If somebody put real Hunger Games on tv or a webcast, would you watch it? Would you feed the monster and help it grow?
Suzanne Collins put, in my opinion, an allegory to our time in a book and on a screen. Ironically, it may only be lost in the mix of media messages for most people.I offer some thoughts on how the world of The Hunger Games is really parallel to our own. There are a lot of questions here to ask yourself, I am not really looking for people to give me their answers, some of these are quite personal. Just answer them to your God and yourself.
The make-overs the tributes are given remind me of how overly focused on appearances we are in our society. It might be more serious in The Hunger Games, but perhaps not. Our definitions of “really looking good” are already outside the range human variation. In The Hunger Games, people focus on tributes' hair and clothes and not on the fact that they are children forced against their will – usually – to go out killing each other.
In our own society, people risk their lives and health to “look good” and I am not only talking about anorexia and anabolic steroids. People sometimes take their lives because they think they are "ugly"and unacceptable. No one in The Hunger Games committed suicide because they believed they were ugly (at least not to my knowledge, I have only seen the films, not the books). Looking at it that way, we might be more obsessed with looks than The Hunger Games' Panem was. People's looks mattered more than their lives there. Here the overemphasis on appearance causes people to get rid of their lives, intentionally or otherwise, all by themselves. It's due to media-driven, unrealistic “standards.” We have an internalized, voluntarily accepted, brainwashing that distracts us from what is important and also extracts money from our pockets.
Suzanne Collins put, in my opinion, an allegory to our time in a book and on a screen. Ironically, it may only be lost in the mix of media messages for most people.I offer some thoughts on how the world of The Hunger Games is really parallel to our own. There are a lot of questions here to ask yourself, I am not really looking for people to give me their answers, some of these are quite personal. Just answer them to your God and yourself.
The make-overs the tributes are given remind me of how overly focused on appearances we are in our society. It might be more serious in The Hunger Games, but perhaps not. Our definitions of “really looking good” are already outside the range human variation. In The Hunger Games, people focus on tributes' hair and clothes and not on the fact that they are children forced against their will – usually – to go out killing each other.
In our own society, people risk their lives and health to “look good” and I am not only talking about anorexia and anabolic steroids. People sometimes take their lives because they think they are "ugly"and unacceptable. No one in The Hunger Games committed suicide because they believed they were ugly (at least not to my knowledge, I have only seen the films, not the books). Looking at it that way, we might be more obsessed with looks than The Hunger Games' Panem was. People's looks mattered more than their lives there. Here the overemphasis on appearance causes people to get rid of their lives, intentionally or otherwise, all by themselves. It's due to media-driven, unrealistic “standards.” We have an internalized, voluntarily accepted, brainwashing that distracts us from what is important and also extracts money from our pockets.
President Snow said the reason the Hunger Games had a winner was to give people a certain amount of hope. They had to have just a little hope, just enough to keep people going doing things that lined his pockets. Enough to secure his control over them. Not enough to stand up and become free though. Never that.There is a high enough demand for a change that media powerhouses often pretend to concede, without messing up the idea they need: that these people are much better than you, that being chosen and employed by these powerhouse corporations truly makes you above others. "Give people some hope, or you lose control over them. Make sure you don't actually empower them though". They do that periodically, much like President Snow from The Hunger Games did every year. So many "rebels" in the media are not rebels at all. For example, Lady Gaga is a skinny, blatant sex-object. This does nothing to challenge the belief that women's purpose and value comes in sex-appeal, that we are objects, or that women should be thin. THOSE are the messages that help drive girls to suicide or terrible life-choices, motivate law enforcement not to take rape seriously, contribute to anorexia, or inspire males to misuse women. It also presents sex as power, which is one characteristic of rape-prone societies. Even many who should know better believe she is "someone standing up to the status quo". She IS the status quo. Nothing changed that was truly destructive. No hair and make-up colors are destructive. No sounds are inherently destructive. Messages can be harmful though, and the messages these so-called "rebels" send are often more extreme versions of the same old poison.
The lesson: Next time you hear about yet another media icon who "stands up to the system" remember it is not real - especially if they continue the images that truly drive real problems, or even take the harmful parts to new levels. The system they supposedly rebel against is the one telling you all this to get you to buy their stuff. If artists truly "rebel against the demands of the entertainment industry", they will not be on top of that industry, or even get signed by major companies. Forget it. No one is going to the top by genuinely standing up to the system. The entertainment industry will not give you better things to buy if what they are already doing is selling like hotcakes. Stop buying the harmful things they're giving, and then maybe they will.
Personally, I haven't watched TV in years. I do not buy magazines from the grocery counter or read the ones in doctor's offices and laundry mats. I bring my own reading material, usually something that helps me build a skill or grow spiritually. Occasionally it is just for entertainment. All of it is very carefully selected. Sometimes I just write. Doing these things was difficult at first, and got easier with time. Soon, I thought I had eliminated the things that degraded me, or shifted my focus to stupid and shallow things. Then, I began to realize how many other ways I was being degraded, insulted, or inspired toward misplaced priorities by what I still had, or was adding, in my media collection. A lot of stuff got deleted that had originally passed my tests. It did not matter what it had cost, it needed to go. Sometimes I temporarily grieved for it, sorta, but usually I did not. The best thing that has come from all this is, I like what the mirror shows me more, and when I go to the store I do not notice people's big flabby butts as much. I may notice if people are big, but it does not “stand out” to me as much, or in as vivid of detail. It is not what I talk about when my friends and I leave the store, or if I need a laugh. Not anymore. If I need a laugh, I sometimes laugh at people who watch too much TV and, apparently, unconsciously believe what they see there. That will either make one laugh or cry. For a long time I resisted any interest in The Hunger Games too, because I figured it was more “mainstream media b.s.” and senseless violence, just like what is depicted in the story itself. For some people, it may indeed be just another source of escape from reality, another blood, guts and adrenaline “escape from the realities of my rather wasted life.” It does not have to be. It is very much an allegory, and an empowering wake-up call.
We may be shunned by some if we do not conform, but not by everyone. Our society does not need an armed revolution to turn things around. We need self-discipline, and an unrelenting self-respect that refuses even passive participation in things we don't believe in.
The primary lesson for today: Brainwashing via entertainment.
The largest difference between us and The Hunger Games really isn't the basic nature or even the intensity of the problem. The biggest difference is we are free to say no, and they weren't – not without armed revolt anyway. In The Hunger Games, the media that brainwashed everyone to ignore what was important and obsess about what wasn't was backed by physical force. If you rebelled, you were beaten or killed. No one is going to shoot us if we do not watch TV or buy magazines, and start genuinely thinking for ourselves. If you threw harmful brainwashing out of your life, who could stop you? Really?
We could armed-revolt without results, as the worst of our problem is in our addictions and appetites for the poisons of the powerful. We don't just need to say “no” to politicians and corporations to reclaim our lives and dignity. We need to say no to ourselves, first, to become free to say “no” to them. The problem and the solution is, in the real world, you must be your own Mockingjay. The only question about whether or not you can do it is whether or not you will. It is up to you, and like Katniss Everdeen, your decisions may have more impact than you expect.
Goodnight and Godspeed
~Mother Star
The lesson: Next time you hear about yet another media icon who "stands up to the system" remember it is not real - especially if they continue the images that truly drive real problems, or even take the harmful parts to new levels. The system they supposedly rebel against is the one telling you all this to get you to buy their stuff. If artists truly "rebel against the demands of the entertainment industry", they will not be on top of that industry, or even get signed by major companies. Forget it. No one is going to the top by genuinely standing up to the system. The entertainment industry will not give you better things to buy if what they are already doing is selling like hotcakes. Stop buying the harmful things they're giving, and then maybe they will.
Personally, I haven't watched TV in years. I do not buy magazines from the grocery counter or read the ones in doctor's offices and laundry mats. I bring my own reading material, usually something that helps me build a skill or grow spiritually. Occasionally it is just for entertainment. All of it is very carefully selected. Sometimes I just write. Doing these things was difficult at first, and got easier with time. Soon, I thought I had eliminated the things that degraded me, or shifted my focus to stupid and shallow things. Then, I began to realize how many other ways I was being degraded, insulted, or inspired toward misplaced priorities by what I still had, or was adding, in my media collection. A lot of stuff got deleted that had originally passed my tests. It did not matter what it had cost, it needed to go. Sometimes I temporarily grieved for it, sorta, but usually I did not. The best thing that has come from all this is, I like what the mirror shows me more, and when I go to the store I do not notice people's big flabby butts as much. I may notice if people are big, but it does not “stand out” to me as much, or in as vivid of detail. It is not what I talk about when my friends and I leave the store, or if I need a laugh. Not anymore. If I need a laugh, I sometimes laugh at people who watch too much TV and, apparently, unconsciously believe what they see there. That will either make one laugh or cry. For a long time I resisted any interest in The Hunger Games too, because I figured it was more “mainstream media b.s.” and senseless violence, just like what is depicted in the story itself. For some people, it may indeed be just another source of escape from reality, another blood, guts and adrenaline “escape from the realities of my rather wasted life.” It does not have to be. It is very much an allegory, and an empowering wake-up call.
We may be shunned by some if we do not conform, but not by everyone. Our society does not need an armed revolution to turn things around. We need self-discipline, and an unrelenting self-respect that refuses even passive participation in things we don't believe in.
The primary lesson for today: Brainwashing via entertainment.
The largest difference between us and The Hunger Games really isn't the basic nature or even the intensity of the problem. The biggest difference is we are free to say no, and they weren't – not without armed revolt anyway. In The Hunger Games, the media that brainwashed everyone to ignore what was important and obsess about what wasn't was backed by physical force. If you rebelled, you were beaten or killed. No one is going to shoot us if we do not watch TV or buy magazines, and start genuinely thinking for ourselves. If you threw harmful brainwashing out of your life, who could stop you? Really?
We could armed-revolt without results, as the worst of our problem is in our addictions and appetites for the poisons of the powerful. We don't just need to say “no” to politicians and corporations to reclaim our lives and dignity. We need to say no to ourselves, first, to become free to say “no” to them. The problem and the solution is, in the real world, you must be your own Mockingjay. The only question about whether or not you can do it is whether or not you will. It is up to you, and like Katniss Everdeen, your decisions may have more impact than you expect.
Goodnight and Godspeed
~Mother Star
