Hunger Games movie

[hermanmunster]

Never has a Harry Potter book crossed this threshold!

How on earth did you manage that ? I hate the books, actually found the whole thing dark and depressing, but nothing I can say or do would change the minds of everyone else here.
Now I'm afraid JK has written another book - help

My Kids just not interested - they saw it as a bandwagon with some people making a lot of money and their schoolfriends being hyped up to buy, buy, buy and read the latest story / see the latest film. I offered to take them to see a film so that they knew what the wittering was about but they declined.

For similar reasons they didn't play with Pokemon cards, watch Star Wars or Dr Who...

[Looking for help]

Mine did the pokemon thing, but not the others.

HP has been a constant source of annoyance to me.

[scarlett]

My DD seems influenced more by fads and trends then the boys. Your DC just had sheep and flowers , didn't they Herman ?

Going back to The Hunger Games , I did watch it with DS1 who is either completely desensitised to violence or just saw something different...he thought the film was focused on good v evil and the importance of doing the right thing even when those around you are not ( his words..not as eloquent as Miss Magwich..but he is a boy ! )

I remember staying at a friends house when 14 and sneakily watching A Nightmare O n Elm Street ...now that did upset me..I still have to have my feet covered up when sleeping. I'm quite normal otherwise.

[aargh]

I also think that the "at least it gets them reading" argument does not wash. If they are reading rubbish, there is no point reading it. In fact there is less than no point, because reading bad stuff can be harmful to their understanding and attitudes.
Try applying the statement to other subjects: Here are some really badly written equations to solve: "Well at least it gets them doing some maths." Here is a field guide to birds with them all labelled wrongly: "Well at least it gets them interested in wildlife." Here's your writing assignment for today, You are playing in a wood, write instructions on how to kill 23 other children who are also there: "Well at least it gets them writing."

I have not read the Hunger games books but have seen the film. It is not great fiction and the society portrayed would not function. OK for a bit of escapist fantasy, but not up to all the hype and the fact of it being children killing each other is disturbing without actually making sense even by the terms of the story e.g. In Roo's district they riot when she dies, why doesn't this happens every year in every district? Why don't they riot when the children are taken?
It also chickens out on the supposéd moral themes. They avoid Katniss ever actually having to confront the possibility of killing one of the others whom we or she think of as a "goodie". If as Scarlett's DC says it is about doing right when everyone else is doing wrong, you need Katniss to have to make those decisions, the Author never puts her in that difficult moral situation. What if it had finished with her having to choose between Roo and Peter?

In lord of the flies, the savagery that develops is used to highlight aspects of human society and the thinness of the social veneer. The use of children has specific meaning within the context of the setting and what the story is saying about human behaviour.

[Looking for help]

As the parent of somebody who would rather do anything than read a book, I was simply pleased he was reading. The only other books he has read willingly since the age of 6 have been the Harry Potter books. He has been interested in nothing else.
We had a chat there about it all - he reckoned like scarlett's son that it was a question of good triumphing over evil, and doing something to protect those you love. I asked if the violence had disturbed him - not a bit of it. He also said the book was much better than the film.

It's a bit of futuristic fantasy. Probably has too much violence, but at least a lot of the blood was airbrushed out to allow it the 12A certificate in the cinema

[scarlett]

If as Scarlett's DC says it is about doing right when everyone else is doing wrong, you need Katniss to have to make those decisions, the Author never puts her in that difficult moral situation. What if it had finished with her having to choose between Roo and Peter?

She did have to choose between herself and Peta at the end...and didn't follow the course the others would have taken..she was prepared to sacrifice herself..so perhaps wouldn't have chosen between then preferring to face up to any consequences ?

I'm off to my roast lamb.

[Sally-Anne]

The Lord of the Flies is a pretty grim book in places - but regarded as suitable as a exam text in the past.

Nothing past about it - DS2 is studying it for GCSE right now.

I had to study it for O Level, and I loathed it. He seems to be quite enjoying it, but I'm not sure whether he's got to the end yet.

[DC17C]

I have to say we are not going to see the film- I did not like the trailer for it. DD was interested in going - she read the book and has moved on to something else so not bothered to see the film any more.

[hermanmunster]

Your DC just had sheep and flowers , didn't they Herman ?

.

sheep are standing joke when talking about local area eg in foreign language or on school trips can't help it - the dear things are everywhere...

[cinnamon]

it is billed as a 'young adult' novel. So presumably ... the target audience is young adults, by which I understand very late teens, early twenties

Hmm, bookshops' use of the term 'young adults' is different to normal use. Certainly, books under that heading are always in the children's section of any WH Smith and Waterstone's I've looked in and I've assumed they're intended for 13+. The description is, presumably, designed to flatter rather than to be chronologically accurate.

As for The Hunger Games, my 13-year-old loves the books and has seen the film (but she's always had a taste for the macabre), yet this afternoon was watching Pooh's Heffalump Movie on TV and found that very upsetting, particularly when the heffalump was caught in the trap!

I'm pretty relaxed about her literary choices, though. A couple of weeks ago 1984 came up in conversation and she asked whether we had a copy. Not only did we but I was able to find it in a couple of minutes (a major achievement in our household) and she happily read that. Next on her list of requests is The Day of the Triffids - and I know where that is, too!