In November, I was killing time in Chapters, waiting to catch a bus for the ferry, when I saw The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, on the best-seller table. I had definitely heard of it, but the hype was subtle, and I did not even know what it was about. I read the synopsis, and decided I would give it a shot, because who wouldn’t be intrigued by children being forced into a battle to the death. Of course, like everybody else, I was captured from the very beginning. It was one of those “can’t put it down” type books, and I finished it within a couple of days. However, since then, the hype has expanded exponentially, which can much be attributed to the new movie. In turn, I have lent my copy of the first book to roughly ten people (I lost count), and my second or third copy have been lent out many additional times. This proved to be a tough task, as I lent it to people on both the Mainland, and Victoria, so the book has taken many a’ ferry trips with me.
Admittedly, I pre-purchased tickets to the movie opening night, and I couldn’t help but notice the crowd. Quite interestingly, there was a mix of children, teenagers, college students, and middle-agers, AND there was not an empty seat in the house. The movie was no doubt dubbed down from the book, as the “killing scenes” were not actually shown, instead only the aftermath; and the emotional agony expressed in the book was far more harsh than in the movie, which made it more difficult to get attached to the characters. The divergence of the crowd made me wonder who the book was really written for, because after all, the book is found in the “teen” section of the book stores, and my Mom, who is an elementary school teacher, tells me that all of the intermediate kids are reading it; yet, the gruesome nature of the writing is mature, and in my mind, borderline inappropriate for kids in elementary school. Even so, the crowd was going crazy laughing at the cheesiness of some scenes in the movie, clearly targeting preteens in the same way the Twilight series did. Specifically, the jealousy in Gale’s eyes during the Katniss/Peeta love scenes had people cackling. On the whole, I enjoyed the movie, particularly Woody Harrelson’s performance as the bold and drunken “Haymitch”, and Stanley Tucci’s as the blue-haired and fabulous “Caesar Flickerman”. The extravagant portrayal of the capitol was also captivating, and I would recommend seeing the movie even if you haven’t read the book (although I would also recommend you do).
On a separate note, I feel that the book is a perfect one to incorporate into my future English classes, as it is ideal as a comparison piece to both “The Lord of the Flies”, and “1984″. Bringing in a book that is so well-known to current students would be beneficial to creating interest in other readings such as these, and allow for broader discussion of major themes. Provoking inclusion of current novels such as The Hunger Games would undoubtedly increase class participation.
Therefore, I have no shame in supporting this new pop-culture phenomenon, just so long as it does not turn into Team Peeta and Team Gale, as my friend pointed out it very well may. We have no more room in this world for tweens going crazy over fictional heart-throbs. Instead, my hope is that this book can be integrated into high school curriculum, and be given the opportunity to be critically assessed by teens rather than it be the new ridiculous obsession that once was Twilight.
