Why should we listen to Suzanne Collins?

Last week I watched Catching Fire once on the night of its premier and a second time to bring my family with me and make them understand why I am so fascinated with the series as a whole. I wanted my family to know how exciting it is to watch Katniss’ life be played out and how exciting it is to watch the games be played out.

While watching the movie, I constantly was watching my surroundings and my family especially to see what their reactions were like since none of them had read the series before watching either film. I found it interesting how with every move Collins made to make her audience hate President Snow and the concept of the hunger games, each audience member was on the edge of their seat waiting to see what would come next in the annual hunger games.

So my question was can Collins’ warnings be clearly heard? Have people actually become desensitized to violent media images and videos of war and children soldiers or do we just consume them and move on? The answer is no.

Yes you might be wondering why I am so quick to give you the answer. I can tell you this from personal experience and from observation. As I watched Catching Fire and I took careful note of what I was observing in the audience, I came to notice several sniffles and cries even before the actual hunger games began. I looked to my left and my sister Tania had been crying when Katniss gave the eulogy to Rue’s family. Even I, who already knew what was about to come in the movie, felt my eyes water and it was hard to contain my tears. Katniss’ outcry for change and how child violence is heartbreaking could be seen in the audiences’ reactions and everyone’s sad remarks when Katniss gave the eulogy. Even later in the movie when the games had begun, you could see people and their heartbroken reactions when characters like Beete passed away to keep Katniss alive.

To some extent people have become desensitized to violent media images. The youth is used to seeing violent movies in which people are killed all the time. Furthermore, teenagers and young adults participate in playing violent video games such as Call of Duty or Halo in which they are trained to become mass killers. However, when it comes to child soldiers and kids killing other kids, there is a generally different and more sympathetic reaction among all audiences. Both kids and adults can’t fathom a world in which children kill other children, and seeing them play out on the big screen is as frightening as it is heartbreaking.

The Hunger Games movies show people and real-life violent media images, but they allow people to care about the characters that died in the series. This concept of making the audience be sympathetic to what is going on in the novels is a form of resensitization and is a part of why Collins’ warnings are relevant today. Collins’ warnings are heard throughout her portrayal of a sympathetic and affected Katniss after going through the annual hunger games. Even other victors portray Collins’ warnings of extreme, violent media consumerism by showing them uniting and fighting against the corrupt government of President Snow. Although Collins’ warnings have made an impact regarding child violence, hopefully people will understand that not only child violence, but any form of violent media consumerism should be decreased in order to re-sensitize the worlds’ audiences. If violent media consumerism makes stories so that the victims seem more real to the public, as Collins does in The Hunger Games, then a form of resensitization could occur.