which it was, except........it wasn't.  First of all, as soon as the "competition" part of the movie started, I was horrified to watch children killing children.  Even though I knew it was coming, it was very different seeing it reenacted on the big screen.  (Which is probably one of the author's points -- this. is. wrong.).  But then to look around me at the hundreds of kids in the theater (I'd say the average age of the kids was 12 or 13), and to watch the children watching children killing children, THAT was nightmarish.  And it only got worse.

One friend in my group said that the author wrote the books so that children would understand the brutality of war.  To try to give them perspective without them actually having to live through a war.  Well, I think after the first few children were killed, the kids in the theater were a little shocked.  But soon, they started to cheer, as each of the "bad kids" were taken down.  Cheering and cheering and "yes!" and then settling back down to watch more.  My friends and I were taken aback.  Our theater had become "The Capitol."

Only.....there was a little girl sitting next to me.  Maybe 7 or 8 years old.  And when little Rue from District 11 died, this little girl started crying.  And she couldn't stop.  She understood.  Her parents just patted her leg and kept watching the movie, but I knew how she felt.  So I gave her a tissue (she definitely needed it).

The other kids in the theater probably just didn't know how to deal with the gravity of the movie, so they got excited and cheered.  But if the author's purpose really was to teach children, I don't think the opportunity was necessarily lost tonight.  But those kids are going to need parents that do more than just pat them on the leg.  After all the cheering dies down, the kids will need:

To talk.  Children are sharp.  They would understand an explanation of the real-life parallels the movie/and/or book introduces.  And they'll need parents who know when they're ready for such movies/books/and talks.

They'll also need examples of adults who aren't obsessed with reality shows and violence.  (Do a little soul-searching -- as you're watching March Madness, would you rather see a jerk of a player get an elbow in his face that had it coming to him, or see a player help his opponent up?)

Or these kids might just need a hug, and another tissue.