Forum for Geeks

In what universe is it ok to have a movie focused on kids killing kids?

Full disclosure – I haven’t seen the movie or read the books and honestly don’t really intend to.

I don’t care what sort of social commentary this is movie making, I don’t want to see it and I am amazed that any parent anywhere DOES want to see it. Especially ones with kids aged between 12-18 as these are apparently the ones that are going to be killing each other.

“Oh they cut away before the fatal blow, you don’t see the kids dying” – In what universe does that make it ok?!

Also it is a “last man standing” situation so even though two or three characters may team up and we may get invested into their relationship ultimately, even if they get to the end of the line themselves, they will have to attack each other?

I am sorry to say, but unlike the other 97.8% of people on the planet that rushed out to see this over the last few weeks, I have not and will not go and see this movie.

/rant

Not trying to be a hater, just giving my opinion based on what I know about this movie based on the advertising, but also coverage provided by other podcasts (some on this forum, some not.). Please feel free to use this thread to discuss what I have said, but above all let’s keep it civil. –D!

I respect and admire your passion and desire to speak your mind, dude. But while the killing is definitely a major part of the film, it isn't the main focus of the story, any more than Revenge Of The Sith was focused on Anakin killing kids. In both cases, the deaths are a horrific part of the story, but not the focus.

The Hunger Games series is about revolution against an oppressive, sadistic, and over-indulgent society. And the focus of the story is a girl's transformation from victim to reluctant freedom-fighter.

Oh, and there's also the unfortunate tweeny-bopper love triangle thing going on.

But despite that, I thought the book series & the film were pretty decent.

Thanks for the comments Eric.

Dez -

I have read both the book and have seen the movie based off my love of the book. As a parent of two (one aged 5 on aged 3) and a third on the way I can see your point of view that you abhor violence against children. However like Eric said the main point of the book is not to glorify violence against children but to show the strength of a group of suppressed children (and their families). The interesting part of the book is how the children involved overcome a terrible situation. At know part is the violence against children glorified but it is treated as an awful occurrence. I think you could look to similar themed stories both with children or adults that are very similar in how they handle violence such as Lord of the Flies, Spartacus, or any book or film where an oppressed people overcome a brutal situation. I think if the point of this book was to praise violence against children that you would not see the positive critical and commercial results that we have seen for this film.

This said you are entitled to your opinion and are able to choose what you or your family will watch.

Beyond what the other guys said; this is an allegorical story. The point isn't just "this type of thing is bad", but "this is where our society could end up going if our desensitization to violence and voyeuristic love of reality television isn't addressed".

But like has already been stated; in the story, this is just one symptom of a much larger problem. The culture in the story has devolved back to Roman standards with the games(the Coliseum), class disparities, and even the return of vomitoriums. There is a lack of respect for life and morality has become "wealth makes right".

It should also be noted that after the first book, the whole "children fighting to the death" idea isn't the focus. Yes, some children are still in peril(as the protagonist is 17 or 18 in the books), but the scope widens considerably and over time shifts to the war going on between the capitol and everyone else.

Another really interesting takeaway from the trilogy that I'll keep vague here to avoid spoilers:

This series gets REALLY dark as it progresses. It is not a white hats vs black hats story. In fact(considering this is a novel written primarily for young adults), I was worried that they were going to wimp out at the last minute, but I give props to Suzanne Collins for following through on the ideas she introduced into the books, and for not dumbing it down in the end to make it more marketable.

Again, I want to avoid spoilers, but let's just say that sometimes Utopia is just as bad as Dystopia, and in real life, just because something fights against evil, that doesn't make it "good". The trilogy understands that and follows through on it.

For some reason I am totally desensitized to all entertainment media. No fiction content bothers me at that level. I totally get why it could bother people, though. I'm more bothered by the inconsistency of the ratings systems, but thats for another thread altogether.

I wasn't bothered by it either. Then again, I don't have kids.

The Games are not entertainment is this world, they are a punishment, a reminder of what happens when the people of this world rebelled against the government in the past. It is a completely politicized tournament meant to keep the populace from rising up, there is no glory in it, as winning really yields you nothing, as winners are reseeded into the contestant pool every 25 years.

Um... no, not exactly, that was a one time thing for the 75th games.

I've only read through once, that detail must have weighed on me more heavily than intended.

Yeah, each Quarter Quell has a different "spin". One of them(I forget if it was 25 or 50) doubled up on the number of Tributes from each district if memory serves.

As the father of two sons,I will say I have read all three books and saw the movie. And enjoyed the film and the first 2 books. My oldest son has read the books and saw the film and enjoyed them. But he is also in his early 20s. My youngest hasn't seen the movie yet, but I think at the age of 8 he is too young to watch it.

I dislike the movie. I just thought it wasn't made well and I just couldn't get into the character at all. I found Katness uninteresting. When I I look at my watch to see how long I got in a movie it is not a good sign for me to like it. Unfortunately being a completest, I may have to watch the sequels anyway.

I finally saw it last night. I thought it was good, not great. I thought it was shot very well.

Man, they really breeze through alot of info. There were many one sentence explanations of some important stuff. I wondered if people that never read it would have a hard time getting all of it.