Beyond the Blood: What The Hunger Games Can Teach Tweens Yes, it's violent — but The Hunger Games: Catching Fire can lead to discussions about a number of important issues By Eliana Dockterman
Murray Close / Lionsgate
@TIMECulture
The films — both are rated PG-13 — are based on a young-adult fiction 青 少年小說 series by Suzanne Collins in which a totalitarian regime 極權主義 的統治 holds games every year in which children are forced to 被強迫 murder one another. Some have argued that no amount of good filmmaking or positive messaging should justify taking an under-13-year-old to films with such a violent premise 無論影片拍得多好，所傳遞的訊息有多麼正面，這部給 青少女看的影片，也不該以如此的暴力方式呈現. Others say that the link between violence in films and real violent behavior is shaky 站不住腳, at best 可能, and the films are actually far less violent than the books themselves. I’m not a parent (nor do I plan to be anytime soon), so I can’t speak to whether I would take my own 8-year-old to see The Hunger Games. I can, however, say with some confidence that 很有自信地說 both the book and film series hold valuable lessons for youngsters — ones that, rather than coming from parents, are perhaps much more digestible coming from a hyperpopular 暴夯 pop-culture 流行文化 franchise 特權 represented by Jennifer Lawrence. Here are four lessons tween10-13 歲的女孩 s can take away from 從…獲得 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire:
1. Women can be strong in a non-stereotypical way 以嶄新的角度呈現女性強者風範 Women in popular culture tend to 傾向於 fall into familiar categories 落 入熟悉的類別. One is the damsel in distress 陷入危險、需要被營救的公主. She has a pretty face, is relatively useless when the hero gets into a fight and is a prize to be won 是男主角要贏得的獎品 at the end of the tale (think: most Disney princesses). Then, even the “strong” female characters are easily stereotyped. When they’re young, they’re tomboys 男子氣 who just won’t wear dresses, get into all sorts of trouble and usually are orphaned or without a mother: Lyra in The Golden Compass, Becky “Icebox” in Little Giants, Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird and
Arya in Game of Thrones. When these strong women grow up, they often become the fierce mother protecting their child … or some random kid who is in danger: Ripley in the Alien movies, Sarah Connor in the Terminator movies But Katniss Everdeen — The Hunger Games’ heroine — is something entirely new. She doesn’t need to be saved. Give her a bow and arrow, and she can take care of herself. In fact, she tends to come to the rescue of 拯救 men 男人, not the other way around.而不是被男人所拯救 She also seems totally ambivalent 情緒矛盾的 in reciprocating the amorous advances of her suitors.對於追求者的愛意，並沒有給予明確的回饋或表示 She has more important things to worry about: like surviving the game and keeping her family alive. In doing so, she embodies both male and female ideals 同時 擁有男性與女性的理想特質. She’s one of the most complex female characters 心緒複雜的女性角色 we’ve seen in pop culture in a long time. And that’s a good thing.
2. Boys can look up to a woman as a role model 女人也可以成為男人崇仰的典範 For whatever reason, a girl looking up to male heroes like Harry Potter or Iron Man is considered perfectly normal, but female role models for young boys are scarce. But Katniss embodies both male and female qualities. She’s a hunter-defender that takes on the role of patriarch 一家之主 of her family after her father dies. But she also exudes femininity 散發者一股女性魅力 and uses her sex appeal 善用自身魅力 and guile 心機與盤算 to win her fans for the games. She nurtures 培育, and she kills. Male and female tributes 貢品 are set on equal footing 地位平等 at the beginning of the Hunger Games. There’s a male and female tribute from each district, and never does Collins imply that the females are at some disadvantage in the brutal arena 殘酷的競技場 simply because they have uteruses 子宮. So boys can relate to 認同/欣賞 Katniss just as well (if not better) than they can relate to Peeta. In fact, if they want to idolize 如偶像一
般地崇拜 the strongest character, they’ll choose Katniss over any man in the series.
3. War — even when necessary — has real and dire consequences 即便是無可避免的戰爭，也一定會造成真實且悲 慘的結果 Far from 根本離得很遠 glorifying violence, The Hunger Games shows the consequences of brutality. In the Hunger Games themselves, the “bad guys” are clearly the tributes who train to kill and enjoy violence. The “good guys” are the ones who kill only to survive. Outside the arena, the true “bad guys” are the government officials who created the violent Hunger Games. Even when killing becomes necessary in order to overthrow 推翻 this totalitarian government and restore democracy to Panem, the violence has dire consequences.
4. Politics, race and class divide us 政治、種族與階級使人類對立分裂 Collins’ futuristic dystopia 未來世界中的反烏托邦 taps into 探討了 some very real racial and political realities 現實面 all too familiar 再熟悉不過 in this day and age. The government spies on its people. It uses a reality-television show on steroids 變相加碼 — the Hunger Games — as progovernment propaganda 以宣揚政府政令為主的媒體 and a scare tactic 讓人民心生恐懼的操作策略. The divide 分水嶺 between the lavish trappings of the Capitol 奢華至極的首都城 and the poverty of more distant districts results in a clash 衝突 between socioeconomic backgrounds 社 會經濟背景 — the haves and the have-nots 有錢人與窮人 — and, inevitably, race has a place in upheaval 動亂. Rue and Thresh, both described as dark-skinned in the book, come from District 11, which we see is populated with many (if not mostly) black workers. And they are the ones to start the
rebellion when Katniss covers Rue’s body in flowers in an act of love and (perhaps unintentional) defiance. The other poorer districts are the first to join District 11 in the uprising. Today’s moviegoing tweens have grown up in the age of reality TV 實境電視. They’ve also spent the past few years witnessing (but not necessarily understanding) reports about Occupy Wall Street 占領華爾街, upheavals and civil wars in the Middle East 中東的內戰 and controversies about the National Security Agency and surveillance of citizens 國安局監視民眾 妨礙隱私. Just as Collins suggested, war is a tough subject to broach 討論, so are questions of race, class, totalitarianism, spying and civil war. Why not let the movie lead to a conversation about these important issues?
