Sunday 25 March 2012

Hunger Games: The Movie without any spoilers



Yesterday I had the special privilege of taking my daughter out for her 15th birthday, just us.  We shopped for spring break, stopped for smelling pleasures at Bath and Body Works, ate Chinese, and saw the Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games is haunting me, just like it did three years ago when I read the book. I love it and hate it at the same time.  The violent nature is hard to swallow.  But the real emotions conveyed in the story plot and through the characters are gripping.

I'm thinking about the power of it all, the obsession the youth have with the books and the movie.  I just wish it would move more people into action.  I hope it isn't just a form of entertainment.  With all the reality shows on these days, people can easily slip in and out of people's lives.

What is it teaching us all?  How are we going to change the injustice in the world.  Are we going to sit idly by and accept the direction of oppression, the cycle of poverty, the helplessness of others - victims of greed and control?


4 comments:

Jennifer K. said...

"Are we going to sit idly by and accept the direction of oppression, the cycle of poverty, the helplessness of others - victims of greed and control?" Wow...such powerful words and a call to action. I, too, have grown to love the Hunger Games because of the well-developed characters and plot and keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat-action, yet I still cringe at the violence portrayed in the story. It disturbs me that people would watch violence and call it entertainment, but now that I think about it, people do it all the time...boxing, wrestling, dog/cock fights just to name a few...I don't like violence. What action can I take?

CMacWW said...

I have read the books, but I have not yet seen the movie. I join you in hoping that the books and the movie(s) call us to action.

jenb. said...

You have drawn me in. I have the first in the trilogy sitting on my bed waiting to be opened. I wonder how this book might call me to action, given that I don't have any real clue what it is about. But, my favorite line of your post? "Yesterday I had the special privilege of taking my daughter out for her 15th birthday, just us." I think it is a beautiful thing when a parent knows that parenting is a privilege. Your daughter is a lucky girl!

Dana said...

"How are we going to change the injustice in the world. Are we going to sit idly by and accept the direction of .....the cycle of poverty" This one has been eating at me a lot lately. I work in a school that is 90% free and reduced lunch. Year after year, 40% of our kids leave our school and new kids arrive. We start over. We do the best we can but I don't see poverty being tackled.