Thoughts On: "The Hunger Games"

I love a good story. I love to read, and I enjoy movies. So any time a person or a bunch of people I know start raving about some new book or movie, I'm naturally interested.
Well, the big hype in my area right now is about this new book and movie series called "The Hunger Games". From what I've gathered through asking friends who've read the books or seen the movie, and doing some research online, the story in a nutshell is basically about a futuristic land where the rulers force the youth of the inhabitants to fight to the death for food, and one girl (Katniss) and her family's journey through the situation.
After my research, my curiosity and interest quickly changed to disbelief and disgust. The whole thing reminds me of the Roman coliseum, where thousands of people watched other human beings fight to the death, viewing it as entertainment.
I have been shocked and saddened about how many Christian people even have been sucked into the craze over these stories!
I could rant on, but I will let another young blogger express my feelings better than I probably could. The difference is that she read the book and saw the movie before deciding how she felt about it. After reading and hearing all I have on the issue, I don't feel like I should, or that I need to, experience it in order to formulate an intelligent opinion.

"There's this sick sense of irony in fanship of The Hunger Games. I've heard the argument, 'Hey, Katniss and Peeta didn't agree with the Games. All the districts had to watch them and they didn't like them either. We're not saying it's good--we know the Capitol is evil.' Well first of all--the districts, watching the games...they are fictional. Okay, glad we got that straight. But we are real, we are really watching this, and we're not even being the districts. We're being those colorful people in the Capitol with their ridiculous attire and insane love for the 'fun' which is the Games. We say how awful it is that the Capitol would force the Games plus make people watch them, and yet we're the ones in real life out supporting it and watching it for entertainment. And obsessing over it and not caring that 22 children had to kill each other out there. But it's okay because the only characters we care about survived.

Bah, the more I think about it, the more disgusted I am. Seriously, America? This is what we're obsessing over? This is the only taste we have? This is what we enjoy seeing on screen? Are we so desensitized that this no longer bothers us? What is wrong with us?

To summarize how I put it on facebook:

I read the book and was not impressed and enthralled like everyone said I would be. I was hardly emotionally involved at all.
The movie (the style of which I actually found kinda obnoxious with the whole shaky, out-of-focus, way close up deal) just took it to a whole different level and the more I think about it, the less I like it. It's not the killing itself...goodness knows I've read/seen enough of that on screen. I just think there's a strange irony in the fact that in the movie, they say 'what if everyone rebelled & didn't watch the games' and watching it we're all like 'yeah, how sick it is that they do that'...and yet in real life, we're the ones actually watching it for entertainment. Ugh. So messed up.
I gave it the benefit of the doubt, guys. I went in thinking I would like the hunger games just like everyone else. In the end it's rather sickening, and it just doesn't stack up to real, good literature.

So that's my opinion. It's rather strong, I know, compared to all the love the story gets. I know there's two more books, including a revolution against the evil Capitol. Argue with me. Tell me if there's some redeeming quality I missed. Because, the only thing I caught was a sense of sick, sad irony."

I have only published a portion of her post, but if you are interested in reading it in it's entirety, you may see it HERE.