This Blog Is For Women

OK, so this article in the  British Daily Mail has said everything I was thinking about the Hunger Games. Essentially that teens process images they create in their minds by reading text in a different way than they process  larger than life on screen images.  And the difference is not a good one.

The Hunger Games

There is a movement and outcry *thank you* to have the movie’s rating upgraded to 15A.  I believe this is as it should be.

While there are children in the real world we live in who are forced to fight in wars and who are victims of other atrocities there is no need for us to “entertain” our young precious minds with this type of film.      We get only one opportunity to be a kid.  Do we really want our youth to grow up faster than necessary and jaded by violence and killing as entertainment?

Are we no better than The Capitol?  What is our society coming to?

There has been a lot of hype over today’s release of The Hunger Games, a movie based on the book by Suzanne Collins.    I read The Hunger Games book last year and found it enthralling.  I will be reading the second book, fairly soon.

Here’s the thing I’m wondering about: Who is this movie targeting as it’s audience?

Many of the Hunger Games readers were in their early teens, and I’m certain that many young teens want to see the film.  It’s rated PG-13.  Which means if you’re under 13  an adult must attend the movie with you.

I don’t want to give too much about the book away, but it’s no secret that story is about kids killing kids. There are 24 kids a the start of the competition, and it’s a fight to the death with only one winner.  You do the math, that means that 23 kids are slain in the course of the story.

Is this a concept that we want to become jaded to?  Do we want to use the slaying of children as entertainment.  I know that the characters are actors and no one is killed for real in the making of the movie…but.  People generally are sent to jail for killing people. In this story the characters are put into the situation by the government and then it is televised, reality television style.  And now, we’ve made it into a movie.  Does this glorify killing?

As an adult I know that I can deal with the disconnect between reality and the premise of this story.  How young is too young for a child to watch this movie?  I’m not really sure.  I do know, however, that when we read a book our imagination will only take us so far, but when we see graphic violence on a screen, we are inflicted with the directors imagination brought to life before us.

Once we see something, we can’t “un-see” it.    How much is too much?    Please, let me know what you think.