After the Twilight saga
and the end of the Harry Potter
series, "The Hunger Games" is
a new kind of book to bring on
hardcore fans. After its release in
2008, it quickly gained attention
nationwide, shooting its name
to the top of New York Times
Bestseller List.
It's strange to think a series like
"The Hunger Games" can gain
so much popularity. The book is
about a future where the America
we know now no longer exists.
America, which is now called Panem, is split up into
districts that are tightly controlled and regulated by
the government. People are assigned jobs and food
portions and most everyone lives in constant poverty,
fenced into their "district." But that's not even the
most twisted or depressing part of the novel.
Every year the Capitol (the cruel head city of
Panem) hosts something called the Hunger Games.
This is the taking of two children, a boy and a girl,
from each distract, and pitting them against each
other in an arena in a fight to the death. The last one
standing receives wealth for themselves and their
family, and — of course — glory. This is the most
sadistic twist in the book, yet it seems to be exactly
what people are into reading these days.
What makes this book so popular? What makes
something as twisted as forced murder between
children so gripping? The short answer? It's
something that would never happen.
This isn't the first novel to look at games of death.
Look at the "Saw" movie series. People are drawn
to the idea of death being a game that can be won
or lost. For "The Hunger Games," death is a twist of
relief and release from a cruel and hopeless world,
but it also means leaving those you love behind to
suffer at the hands of poverty, starvation and the
Capitol.
The idea of self-destruction and murder run
parallel in this novel, which presents a very powerful
message. Nobody forced to play in The Hunger
Games is actually hungry for murder. Those who
do end up killing feel the pain of their crime, while
people outside the games congratulate and applaud
their ability to murder.
The book is twisted and addictive. It tactfully
pushes its audience to gasp in horror all the while
convincing them through basic human characteristics
that, in fact, human beings in this day and age aren't
above committing these kind of acts in order to
achieve wealth and security for those that they love.
Another thing that most likely makes "The Hunger
Games" so popular is its examination of a human
being's shortcomings — or their lack thereof. The
novel's characters are painfully real. You have the
main character, Katniss, who is just coming into
her young adult life, knowing only the struggle of
providing for her mother and protecting her sister.
Peeta is a better off boy in a poverty-stricken district
who is kind and gentle at heart. Gale is a boy who
is strong-willed and willing to fight for what he
believes in. All of these characters are heartbroken
before anything is thrown their way, but it's
ultimately the tests thrown at them that define them.
The book is still extremely popular and still fairly
new, and now it's even more in the spotlight with
the upcoming March 23 release of the first "Hunger
Games" movie. The thing that bothered most diehard
fans was the casting decisions. A lot of names were
tossed around for the lead role of Kantiss, most
fearing that she wouldn't have the ability to play
both caregiver and diehard player in the arena.
The casting directors eventually chose Jennifer
Lawrence for the role, causing much uproar from
fans originally when they saw her. But Lawrence
has made quite the transformation, dying her
hair dark brown and working out constantly for
the role that she described as "once in a lifetime."
Josh Hutcherson is set to play Peeta, and Liam
Hemsworth will play Gale. In my opinion, the movie
could not have been better cast.
The movie is sure to be just as captivating as the
books, and trust me, they were pretty captivating.
The morbid mixture of love, impossible feats,
defiance and corruption are enough to drive the plot
with fair simplicity.
