The full interview with Suzanne Collins: http://www.scholastic.com/thehungergames/media/qanda.pdf
Ali
Monday, March 26, 2012
The Thrill of the Hunger Games
After reading the Hunger Games, I was extremely confused how I enjoyed such a disturbing book. While reading, I was barely able to put down the book and finished the book within 3 days. However, since the game is essentially about people fighting until death, I felt guilty for enjoying the book. With this guilt and confusion in my head, I set out to research this topic. Through an interview with Suzanne Collins, the author of the trilogy, I came across her comparison of this book to reality television in general. Since the Hunger Games are televised each year, and all citizens watch (even though it's required for them), it is similar to how people gather around their television sets each week to watch reality t.v. shows such as Jersey Shore, Real Housewives, and the Bachelor. While these reality t.v. shows have nothing to do with life or death and are much more light-hearted in their competitions, people still watch and enjoy seeing the reality t.v. characters humiliated on a weekly basis. Collins describes this thrill that we get a "voyeuristic thrill" in which we truly enjoy seeing people humiliated or even physically suffering. This is very interesting to me, as we see the competition between characters, and often have favorite characters that we don't want to be hurt or humiliated, but enjoy watching others go through this pain. In the Hunger Games, I found myself barely flinching when members of District 1 were killed, because we learn to not sympathize with these unlikable characters- even if they are being tortured to death literally. So, while I still feel guilty for enjoying the Hunger Games, I feel a little better that we all experience this voyeuristic thrill.
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I definitely agree that after reflecting on this book series how strange it is how many people are obsessed with these books. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't put them down and can't wait to see the movie, but it is really strange to think that we are fans of a book about a game filled with people killing each other. It is even stranger to think that the people of District 1, in the book, love the Hunger Games and cannot wait for them to happen annually. I can see how reality TV can relate, but I don't think in anyway that these Television shows are as severe as a game where people kill each other to survive. Of course this book is fictional, but it is still a crazy thought that people would cheer when people die, so the spectators were probably the most outrageous part of the books, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI think it's funny that you compare Hunger Games and people killing each other to reality television, and now that you have put it this way I can't help but agree. Every time there is a new episode of Mob Wives, Jersey Shore, or even Biggest Loser my mom and I immediately run to the living room to watch together. Although people killing each other is our minds is bizarre and wrong, there are definitely other people and cultures that think us watching Nicole Polizzi (Snooki from the Jersey Shore) through her arrests, pregnancy and engagement is just as disturbing as watching people die. We (the American culture) are literally begging for people like Snooki and Mike (The Situation) to go off the deep end in front of a camera and then we complain that people think American's are stupid or dumb, and when the look at this they're right! We get joy out of other people's pain and misfortunes and we forget that these are people's actual lives, just like in the Hunger Games people are actually dying. I think this is a great comparison Ali.
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