Recently there has been quite a bit of hype surrounding Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. It’s been a best-selling book and is poised to be the first major blockbuster film of 2012. Yesterday, I had the misfortune of reading a review of the movie that completely missed the mark as to what the movie is about. It was like reading a Sean Hannity or Keith Olbermann commentary on, well, pretty much anything since they like many “journalists” are nothing more than blowhards who take one aspect of something and then proceed to beat it to death as a warmup for what they really want to say about it (which is I suppose the only way to keep a news channel running these days).
Dangers
The dangers in using only this kind of information as a Christian is that it affords the opportunity to completely miss the mark (which incidentally is the very definition of sin) and lose an opportunity to use something to lead people in a better direction, not to mention the fact that just like Olbermann and Hannity it makes us look like idiots.
Ultimately, if you want to know what the story says, read the story.
If you have no intention to read the story but would like a thoroughly summarized and spoiler-filled version, read on.
Toils
Toils are the meat and potatoes of this story. Ultimately, The Hunger Games is about a teenage heroine name Katniss Everdeen who is thrust into the spotlight when her sister is selected as Tribute to participate in the annual Hunger Games. These games are a fight-to-the-death event where 2 tributes (one male, one female) from each of the 12 districts in Panem are volunteered in memory of the uprising when the then 13 districts (District 13 was utterly destroyed by the Capitol) tried to stage a coup and overthrow the tyrannical government. The winner (only survivor) earns extra food for her entire district for the next year.
By the way, the tributes are all between ages of 12 and 18.
When Katniss’s 12 year old sister Primrose is selected as tribute, Katniss volunteers to take her place. This thrusts her into the spotlight, into the favor of the citizens of the Capitol, and ultimately into the Hunger Games. Through this, Katniss (and the reader) are introduced to the gross surplus of the Capitol. From their dress to their diet (think 1980s to the nth degree), the Capitol represents a level of depravity and excess that should sicken the reader.
It definitely sickens Katniss.
Through her and her fellow District 12 tribute, Peeta Mellark, a story begins to unfold targetting rebellion. The need to have things change toward fairness from injustice and toward decency from depravity is well-crafted across the pages of the story. And, it’s crafted without having to rely on profanity, sexuality, or inappropriately displayed debauchery. There is one scene where Katniss is being prepared for her first public appearance and she is naked while being made up for public appearance, but this is exclusively targetting the idea of being laid bare before the audience whether she likes it or not and has nothing to do with sexuality (which according to what I’ve read, is how they dealt with it in the movie without having any actual onscreen nudity – Thank you for that Gary Ross). There’s drinking in multiple places, but it’s never displayed as a good idea. It’s either Haymitch using it to cope with the past, which is illustrated in disgust or the people of the Capitol celebrating and demonstrating excess, which is also illustrated in disgust.
Snares
With a little digging, it’s easy to see whyThe Hunger Games is so popular. It’s our story. It’s the story of how the underdog overcomes and gains victory. It’s the way we became a nation. It’s the way the Maccabean Revolt was won. It underlies the story of Batman, Rocky, Luke Skywalker, Frodo Baggins, four kids who went through a wardrobe, and countless other stories where the underdog comes out of nowhere, is thrust into a situation they never wanted to be in, and ultimately rises to the top to overcome and gain victory.
She’s their Jesus. So why do we treat her like Judas?
We do it because we don’t like the idea of kids killing kids (which we shouldn’t, and neither do the main characters).
We do it because she kills people.
We do it because we don’t like the way she ‘saves’ everyone, and therein lies the problem.
Many Christians are getting so hung up on their own beliefs that they are unable to see past them toward an opportunity to share the Gospel with someone by using a story that everyone knows (kind of like Paul telling people about the ‘Unknown God’ they already worshiped). There’s no sign of “Let me tell you about someone who died to save everyone without having to kill a single soul.”
That, is the most dangerous snare. When we as Christians get so hung up on our own beliefs that all we can do is point fingers, then we have missed the mark, and that is the very definition of sin.
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