Hunger Games: Did This Happen To You?

 When the theater ushers opened the doors,  it was like watching Walmart shoppers on Black Friday. Bumped and jostled, with popcorn and a drink in hand,  we made our way to our seats.  Parents and kids were trampling one another to get a good seat.  That was the first disturbing thing.  I have an in-law that likes to use that term liberally.  "How was the trip to the store?" He would answer with a sound resembling  the old Buick my parents had.  He stopped, started and then he would say,"It was very disturbing."  His forlorn tone would immediately evoke, "OHHHH! Why?"  From there he would go into an in-depth synopsis of why someone's behavior, or lack there of,  was disturbing.  Interesting...

On the screen are the endless previews.  I hear screams coming from all around me.  Mainly from girls.  I know, go figure.  They can't wait.  The movie starts and the screams in stereo come full circle.  Between this, the  50 X 100 screen, and the increasing volume of the previews it was a little too much.  That's about when the Blair Witch like recording began.  

Jerky camera moves, greasy popcorn and I do not make a good combination.  Then the plot begins to unfold.  If you haven't seen the movie or read the book don't worry.  I won't give too much away.

 It wasn't that clear to me if it was the present day or future.  It looked like Coal Miners Daughter meets Alice in Wonderland.  Basically, in this particular place areas are divided up into districts. Kind of like counties.  In this state, for lack of a term that adequately describes the area as a whole, there is a lottery.  The lottery is for ages 12-18.  Parents bring their kids to this outdoor arena and the ruler of the state draws names from a glass jar.  She draws 24 names total, 12 girls and 12 boys.  

After drawing the names she says, "May the odds be ever in your favor."  The children are then taken to a remote, jungle like, area.  They are visibly scared, not really knowing what to do but they know what they must do.  Out of 24 only 1 can come home.  The 24 children fight to the death. The clock ticks and each time a killing happens everyone knows it, including the parents.  The killings are basically Skyped to everyone.

Before agreeing to take my middle schooler to see the movie, I did know what the premise of the movie was.  I knew but until it was right in front of me it didn't hit me.  

It took 3 days before I began to feel better.  My stomach was upset.  It was so upset I couldn't eat a lot.  I was literally sick to my stomach.  Maybe it was because I couldn't stomach what I was seeing.  

Hunger Games: I'm Not Hungry Anymore

Well I'm not as hungry as I used to be after last Friday evening.  Hard to believe it's almost been a week ago.  I'm still feeling it.  I'm trying to look at the bright side of what happened.


So my daughter's friends were very excited about going to see a movie.  Most of her friends had read all of the books.  Her best friends had even bought the clothing.  All of their hair is now like "her" hair.  Can you guess the movie?  Yes, The Hunger Games.


When these books first came out, the only reason I knew anything about the first book was my involvement in book fairs.  I coordinate book fairs for elementary and middle school.  This book was one of those books heavily promoted.  All the kids loved it.  I, at the time, had only briefly read the back cover.  At the warehouse sale I picked up all three because kids were falling in love with them.  


This was awesome news for me.   I have a son who, at the time, was required to read a certain amount of books during the school year.  I knew that he wasn't anywhere close to his goal of  25.  How did I know,  you ask?  Since I coordinate book fairs, I am close with the Media Specialist.  The Media Specialist, in conjunction with his reading teacher, knows what he has read.  It's good to be involved.


Every kid, okay every kid from 10-15,  was raving about the book.  Parents were letting me know that their nonreader blew through the books.  Blew through the books! YES!  OMG, it is so difficult to find something for my son to read so this was a no-brainer. 


I bought the books, brought them home and proudly laid them on his bed.  He comes home from school and I say, "I bought you something today. I laid it on your bed."  His eyes lit up a little too quickly.  Maybe I shouldn't have been so enthusiastic.  


He looked at the back cover and said, "No."  I said in one breath, "What do you mean? All the kids love these books!"  "Just try to read it!"  He replied by saying nothing.  The book just sat at the end of the bed until he put then on the bookshelves in the living room.  Oh well, I tried.  I'm always trying.


His sister found out about the books after her friend talked about how good they were.  She couldn't put the book down.  In a short amount of time she had blown through all of the books.  I was impressed.  She was a nonreader just like my son.  She couldn't get enough of these books.  For Christmas she was given the last of the series along with a "Hunger Games" t-shirt.  Her sister, the reader of the two, followed suit.  


Both talked to my daughter.  They also talked to another friend.  They were all pretty intoxicated with the characters just by discussion, not because all of them had read the books.  It was kind of cute.  It was kind of cute until the movie started.


The other moms and I decided to go out to dinner before the movie.  The timing was a bit tricking.  We agreed on 5:30 @ Zaxby's.  Zaxby's would be quick.  Apparently there would be a tremendous waiting period.  WHAT!  I had already purchased the tickets.  Actually WE had already purchased the tickets AND picked them up.  One of the friends knows about the chaos and frenzy associated with the release of movies that have this much of a following.  We arrived a hour and a half before the movie started.  There were people already lined up outside of theater.  Already outside of the theater!  No, seriously.  I'm not talking about he people standing in line to purchase the tickets. This was the line INSIDE of the the theater.  We were already 6 deep on both sides of the doors leading into the actual theater.  It was CRAZY!


This will have to be continued...

Who Did You Vote For? An Innocent Question

It's very interesting how teenagers perceive how the world works.  Many times if your opinion is going against the opinion of others in a group you are considered not normal so I could see how this could hamper a teenagers freedom of speech.  This in a sense is true for adults too.  As the cliche goes, what exactly is normal and who should really care.  


My daughter posed a question directed to me. 

                            "Who did you vote for?"

To which I replied, "What do you mean?"  "Are you talking about the presidential election?"

  

                            She said, "Yes". "Did you vote for Obama?"  

At this point in the conversation my 14 year-old son couldn't hold back a comment so felt compelled to jump into the conversation while my snickering husband was left in the background.

                            "Yes."  


 My son, in his vast life experiences at 14, says 
                           "Oh, well look where that has gotten us."                               


I bet you might be able to guess how the conversation further played out
.
                           "What do you mean by that?" 
                           "Obama and this health care mess we are in."
                           "Please explain."
                           "Well, you know.  First it's global warming and now it's health care."
                           "Oh really, I'm sorry you feel that it is all President Obama's fault."  I actually wanted to say, "What the heck are you talking about?  Seriously!!"  "What don't we throw in the economy along with anything else you can think of."  "Just who have you been talking to?"  


                     "You know, it's pretty incredible he did all of this by himself and in such a short amount of time."


He understood my point.  It didn't happen overnight and it wasn't just one person. Not only that, a lot of the mess we are in has nothing to do with anything except greed. We need more of it right now and the bigger the better. If we reverse that thought the world might even be able to recover.


 I also let him know that he might be pretty surprised how many of his friends may have voted the way I did if they had a chance.  Some teenagers, as well as some adults, do not feel comfortable voicing their opinion on a subject if it may create controversy and ultimately a good ribbing or worse.  It's hard enough to be true to yourself in given situations as an adult let alone during your teenage years.  


My hope is that we could all just recognize that it's okay if we all don't think alike and don't share the same opinion.  Imagine what the world would be like if we did.