The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, Catholic

[LaPetiteSoeur]

[quote name='mysisterisalittlesister' timestamp='1333566695' post='2412976']
That's very interesting. I have had this gut feeling that Rue symbolizes something or someone, but I still can't figure out what. If I get a lightbulb idea, I'll post it here.
[/quote]
I think that she symbolizes love.

[LaPetiteSoeur]

[quote name='Papist' timestamp='1337195464' post='2431317']
I neither read nor seen the movie. In fact, I never heard of it until the all the hoopla over the movie. I looked into it and was turned off by the children killing children theme. Perhaps I am missing something here, but that is what I could not get passed.
[/quote]

It's a very distopian society. I think that Suzanne Collins' point was to show just how brutal humanity had gone once no one could hold the Capitol accountable for anything.

[Papist]

[quote name='LaPetiteSoeur' timestamp='1337198396' post='2431336']
It's a very distopian society. I think that Suzanne Collins' point was to show just how brutal humanity had gone once no one could hold the Capitol accountable for anything.
[/quote]

Can you see the irony?

[Basilisa Marie]

[quote name='Papist' timestamp='1337199355' post='2431344']
Can you see the irony?
[/quote]

In what? In the way that Lionsgate hyper-promoted the movie, launched a line of Capitol-inspired nail polish, and generally encouraged everyone to be a spectator for kids killing each other? In the way that half of my theater cheered when one of the "baddies" in the arena was killed by another kid, completely missing the point that both of them were victims of a disgusting culture? Nearly all of the media frenzy around the story has completely missed the point of the books.

Well, for what it's worth, I don't think the kids-murdering-kids thing is meant to be glorified, but rather portrayed in a way to display the sheer horror of the situation. I think this was done a tad bit better in the books than in the movie. It's not really a theme, but more so a tool to show how desensitized the wealthy elite are to true human dignity, and that all they care about is being entertained. We're meant to sympathize with the characters who promote human dignity and fight against those who celebrate the games.

[PhuturePriest]

*Spoilers*

This is very interesting indeed. I enjoyed the movie and the books (Save for part three of the third book since my favorite character Finnick [i]dies!!!!) [/i]and I always thought that somewhere there may be some symbolism in it. Like The Lord of the Rings, it doesn't state Religion in an obvious way, and in fact it states the marriages in District 12 are not religious at all, but there's subtle hints here and there. However, I would say it is not near as symbolic as The Lord of the Rings and the symbols it does have are certainly not as deep. When writing to his Priest friend that took care of him and his brother after his parents died, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote "The Lord of the Rings is, of course, a Catholic book", so it's pretty hard to contend with The Lord of the Rings anyway. However, it does have subtle hints, whether they be intentional or unintentional. I will say, however, that I wish Collins had read The Lord of the Rings, or if she did, more closely. Because if she had she would've read what a wise Hobbit by the name of Bilbo said: "Books should end with a [i]happy [/i]ending"!!!!!!

[Basilisa Marie]

Nah, I'd rather have a real ending than a happy ending. I thought the ending made the most sense with the characters. Plus it shows that tragedy has lasting, permanent scars and consequences, which helps to not trivialize the events of the series.

[PhuturePriest]

[quote name='Basilisa Marie' timestamp='1337313227' post='2432070']
Nah, I'd rather have a real ending than a happy ending. I thought the ending made the most sense with the characters. Plus it shows that tragedy has lasting, permanent scars and consequences, which helps to not trivialize the events of the series.
[/quote]

I don't care about the long-lasting scares. She could've written those and I wouldn't have cared. But [b]Finnick. Died. [/b]He just got married and had a baby on the way, and yet non-important characters that could've been thrown away easily like Katniss' makeup squad didn't!

As you can tell I feel very passionate about my distaste for his death. I'm going to drink some tea...

Edited May 18, 2012 by FuturePriest387

[Papist]

[quote name='Basilisa Marie' timestamp='1337303869' post='2432002']
In what? In the way that Lionsgate hyper-promoted the movie, launched a line of Capitol-inspired nail polish, and generally encouraged everyone to be a spectator for kids killing each other? In the way that half of my theater cheered when one of the "baddies" in the arena was killed by another kid, completely missing the point that both of them were victims of a disgusting culture? Nearly all of the media frenzy around the story has completely missed the point of the books.

Well, for what it's worth, I don't think the kids-murdering-kids thing is meant to be glorified, but rather portrayed in a way to display the sheer horror of the situation. I think this was done a tad bit better in the books than in the movie. It's not really a theme, but more so a tool to show how desensitized the wealthy elite are to true human dignity, and that all they care about is being entertained. We're meant to sympathize with the characters who promote human dignity and fight against those who celebrate the games.
[/quote]

No. Nothing like that. I know that even though the book has children killing children as the backdrop of the story, it is not [u]the[/u] story. As I understand, the story is very good.

What I am commenting on is the author choosing the children killing children as the backdrop and how us as a society/culture don't give it a second thought. Idk, perhaps the author chose children killing children to draw young people into the story/books. Are these books targeted to teens?

[Papist]

Also, Hollywood usually never get it right according to the books

[Katiebobatie94]

i read an article on lifeteen.com about the catholic symbolism in the movie, it was pretty good!

[url="http://lifeteen.com/why-i-hope-we-devour-the-hunger-games/"]http://lifeteen.com/why-i-hope-we-devour-the-hunger-games/[/url]

check it out!

[LaPetiteSoeur]

[quote name='FuturePriest387' timestamp='1337313724' post='2432077']
I don't care about the long-lasting scares. She could've written those and I wouldn't have cared. But [b]Finnick. Died. [/b]He just got married and had a baby on the way, and yet non-important characters that could've been thrown away easily like Katniss' makeup squad didn't!

As you can tell I feel very passionate about my distaste for his death. I'm going to drink some tea...
[/quote]

I think she killed Finnick just for that point. Those who die in wars are typically those who are married and have children. War creates orphans.

JK Rowling wrote a similar thing (or at least, I've seen it on tumblr), that discusses why certain people died. They weren't killed because they were not necessary to the story, but to make a point.

And Katniss' makeup squad was important: they showed that not everyone in the capitol was bad, and that they were capable of actual human emotion.

[Basilisa Marie]

[quote name='Papist' timestamp='1337341859' post='2432155']
No. Nothing like that. I know that even though the book has children killing children as the backdrop of the story, it is not [u]the[/u] story. As I understand, the story is very good.

What I am commenting on is the author choosing the children killing children as the backdrop and how us as a society/culture don't give it a second thought. Idk, perhaps the author chose children killing children to draw young people into the story/books. Are these books targeted to teens?
[/quote]

Hmm. I think I see the irony that you mean. I hadn't thought of that...and it's a really interesting point.

Yes, the books are targeted toward older teens. The protagonist is 16, I think.

[PhuturePriest]

[quote name='LaPetiteSoeur' timestamp='1337372811' post='2432306']
I think she killed Finnick just for that point. Those who die in wars are typically those who are married and have children. War creates orphans.

JK Rowling wrote a similar thing (or at least, I've seen it on tumblr), that discusses why certain people died. They weren't killed because they were not necessary to the story, but to make a point.

And Katniss' makeup squad was important: they showed that not everyone in the capitol was bad, and that they were capable of actual human emotion.
[/quote]

That's great and all, but certainly there was a different character with children to kill? If you ask me she did it because she knew Finnick would become one of the favorite characters so she decided to cause some drama. To be honest, I would have preferred it if Katniss or Peeta died. I was never too attached to those characters anyway.

But didn't she already prove not everyone in the capital was bad with Cinna in the first place? All in all, I did not like the third book as a whole. Collins killed off many huge characters like Primrose and I feel like she did that simply for drama. There may have been more to it, but I didn't sense as if there was a deep meaning behind it. Then again, what I think does not matter, because I hate the third book anyway so I'm biased with my opinions on it.

Edited May 18, 2012 by FuturePriest387

[Basilisa Marie]

[quote name='FuturePriest387' timestamp='1337380723' post='2432392']
That's great and all, but certainly there was a different character with children to kill? If you ask me she did it because she knew Finnick would become one of the favorite characters so she decided to cause some drama. To be honest, I would have preferred it if Katniss or Peeta died. I was never too attached to those characters anyway.

But didn't she already prove not everyone in the capital was bad with Cinna in the first place? All in all, I did not like the third book as a whole. Collins killed off many huge characters like Primrose and I feel like she did that simply for drama. There may have been more to it, but I didn't sense as if there was a deep meaning behind it. Then again, what I think does not matter, because I hate the third book anyway so I'm biased with my opinions on it.
[/quote]

Hmm, I think she left the prep team live not because they aren't bad, but because they're super ignorant. Cinna is very aware of how evil the Hunger Games are, which is why he works with the rebels. The prep team genuinely has no idea. So in a different way, they're also victims of the evil of the Capitol, and when they come to live with the rebels they face a lot of maltreatment just because of where they're from. Their survival helps show how the rebels aren't all-good, either.

I think Prim represented everything Katniss was living for. All of her motivations for all of her actions can be traced back to Prim, in some way. I think by killing her, Collins showed that the war really did take away everything that was important to Katniss before the games. I think Prim also represents a certain kind of innocence or whole-ness, and killing her symbolically showed how broken Katniss was by the events. Katniss idealized Prim, and killing her off showed that nothing is too sacred or immune from the ravage of war.

But then I LOVE to over-analyze evrything.

[Rowan d'Alexandre]

I've read all three books, watched the movie and debated whether or not Christians should be reading these books on a few other forums. I've never really looked at them through a Catholic viewpoint, so this is all real interesting. =)

@Catholic symbolism: I think the first page pretty much covered most of the Catholic parallels. In my opinion, Collins didn't intend to draw subtle elements of Christianity into the series. But that makes it so much more intriguing -- the fact that parallels to Christ, love and truth will show up in writing aimed at secular audiences.

[quote name='Papist' timestamp='1337341859' post='2432155']
What I am commenting on is the author choosing the children killing children as the backdrop and how us as a society/culture don't give it a second thought. Idk, perhaps the author chose children killing children to draw young people into the story/books. Are these books targeted to teens?
[/quote]

Amen. This is why I wouldn't recommend the trilogy to younger teens, or even some older. Collins gives us a horrifically gritty, bloody setting, and then gives us a heroine who's trapped in this society with little chance of escape.

The element of minors being forced to kill each other is meant as a warning, IMHO, and not some gladiator-like entertainment. But [i]since [/i]Katniss is so helpless in her situation, and Collins doesn't give us a black-and-white distinction of Bad Guys and Good Guys, I think these books should be saved for kids/teens who can fully understand how the violence is truly being portrayed.

[quote name='FuturePriest387' timestamp='1337313724' post='2432077']
I don't care about the long-lasting scares. She could've written those and I wouldn't have cared. But [b]Finnick. Died. [/b]He just got married and had a baby on the way, and yet non-important characters that could've been thrown away easily like Katniss' makeup squad didn't!
[/quote]

**SPOILERS**

But that's why Collins is such a great author. You don't throw away the non-important characters. You kill the characters your readers are attached to. Yeah, everyone loves Finnick because he's freakin epic. And you [i]cared[/i] when he died.

It might make you mad, but at least that's emotion. No emotion = bad storytelling.