I would like to write about the controversy surrounding the Hunger Games films and novels. Some people say that the books and movies glorify the shedding of blood and kids killing each other. I beg to differ; in fact, Suzanne Collins wrote them to illustrate a society that had become corrupt and wasn't looking for its people's best interest; in fact, they ended up misusing it by wrenching their children away from them to die in arenas while making their parents watch. It also talks about someone who takes a stand by not playing by the rules, and creating her own, which in the process, brings down a government built on fear and oppression. It's funny, though, all of a sudden, people have an issue with the HG books, but they forget to look at the questionable content in other books, and some of the new movies that have been quite popular lately, to name a few. It's like this: someone sees a picture, but only sees what's on the surface, but doesn't see what the artist was really trying to put into the painting and what he/she was trying to say through it, and what the meaning of the picture really is about.

I know the entire concept of modern gladiators fighting to the death is a gruesome subject, and it is. But the author might be writing about gladiator games involving teens for a reason. What they have been written for is to say that we as a nation, if we allow ourselves to be corrupted and power-hungry, we might end up where Panem did, sadly. And throughout history, we have had the hunger games happen over and over again, in fact: WWI, WWII, Vietnam, all other wars. And all that were involved ended up with the same results as Katniss: Though the soldiers that fought were the victors, they were never the same again, due to PTSD, and felt like their hands would be forever stained red. And what's funny is that a idea like the hunger games has been linked back through the years, and centuries even, so this is not entirely a new concept. The author even got inspiration just by flicking through channels on her tv, seeing the destruction, destitution, and the hurt that events like war can cause. I guess what I am trying to say is that sometimes we as a sinful people can look at something, but only see the title, or the picture, and think one thing about it, when actually it was saying something entirely different. I'm not trying to shun anyone or disrespect them, but all I'm saying is that we should look at the entire picture and what exactly it's trying to say before we give a conclusion to what we think it's saying. The entire story of the hunger games, it's basically replaying what happened in real life, about a guy named Spartacus: He was forced into the gladiator games, and decided to do something about it by breaking out of the system and leading a revolution, all the while playing by his own rules. While Katniss was hard to get rid of by the Capitol, so was Spartacus and his rebels by the Roman government. It's not all that different, really, from real history. Both stories are the same in what they are trying to say: Let's not go down the same path that Rome and Greece did. Those are just my thoughts though, and feel free to comment!