The Hunger Games
- Thread starter Kaigen
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knowledge_of_self
The Living Force
I read the synopsis for this movie just to see what the hubub was all about and was shocked 
It's a disgusting premise and I'm just left in awe at what kids today find entertaining. I shouldn't be surprised as it's just another thing to ponerize the masses with, but it never gets easier to swallow
It's a disgusting premise and I'm just left in awe at what kids today find entertaining. I shouldn't be surprised as it's just another thing to ponerize the masses with, but it never gets easier to swallow
Tigersoap
The Living Force
I think there was a post about it before the whole site went down.
I am reading the books right now and I don't agree with the comments (edit: yes I do agree about the game part, who would not ? )
Actually I think it's a very modern metaphor about the times we're living in :
A rigid control system with a few masters and priviledged ones on top that send his children to die for the amusement of a few while everybody else (living in fenced districts) is suffering from hunger, forced to watch the games, forced to work in various industries while fearing to be punished or killed at the slightest offense.
The reality TV aspect is just one part of the story.
I like the main character who is a young girl who is very resourceful and despite what she goes through she tries to think about others despite being thrown into an unjust and despicable game.
Yes they are death and violence but it's only a reflection of the violence that "the Capitol" inflicts upon everyone.
While giving heroes to the masses, like modern day gladiators, they can get away with oppression on a large scale, which kills many more people and suffocate any personal freedoms.
I am half-way the second book and the story develops to promises of uprising against the whole system which I think happens in the third book.
I am not saying that the story is perfect and of course it is targeted at a younger audience but I hope some young readers will transpose the story to what's going on around them and find the courage to stand up against it.
I am reading the books right now and I don't agree with the comments (edit: yes I do agree about the game part, who would not ? )
Actually I think it's a very modern metaphor about the times we're living in :
A rigid control system with a few masters and priviledged ones on top that send his children to die for the amusement of a few while everybody else (living in fenced districts) is suffering from hunger, forced to watch the games, forced to work in various industries while fearing to be punished or killed at the slightest offense.
The reality TV aspect is just one part of the story.
I like the main character who is a young girl who is very resourceful and despite what she goes through she tries to think about others despite being thrown into an unjust and despicable game.
Yes they are death and violence but it's only a reflection of the violence that "the Capitol" inflicts upon everyone.
While giving heroes to the masses, like modern day gladiators, they can get away with oppression on a large scale, which kills many more people and suffocate any personal freedoms.
I am half-way the second book and the story develops to promises of uprising against the whole system which I think happens in the third book.
I am not saying that the story is perfect and of course it is targeted at a younger audience but I hope some young readers will transpose the story to what's going on around them and find the courage to stand up against it.
Yes, there was another thread about it that I read. Must have been lost when the server went down.
Yes, that original thread inspired me to read the books, which I tore through in a matter of days (they're quick and easy reads). I really enjoyed the books and am looking forward to the movie. As Tigersoap said, the story is really about rising up against a pathocratic system. The parallels between the psychopathic control system in the world of the novels and our own worlds is comparable (reality TV that is beyond crass, the priveledged classes engaging in ridiculous behaviour while the slaves who feed their addictions and material needs suffer, the propaganda and lies spread by the PTB).
Yes, it's not perfect. I think the Harry Potter series was better at depicting the STO vs. STS dynamic and the idea that we can get through this if we work together. But I think these books take on the right attitude to the control system and I think it's encouraging to see kids taking an interest in a story that encourages rising up against oppression.
Tigersoap said:
Yes, it's not perfect. I think the Harry Potter series was better at depicting the STO vs. STS dynamic and the idea that we can get through this if we work together. But I think these books take on the right attitude to the control system and I think it's encouraging to see kids taking an interest in a story that encourages rising up against oppression.
404 13/4
The Hunger Games is a trilogy based on a post-apocalyptic Earth that is in your face material based on the plan that the elites envision for humanity. I have noticed that no one has researched the name of the author who wrote the series, "Suzanne Collins." Does the name Collins ring any bells?
Collins (_http://www.thewatcherfiles.com/bloodlines/collins.htm)
The elitists have an obsession with numerology, & it is clear in the title "Hunger Games" in more ways then one, for example the name of the main character, the title of the movie, & the nation Panem have numerological importance.
Therefore though the film may appear to be about resistance it may in fact be about in your face "see what we are going to do to you?" And to coin 1984 Oceania will never fall.
Mod: hyperlink removed
The Hunger Games is a trilogy based on a post-apocalyptic Earth that is in your face material based on the plan that the elites envision for humanity. I have noticed that no one has researched the name of the author who wrote the series, "Suzanne Collins." Does the name Collins ring any bells?
Collins (_http://www.thewatcherfiles.com/bloodlines/collins.htm)
The elitists have an obsession with numerology, & it is clear in the title "Hunger Games" in more ways then one, for example the name of the main character, the title of the movie, & the nation Panem have numerological importance.
Therefore though the film may appear to be about resistance it may in fact be about in your face "see what we are going to do to you?" And to coin 1984 Oceania will never fall.
Mod: hyperlink removed
I saw it this past weekend and thought it was decent, but not terribly impressive. It's not even close to being in the same league as V for Vendetta, for example. I did like the way the future society is represented - how materialistic they were, with entirely fake personalities and no real feelings or emotions for anything that matters, with trivial interests, fake grins, pomp and circumstance, and how pathology has completely taken over all aspects of the society, making it a good reflection of our society.
The only people that still had any realness to them were the oppressed poor. And that brings me to what really made me dislike how the story is handled (probably that's how the book was too, but it still sucks!). Spoilers coming up.
**** SPOILERS **** (highlight text with mouse to read)
2 things bothered me. How quickly the other contestants (besides the main characters) turned into psychopaths and readily killed each other, making it easy to hate them and to root for the heroes. It was an obvious plot device so the audience doesn't feel bad about one of the other contestants dying, since they are such evil scumbags. It would be far more interesting if they were all similarly predisposed to love and care about each other, but forced into the arena anyway. Then got together and outsmarted the oppressors as a team or something. In fact, it doesn't make sense why all but the few main contestants were so easily convinced to slaughter each other and act like a bunch of psychos, considering they come from poor oppressed communities that are used to working together all their lives in order to survive. That plot device really annoyed me.
Which brings me to my next point - why did they all even have to fight in the first place? They never explained what would happen if the contestants refused to fight. Not once did anyone bring it up in the movie and say "Hey why do we have to kill each other anyway? If they want to kill us, let them kill us, but don't let them turn us into barbaric animals that kill each other for their entertainment! Just so one of us could possibly live?!? What kind of life is that after you murdered a bunch of innocent people, how can you claim to have a soul afterwards?". It was disappointing to see the contestants so eager to brutally murder each other for such a frivolous reason as "because the rich people want us to".
I wouldn't be able to face my friends and family knowing that I just murdered a bunch of innocent random people to survive. I couldn't just go back to my normal life like nothing happened, it's ridiculous!
Oh and don't get me started on what happens after they survived and went back to that psycho talk show host, and were told to act like they did it "for love". If that wasn't the perfect moment in the movie to speak your mind about the ugly psychopathic game that these insane ingrates are playing, to really lay it down, I don't know what is. And they played along instead, acted like they did what they did for reasons they were told to use. What are they even afraid of at that point, if they speak their mind?
**** END SPOILERS ****
So yeah I guess I'm just upset that this movie had more promise, and while the psychopaths were portrayed well, the poor oppressed people were not given the opportunity to truly shine.
The only people that still had any realness to them were the oppressed poor. And that brings me to what really made me dislike how the story is handled (probably that's how the book was too, but it still sucks!). Spoilers coming up.
**** SPOILERS **** (highlight text with mouse to read)
2 things bothered me. How quickly the other contestants (besides the main characters) turned into psychopaths and readily killed each other, making it easy to hate them and to root for the heroes. It was an obvious plot device so the audience doesn't feel bad about one of the other contestants dying, since they are such evil scumbags. It would be far more interesting if they were all similarly predisposed to love and care about each other, but forced into the arena anyway. Then got together and outsmarted the oppressors as a team or something. In fact, it doesn't make sense why all but the few main contestants were so easily convinced to slaughter each other and act like a bunch of psychos, considering they come from poor oppressed communities that are used to working together all their lives in order to survive. That plot device really annoyed me.
Which brings me to my next point - why did they all even have to fight in the first place? They never explained what would happen if the contestants refused to fight. Not once did anyone bring it up in the movie and say "Hey why do we have to kill each other anyway? If they want to kill us, let them kill us, but don't let them turn us into barbaric animals that kill each other for their entertainment! Just so one of us could possibly live?!? What kind of life is that after you murdered a bunch of innocent people, how can you claim to have a soul afterwards?". It was disappointing to see the contestants so eager to brutally murder each other for such a frivolous reason as "because the rich people want us to".
I wouldn't be able to face my friends and family knowing that I just murdered a bunch of innocent random people to survive. I couldn't just go back to my normal life like nothing happened, it's ridiculous!
Oh and don't get me started on what happens after they survived and went back to that psycho talk show host, and were told to act like they did it "for love". If that wasn't the perfect moment in the movie to speak your mind about the ugly psychopathic game that these insane ingrates are playing, to really lay it down, I don't know what is. And they played along instead, acted like they did what they did for reasons they were told to use. What are they even afraid of at that point, if they speak their mind?
**** END SPOILERS ****
So yeah I guess I'm just upset that this movie had more promise, and while the psychopaths were portrayed well, the poor oppressed people were not given the opportunity to truly shine.
I watched the movie in cinema. I agree if you see the game part as some sort of introduction into the society they live in, the movie gets some meaning. Actually at the end you can sense this wind of revolution coming up, unfortunately the movie ends here, when it started to become interesting...
The game itself was a sick show of violence and murder. Young children and teenagers slaying each other for surviving that show. However besides these cruelties there was also the theme of friendship and caring for each other, but always with this bitter taste due to the unavoidable death.
This was something that gave the movie a deep touch.
I want to explain one scene of the movie during the actual hunger game that was quiet touching:
Katniss who is the main character and another young girl propably about 11 years old from another district met in the arena and the girl helped Katniss twice to survive, although only one could survive in the end. Both grouped together and tried to destroy the supplies of the enemies. During that action the young girl got caught by a nettrap and was rescued from by Katniss but soon, both were spotted by an enemy boy and the girl was killed by him. The boy lost his life, too... the next scene was how Katniss grieved and cried in deep agony and pain over the death of her fellow and after a while she made some sort of improvised flower grave for her. Having done this she greeted with a handgesture to the hidden cameras that were watching her, addressing the people of that district the girl came from.
This gesture and scene was an impacting one to that district as you could see how the whole district started to riot at once but got beaten down by the authorities.
I think the message here was to show, unless how sick the game is the government plays, you can outrun it by staying human and help your fellow humans. It's about staying human in an inhuman game or world.
To put it in a nutshell, in my opinion this movie is not a must have seen one. Only at the end of it, it got interesting due to the social impact of the "spoiled" hunger games and the arising wind of revolution(?).
The game itself was a sick show of violence and murder. Young children and teenagers slaying each other for surviving that show. However besides these cruelties there was also the theme of friendship and caring for each other, but always with this bitter taste due to the unavoidable death.
This was something that gave the movie a deep touch.
I want to explain one scene of the movie during the actual hunger game that was quiet touching:
Katniss who is the main character and another young girl propably about 11 years old from another district met in the arena and the girl helped Katniss twice to survive, although only one could survive in the end. Both grouped together and tried to destroy the supplies of the enemies. During that action the young girl got caught by a nettrap and was rescued from by Katniss but soon, both were spotted by an enemy boy and the girl was killed by him. The boy lost his life, too... the next scene was how Katniss grieved and cried in deep agony and pain over the death of her fellow and after a while she made some sort of improvised flower grave for her. Having done this she greeted with a handgesture to the hidden cameras that were watching her, addressing the people of that district the girl came from.
This gesture and scene was an impacting one to that district as you could see how the whole district started to riot at once but got beaten down by the authorities.
I think the message here was to show, unless how sick the game is the government plays, you can outrun it by staying human and help your fellow humans. It's about staying human in an inhuman game or world.
To put it in a nutshell, in my opinion this movie is not a must have seen one. Only at the end of it, it got interesting due to the social impact of the "spoiled" hunger games and the arising wind of revolution(?).
I honestly expected more since hearing so much about it, but it felt like it was rushed, there was no real in depth explanation about how everything came to be, perhaps one needs to read the book for that,
however; replying on SAO's spoiler:
**** SPOILERS **** (highlight text with mouse to read)
''Which brings me to my next point - why did they all even have to fight in the first place? They never explained what would happen if the contestants refused to fight''
I understood it as it being some kind of twisted tradition, they have been doing it for so long that they actually *believe* that it is a part of their life and thus it must be normal. Just shows the influence of the psychopaths on the human mind.
**** END SPOILERS ****
I agree, I found it really lacking in that regard...
however; replying on SAO's spoiler:
**** SPOILERS **** (highlight text with mouse to read)
''Which brings me to my next point - why did they all even have to fight in the first place? They never explained what would happen if the contestants refused to fight''
I understood it as it being some kind of twisted tradition, they have been doing it for so long that they actually *believe* that it is a part of their life and thus it must be normal. Just shows the influence of the psychopaths on the human mind.
**** END SPOILERS ****
I agree, I found it really lacking in that regard...
knowledge_of_self
The Living Force
I think one of the things that bothers me about this kind premise and movie making is the age appropriateness of seeing such things.
Currently The Hunger Games is rated PG. And from some of the things you all have described I'd give this movie at least a 14-A or 18A rating (depending on how much gore we're talking here) But the idea of children killing children is disturbing on its own merit let alone being shown to kids below the age of 13!
Even V for Vendetta had a 14A rating...
I heard from my bf who went to the theater to see John Carter the same week as Hunger Games opened and told me the look on some of the kids faces as they walked out of theater was basically "pale" and "disturbed". We're talking kids as young as 10-11 years old. I'm not sure I'd let my kid watch such a movie if I was a parent... but hey that's just me!
Here's an interesting article about the subject of age appropriateness regarding Hunger Games.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121303/The-Hunger-Games-rating-Shocked-youngsers-walking-movie.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Now, I'm not saying that kids shouldn't learn about psychopathic worlds and standing up for what is right against all odds etc.. But I think there is enough books/cartoons/non-violent movies out there that portray such a message without instilling desensitization.
I have not read the books or watched the movie so everything I said should be taken with that knowledge in mind.
Currently The Hunger Games is rated PG. And from some of the things you all have described I'd give this movie at least a 14-A or 18A rating (depending on how much gore we're talking here) But the idea of children killing children is disturbing on its own merit let alone being shown to kids below the age of 13!
Even V for Vendetta had a 14A rating...
I heard from my bf who went to the theater to see John Carter the same week as Hunger Games opened and told me the look on some of the kids faces as they walked out of theater was basically "pale" and "disturbed". We're talking kids as young as 10-11 years old. I'm not sure I'd let my kid watch such a movie if I was a parent... but hey that's just me!
Here's an interesting article about the subject of age appropriateness regarding Hunger Games.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121303/The-Hunger-Games-rating-Shocked-youngsers-walking-movie.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Now, I'm not saying that kids shouldn't learn about psychopathic worlds and standing up for what is right against all odds etc.. But I think there is enough books/cartoons/non-violent movies out there that portray such a message without instilling desensitization.
I have not read the books or watched the movie so everything I said should be taken with that knowledge in mind.