Disturbed. Agitated. Intrigued. These are the emotions I felt as I exited the theater a few days ago after watching one of our latest blockbusters, The Hunger Games.
At Christmastime, I had politely accepted the book trilogy, then quietly put it away, as I professed to have no interest in reading about kids killing each other, reality TV-style, in a futuristic world where the haves manipulate the have-nots for sport. However, having been filmed in large part in my area, I just had to see the movie so I could take part in the social conversation that would surely follow its release.
And so, with wife and 10-year old son in tow (I know, I know, but he’s an old soul, having grown up hanging out with two much older brothers; and, he had also read the book), I sat for almost two and a half hours—no small feat for me—heart and mind racing as I took in the action and social statements and wondered what it meant that the theater was packed to the gills at 4 o’clock on a weekday afternoon for this movie.
As disturbed/agitated/intrigued as I was about the premise of the movie and the worry I feel that our society may not be too far away from actually wanting to watch people die for sport, I reminded myself that these were probably the emotions the author wanted me to feel—that if I didn’t feel these emotions, then I was probably already too desensitized, too jaded, from watching Survivor and American Idol to “get it.”
Maybe I’m safe for now. I guess I’m not the philistine I thought I was.
It’s definitely a movie worth talking about. What did you think about it?