I wanted to get this out before I went and saw the Jennifer Lawrence version on the big screen. I didn’t want the Hollywood-infused depiction getting in the way of my thoughts, feelings, and general theologizing of the books to be tainted (although I’ll write a movie review later). I struggled to “get into” The Hunger Games not once, but three times, before finally settling in and blowing through the book in one day. I read the second book, Catching Fire, over a few days, and polished off Mockingbird in practically one sitting. And I walked away more impressed than I was when I began, with plenty of food for thought about the world we live in, but interested to see how my interpretations would be perceived by others. [SPOILER ALERT: Fair warning, this is with full disclosure of all three books in mind.]
1. This isn’t anything new. Easily my most unpopular thought (as characterized by the refutations I received on my Facebook page!), Suzanne Collins used story elements that fantasy writers and others have used before. There are several helpings of Stephen King (The Running Man, The Dead Zone), and ideas that seem to have been covered before by Shirley Jackson (”The Lottery”), Stephanie Meyer (Twilight), and William Golding (Lord of the Flies). In fact, I liked the Empire Strikes Back vibe of the Catching Fire the best. None of that makes the book unreadable, and it shouldn’t cause you to ignore it either. [Seriously, Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, “There is nothing new under the sun,” and that was a LOOOOOONG time ago.]
2. This shouldn’t be mandatory young adult literature. If we’re talking about middle schoolers as young adults, then this covers way too much ground for a diverse group of preteens to consider. Sure, I read the unabridged (in English) version of The Illiad & The Odyssey in the fourth grade, but what I read was a case-by-case situation. Assuming that a whole class of eighth graders is ready for this is absurd. And there is enough “questionable” behavior in here that any parent should consider reading it alongside of or ahead of their teen, and leaving it to a teacher to discuss with the group isn’t quite thorough enough. Just saying.
3. The book depicts a world where adulthood is… lame. I’d say it stronger, but it’s true. There’s a general distrust for adults here, because they don’t give much reason to be trusted or loved. Maybe that’s the Disney motif, where we have Katniss’ dead father as the lone “good adult.” (Seriously, I thought he was going to be the secret head of District 13… a la Star Wars in reverse.) Instead, youth are required to ignore authority and resent decisions which are made for them because the decisions are innately immoral and destructive.
4. Katniss is a Christ-figure… sort of. One of my favorite scenes in the book was when the elder sister takes the place of Prim. I certainly see Jesus pushing his way to the cross (like there was a line) and saying, “I’ll take this for him/them.” It’s a completely different element to her self-sacrificial love here, and later, when she cares for Peeta, that doesn’t surface much, if ever, throughout the books. She’s taking it on for Prim, and trying to save Peeta, but she never really comes into her own, because most of the choices are made for her.
5. This Messiah wasn’t very willing. Reading the story through, I found myself seeing all of the Jewish preconceptions about a Messiah… and how Jesus refused to be used by anyone else’s agenda. Katniss is the agent of change for the Capitol, and then she’s not. She’s the agent of change for the District, and then she’s not. But the theology, if we’re going to go from a Judeo-CHRISTIAN worldview, seems to go all Albert Schweitzer on us, and say that Katniss really got twisted. Because the one choice she does seem to make on her own is not completely pure, but instead makes her like the people she hated within the arena of the Games who killed others. I thought that in Hunger Games, Katniss was given a way out of the impending confrontation with Rue, and that the berries became a “Kobayashi Maru” set-up didn’t completely satisfy me, avoiding her need to kill someone she cared about in both situations. But stopping Coin in the way she did? That seemed to undo any anti-violence agenda that the other books had led me to, as a child became an adult by killing, employing the same tactics as her violent world demanded.
6. And how is this not a slap in the face for female independence? In the end, after being told that this wasn’t the fawning love story of Twilight, and it isn’t, I’m completely disappointed by the “romantic resolution.” Katniss, the one who liberated Panem from a repeat of the Hunger Games, is stuck with Peeta, who she has told us over and over again she doesn’t love. She’s confined to the remains of 12 with the baker (not the hunter who is like her) by his choice, not hers, and we’re supposed to believe that this is the happiest resolution we could’ve asked for? Again, I thought Catching Fire was great, and understood the violent end of Mockingjay, but the closing pages of Mockingjay left me wondering what I was supposed to take away from it.
I’ll leave you with one bonus point: “May the odds be ever in your favor” has to be one of the catchiest and most untheological “blessings.” As we consider the impact of original sin in our world and the impact of our own sinful decisions, our odds are an incredible zero percent. We are sunk, stuck, dead, imprisoned, forgotten, etc. in our sin. And then the death and resurrection of Jesus rises up, “increasing our odds” to one hundred percent. It’s not about odds, but about grace, and highlights again, that while highly entertaining fiction, Katniss is the anti-Christ figure, who takes matters into her own hands through the same violent trajectory which her society follows.
March 31st, 2012 at 7:28 pm
I read an article about a group in North Carolina that’s conducting a Bible Study class based on the movie, “The Hunger Games”.
I would like to go to North Carolina and speak with this group and share your views that you you just expounded on
in what you laughingly call your “review”.
March 31st, 2012 at 7:33 pm
Let me correct the typos in the previous post.
“I would like YOU to go to North Carolina ans speak with this group and share the views that you just expounded on
in what you laughingly call your “review”. ”
THIS IS MY EXACT STATEMENT!!
I was so caught up in laughing at your narrowmindedness
I couldn’t get the words out.
March 31st, 2012 at 8:52 pm
Jeremy, once you’re done laughing, please share your counterpoints to Collins’ books which you obviously see differently. Dialogue is awesome, and it allows people to grow.
April 3rd, 2012 at 12:15 pm
Yes, I’m particularly curious about the “narrowmindedness.” We’re not especially known around here for being, say, squeamish like Movieguide or Plugged In. Just seems to me like Jacob isn’t quick to drink the Kool-aid on this one.
April 3rd, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Well,Jacob as gone on record as saying he like the feel of the sequel,”CATCHING FIRE”. And we know Hollywood loves them some sequels. With this in mind, I’m interested to see what Lionsgate will do with the next two books.
Many of those in the audience had their eyes peeled for
scenes that were not in sync with the book.
I wouldn’t complain if this happened,as many times this helps to enchance the original story.
A little tinkering here and there wouldn’t hurt.
Jacob also said he had issues with some of the violence.
All of you here have read the OLD TESTAMENT,which has some very explicit and intense depictions of violence,most of which would probably make most horror film directors
lose bladder control.
Mel Gibson sure didn’t pull any punches on this with “THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST”.
April 5th, 2012 at 8:02 am
I don’t read Jacob’s review as an objection to violence, Jeremy — and maybe that’s because I’ve read literally hundreds of Jacob’s reviews, and know he’s not living in PG-wannabe land.
What Jacob expressed concerns about is the trajectory of violence as it pertains to the protagonist. If you want to compare Jesus (or The Passion) to Katniss (or Hunger Games), I think you’d have to note that Jesus does not adopt the tactics of his persecutors, while Katniss does.
I haven’t read the books or seen the movie, so I have no opinion about that myself. But back in 1979, Apocalypse Now made a big impression on me on that score. The natural attitude in the world is, “You’ve got to become inhuman to beat an inhuman enemy.” Those who stand for Christ, however, are at least aware that there are other options. And real people like Gandhi and King, among many others, have learned that entire movements of social justice can actually succeed on that model.
So that’s how I read Jacob’s comments: “Sure, I get that the Capitol is sadistically twisted. But must Katniss become a savage killer, just like her enemies, in order to beat the system? That’s an awfully bleak world view.”
April 5th, 2012 at 8:32 am
This is a very bleak world that Katniss lives in,and it’s
highly doubtful that “turning the other cheek”,in the manner that Jesus did,would really make any difference here to those that find pleasure in the games.
The Capitol would just call it,”business as usual”.
What I’d like to see in the sequels (come on,now.We KNOW they gotta do the sequels) is for Katniss and Peeta to form some type of underground movement to overthrow the Capitol, banish the Games,and work toward building a more equitable form of government.
You know, “by the people,for the people”.
“In order to form a more perfect Union.”
That’s what I would call a HAPPY ENDING.
But I guess that wouldn’t be following the script.
April 5th, 2012 at 10:12 am
Jeremy: It was indeed a very bleak world which Jesus entered, which is one reason He died such a horrible death. Yet His followers in the first century did not rise up and overthrow the government by force. Through “speaking the truth in love” they “turned the world upside down.”
Are there times when we need to stand up and defend family and country? I think the answer to that is “yes.” But Greg’s point about not becoming like the oppressor is well taken. The founders of the United States did well by not setting up an oppressive dictatorship after the Revolution. Was is perfect? Certainly not. But even in its imperfection it was a huge step in the right direction. History has shown that most rebellions end up with regimes which are as bad or worse than what was there before. Largely, I think, because they thought they needed to use the tactics of the oppressors in order to win.
April 5th, 2012 at 1:53 pm
The movie version definitely conveys Katniss as a Jewish Messiah-type, even if she never wants to be one. I still stand by my concerns about the problems with her development, but that isn’t really what the first book/movie were about. Instead, it’s about setting the stage, and quite honestly, it was a lot more disruptive in my soul to watch a bunch of (actors playing) teenagers kill each other than a superhero or action movie where the hero wipes out room after room of villains (which says something about my sense of justice).
The moment which stands out strongest from the movie version is still Katniss volunteering to take Prim’s place. That’s what Jesus did for me: my number was up on account of sin, and Jesus said, I’ve got this. But again, he beat sin and death without ever adopting sin and death’s methods, which makes him a Christian Messiah and not a Jewish/O.T. one.
The movie definitely paints Katniss as a stronger female heroine than the book does (maybe we’re better off without her internal monologue), but I still say the “love triangle” is the net result of reading/watching too much Twilight, not thinking it through.
Did I enjoy the books or the movies? No, enjoy is not the right word. But I do appreciate them, and how they made me think.
April 5th, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Jacob,we’ve now come full circle from your initial observation that dialogue makes for growth.
By your statement,I gather you’ve seen the movie,as I have.
I found it more satisfying than the book in many ways,mostly the omission of that internal monologue and the focus on the action and the end result.
Being that this is the first part of a trilogy(and I understand there is ALREADY ground work underway for the sequel),this film was indeed setting the stage,and the love triangle WAS a bit of pandering to the TWILIGHT crowd.
Let us pray this aspect will be kept to a minimum,then phased out in “CATCHING FIRE”.
In closing,let me say that I’ve enjoyed this “awesome dialogue” with you gents.
You’ve actually moved me to go back and see the movie again, maybe two more times.
I wish you all a most blessed and peaceful holiday weekend.
Thank you and Good night.
April 5th, 2012 at 7:53 pm
Sweet.