^^^ This is what intrigues me about the movies and the books.
Look at what the current generation has been raised on. Harry Potter. Ok, on one hand I read the books and they were entertaining. On the other hand, what is the message that they have inculcated a generation with: "Ohhhhh you're secretly a special misunderstood wizard and anything you get is yours by waving a wand. You have a safe full of gold and by breaking all the rules, you get rewarded and will triumpho over evil. Oh, and did I mention, you and all your friends are special? You get giant banquets every night, have magic trolls to clean up after you, live in a castle never have to work at anything, do the dishes by waving a hand. Again, let me point out that you are special. Have an owl..." No wonder a good chunk of the Harry Potter generation is completely broken. Between helicopter parents, blue pens (red might hurt their self-esteem) and cupcakes and gold medals for showing up... good luck ever getting anything out of them.
The current generation of 'tweens and teens (which is devouring The Hunger Games series from what I understand) is getting an interesting lesson in what happens when you are controlled by a distant capitol where hedonism and gluttony are completely out-of-control... to the point that the government makes children fight to the death for TV reality-show entertainment. This series is teaching that if you want to survive... you had better be a rugged individualist (to use the Teddy Roosevelt-era saying), you need woodsmanship and hunting skills, you better learn to use a weapon and that your survival depends on your individual intelligence (and in the case of heroin Catness, integrity, honor, sympathy and selflessness.) I read somewhere, for example, that archery and bowhunting have taken off thanks to The Hunger Games.
So based on this... (and it's probably not reality-based... but give me my small glimmers) it gives me a lot of hope. As the wizarding generation sits around occupying crap, hanging out in their parents basements, and wondering why their wand waving specialness has not gotten them the Vice Presidency of a Fortune 500 company two weeks after college... maybe the Hunger Games generation will accept and thrive knowing that if you want to get somewhere and something in life, you need to earn it. And that an elite in a distant capitol... controlling your life... is not to be tolerated. Maybe, just maybe, the Hunger Games generation will help bring back some good old values...
No matter what, the books and at least the first movie, are phenomenal. Donald Sutherland is positively eerie... as the President. Let the games begin...
Cheers,
Sirhr.
