The Hunger Games - some additional brief thoughts

Last week I was compelled to post something about the recent ***Hunger Games*** movie by the teenagers who were making lots of noise in our tv room. The next morning, the teenagers who stayed over the night are raiding our kitchen for breakfast, I was compelled to think about the bigger-picture issues that are brought up in the Hunger Games trilogy.

I found this series to be well done from a bigger-picture perspective. See, when I read the trilogy, I noticed the inequality between the districts and the capitol. However, I experienced the first book (& film) as more personal stories. 

Through the first book, I found myself preoccupied with Katniss, particularly with regard to how she would:

1. navigate her relationships with Peeta and with Gale; 
2. experience the scarcity of the life she's accustomed to in District 12 compared to the extravagance of the capitol; and 
3. conduct herself during the games.

The global issues of hunger in the face of plenty, of comfort in the face of struggle, and of obliviousness to injustice were there in the story, but weren't center-stage for me.

The second and third books, though, move Katniss and the reader beyond the personal and into the universal/global. It's almost as if the characters are being forced to mature – to grow up – right in front of us. Which, in itself, is another reason that this is a great series for teenagers to read. Hopefully, in addition to the personal struggles we all face(d) during adolescence, they see that part of themselves mirrored in their reading.

The ideas and the imagined reality presented in the books certainly are disturbing. And at the same time, I feel like they reflect the realities that high-school-aged people struggle with. For instance, we see the political reality that some people are oppressed by those in power. We see that sometimes it's necessary to sacrifice something of ourselves for the benefit of those we love. And every so often, it becomes necessary in life to leave everything behind in order to move on with our life … and when we do that, we often discover what's actually important and worth working to hang on to.

At the same time, what's in the books and films are real life in caricature. But issues presented cartoonishly large give young readers permission to see their own struggles mirrored in literature in a way that takes them seriously.

Which makes the books and films worth the time, at least in my opinion.

$0.02

The Hunger Games - some brief thoughts

I just went with my family to see the new Hunger Games movie (I read the book a couple times). I was impressed by the storytelling, by the acting (especially for an action-type film), and by how closely the filmmakers were able to stick to the heart of the story as written in the books.

Additionally, I was glad that the complexity of the books was not completely ignored in the film. The Hunger Games is one of those series' written for and marketed to teens that actually does what it should – explores the complexities of the actual and real lives that teens today are living.

Let me just say that I don't have any desire for my children, or any children, to have to navigate a world like the one that Katniss and Peeta and Gale and Prim have to live in. At the same time, though, these characters have some of the same struggles that young people do today, and so I'm glad they're explored in literature and film.

From one perspective, this is a classic coming of age story. Katniss is forced, by the circumstances of the world around her, to grow up quickly and act like an adult even while she longs for the comfort and perceived safety & security of childhood. And though she doesn't feel like she's ready, she faces what comes her way with grace and honor – just like, I'm sure, most teenagers hope that they will.

From another angle, we see the struggle with a loss of innocence. I'm sure you remember taking that step from what was to what will be, and realizing later that you'll never be able to go back. Maybe it was the first time you got drunk, the first time you had sex, or when you realized the truth about Santa Claus – whatever seminal moment it was in your life, it was a turning point from which you could never regress. The biggest of these moments in the Hunger Games story is when Prim's (Katniss' sister) name is called at the reaping, and Katniss, in volunteering as tribute in her sister's place, takes the step from which she can't turn back.

The Hunger Games trilogy also explores the complexities of human interpersonal relationships as we see Katniss struggle with knowing how to relate to the two boys/men that she loves. Not knowing how to relate to Peeta without hurting Gale, and not knowing how to save her relationship with Gale even as their shared experience forces her to grow closer to Peeta surely mirrors what many teenagers feel – or, if not, I must be completely alone.

And the closest-to-home part of the complexity of her relationship with Peeta and Gale is the truth that there's never any satisfactory and satisfying resolution. Thanks be to God and Suzanne Collins, there's no sitcom ending, because the reality is that our real-life relationships in the real world are really and actually complicated. It's nice to see that reflected here as well.

There's a lot more to appreciate about this story beyond the reflection of how teenagers may experience life, but that's a topic for another blog post – maybe in the next day or two?

$0.02