That's okay. I insisted against all nay sayers (lone soldier that I am) that The Hunger Games was a good movie when it first came out, and I maintain my position.
A few things I am reminded of watching The Hunger Games:
I will never not cry when Katniss volunteers as tribute. I just had to hold back the tears writing that sentence.
Same goes with Rue's death. Oh man.
I will never not be on Team Peeta. He is a good man! He is supportive! He is strong of heart and of body! He is totally cute! And you know what, guys? I'm a tall girl and if I had to listen to people telling me my whole life that I was superficial for hoping to find a boyfriend who was taller than me, then we can bloody well have a heroine who's love interest is on the shorter side, too, okay?
In many ways, Peeta could have been the hero of the Games. He went into it wanting to be different, wanting to show the Capital that he is better than this and won't just bend to their terrible will. Then, of course, he winds up getting injured and painting himself into a rock, whereas Katniss, who just wants to survive, winds up making his point both by legitimately mourning Rue as well as dismantling the end of the games.
A big sigh over racial representation in the movie. As far as I noticed, the only black people are from Rue's District and I don't know that there are any Asian or Latinx people. (Granted, this observation is mostly in retrospect.)
Katniss' straightforwardness and difficulty being likeable is rather likeable, and I can't decide if this is a problem or not.
Finally, one question has always plagued me, from reading the books on through the movies and even working on a parody musical last year: how does a person who lives in the Capital, but is opposed to its activities (both the slavery of the Districts and the Games), be an actual good citizen/person?
There are those, like Cinna and Plutarch, who fight from the inside, working for an underground movement intent to change the system. They devote their lives to changing things and make incredible sacrifices.
What about the people who have normal jobs and maybe families? Who maybe don't even know that there is an underground movement? Or who know about it, but are not ready to devote their entire lives to this one thing? Who don't know how to have a life and burn the system to the ground, should they even be quite prepared to go that far?
What can they do?
They can refuse to watch the Games. They can speak of the Tributes as if they are humans, not sport. They can avoid the incredible consumerism at the core of Capital life that drives District slavery. They can work to be generally kind and generous and hope that, should they encounter an extraordinary opportunity to do the right thing (perhaps by protecting a District person from punishment), they would take it.
Is that enough?
In order to be "good" in the world of The Hunger Games, does someone have to give up their life to change the system? Does their luck of being born into the relative comfort of the Capital actually put a huge responsibility on their shoulders? This is, perhaps, only fair, considering that the system sucks the lives out of thousands of people who don't have the same choice.
The answer to this question is not insignificant.
Thanks to the obvious parallel of the relationship between the Capital and the Districts to the relationship between "Developed' and "Developing" nations, as well as the relationship between pretty much any person of privilege to the rest of the world, the answer to this question should have an equally parallel answer on our side of the equation.
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