The Hunger Games Musings

After resisting commenting on The Hunger Games for months, I feel I must comment on the whole phenomenon now for some reason.

The Hunger Games (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well, I guess the reason is that I went to see the movie–this after suffering through reading the trilogy.

I must tell you that the only reason I went to see the movie is because 13-year-old grandgirl was desperate to see it. Love will make you do things you never thought you’d do. Also, I had movie coupons. That made it easier to go, along with a Buffalo Wild Wings gift card, making the entire night my best price—FREE.

Back to the books. I read all three of them—count ‘em—3—because my daughter and grandgirl #1 were reading them. Honestly, I don’t get all this “I couldn’t put them down” posts I read (present tense) on an almost daily basis. The writing is weak, and the storyline predictable, much like the Twilight series of which I could only stomach 100 pages of before jumping ship. But that’s another story.

It took me FOREVER to read The Hunger Games and subsequent sequels.  I would read and wonder if the torture would ever end. Honestly, I did not and do not see the appeal of children killing children. I may be missing an underlying message, but I don’t see it at all.

After reading the first installment in particular, I couldn’t see how on earth they could produce this movie without it being a bloodbath. I will give them credit on keeping their young audience in mind and keeping the blood to a minimum and blurring many of the graphic scenes. Much. Blurring. Which in this movie is a very, very good thing.

I will say that I commiserate greatly with Gale. That stupid Katniss should have run like the wind into the woods with him instead of ending up with the spineless, lackluster Peeta. Poor Gale is an aside where he should have been developed into a major player, especially given the eye candy actor they cast in his role.

I don’t know how, but The Hunger Games has struck a collective nerve across the country. Someday, I’ll figure out just how to do that and walk away as a gazillionaire, too.