Books & Movies: The Hunger Games

<p>For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ <a href="https://www.douglasjacoby.com/hgmp3/" target="_blank"><strong>website.</strong></a></p><p><strong>Suzanne Collins' trilogy</strong></p><ul><li><i>The Hunger Games</i></li><li><i>Catching Fire</i></li><li><i>Mockingjay</i></li></ul><p><strong>About Panem</strong></p><ul><li><i>Panis et circenses</i> (Latin for bread and circuses), coined by Juvenal, c.100 AD. Note: circuses refer to (extremely violent) chariot races, gladiatorial spectacles, and so forth. <i>Iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli uendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat,</i> <i>panem et circenses</i> (Satire 10.77–81).</li><li>The parallel between Panem and the ancient Roman Empire, which controlled the masses through bread and circuses, is thus made explicit.</li><li>Protagonist: Katniss Everdeen. Antagonist: President Snow.</li></ul><p><strong>10 Biblical themes</strong><br /> </p><ul><li>Freedom</li><li>Peace. This is the way of the Lord, not war. What sort of society finds violence amusing?</li><li>Hope</li><li>Vanity: the shallowness of the masses, as well as of the powers-that-be. This is biblical: truth exposes the manipulation, hypocrisy, and self-interest of human power structures.</li><li>Social justice</li><li>Compassion: action, not just feeling.</li><li>Sacrificial love (Katniss takes the place of her sister Prim).</li><li>Leadership (though the protagonist is more of a Moses figure than a Christ figure)</li><li>The need to be engaged, not withdrawing emotionally but staying in the fight.</li><li>Minor biblical allusions (e.g. <i>twelve </i>districts, or <i>thirteen minus one</i>)</li></ul><p><strong>Mini-article in Christianity Today (</strong><i><strong>Christ in the Hunger Games, </strong></i><strong>September 2012, p.86)</strong></p><p>"When <strong>The Hunger Games </strong>released to theaters in March, many dismissed it--and the popular book trilogy before it--as a grisly story