I watched "Hunger Games" today
I went to watch the much hyped movie today. I was prepared to be revolted, and I was. Not by the movie, or the story. It was well-told, powerful and moving.
I heard people chat idly about the theme appearing in other movies. I saw them smiling as they exited the theater, talking about the finer points of the plot. I saw them wearing nice clothes for an afternoon out.
In the movie I saw the people in The Capitol District chatting idly about the 'contestants'. I saw them smiling and cheering over the 'victory'. I saw them wearing their nicest clothes for the occasion.
I, for a long while, couldn't tell the difference.
That book (and the movie) were written as fiction. But I'm sure the author meant it as a mirror.
Do I vote for that one, or this one? Meaningless choices that we chatter about endlessly, trotting out our best justifications. Few brave enough to make the choice for what they want. The choices are an avoidance of risk, a choice based on fear, not on hope.
That was the choice presented to the two characters at the end of the movie. A choice they were encouraged to make based on fear. The whole system rigged for it. And they made the choice based on hope, the choice the system couldn't tolerate.
I feel like that's what our 'democracy' has degenerated to. A circus, a spectacle geared towards making each of us, individually, make a choice based on fear of what the other guy will do.
I was angry because of the movie. Upset, crying. The happy people around me... I didn't understand. A whole passel of children died on the screen. Horrible deaths, lives shortened needlessly in the service of the subjugation of a whole people.
It's a happy occasion. Time to put on your best stuff and chat idly about it with your friends. There is no mirror. There is no tragedy. The movie has no relevance beyond entertainment. A lie to cover the unbearable truth.
I was angry, I was saddened, and I was revolted.
Yeah, I know, preachy and overbearing. Listen to the message for a change instead of complaining about how it's presented. I too will go back to life as usual. But even a moment of solemnity and understanding of a shared predicament might have been nice.
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