Disturbed. Agitated. Intrigued. These are the emotions I felt as I exited the theater a few days ago after watching one of our latest blockbusters, The Hunger Games.
At Christmastime, I had politely accepted the book trilogy, then quietly put it away, as I professed to have no interest in reading about kids killing each other, reality TV-style, in a futuristic world where the haves manipulate the have-nots for sport. However, having been filmed in large part in my area, I just had to see the movie so I could take part in the social conversation that would surely follow its release.
And so, with wife and 10-year old son in tow (I know, I know, but he’s an old soul, having grown up hanging out with two much older brothers; and, he had also read the book), I sat for almost two and a half hours—no small feat for me—heart and mind racing as I took in the action and social statements and wondered what it meant that the theater was packed to the gills at 4 o’clock on a weekday afternoon for this movie.
As disturbed/agitated/intrigued as I was about the premise of the movie and the worry I feel that our society may not be too far away from actually wanting to watch people die for sport, I reminded myself that these were probably the emotions the author wanted me to feel—that if I didn’t feel these emotions, then I was probably already too desensitized, too jaded, from watching Survivor and American Idol to “get it.”
Maybe I’m safe for now. I guess I’m not the philistine I thought I was.
It’s definitely a movie worth talking about. What did you think about it?
Gillespie Dental Associates 
My daughter, who is 18, did not read the books. She just saw the movie the other night. She gave the same comments as you, almost exactly. She described the movie as disturbing. She said it was something that our society could somehow fall into and she found that scary. She said she felt like she needed to better learn to survive and make things that are basic to survival. She came away thinking alot about how technologically bent our youth is today and how we have lost the art of teaching kids basic survival skills. She felt that was an important subplot to the movie.
LikeLike
Interesting–I also remember feeling that way when I was 18–just over 30 years ago. After having watched the war in Vietnam come to an end and the Watergate scandal play out on TV, we were still dealing with the nuclear threat from the Soviet Union and the Iran hostage crisis was still fresh on our minds–a lot of scary stuff out of our control.
Succeeding to stay true to yourself in a morally-twisted world is probably something that really resonates with the teenage fans as well….
Thanks for your feedback!
LikeLike