I thought to myself, so this is one of those ‘reality show’ inspired movies, where audience seeks to be entertained by watching contestants battling each other to death. Worse still, we are looking at contestants of age between 12 to 18. Do we need another one of those movies? And why the children? Is this social liberation or a download spiral of human morality? Who would enjoy seeing children of that age bracket killing eliminating each other? Increasing, media violence has raised concern across the board. I feel that we are pushing the limit further down. Movies like Hunger Games. Books like Game of Thrones where children wield swords and girls under the age of 14 have sex. Some video games that are violence in nature played by children. What would the long term repercussion to our future generations be if we endorse violence at that age bracket? I do not know.
Now, if I may throw my moral hat away, ignore the conflict inside of me when seeing children of age 12 to 18 hacking, shooting, or killing each other with wits, The Hunger Games is a wildly entertaining movie. It is said that because 12 districts have in the past committed treason against the central government, each year, each district must pick 2 tributes – a young boy and a young girl – to play the Hungers Game. Only one will survive. There is an overarching philosophy revolving around this. Since I don’t quite get it or finding it quite silly, I shall not elaborate here.
24 contestants are placed in a game location and there is only one survivor. The rest of the 23 contestants would need to die. Yes, death to them all. We love it. There are tons of twists in the plot. Because it is after all a TV show, it must be entertaining, especially to the ‘sponsors’ who may influence the process. In short, not only do the children require to kill off each other, they have to do it in style. They need to, kill to entertain. The audience, including us, loves watching this.
Jennifer Lawrence plays the main character who represents District 12th. I did not like her or find her attractive in X-Men: First Class. Neither do I find her attractive in The Hunger Games. Having said that, I grow to like her character as the plot unfolds. She seems rather suited for this movie. Genuinely innocent, and determined to stay alive.
I found myself shivering throughout the 142 minutes long movie. The plot is intense. More so, was the air-conditioning in the theater.