Is ‘Hunger Games’ Setting the Right Kind of Fire?
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the science fiction sequel to the novel and movie The Hunger Games, which turned into a worldwide hit in 2012. The story takes place right after the first movie. Katniss and Peeta must face the challenge of figuring out their feelings for each other during a political revolution that puts them at the center of a fight for liberty. The movie addresses a number of topics, which can be read in Movieguide’s full review here. Movieguide recently had the opportunity to hear from the stars of Catching Fire.
Movieguide: Would any members of the cast and/or crew like to say what they most enjoy about the series?
Jennifer Lawrence: I was personally very excited when I first started reading these books. Such a big series that young adults would be reading and something that was very important, I think that it’s a wonderful message to show just how powerful one voice can be. It’s very easy as a society for us to just follow the feet in front of us. History does kind of repeat itself. It’s an important message for our younger generation to see how important they are in shaping our society and our future.
Movieguide: What kind of moral lessons do you feel young boys and girls can learn from your characters?
Lawrence: I think that we have this society that we unfortunately experience in our lives where people feel entitled to certain things. We’ve been completely desensitized in our shock factor, and the media continues to feed you what you want. This is a kind of an example of what happens when you keep allowing that to happen, when you keep feeling entitled to things that you’re just simply not.
At the end of the first movie, with us and the berries, they [our characters] don’t need a victor. They don’t need to play in this game [to kill or be killed]. It’s a wonderful example for young adults—that you don’t have to follow the feet in front of you, even though you can seem like the only one. Even just one voice standing [against] something that’s wrong can keep us from going into a totalitarian government.
Josh Hutcherson: Absolutely. I think that today with our generation, and my younger brothers’ generation coming up too, they’re surrounded by so much in-your-face truth from around the world about issues that are happening. They’re also told all the time how they’re supposed to be by the media, how they need to look or dress. I think this movie shows you can go against the flow of things. I think, for me, that’s the most important thing.
In a society with a powerful media that has a huge influence over young adults and children, Movieguide considers the message of media discernment to be vitally important. Lawrence and Hutcherson point this out, but their comments also apply to their movie Catching Fire, which has themes and content viewers need to know about before they or their family see the movie. Click here to read Movieguide’s full review of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
This article originally appeared on movieguide.org.
