“The Hunger Games:” Bull’s-Eye or Dud?

Hunger Games reviews should be mixed among ages, genders

By Alan Clemons, Managing Editor

“The Hunger Games” opens today in theaters across the country, a movie that features hunting as an intimate part of the 16-year old main character’s life and plot.

According to CNN’s story, “The Hunger Games” is the wildly popular trilogy of dystopian novels by Suzanne Collins – and the narrator is not a stereotypical camouflage-clad hunter; she’s a 16-year-old girl. The eagerly anticipated first film of the series hits theaters on March 23, and with the growing popularity of protagonist Katniss Everdeen, aims to shoot down conventional ideas of people who hunt.”

As I drove home last night after dropping off our 16-year old daughter to meet friends for the midnight screening, I wondered if this latest “hot movie” would be a dud, something so-so, or as breathlessly profound as some are making it out to be.

“Showing the side of …” or “transforming …” or “enlightning those who don’t …” often are PR lingo used to hype something. Hollyweird is masterful at creating hype, so that’s nothing new. We’ve all heard about books, movies, music or some other event or activity that supposedly was life-changing and turned out to be a bomb. Or, it actually did live up to the hype.

“A River Runs Through It” comes to my mind. Incredibly well done on screen, it’s one of my favorite movies. It sparked some national interest in fly fishing, albeit with some controversy. There were some – many, perhaps – who said dolled-up Orvis Boys trying the hot new fad would come flailing amid streams and eventually give up. They were right. But some of ’em stayed, too, and that was good for the sport. Such is the way of entertainment media’s impact on society.

Will “The Hunger Games” positively influence teenage girls (and maybe some guys) toward hunting by eliminating some of the stereotypes? Or will the media-saturated and, quite honestly, media-savvy teens see the hunting aspect as uninteresting, part of a movie and merely something to talk about at the school lunch table?

My guess is there may be, as always, a little of both.

Read the CNN story about “The Hunger Games” movie here: Click this link

UPDATE:  This morning I asked our daughter, who has not read “The Hunger Games” novel, for her thoughts about the movie and this was the extent of our brief discussion before she jaunted off to school:

“It was really good. I liked it a lot. It was easy to follow (without reading the book). The only thing about hunting in it was that she could shoot a bow.”

And, that was it.

 

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1 thought on ““The Hunger Games:” Bull’s-Eye or Dud?

  1. I can’t help but think that even if one teenaged girled picks up a bow, learns to shoot and becomes a avid bowhunter, out of 10’s of thousands who may try it. It is a good think.
    I gave an intro to Archery fun shoot one evening where I work. I had a group of 20 something year old women come out. We did not talk about accuracy, practice, Hunting. I gave them the funadentals of how to shoot and let them shoot at 80cm targets. After a little bit I introduced them to playing tic tac toe using some painters tape to on the back of the target. We just had fun.
    Well a year later I had a young women come up to me and say ” I want to thank you ” I didn’t recognize her, but she then went on to explain that she was one of the women at that fun Archery event a year ago and because of that one evening she got to try archery and have fun with no pressure on accuracy or skill. She went home and told her then boyfriend ( now Husband ) she wanted to shoot with him and maybe try hunting.
    I have spent most of my adult life trying to share my passion for Archery with others, and because of that one fun evening, both she and I feel like we have accomplished a life goal.
    As I started, if even one your lady out of the millions who go see this movie pick archery, How can it be a bad thing?

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