Is this movie taking it to far? Your thoughts

[kono]

I just watched the "Hunger Games" and I have to say it was a little disturbing. Both the storyline and how much hype people are giving it (Twilight/Harry Potter status)
Don't get me wrong I've seen my fair share of disturbing movies (horror/psychological/gore, "the human centipede 1/2"...). But when the whole movie revolves around kids killing kids (12 - 18) I think it's wrong on so many levels. And I would hope no parent would allow their child to see it. Easier said then done in this day and age with the Internet and Torrents.

A brief synapses of the movie -
It take place sometime in the future. Where people are so fucked they come up with this killing game that only involves kids. Last time I check this wasn't ancient times (Romans, Mayans etc). And at least the ancients were human enough not to use killing of kids as a spectacle.
Back to the story line -
2 Contestants/Victims are selected from 12 districts. A total of 24 kids. They all get sent to this staged battle field in the forest where they have to kill each other. The last person standing gets to go home.

What do you guys think?

 

[MattRoxx]

The only thing this movie "takes too far" is plagiarism.

Battle Royale came out over ten years ago.

 

[Smash]

This movie sure is getting allot of hype. Everywhere I turn there's ad's for it but I have never paid attention so I know nothing about it, besides your description. What rating is the movie?

 

[ExerciseGuy]

I agree the theme is quite disturbing and I have no interest in seeing it.

 

[ackack]

Kono, I agree that it is a pretty disturbing theme and wouldn't want younger kids to see it.

A guy at work said his kids were going to see it this weekend. I don't think any of them are over 12.

I don't think the movie is taking the theme too far, but I think it should be at least 14A or Restricted. But with Twilight so big, dead kids sucking blood and having sex...

We had The Lost Boys when I was young, as mainstream "teen movie violence". I only saw it on video later.

-What other movies from years ago would it compare to? Yeah, I've heard of Battle Royale.

 

[GPIDEAL]

I just watched the "Hunger Games" and I have to say it was a little disturbing. Both the storyline and how much hype people are giving it (Twilight/Harry Potter status)
Don't get me wrong I've seen my fair share of disturbing movies (horror/psychological/gore, "the human centipede 1/2"...). But when the whole movie revolves around kids killing kids (12 - 18) I think it's wrong on so many levels. And I would hope no parent would allow their child to see it. Easier said then done in this day and age with the Internet and Torrents.

A brief synapses of the movie -
It take place sometime in the future. Where people are so fucked they come up with this killing game that only involves kids. Last time I check this wasn't ancient times (Romans, Mayans etc). And at least the ancients were human enough not to use killing of kids as a spectacle.
Back to the story line -
2 Contestants/Victims are selected from 12 districts. A total of 24 kids. They all get sent to this staged battle field in the forest where they have to kill each other. The last person standing gets to go home.

What do you guys think?

FFS the book was recommended to me by Chapters last Christmas for my nephew. WTF!

(I've neer seen a HP or Twilight movie (especially Twilight which is just modern day vampire horror movies involving pubescent teens it seems).

 

[GPIDEAL]

Kono, I agree that it is a pretty disturbing theme and wouldn't want younger kids to see it.

A guy at work said his kids were going to see it this weekend. I don't think any of them are over 12.

I don't think the movie is taking the theme too far, but I think it should be at least 14A or Restricted. But with Twilight so big, dead kids sucking blood and having sex...

We had The Lost Boys when I was young, as mainstream "teen movie violence". I only saw it on video later.

-What other movies from years ago would it compare to? Yeah, I've heard of Battle Royale.

Wasn't Lord Of The Fly or Flies a movie about kids stranded on an island who turn against each other. It was in black and white.

 

[Don Draper]

The only thing this movie "takes too far" is plagiarism.

Battle Royale came out over ten years ago.

Absolutely Correct!

 

[Ohyesuare]

I watched it, it is very PG-13. When any kids are killing each other they just shake the camera so much you can barely see what is going on and a lot die from other things. Battle Royale was a lot more disturbing and effective.

 

[Frosty]

Definitely nothing wrong with the idea of kids killing each other. We see it in the news every day.

Plus I hear the killing scenes are tamed. Not like stuff you see in horror movies.

 

[scouser1]

A whole lot of commentary from people who have not seen the film, read the book or know anything about the story. But first things first, can we stop the comparison with Battle Royale, that movie is an absolute joke, an example of typical of Asian violent shock shlock. The acting is horrible, the script is nonsense, one of the best examples is when the kids ask the teacher why they are on the island, and he answers "because they passed a law....Battle Royale"!!!! uhuh ok that tells us so much and makes so much sense.

As for the Hunger Games it is suppose to be a commentary on the obsession with violence, reality shows and all. The whole jist of the event is explained in that the Capitol is saying to the districts we are so powerful and we control your lives, that we can do whatever we want to you including forcing your children to kill each other in these games. The movie is great and has a very 70's sci fi/dystopia feeling a la Logan's Run, as for the violence it's all done off screen or a very shaky cam so it didnt disturb the kids or squeamish. On a side note I was at a showing on Friday and I was very nicely surprised at the behaviour of the teenage crowd, nobody chatted, acted like an idiot or played with their cell phone.

 

[rafterman]

Apparently the movie is based on a novel written for young teenagers and the obvious target audience for the film. Doesn't really appeal to my demographic but the movie in general is getting a fairly positive rating from the critics. I might take it in a month or two down the road at the second run theatre.

 

[GPIDEAL]

Definitely nothing wrong with the idea of kids killing each other. We see it in the news every day.
Plus I hear the killing scenes are tamed. Not like stuff you see in horror movies.

Huh? The news reports real killings, be it gangs or at schools, and that's an okay idea for you?

 

[NatashaDoll]

Twilight is waaaaay more disturbing than the Hunger Games. It promotes and romanticizes emotionally abusive relationships and young girls aren't yet mature enough to be able to read them with a critical eye to watch for that. I don't have a daughter, but if I did I wouldn't want her reading them until she was at that level of intellect.
As for the Hunger Games, from what I recall it's more targeted to teenagers than tweens (although obviously I'd be a dumbass to suggest that age group won't be seeing it). I've only read the series and have not yet seen the movie, but I would imagine the message is the same, and I think it trumps the violence; the message of young people standing up for themselves or that you can/should question the government is hammered home with more impact than if it were put in a less subtle way. As others have pointed out as well, harsh as it is, kids ARE killing kids. You can't shy away from realism just because it might make you uncomfortable.
Again, I don't know that it would be appropriate to take an 8 year old to see it, but that's up to the discretion of the parents.

 

[canada-man]

hunger games is whitewashed. in the novel Katnis has black hair and olive skinnes. they chose a white anglo blonde to portray Katnis

 

[Doug1ca]

Wasn't Lord Of The Fly or Flies a movie about kids stranded on an island who turn against each other. It was in black and white.

Yes it was sir and it was very disturbing for its day. English school kids marooned on an island and then the killing starts - innocense is lost. The novel was great!

It goes back to Cain and Able in 950 BC..... and it still goes on today. Let's face it - movies have their themes and moral viewpoint - but reality is far worse - look at the news...kids in drug cartels, teen soldiers in Africa, school gangs in major US and Canadian cities.

Maybe this movie will "hit" the right nerve so we can take back our kids.

 

[blackrock13]

hunger games is whitewashed. in the novel Katnis has black hair and olive skinnes. they chose a white anglo blonde to portray Katnis

Racism lifts it's ugly head again, riiiiiight. It would seem perfectly that this point of literary license would bother you. It probably ruins the movie for you. No one else seems to care. What did you think when Helen of Troy was portrayed by a blonde, when all historical records has her a dark haired? How about when the MASH had one of the officers played by a black actor, when there were no black officers in Korea and possibly the whole army at the time? Balancing the wrong? Henry Vlll was portrayed as a much slimmer ruler in his later years in a recent CBC Tudors series. Is that a sign of deep seated hatred against fatties?

You really are a piece of work and proving every day you're one of the biggest bigots/racists on this BB.

 

[canada-man]

Racism lifts it's ugly head again, riiiiiight. It would seem perfectly that this point of literary license would bother you. It probably ruins the movie for you. No one else seems to care. What did you think when Helen of Troy was portrayed by a blonde, when all historical records has her a dark haired? How about when the MASH had one of the officers played by a black actor, when there were no black officers in Korea and possibly the whole army at the time? Balancing the wrong? Henry Vlll was portrayed as a much slimmer ruler in his later years in a recent CBC Tudors series. Is that a sign of deep seated hatred against fatties?

You really are a piece of work and proving every day you're one of the biggest bigots/racists on this BB.

reactionary13 being a white man unlike people of colour never have to put up with racist casting where white characters are played by non-white characters

CNN did a news story on whitewashing of asian roles

http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/13/is-hollywood-whitewashing-asian-roles/

some examples


in the story starship troopers the original 1950s novel is about a philipino soldier named Juan Rico. racist hollywood in the 1990s hire white actor to portray him and changed the name to johnny rico



Extraordinary Measures with Harrison Ford(2010)


The Extraordinary Measures film opened last week and film critic Roger Ebert weighs in on the casting. As it turns out, Harrison Ford’s character is based on Dr. Yuan-Tsong Chen.

In his review, Mr. Ebert writes:

Dr. Robert Stonehill doesn’t exist in real life. The Pompe cure was developed by Dr. Yuan-Tsong Chen and his colleagues while he was at Duke University. [...] Harrison Ford, as this film’s executive producer, perhaps saw Stonehill as a plum role for himself; a rewrite was necessary because [Ford] couldn’t very well play Dr. Chen. The real Chen, a Taiwan University graduate, worked his way up at Duke from a residency to professor and chief of medical genetics at the Duke University Medical Center. [Chen] has been mentioned as a Nobel candidate.


there are many more

hollywood has been doing this for decades examples too bad blackrock13 drunk with white privilege can't bother to do research and instead cry racism

 

[blackrock13]

.... and apparently MASH didn't get the memo, nor did the producers of Merlin, portraying Guinevere as a black women, when she was a noble women of Roman root, never before portrayed as a black peasant girl.

 

[canada-man]

.... and apparently MASH didn't get the memo, nor did the producers of Merlin, portraying Guinevere as a black women, when she was a noble women of Roman root, never before portrayed as a black peasant girl.

list of white washed movies

The 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's has been criticized for its portrayal of the character Mr. Yunioshi, Holly's bucktoothed, stereotyped Japanese neighbor. Played by Mickey Rooney, Rooney wore makeup to change his features to a caricatured approximation of a Japanese person.

some people here in a past thread admitted to liking this racist movie


Fu Manchu

In 1929 the character Fu Manchu made his American film debut in The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu played by the Swedish-American actor Warner Oland. Oland repeated the role in 1930's The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu and 1931's Daughter of the Dragon. Oland appeared in character in the 1931 musical, Paramount on Parade where the Devil Doctor was seen to murder both Philo Vance and Sherlock Holmes.

In 1932, Boris Karloff took over the character in the film The Mask of Fu Manchu. The film's tone has long been considered racist and offensive, but that only added to its cult status alongside its humor and Grand Guignol sets and torture sequences. The film was suppressed for many years, but has since received critical re-evaluation and been released on DVD uncut.

We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year 2005

Chris Lilley as Ricky Wong

cloud 9 Paul Rodriguez as Mr. Wong


I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry Schneider is in fact one quarter Filipino by descent, but wore prosthetics for the role which were criticised as an offensive stereotype.

Crank: High Voltage David Carradine as Poon Dong



Bulletproof Monk (2003)
Seann William Scott as (originally Tibetan American) Kar

Balls of Fire (2007)
Christopher Walken as Feng

30 Days of Night (2007)
Josh Hartnett as (originally Inuit) Sheriff Eben

21 (2008)
Jim Sturgess as Ben

21 is based on book about a couple Asians visiting Casinos

Jake Gyllenhaal as 6th century Persian prince Dastan
Gemma Arterton as “exotic Indian princess Tamina”

exotic? notice the orientalism from racist hollywood

Genghis Khan (announced, 2013)
Mickey Rourke as Genghis Khan