The Hunger Games

“May the odds be ever in your favor...”

The Hunger Games has the excellent advantage of having an entire world setting that plays against the theme of the story. Not only do the people struggle day by day to survive under normal circumstances, but do so under the tyrannical rule of a government that demands entertainment and/or discipline by means of an annually-televised blood sport. The characters are ultimately fighting for life, not death.

So in a world that no longer regards a person’s basic right to live as sacred, but rather revokes it for the sake of entertaining the masses, just how meaningful can life be, anyway? For the audience, it becomes a very powerful driving force, and one that keeps us riveted from the very start. Admittedly, I had hoped for a greater upsetting of the government by the end, but seeing as how this is part of a series, I can only assume it takes place at a later point in the storyline. (I can’t say for sure, as I haven’t read the books.)

The script was really quite exceptional, with only the occasional oddball moment or two of exposition. I’m reminded of the encounter with the deadly ‘Tracker Jackers.’ The announcers were like, oh, right... the wasps... “Um, these are really dangerous and cause delusions and can kill you.” And back to the story! The simplest fix would’ve been to place this info closer to the beginning, during survival training.

My biggest issue with this story has to do with the internal arc of the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen—in that there really isn’t one. Introduced early on as a person already willing to sacrifice herself for others, there was never any real chance for her to grow and develop at any point during the games. Yes, there are touching moments—but they’re a reflection of the goodness already inside her, rather than on her own personal growth. What she accomplishes at the end, she was perfectly capable of in the beginning.

The solution to this might have been to give her an internal conflict that also played against the theme. Perhaps she could have been resistant to attaching herself to the lives of others, possibly as a result of her father’s untimely death. In this way, she would have had to learn to choose life over death all over again, only this time understanding that she cannot do it alone. This would have given her relationships throughout the film much more meaning, and given her a chance to really grow internally as a person.

Overall, this was a very engaging story with a strong plot and a genuinely thought-provoking message.