Review of The Hunger Games (2012) by Erik S — 06 Feb 2015

When I first heard about this phenomenon, I was taken aback by the idea of such a jarringly dark premise for a Young Adult series. I understand the value of the parable. Dystopian Sci-Fi serves to remind us that as a species we're never past the possibility of our society going to the dogs in any number of ways, including the reinstatement of gladiatorial games as a bread and circus to mollify the populace. Fundamentally, I remain unconvinced as to the legitimiacy and indeed morality of this artistic choice. Having the gladiators be children strikes me as nothing more than a cheap device on which to hang a Young Adult franchise on, complete with all the painfully obvious metaphors they've all had since Harry Potter (or really since Narnia, I suppose), and this seems unseemly, even creepy to me.

Since I don't approve of the premise and find it more than a little horrifying, I'd avoided watching the movie until last night. I must say, once I got past the premise, the way it all plays out is terrific. There are very strong narrative elements here, none of which are prettied up in any way for the YA audience or anyone else. It is very suspenseful and plenty gritty, with propulsive narrative drive and a palpable sense of the primal, all within this ghoulish manufactured game. I was pleasantly surprised to find Katniss is more than some assembly line YA heroine, which is due to the impressive charisma and intensity of Jennifer Lawrence, upon whose able shoulders the whole project rests. Even the love angle works, as it is not the focus, and is itself an important plot device within the greater narrative of image selling. I understand why critics have been taken with this series as opposed to the other YA stuff, as it is very easy to see it as a grotesque extrapolation of our reality TV culture, of using unseemly entertainments to pacify the proletariat. For teenagers, the desperate dog eat dog struggle need not be the rat race, it is high school.

I can't say I'd want to see this again. As I was watching it, no matter how strong I felt the narrative was, I wanted to skip to the 3rd one with the revolution. I wanted Katniss and company to get on with it and butcher those horrid ghouls in the finery who ruled this tournament. Viva la revolucion and leave none alive, that is the sentiment this film conjured up. I'm still not on board with the fundamental core of this project, but it was damn well executed and I'll see the subsequent films, with some reservations of course.