Hey K2 Kanakuk Friends,
Well, the hubs and I went on a date night and saw The Hunger Games. We both LOVED it. I was sad that Shay hadn't read the books as the entire movie I loved knowing exactly what Katniss was thinking in that moment. I had to bite my tongue not to lean over every 30 seconds to tell him. All in all I thought it depicted the book very well, outside of just not being able to do every page of the book. Here are my thoughts:
1. The movie (and book more so) are "brutal." I have read some reviews by christian folks and agree to this point. I do however think the movie didn't glorify this by showing the bodies or the details...I thought they showed it without being grotesque.
2. I would not allow a 13 year old to this movie without the parent seeing it first and deciding for their child. I think 16 is the age that I would go to the movies with my littles to see this one. I have said this before but when something like this book series and now movies is this big I would much rather ME be the one talking to my daughter about it and reading it/seeing movie with her than the hallways and locker rooms and gossip circles of junior highs and high schools. I want to the voice that walks through the topics of these nationwide crazes.
3. I think these books and movies have great conversation to them. I loved reading that the author wrote them after channel surfing and finding so many reality shows where we (representing the capitol) watch these shows and find entertainment from these people's hurts, tragedies and mistakes. Perfect example is Toddlers and Tiaras. I have never watched this show (I hate reality shows like this...I can handle the Voice and that's it...oh and the hubs loves Discovery shows) but I think about the fact we find entertainment from 4-5 year old girls that their lives are being so distorted from reality. We laugh...just like the capitol laughs. I like that Suzanne Collins went deep into this even with the "killing" b/c big picture that is what we are doing by allowing reality shows to be a huge market...rehab shows, jersey shores of just chaos, backstabbing shows of alliances, small children made to look stupid...all for entertainment. I also think poverty and politics could also be a great discussion. I will never discuss politics but for my household there were some major takeaways with the capitol versus it's districts. wow! Then there is an underlying spiritual conversation I believe you could have from this book. The sacrifice...the courage, character's roles...it's there. Slight, but there. HOPE is a huge component of this book.
Okay, so there are my thoughts. Again, I am by no means condoning killing children...but the movie (again, it's a movie) had such messages in this. The books give so much more details and the second movie isn't coming out till November 2013 I heard so you have plenty of time to read the 3 books. Go!
Be awesome & Love Jesus,
kanakuk ashley robbins
ashley@kanakuk.com