The role of violence in the Hunger Games

Having finished Hunger Games, I can say that I think the author had a dual purpose; to draw some parallels to modern society and to write one heck of a suspense novel.  When asked about the vivid violence portrayed in the book, Collins said that she wants young people to consider the brutality of war. She also questions how the younger generation is spending their time. “What’s your relationship to reality TV versus the News?”, was her query to persons my age. 

I appreciate Collin's concerns about how we view violence and where we seek our opinions. I hope that readers consider violence and its place in our society. I also am intrigued by the fact that if it wasn’t for the violence portrayed in this series, it wouldn’t be nearly as popular.

Let me explain that statement.

When the Hunger Games came out, they became immediately known by their controversial plot line: the brutal games that pit adolescents against each other in a desperate fight for survival. It wasn’t so much the violence that was portrayed in the books that bothered me so much, it was the fact that people were reading the book in droves because of this unusual storyline. The ‘bait’ so to speak was the violence portrayed.  

My concern about this is that the real message of the Hunger Games is not forgotten; unmitigated violence is a terrible evil, especially when used by a government to control others.  I think that violence can control us and when we read a novel like the Hunger Games just hoping for entertainment, it does just that.

 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/suzanne-collins-hunger-games-trilogy-speaks-to-a-generation-of-teenage-readers-like-no-other-literary-creation--but-whats-the-big-message-8958113.html

http://hungergamesmovie.org/13082/author-suzanne-collins-on-the-heavy-message-of-the-hunger-games/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/reviews