The Hunger Games Movie

[Livin4Jesus]

(Why has no one posted a topic on this?!)
The Hunger Games is coming out this Friday! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!
My sister and I have two movie tickets that we've been saving for this specific movie, so we're gonna see it with a couple of people. Sooooooooooooo excited! :D

Is anyone else here gonna see it?

[MelonBread975]

I'm going to read the books first.

It's really a shame I haven't read them yet...

[mamthew42]

Everything I've heard about the books sounds like a thing I don't want to read and that I'm kind of disappointed is okay to sell to kids. The fact that a movie exists is just sadder.

[Jade]

Ikr? I read it, and my librarian said if we all read it, we can get a field trip for our whole grade to see! Can't wait~

[MelonBread975]

Everything I've heard about the books sounds like a thing I don't want to read and that I'm kind of disappointed is okay to sell to kids. The fact that a movie exists is just sadder.

You're judging something you haven't even read. It does sound a bit bizarre but once I'll read it I'll see what all the fuss is about.

[mamthew42]

A character has his face and hands eaten by dogs while he's still alive and the main character has to sit and listen to the whole thing. That alone shouldn't be in a kids' book and will have difficulty being put into a PG movie correctly.

Dystopian novels work best as books for literary merit, not entertainment value. I've never really approved of the idea of dystopian novels for kids, since usually the only way to get kids to read is through entertainment books, and dystopian books made for entertainment lose their original value and probably shouldn't have been written.

At least, that's my opinion on the genre.

[MelonBread975]

Ah, I see. I've never really read the genre before. It sound really... bad.

[mamthew42]

Well that's kind of the point of the genre. Most dystopian novels take place in a society where some aspect of normal life is blown out of proportion and made too prominent a feature of life, and they show why this is a problem and why it wouldn't work. In Fahrenheit 451 it's censorship, to a point where all written works are illegal. In Brave New World it's entertainment; the government provides people with so many pointless outside stimuli that they don't care about anything else, including the well-being of others or the pursuit of knowledge. In 1984 it's government control - they watch their citizens through hidden cameras and rewrite history to hide things they don't want their citizens to know about. In The Handmaid's Tale it's religious conservatism, especially regarding sex, where the entire country is ruled by religious types who segregate the citizens based on gender and try to repress "sinful" thoughts and actions.

You're supposed to feel bad while reading them, because they're supposed to scare you - to show you how good you have it and to make sure people realize why it can't come to that. They're exaggerations rooted in truth. And they're an important genre for it. But I don't think they're as good a genre for a younger crowd, since they're less likely to understand the message and more likely to want to get joy or entertainment from them, which is just less likely to happen in a book where your main character just read a book for the first time in his life and is now being hunted down by a robotic scorpion for possessing knowledge he shouldn't. Okay maybe that's a bad example because robot scorpions are awesome, but I think you get where I'm coming from.

Obviously, The Hunger Games aren't the first kids' dystopian books that did well. When I was thirteen, The Giver had just gotten a sequel and had fallen back into popularity (young adult novel in which citizens are medically treated to not feel love or see color, in order to keep them from ever feeling sad about things, because they don't really have a proper grasp of joy to which to compare it), but I hated it. It was well written, but I felt like I wasn't the right audience. And I still feel that way about The Hunger Games today. And my opinions are only reinforced by the fact that the subject matter is just...violent. It's got the same basic premise as Battle Royale? The characters win through a suicide pact? The aforementioned scene where a character is torn apart by dogs while still alive?

I know I'm being at least a little hypocritical here, since one of my favorite young adult novels is Ender's Game, but it at least was written for the entertainment. Its society is somewhat dystopian but it isn't a real focus of the story. Plus its target audience is a good deal older than the average Hunger Games fan, so...

But yeah, that's my two cents. I still hope you enjoy the movie, though! I'm glad you're reading because having a healthy love of reading is incredibly important, so keep at it, regardless of the work.

[Livin4Jesus]

That's...that's deep. O_O

[Zikki-Dee]

I actually don't care. When things become hyped up and stuff, i just can't help but lose interest. I wanted to read the books like....2 years ago. But now, i can care less :/

[Jade]

Actually, I've heard a lot about it in reviews, my friends, etc. Sure they don't mention some of their names, there's significantly less blood and gore, (Keepin it PG 13.) and somethings just weren't included. But the thing is, it was the biggest production they ever made of of a opening on the weekend. That's about 170.5 million dollars and most people were satisfied. Overall, it's worth your money.

[mamthew42]

It's the third biggest.

First and second were harry potter 7 part two and the dark knight, I believe.

[Jade]

Well, yes, but it's just the biggest for now. That's what I meant to say.

[PandaKirby]

Well that's kind of the point of the genre. Most dystopian novels take place in a society where some aspect of normal life is blown out of proportion and made too prominent a feature of life, and they show why this is a problem and why it wouldn't work. In Fahrenheit 451 it's censorship, to a point where all written works are illegal. In Brave New World it's entertainment; the government provides people with so many pointless outside stimuli that they don't care about anything else, including the well-being of others or the pursuit of knowledge. In 1984 it's government control - they watch their citizens through hidden cameras and rewrite history to hide things they don't want their citizens to know about. In The Handmaid's Tale it's religious conservatism, especially regarding sex, where the entire country is ruled by religious types who segregate the citizens based on gender and try to repress "sinful" thoughts and actions.

You're supposed to feel bad while reading them, because they're supposed to scare you - to show you how good you have it and to make sure people realize why it can't come to that. They're exaggerations rooted in truth. And they're an important genre for it. But I don't think they're as good a genre for a younger crowd, since they're less likely to understand the message and more likely to want to get joy or entertainment from them, which is just less likely to happen in a book where your main character just read a book for the first time in his life and is now being hunted down by a robotic scorpion for possessing knowledge he shouldn't. Okay maybe that's a bad example because robot scorpions are awesome, but I think you get where I'm coming from.

Obviously, The Hunger Games aren't the first kids' dystopian books that did well. When I was thirteen, The Giver had just gotten a sequel and had fallen back into popularity (young adult novel in which citizens are medically treated to not feel love or see color, in order to keep them from ever feeling sad about things, because they don't really have a proper grasp of joy to which to compare it), but I hated it. It was well written, but I felt like I wasn't the right audience. And I still feel that way about The Hunger Games today. And my opinions are only reinforced by the fact that the subject matter is just...violent. It's got the same basic premise as Battle Royale? The characters win through a suicide pact? The aforementioned scene where a character is torn apart by dogs while still alive?

I know I'm being at least a little hypocritical here, since one of my favorite young adult novels is Ender's Game, but it at least was written for the entertainment. Its society is somewhat dystopian but it isn't a real focus of the story. Plus its target audience is a good deal older than the average Hunger Games fan, so...

But yeah, that's my two cents. I still hope you enjoy the movie, though! I'm glad you're reading because having a healthy love of reading is incredibly important, so keep at it, regardless of the work.

Erm in Battle Royale there isn't a suicide pact. Also no offence or anything but I think dystopian stories are really good because it's so different or well *coughbloodycough* Besides. It's better than Biff and Chip from Reception to year 2. Also have you even seen many dystopian stories?

[Rei]

This is why I do not like most movies.
Because people demand so much for their inexhaustible thirst for entertainment, movies seem to follow some sort of 'template', which whittles away at the original quality or message of the stories.