The Hunger Games: Appropriate for a Catholic 16yo girl?

Alanna817 · #1 Mar 30, '12, 6:53 pm

Hi everyone,
I know you all have a thread already discussing the Hunger Games, but I'm looking for some contructive, direct guidance if anyone has some good advice they're willing to share. as per the title, I am a 16 year old Catholic homeschooled girl who would like to know if the Hunger Games trilogy (books, I've read a lot about the movie already) would be a morally appropriate choice for a good read. I have a good idea of what the premise is about, but I would love to hear from anyone who has already read at least the first book.
I personally think it would be all right to read because I realize the differences between good and bad; I recognize the similarities between the book's government and what our government could become; etc etc. but as a Catholic, would it be bad to read these?

I'm a definite book lover; to get a feel for what kinds of things I like reading, here are just a few: The Lord of the Rings (and all other Tolkien works, such as the Hobbit, the Silmarillion, the Children of Hurin), Till We Have Faces (and all other CS Lewis books, including Narnia and the Space Trilogy), The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini, The Death of a Pope by Piers Paul Read, Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie mysteries, The Books of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, and various other similar literature. you could base your answers off of these books of you like.

sorry for my lengthy question, guys, but I would really appreciate any help.

-Alanna

MarcusAndreas · #2 Mar 30, '12, 7:38 pm

I'm the same age and I know a lot of devout Catholic girls who love it. So I suppose it isn't too objectionable.

Ladygem · #3 Mar 30, '12, 7:52 pm

The only things that I can think of that might be objectionable are the violence and the character Finnick, who was forced to be a sex slave in the past and thus has developed a habit of walking around with very little on. If you can handle that, I think you'll really enjoy them. I did.

Equites Christi · #4 Mar 30, '12, 8:03 pm

I don't have a useful response.

Ahh, but my good friend, how can you stomach Paolini after reading the wonders of Tolkien and Lewis?

Alanna817 · #5 Mar 30, '12, 8:10 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Equites Christi

I don't have a useful response.

Ahh, but my good friend, how can you stomach Paolini after reading the wonders of Tolkien and Lewis?

perhaps after one has finished all the other works by Tolkien and Lewis. they're my two favourite authors. and I freely admit that much of Paolini's books are elements too similar to LotR to be coincidental. but it's different, and I found that they got better as they went on.

empther · #6 Mar 30, '12, 8:57 pm

I'm a 63 year old guy who just read the first book: The Hunger Games.
I saw nothing objectionable in the book for sixteen year olds.
I don't recall a character called Finnick in the book. Don't know where that comment came from.

There are no four letter words in the book. I suspect the author meant this to show how alien this country of Penam is to our present world.

I don't remember any sex scenes in the book.

As for the violence, first of all, there is no hand to hand combat to speak of. Deaths come quickly. Since the book is written in the first person voice of Katniss who can't see anything that's happening elsewhere, there are no descriptions of most of the deaths that have occurred. Many other movies you've probably already seen have more violence.

Some people will question the morality of the situation. But I think that was Suzanne Collins's point.
Katniss, through whose voice we read the story, never says a word about any other kind of social-political structure. She says nothing about what was there before the country of Penam. Perhaps she thought Penam always existed.
True, she mentions that there was a rebellion 75 years earlier, but she never says a word about how the rebellion might have changed things, or whether a new rebellion might change things. Perhaps she thought there could be no other way of running a country.

She never used words like democracy, court systems, lawyers, justice. equality, elections, freedom, goodness, spiritual things, God, afterlife, or anything like that that makes our lives good or meaningful. By extension, we can guess that the author wants us to understand that all the people in Penam were similarly totally ignorant of everything that was good. They could not imagine that life could be different or better, because they knew nothing else.

This is what makes the book worth reading. It shows us how important it is to understand and take care of all the good things that make our existence worthwhile.

"You can only be what you know you can be. You can only do what you know to do." -- Theresa Hartley, in Empress Theresa

Alanna817 · #7 Mar 31, '12, 5:51 pm

thanks guys, your insight was really helpful

just a question of opinion for those who have been around CAF for a while... would the apologists on this forum be likely to answer a similar question?
thank you so much for all your help, it's been great reading your comments on the Hunger Games.

empther · #8 Apr 1, '12, 10:22 am

Quote:

just a question of opinion for those who have been around CAF for a while... would the apologists on this forum be likely to answer a similar question?

I doubt it very much.

They see themselves as speaking for the Church, as they should. We ask them questions assuming they will give Church approved answers.

They would not make any pronouncements on The Hunger Games, because

1. it's not an important matter affecting the faith of all Catholics, and

2. anything they said could be twisted around and used by the Catholic-bashers. For example: I've given my opinion that the book isn't harmful to 16 year olds. If I was one of the Forums's apologists, Catholic-bashers would say, "Look at that! The Church says a movie about kids killing each other is good for kids! The Pope is the Antichrist!"

Alanna817 · #9 Apr 1, '12, 2:32 pm

I was thinking as much; I know the Church in general doesn't like to give opinions on popular media - unless it's obviously blatantly anti-Catholic. (sometimes I wish they would, but I would imagine that would make some people very unhappy.) I'm really thankful for your insight about them, though.

I'd been reading a bunch of other comments from various Christian sites that posted reviews of the movies. (such as Plugged In, which is a Faith & Family site.) I find it interesting that 99% of the time, most people who give negative reviews have not read the books, but those who have read them tend to speak positively about them, even though the theme is darker than some other lit. I don't know if anyone else noticed that, I just thought it was interesting.

empther · #10 Apr 2, '12, 6:41 am

Quote:

I find it interesting that 99% of the time, most people who give negative reviews have not read the books, but those who have read them tend to speak positively about them, even though the theme is darker than some other lit. I don't know if anyone else noticed that, I just thought it was interesting.

When I heard that the movie was about to come out and that it was about kids killing each other until only one survived, I was negative on the story.
But I saw the book in Wal-Mart and bought it.

It took a while before I 'got it'.
At first, I thought it was only an adventure story. After a few days, I realized it was about what happens when people don't know anything about the possibility of a different and better life.
I don't know if this was the author's intention, but that's how the book came across.

George Orwell wrote a book called "1984".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninetee...ur#Doublethink
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublethink
It's about a futuristic dictatorship. "Big Brother is watching you" says the government's television sets all the time. The government uses "doublethink". Words that have opposite meanings are used as the same word. Example: blackwhite. The Party had three main slogan" War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength. By confusing the differences between opposite words, the government makes it difficult for people to think correctly.
Orwell's book was really a criticism of Communism in which similar oppressive techiques are used.

Over the gates of the main Nazi concentration camp in Auswitz were the words "Arbeit mach Freiheit" ( work makes freedom ). This is nonsense, but the Nazis were trying to confuse the people.

People in this world have all kinds of agendas, and to try to win you over they will twist words around and use "spin control" as it's being called in the media.
It's not always easy to know the truth.

Stick with the Catholic Church. It's been teaching the truth for 2,000 years.

SilverLight · #11 Apr 2, '12, 4:36 pm

to realy its just a movie

empther · #12 Apr 2, '12, 6:25 pm

Quote:

to realy its just a movie

Maybe, the effect it may have on some people may not be "just an effect".

SilverLight · #13 Apr 3, '12, 12:15 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by empther

Maybe, the effect it may have on some people may not be "just an effect".

But it is fiction

PatriceA · #14 Apr 3, '12, 12:53 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by empther

Maybe, the effect it may have on some people may not be "just an effect".

And for some, that may have nothing to do with age either.

PatriceA · #15 Apr 3, '12, 12:54 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverLight

But it is fiction

Which doesn't mean fiction not worthy of discernment of what is and isn't appropriate. The genre doesn't get a "free pass" just because its not factual.