The Crutch of Entertainment

Now I know I am straying from my normal WIP theme for this A to Z challenge, but I feel I must address some things I have recently read concerning the new movie The Hunger Games.

I watched the movie a couple of weeks ago when it came to a nearby theater and I enjoyed it quite thoroughly, and now I am working through the books which I find to be interesting. The story has a lot of aspects that make you think and a lot of truth that can be applied to the real world; however, not everyone agrees with this.

I had heard that there was some controversy over this movie due to its violence, but I wasn’t aware how large of a controversy it was, especially among Christian circles, until recently after reading some articles on it.

The controversy is stirred up by the fact that the movie is about innocent children killing each other in a large game meant for the amusement of the watchers. The arguments are that the movie glorifies cold blooded murder and violence. The main arguments seem to boil down to this simple conclusion, “Has our society really fallen so far as to see the killing of innocent children as entertainment?”

My response to this question however would be this, “Has our society fallen so far as to expect nothing but entertainment?” Unfortunately, I see this as a weakness in today’s society. Our culture is so bent on being entertained by television, internet, etc. that very rarely do we watch something for intellectual purposes. People don’t like to think anymore, but only turn off their minds in front of the TV, and I think this is the issue with those that find movies like the Hunger Games intolerable. 

People go in to see the movie with the sole expectation of being entertained that they are horrified when the movie depicts controversial content and thus they miss the underlying message that the story was trying to get across. People expect to be able to turn off and mindlessly zone out in front of the TV, but this is the problem. We should never allow ourselves to go into a movie with that kind of mindset, but unfortunately it’s all anyone ever wants anymore.

I do not recall any point in the movie or in the books that glorified the death of children. Yes, there were children dying by the hands of other children, but this was never set on a pedestal of glorification. The people responsible for the games were not the children or the families, but it was the Capitol who in this plot are the bad guys. If anything could be learned from the movie it is the absolute depravity of man. It does a great job showing how morally inept people can become without realizing it.

It never even crosses the minds of the people in the Capitol that what they are doing could be wrong. They are totally blinded to their guilt and this is so true in today’s society. Sure, the movie is fictional but what it depicts has been going on in the world since the beginning of man’s demise.

In the past, Christians were thrown into the arena to die at the hands of gladiators all for the entertainment of those who watched. Today, kids are put through horrible circumstances due to the sex slave trade, and in some African countries where they are tortured and forced to kill their own people. In our own nation, millions of babies are murdered at abortion clinics, while society turns its eyes away making excuses as to why there is nothing wrong with it. We claim that it is for the benefit of the mother, or even the benefit of the child. Human life is so looked down upon in our modern society that we are not that far from the Hunger Games scenario.

So many people are blinded to this reality though because they are so easily appeased by entertainment. We don’t care what modern leaders are doing in the world as long as we are entertained. This is a problem that must be dealt with.

In conclusion, we should never watch a movie with the sole expectation of being entertained, but we are to take captive every thought that enters our mind. Movies have messages and we need to be aware of them. Thus, rather than watching the Hunger Games for pure entertainment, watch it and analyze it. Use it as a teaching experience.  What is it about, what is its underlying message, and is it Biblical? These are the questions we should be asking ourselves no matter what kind of movie it is. Unfortunately they rarely get asked because we are a people seeking only entertainment. It is because of this that you get two different responses. First, some watch it and enjoy  it missing the entire point, while secondly some see the violence and are turned off by it, still missing the point.

As a final remark, I just want to say, yes, we should be careful about what we watch as some things are better not to be viewed, but we should not call something unholy or evil just because it presents a detestable subject.