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I just wanted to post my thoughts on The Hungar Games as well as a friends


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I think they are written for a junior high level. I don't find them that violent, personally. They are not full of gore or bloody, descriptive deaths. I have a hard time thinking that a junior high age kid isn't ready for some discussion on the distribution of wealth, the effect government has on its citizens, obligation to take care of family, etc. I think it's fine for families to choose to wait, but I don't think it is an inappropriate amount of violence for a junior high age kid.

 

I agree with this. Additionally, the movie is not gory. There is very little blood in the movie. You see kids grab weapons, you see kids swing weapons, you see kids fall. The gore is on par with Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Spider Man, etc. in my opinion. The fact that it is kid on kid violence makes it more gut wrenching to watch, but it's definitely not gory.

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I cannot agree with others that the movie does "not" glorify murder and power because children are killing children and laughing about it (in the movie).

 

 

But not all children respond that way. In our theater, filled with its fair share of tweens and teens, the only sound heard was that of gasps during those particular scenes.

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I think you are a great parent for choosing to read the book before your DD did. This is what I suggested in the other thread. I also said 10 years old is way too young for this kind of reading let alone movie watching. I agree, why push this on your young kids? My son wants to play Wii all day, but I don't let him. Just because your child wants to read a book doesn't mean they should.

 

Quite a lot of assumptions there.

 

1. I didn't "push it on" my daughter. She read it because she reads at quite an advanced level and she can handle this sort of books, and she wanted to read it when she saw me reading it.

 

2. I too, don't believe that just because my child wants to read a book that she should. If she wanted to read Steven King, I'd strongly encourage her not to (and knowing her sensitivity, I'm sure she'd agree.)

 

3. But to that end, The Hunger Games wasn't gory.

 

She has read the book twice and has no interest in seeing the movie.

 

I'll just have to see it with friends :)

 

Are you sure you can really make such pronouncements on what is appropriate and what is not for other people's children, and cast aspersions on their motivations?

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Also, being pacifist and non-resistant, there would be a LOT of the movie that just does NOT agree with our value system. If it were 'real life', and the government could force my child to participate in the Hunger Games, I would pray that my child would have the strength of character to hold to the beliefs we had taught him regarding murder in any form. (Same as my boys will be registering as conscientious objectors when it is time to register for Selective Services.)

 

I just jumped through a few pages of comments, so maybe someone has addressed this one already, but when I closed the book on Mockingjay, my first reaction was "This is why I lean pacifist". I think it's an excellent series on why war is bad. It explores what violence does to other, and what it does to ourselves. I really think this is a series everyone should read.

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Regarding why present the books to the tween/teen crowd, I think the main reason is that the series was developed for the Young Adult Fiction market. It has been included on many middle school and high school reading lists. Therefore, I feel that the publisher's marketing efforts guided the book into the hands of this particular audience.

 

Another reason for considering introducing your young teen children to it is because it will be a topic of discussion for many of their peers. If you want them to hear it from you first, then you need to consider introducing the material yourself.

 

I think that while this topic is not for all 10 - 13yos, (and even fewer younger children) many are able to deal with it and have been dealing with more grim topics than we could ever imagine in their daily lives. With the news and violent entertainment media as prevalent as they are in American society, children are exposed to much more intense things at a much earlier age than ever before.

 

Each family needs to decide how much "sheltering" and from what is appropriate for their children. For example, I permitted 13yo dd to read the HG books and see the movie because I feel she had the maturity to benefit from it. However, I don't allow her to watch the Twilight series because I know her imagination and don't want her dreams filled with vampires. Nor do I allow Harry Potter because I feel that her spiritual maturity is not strong enough yet to withstand exposure to all the sorcery and magic, which our religion teaches is wrong. It is a judgement call for each family, for each case. IMO, the only way to go is to check these things out myself first, and decide which are acceptible and beneficial for my child.

 

I personally did consider the HG movie gory. Perhaps not as detailed as some other movies, but gory for my tastes. However, I also accept that a certain amount of gore was to be expected, given the movie's premise.

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You're welcome -- It took me about 4 hours of sleep to realize that is what I think Gary Ross has done -- it is the only explanation to me that makes sense.

 

He is making an unbelievable statement to people who have read the book, see the film and want to know 'where is this part?' and 'where is that part?' -- 'why did you leave that out?'

 

He is demonstrating to the viewer that what we VIEW is not what has happened.

 

To me, that is the big statement he is making.

 

I find it brilliant -- it IS his commentary on reality tv.

 

Thanks again. I think that tonight when I watch with this perspective, I will be unfolding layers and layers and layers of other things. I'm fascinated.

 

Enjoy!

 

This reviewer didn't have the same perspective you did. I admit I find it less plausible that the director intended the surface-level treatment as a statement in itself, but I like your theory better. :) I'm going to see the movie this afternoon.

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(Same as my boys will be registering as conscientious objectors when it is time to register for Selective Services.)

 

There is no provision for C/O in registering for selective service. There is registering or not registering. You can register and write Conscientious Objector on the top of the paper, but you must register and the C/O has no effect on your registration. C/O only has status if there is a draft for a war.

 

http://www.nyym.org/qr/co-info.html

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