The Hunger Games: A Rewatch

Hello Dreamers,

The other day, I re-watched the Hunger Games (the first one) with my brother (his first time watching it) and just wanted to write a bit about what I observed. So if you're interested, keep reading. If you're tired of hearing about the Hunger Games, then just ignore this and wait for my next post (which will be coming soon. And I'll give you a hint:

Anywho...Back to the main subject.

As I was re-watching this highly controversial movie, it became slightly easier for me to determine my opinion of it. If you remember my first review (I hate going back and reading what I wrote a long time ago, but feel free if you want to, but I'm not giving you the link cuz I don't really want you to either. ;-) ), I really didn't know what to make of it. Well I've come slightly closer to a conclusion. This happens to me a lot. A second viewing changes my perspective and often my general opinion of things.



For starters, every story has a Hero. Every story has a Villain. And in every story, the Hero is trying to defeat the Villain because he/she is evil and the Hero just wont stand for it any more. (This is a huge generalization, I know.)

The Hunger Games has a hero. Her name is Katniss Everdeen.

The first time I watched this, I pretty much ignored what ever qualities she did or didn't have and focused on the controversial part of the story. This time however, I saw Courage. Amazing Courage. Katniss hunts even though it's against the law, so she can feed her family. She puts her name into the reaping, but never allows her sister to. She stands up to take her sister's place in the Hunger Games. Which by the way, is a bloody scary thing. She shows compassion and self sacrifice. But what really struck me, was when Rue died. Now, I knew it was coming, but it meant more to me the second time. Because when Rue dies, Katniss is angry. A rebellious streak shows its colors as she grieves. She looks directly into the camera and dares them to do something about the symbol that started a rebellion in District 11. Of course, she was always rebellious. She never liked the capital. And as she experiences the Hunger Games, that small streak of rebellion is pronounced.


Katniss Everdeen is the Brave Hero of this story.

The Hunger Games has a villain. It's name is the Capitol.

And it is evil. It just so happens that the evil in The Hunger Games is extremely eminent. It's in your face, and doesn't allow you to ignore it. Because it's so bad. It makes you shiver and your heart rate speeds up because it's just so...evil. It's terrible. What bothered me the second time around (besides the obvious killing of children) was how manipulative the Capitol is. It's appalling! There is this one scene where the President of the Capitol (at least I think that's who he is) is talking to Seneca about the point of the games. "Why not just take the 24 chosen tributes and execute them?" he asks. Seneca doesn't know why. The President explains. To give the people hope. The games give them something to hope for. How sick is that? They created something that would give the people hope. Something to unite the districts together as they all join in on celebrating the Hunger Games. They decide who they want to win and how they want people to feel when it happens. When they don't like the way things are going, they throw a flaming forest in just to mix things up a bit. Feeling bored? Oh that's alright, we'll just throw some hungry dogs in the arena so children will die slowly and painfully!!! The Hunger Games is not just about putting kids in an arena and having them kill each other, it's about manipulating a broken and hurt population that they are tyrannically ruling over. It's about controlling the masses. I don't think I understood that the first time I watched it.

So if the Hunger Games has a Hero and a Villain like every other story, then why does it put so many people off? I think it's because the evil is so bad, that people are appalled and can't understand how anyone would ever want make a movie about it. But I think sometimes maybe we forget the good that is against it. The Hunger Games has a Hero. Do we ever stop to think about the heroic qualities she possesses?

The other thing, is that as humans living on the Earth, we're surround by some pretty awful history. I mean, I don't even have to tell you what I'm talking about. Something will already pop into your head. Well, think about that for a second. It's pretty horrible right? Does that mean that we shouldn't watch/read/learn about it? No, it doesn't. If we didn't, then we might end up repeating that horrible event in the future. By remembering the past, we consider ourselves warned. We learn something.

Now, I get that the Hunger Games is fiction. And you're right, learning about history is different then reading/watching fictional stories. I'm just saying that the content itself isn't much different from some other things that we teach ourselves about.

I do truly believe that the Hunger Games is a story that Susan Collins wrote to make people think. Not just flitting shallow thoughts, but deep and intense thoughts. And I think that's what makes me want to post about it again. Because it has made me think. I like things that do that.

Now, as with the terrible things in history, we don't like to dwell on it. Because it is rather awful. If we sat around wallowing in the evil side of humanity, we'd get pretty depressed. And that is no way to go through life. Life is about living in color. It's about being thankful and glorifying God through our every breath. That's rather hard to do when we're still stuck on how evil people are.

I've decided that I found watching the Hunger Games completely interesting. It totally captivated my thoughts and made me think. I'm not going to lie, that is my favorite kind of fiction. Stuff that makes me think about the world and about myself. Whether you believe that was Susan's original intentions or not, I believe that something can be learned from everything whether the original intention was there or not. So...all that is just to say that my original views have changed slightly. If I were to place this on my ratings board, it would probably be a 4. Simply because it was a very well made movie and it will definitely hold your interest. Whether you decide to watch it or not, is not my jurisdiction at all.

I still hold with my original statement that I won't recommend this movie for a light hearted movie watch. Because I don't think that's what was intended. This isn't intended to be something that you want to be. I shiver every time I hear someone say "I wish I was in the Hunger Games." Really? Have you thought about what that means? That's like saying "I wish I had to take the one Ring to Mordor and I was the only one that could do it. If I fail a whole world will fall into darkness. Woohoo!" If you think that, then I dare you: Think about what you're saying. Think about what you are in comparison with the Capitol. How similar are you to the Villain of this story?

~ Aloisa Quintal

"Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear."