A Hunger Games Controversy - Comments

Eh?

I feel like you're trying to make a point about religion and then somehow connect that to The Hunger Games. I don't see how bringing up religion is creating a downside to the movie. I understand that not everyone likes THG, that's cool everyone has their opinion, but it's really insignificant when you're looking at all the other controversies that the movie and books deal with.

I'm a little disappointed. I thought you were going to talk about how they made Katniss white in the movie. The whole "drop of bleach" metaphor in the description got me excited. And also, no offence, but your article was kind of cut short. Maybe next time you coud include some quotes, to better help back up your thesis. However, the writing was very poetic–just not the kind of writing needed for this article.

I'm not sure I really understand your article, but from what I've gathered, you're upset by the usage of phrases/words like "oh my god" and "what the hell?" because you feel like God/Hell wasn't featured or mentioned in the novels?

Language is a very hard thing to get rid of. This includes words, phrases, and ideas. So even if the idea of God and religion had been phased out of Panem over the years, it's not likely that a word as strong as "God" and a concept as strong as religion would have been wiped out completely an erased from world and language. Even if people no longer believed in God or religion, or if it were no longer taught or practice, it's very likely that the vernacular around it would stick around. Phrases like "oh my God" or "this is hell" currently, in a world where people are still very much into religion and God and worship, are already far removed from religion. You don't have to believe in God to shout out, when surprised or shocked, "Oh my God," and you don't have to believe in the existence of hell to compare a place to it - think of how many atheists use those terms.

As language grows and evolves, phrases, sayings, idioms and metaphors (and their general meanings) tend to stay with us, even if the individual things used in those phrases have become obsolete. Even when we're at the point where people don't even know what those individual words/things are, they will still understand what the general meaning of the phrase is.

With that said, it seems like a complete waste of money to let something like that ruin an entire movie for you.

Religion has nothing to do with the hunger games, even if they knew there was a god it wouldn't change anything, besides there wasn't any churches or any type of religion. Also, the use of God and Hell could be from the books they have read in schools or there could be stories from the past.
To be honest your over thinking the whole thing and the script writers could have something going on with the no music, and there is no way the Hunger Games could possibly encourage war or make it glorified as in the books later on it is clear that most of the characters hate war and being in war.

Just my opinion.

@ the apex predator;; - I agree with you.

I guess I don't understand where this article is really going... Religion wasn't even mentioned in the book, so why should it even matter if they used such terms throughout the movie. That is just reading too much into it... It doesn't change anything about what The Hunger Games are about.

I get it! This article was an epiphany of mine that wasn't put very well into words. I just thought the profanity would have weakened the despot because the people jumped at any glimmer of hope. They jumped to revolution when Katniss covered Rue with flowers so I thought they would jump at the thought of a loving God. Your point with the Holocaust was just, but look at the soldiers and civilians that freed the Jews. They were mostly Christian/Catholic, people who believed that humans shouldn't be treated like punching bags (to say the least). You are right. The article jumped everywhere without proving my point. I should rewrite it, just for you :) and put in the rest of my reasoning. Did I enjoy the movie? No. But do I enjoy books like War and Peace or the Screwtape Letters? Or movies like Gettysberg, Gods and Generals, or Dark Knight? Definitely not! I just read and watch these types of entertainment to glean knowledge and wisdom from them. Thank you for your input!

I'm sorry, I just really don't understand what you're trying to say here. Are you referring to the fact that they said "God" or "Oh my god" or whatever they said during the movie? Because if this whole article is saying that you didn't enjoy the movie because they said "oh my god" and you think it's wrong because a god would bring hope, I think that's kind of silly. Look at us now. We're in a democratic government, sure, but no one really cares about the existence of a god when it comes to our government. I mean, "one nation under God" and all that is obvious, but...I guess I just really don't see why the existence of a god would necessarily stop a totalitarian government like in The Hunger Games. The Jews in the Holocaust believed in God, but even if there were small revolts, they were crushed and trampled. People learned to just accept things and believe quietly and wait for their savior. Even in the modern world, in third-world countries, people believe in God but that doesn't mean they're going to rise up and rebel against their government. I mean, I'm a Christian and believe in God very, very much, and even I probably wouldn't revolt against a government like the Capitol even though I believe that God can accomplish all things.

Long story short, whether or not they believed in a god shouldn't really be an issue that's even up for discussion. It changes nothing about the movie, and it changes nothing about their living situation. Probably, like the Jews in WWII, they learned to just accept and go along with what the Capitol wanted.

To be honest, religion shouldn't even be an arguing point in THG because there was no real mention of it anywhere. It's like asking if characters in a book have their menstrual cycle or whatever. It doesn't really matter either way, so why bring it up? That's what I feel the whole issue of religion was in THG. I wouldn't look into it too much.

You might also want to rethink your article, in my honest opinion. It jumped around a lot and I wasn't even sure what your point was until the last paragraph. It started out as a critic review, then jumped to a character analysis, then to what you didn't like about it, and then finally got to the point of religion and the fact that you didn't like that they didn't rely on God and rebel from the very start.

I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be mean. Just telling you what I think. :/