Hunger Games

[wateredseeds]

Well, the movie was great. Let's say that any watcher would appreciate the symbolism.

It's kind of like the DIA murals meets the holocaust meets Dr. Seuss' post apocalyptic world. It of course had fema camp written all over it. It definitely shined of the population control message. People wouldn't want to have children in a society like that for fear they would get selected for the hunger games. Very interesting, and very scary. One part in particular creeped me out(though the entire thing kind of did that). A 12 year old dies in the hunger games, and the person that was trying to protect her covers her with white flowers...and spreads white flowers all around her for a burial. It really made me think of the DIA mural where the girl is dead and there are flowers laying about. You'll understand what i mean when you see the movie.

[baydoll]

Sounds like a Viligant Citizens kind of movie!

I loved your critique, wateredseeds. Wonderfully descriptive! You have a wonderful way with words. You should be a movie reviewer!

[PrisonerOfHope]

[wateredseeds]

While i do believe that this movie is to "prepare" us(the books as well)......i do not believe it was to condition us to "accept" it. The reason being that it had a very ANTI-district message. This was the NWO declaring their intentions...not trying to get us to accept their agenda. It's a part of their religion to tell us what will happen...what they will do before they do it. This was one of those movies. There are movies that are created to get us to "accept", but this was not that.

[baydoll]

"Hunger Games"

The Orwellian Theme Behind the Movie

By Berit Kjos March 26, 1212


"The techniques of brainwashing developed in totalitarian countries are routinely used in psychological conditioning programs imposed on American school children. These include emotional shock and desensitization... isolation from sources of support [parents], stripping away defenses... and inducing acceptance of alternative values..."[1] Thomas Sowell, PhD.

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith!" 1 Peter 5:8-9



I heard no laughter while watching The Hunger Games on opening day. Just sober silence. This teenage movie -- set in a totalitarian world that supposedly replaced a broken America -- shows the grim struggle for survival in a world without God, hope or meaning. The only "higher power" is a heartless government that supplies its own choice of artificial thrills and trials. And the people suffer.

The book behind the movie was published by the prominent Scholastic. It brought us the Harry Potter series and countless other books promoting witchcraft and the occult. By marketing its books through our education system, Scholastic may have done more to distort history, mythologize truth and promote moral and spiritual corruption among children than any other publisher.

If you have children in public schools, they probably read the Weekly Reader, which offers news and current events from a strictly non-Christian perspective. It's publisher, the Weekly Reader Corporation, is owned by Scholastic. This 1990 message illustrates its earth-centered propaganda and twisted view of history:

"Give Thanks to the Earth: The first Thanksgiving feasts were harvest festivals. People gathered to celebrate successful harvests and to thank the Earth for its fruits. You can celebrate the earth every day by always taking care of the environment."[2] Scholastic News

Brainwashing and Global Change

Decades before the birth of the United Nations, some of the globalist leaders that launched the Federal Reserve called for a radical new agenda for America's children. With support from the Carnegie Foundations, John Dewey prepared a socialist foundation for the new system. As the first president of the American Humanist Association, he was determined to replace Christianity with pluralistic values that fit the global agenda.

Ponder their goals, which are fast changing our schools, churches, families and values:


1917: "..they [the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace] came to the conclusion that, to prevent a reversion, they must control education. Then they approached the Rockefeller Foundation and they said, 'Will you take on the acquisition of control of education as it involves subjects that are domestic in their significance? We'll take on the basis of subjects that have an international significance..' And it was agreed....They decided the key to it was the teaching of American history, and they must change that."[3]


1970: "...absolute behavior control is imminent.... The critical point of behavior control, in effect, is sneaking up on mankind without his self-conscious realization that a crisis is at hand. Man will...never self-consciously know that it has happened."[4] Professor Raymond Houghton (More illustrations here)
1989: "What's happening in America today... is a total transformation of our society. We have moved into a new era....We no longer see the teaching of facts and information as the primary outcome of education.....What we are facing is a total restructuring of society!"[5] Dr. Shirley McCune, Senior Director with the Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory, a leading (occult) Theosophist speaking at 1989 Governor's Conference on Education [see this very revealing video]

1994: "We have actually been given a course in how not to tell the truth. How many of you are administrators? You've had that course in public relations where you learn to put the best spin on things."[6] Dr. Jim Causby, North Carolina Superintendent

Aldous Huxley was well aware of those plans. After all, his brother Julian Huxley became the first Secretary General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In Brave New World, he told us that a profusion of new suggestions would transform beliefs and attitudes:

"Till at last the child's mind is these suggestions, and the sum of the suggestions is the child's mind. And not the child's mind only. The adult's mind too -- all his life long. The mind that judges and desires and decides -- made up of these suggestions. But all these suggestions are our suggestions! ... Suggestions from the State."[7]

Backed by the authority of the United Nations with its hatred for the Bible, Julian Huxley wrote the following in his 1947 book, UNESCO: Its purpose and Its Philosophy:

"In pursuing this aim, we must eschew dogma.... East and West will not agree on a basis of the future if they merely hurl at each other the fixed ideas [of which the Bible is the main obstacle] of the past. For that is what dogmas are -- the crystalizations of some dominant system of thought of a particular epoch..... If we are to achieve progress, we must learn to uncrystalize our dogmas."[8]

Today our government and educational establishment seem more than willing to implement this agenda and punish any parental resistance that gets in its way.

The Fictional History Behind the Hunger Games (See our book review).

Let me warn you: the movie is just as seductive as the book; perhaps more so, since the written message is joined to unforgettable visual images. It draws its fans into the oppressive, futuristic nation called Panem (from "Panem et Circenses" meaning "Bread and Circuses") that supposedly replaced America. The current dictator rules Panem's 12 Districts from the mighty Capitol somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. With well-trained underlings to fulfill his commands, he can monitor the masses, manipulate weather, and quench revolts initiated by the poor, discontented serfs.

The fictional history tells us that the Hunger Games began in the wake of a revolution seventy-five years earlier. Each year since then, twenty-four young Tributes -- ages 12 through 18 -- have been chosen by lottery in each of the 12 Districts. They will be trained to kill, then transported to a selected area -- probably in the Rockies. Their only assignment is to try to survive by killing each other. At the end, the sole survivor will be celebrated as a national treasure and a promotional puppet.

The surreal purpose of this annual event is to control, not entertain, the masses. Panem's yearly battle sows fear, not cheer, even though the rulers demand celebrations.

Does that remind you of the Roman Coliseum where trained gladiators and faithful Christian fought to death as huge crowds celebrated?

The main character is sixteen-year-old Katniss who lives with her mother and twelve-year-old sister, Prim, in District 12, the poorest in the land. Since her father died in a coal-mine explosion, Katniss has been the family's sole provider. Day after day, she and her friend Gale hunt rabbits and gather herbs and berries on forbidden government land.

But everything is about to change. In the lottery leading up to the games, the terrified Prim is chosen. Stunned, Katniss quickly volunteers to take her sister's place. Peeta Mellark, who had long had a crush on Katniss, is chosen next.

After the required time of training, prepping and promotion at the Capitol, Katniss and Peeta are brought to the battlefield. On the first day, eleven of the twenty-four Tributes are killed. Most of the others race into the nearby forests to seek water and shelter from rain and each other.

Meanwhile, the sophisticated high-tech Gamemakers back in the Capitol keep busy pointing their hidden cameras toward the injured, the dead, and the most popular players. Those images are shown on sophisticated tele-screens across the country. The goal is to unify, pacify and intimidate the viewers into ceaseless loyalty and compliance.

It reminds me of a statement in the book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman who anticipated today's rise of Marxist values. To illustrate mental manipulation, he compared two familiar books: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's 1984:

"Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies.... [In 1984] people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us."[9]

Both have a point. Today, the cultural war against Christ and His Church is being waged on both fronts. The minds of most contemporary teens are bombarded with seductive images and suggestions that mock God's values and scorn Christianity.

"...the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light..." John 3:19

A Glimpse of the Action

Near the end of the battle, the voice of a Gamemaker is broadcast to the final contenders, calling them back to their starting place. Emerging from the forest, Katniss and Peeta confront a new set of foes: twenty-one fierce, furry, four-legged "mutants" who seem eager to eat them. The book indicates that these "mutants" are actually the twenty-one victims brought back to life in new identifiable animal bodies:

"The mutts are beginning to assemble....There's something else about them, something that makes the hair rise up on the back of my neck... They are unmistakably human. ... The blonde hair, the green eyes, the number ... it's Glimmer [one of the dead Tributes]. I fire into its throat. Its body twitches and flops onto the ground... [Glimmer's second death?]

"The small one with the red coat and amber eyes... Foxface! And there, the ashen hair and hazel eyes of the boy from District 9 who died as we struggled for the backpack! And worst of all, the smallest mutt, with dark glossy fur, huge brown eyes....Teeth bared in hatred. Rue! [She was a sweet, twelve-year-old girl before she was killed]...

"Have they been programmed to hate our faces particularly because we have survived and they were so callously murdered?"[10]

Perhaps the moviemakers chose to ignore any hint of rebirth or reincarnation. But the scene fits right into the mythical tales and occult phenomena of ages past. Remember, human history is full of cultural and spiritual cycles that show what happens when a civilization that has been blessed by God rejects Him and embraces other "gods" and deceptive snares.

God's Way to His Shelter

The signs of change are all around us, and we already see some of the devastating consequences: broken families, immoral lifestyles, hopelessness, despair and suicides. Many seek temporary relief in the countless artificial fantasy worlds of digital entertainment. Many are addicted to sensual stimuli or trapped in the forces of darkness and find no way to escape!

Their struggles serve as a wake-up call to many of us. How can we (parents and grandparents) guard and guide our children through the dangers ahead?

Here are a few suggestions:

Know (memorize) God's Word, the only source of genuine wisdom. (Proverbs 2:6). (Here is a list that I use to help me remember some of my favorite verses: Encouragement from A to Z)

Read books and testimonies by faithful Christians who stood firm in their faith in the midst of persecution. (For example: A Small Price to Pay and Trapped in Hitler's Hell)

Learn the historical facts needed to defend what we know and believe.

Recognize the difference between OBSERVATION and assumptions. A lot of supposed "science" today is based on useful assumptions rather than observable facts.

Put on The Armor of God

Pray for God's strength, protection and guidance. Then follow Him, not the corrupt ways of the world!

These charts may be helpful: New Emphasis in Schools and Culture, Three Sets of Meanings of Educational Buzzwords, and Checklist for the family.
As our children learn to see all things from God's perspective, they will accept what is true and good but reject what is false and wrong. Remember,

"...be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might....For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age....Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Ephesians 6:10-13

"Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee." Psalm 119:11

worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/article.php?articleid=8122

[PrisonerOfHope]

The Hunger Games movie review - a glimpse of our own future if the cancerous growth of government is not checked

Monday, April 02, 2012
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger



(NaturalNews) The Hunger Games is a wildly popular new movie set in a dystopian future where an all-powerful, high-tech centralized government rules over "districts" of impoverished populations barely surviving in third-world conditions. The film, based on the book of the same name by Suzanne Collins, is important to understand because it depicts the very future that the global elite are trying to create. In fact, much of what is shown in The Hunger Games has already begun (see below).

The film is set 74 years after a popular uprising that failed to overthrow a corrupt, centralized federal government. As punishment for the attempted uprising, the all-powerful government now requires each of 12 districts to "volunteer" a young girl and boy each year to participate in the Hunger Games -- a bloodsport "breads and circuses" event that serves as the opiate of the masses to distract society from the fact that they are all slaves living under tyranny.

Spoiler alert: This article reveals plot elements that may spoil the movie for you if you haven't yet seen it.

The central themes of domination and control
The movie reflects numerous central themes of government control over the masses, including:

• Control over food: Residents of the 12 districts are not allowed to eat more food than they are allotted by the government. Being caught catching a squirrel for food results in severe punishment.

• Control over land: The 12 districts are fenced off with high-voltage power lines, much like you might find in North Korea today. Most of the world is "conserved" as wild forest and grasslands, with humans only being allowed to populate confined regions where resources are sparse and starvation is a daily reality.

• Control over the media: The government controls all media, and every broadcast is a staged theatrical event, completely fabricated by the government to serve the interests of the government itself. This, of course, is a reflection of present-day mainstream media which is completely whored out to corporate and political interests.

• Control of technology: While the masses live in squalor, the techno-elite enjoy advanced hovercraft ships and live in gleaming high-tech cities. Advancements in medicine, 3D displays and weapons systems are available only to the centralized government, never to the People. Also in the film, RFID chips are used to track the game participants.

• Control of DNA: Residents of the districts are identified through the taking of DNA blood samples. The government stores their DNA in a database in order to track and identify individuals. Insects are genetically engineered to serve as weapons, such as GMO wasps that cause wild hallucinations to those who are stung.

• Control over life itself: The government toys with human life and seems to be amused by expressing heartless power over the masses. Their priorities are simultaneously focused on fashion, status and meaningless cuisine. In one scene, when the teenage girl (Katniss Everdeen) is trying to ask her mentor how she might survive the games, her elitists coordinator can only spout about how much she loves "chocolate truffles" and why they should all enjoy a round of desserts.

A parade of fashion, makeup and style gone wild
The style and fashion of the elite class who live in the high-tech cities seems to be echoed right out of a modern-day parade. People are adorned with bright, extravagant clothing and accessories, and they're painted up in outlandish makeup and hair color. They literally prance around like frolicking maniacal members of royalty, and they experience great joy from causing others to suffer.

The government-worshipping elite class see themselves as intellectually superior to everyone else, yet they lack any real-world skills. They also lack anything resembling ethics, and they see nothing wrong with cheating or lying their way to positions of ever greater power in their warped society.

Enslavement through the illusion of hope
At the top of the government, the leader played by Donald Sutherland is a Rockefeller-type master of deception and human emotions. As he explains in the film, the purpose of the Hunger Games is to keep people enslaved while giving them "a little hope, but not too much." A little hope keeps the enslaved masses in line, but too much hope might actually make them think they have real power.

The threat of government violence against the enslaved masses is carried out by a class of enforcers who, in contrast to most other dystopian films, are actually clothed in white, not black. They are the TSA of the Hunger Games, and their job is to oppress the people, bash in a few heads, and remind the masses who's really in charge.

One can't help but notice in this film that the elite class of prancing government worshipers is the logical extension of today's irrational worship of government as the savior of society. Where government is put in charge of everything, the People are forever enslaved. And that seems to be the goal of the government-worshippers in society today who desire to make all people dependent on the government, hand over all power to the government, and destroy individual human liberties (and the Bill of Rights). It is no coincidence that the enslaved masses in The Hunger Games are entirely disarmed and only the government is allowed to own high-tech weaponry. This is a key provision of the leftist "anti-gun" movement witnessed in society today, which says that all guns should only be in the hands of government, not individuals. Such a centralization of weaponry in the hands of corrupt government, of course, only leads to tyranny, as history repeatedly shows.

Human dignity
Most interesting to me is the idea that government elitists have no ethics, no morals and no basic dignity. In contrast, the only real expression of dignity comes from the District 12 volunteer, Katniss Everdeen (the female lead). She enjoys a closeness with nature and a respect for life. When other participants in the Hunger Games are killed around her, she shows them respect with a makeshift burial ceremony. She only takes life as a last resort, yet she's also quick to act out of self defense, and she's willing to take action to kill others if they are truly intent on killing her.

This reflects a fundamental human right to self defense. When we are attacked, we have the right to hold our ground and return fire as her character demonstrates several times throughout the film. By doing so, she saves her life and ultimately shows the elitist government that it cannot control her.

That point comes out strongly at the end of the games, when she and her male partner are the last two survivors. The elitists government commands them to try to kill each other so that only one victor emerges. But instead of giving in to this command, the two decide to eat poison berries together and thus demonstrate to the global audience watching the event (which is practically the entire population) that the government shall not have the freedom to decide when we live or die, and that even a slave can still decide when to end their own life, independent from an oppressive government regime.

Unexpectedly, the government suddenly halts the games before the two can eat the berries, announcing them both as winners. This is obviously a last-ditch effort to make sure no one expresses any power over their own lives -- not even the power to end your own life because such expression of individual power would embarrass the government.

Throughout the film (and the book), the government is obsessed with total oppression of the people, denying them food and resources and carrying out mind games against them that sap their courage and convince them they have no personal power.

Actors, writing, photography and screenplay
On the technical side of things, the acting in this film is superb. The key female character in the film is played by Jennifer Lawrence (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2225369/) who delivers a convincing, heartwarming performance. She demonstrates both strength and vulnerability with astounding authenticity. This film succeeds largely because of her performance.

Woody Harrelson also delivers a convincing performance, but that's not surprising given his reputation and experience as a performance professional.

Screenplay is surprisingly solid, considering that this film is based on a novel. It's rare to see a novel translated well onto the screen, but The Hunger Games pulls it off nicely with compelling pacing and well-planned editing of the book's detail.

I also want to give props to two departments that typically don't get the attention they deserve: Costume design and sound design. In The Hunger Games, both of these departments went far beyond the norm, showcasing a masterful assembly of visual and auditory highlights that add great depth to the on-screen artistry.

The Hunger Games is coming true in America today
When watching the Hunger Games, you can't help but think about the recent armed raids on Rawesome Foods in California. There, armed government thugs confiscated and destroyed $50,000 worth of food and poured gallons of raw milk down the drain even while a food bank that could have used all that food was right next door. (http://www.naturalnews.com/033220_Rawesome_Foods_armed_raids.html)

This destruction of food carried out by the government of California is also routinely carried out by the oppressive government in The Hunger Games. One of the most powerful strategies for total government domination is to deny people access to real food. That's exactly what we're seeing today in the government's attacks on raw milk, raw almonds and other nutritious foods. In Michigan, for example, state bureaucrats there have announced their plan to start destroying all the pig livestock of small, local ranchers and arrest them as felons (http://www.naturalnews.com/035372_Michigan_pigs_farm_freedom.html).

We also see in society today a growing class of the ruling elite who express total disdain for humanity, the natural world or anything resembling dignity or ethics. This is perhaps best reflected in the philosophy of Goldman Sachs, a financial investment giant so steeped in the culture of greed that they reportedly think of their own customers as total idiots to be viciously exploited for dishonest profit.

We also see the key elements of tyranny and oppression reflected in the Obama administration, where Obama himself signed the NDAA on New Year's Eve, 2011. This law nullifies the Bill of Rights and eliminates any right to due process for Americans. It allows the government to arrest, detain, interrogate and torture any person, for any reason, even if they are never charged with a crime. It really is like something ripped right out of a dystopian sci-fi film. The mass population, meanwhile, seems to have no idea this has already been signed into law. (http://www.naturalnews.com/034537_NDAA_Bill_of_Rights_Obama.html)

Similarly, on March 16 of this year, President Obama signed into effect an executive order that seizes control over all food resources across the country, including food, seeds, livestock, farm equipment, food processing facilities, and animal feed. This is written in clear English, right in the order itself. (http://www.naturalnews.com/035301_Obama_executive_orders_food_supply....)

Once again, virtually the entire U.S. population seems to have no idea that this executive order was signed by Obama. In modern society, as in The Hunger Games film, most people live in a world of delusion, oblivious to the reality of how government is creepily expanding into a totalitarian dictatorship with each passing day.

We are already living in the early stages of The Hunger Games
The real kicker in all this is that, to a great extent, we have already begun to live in the early stages of a "Hunger Games" society. Those who worship government and believe in total government power over the People are pushing us in that direction every single day.

Here are other signs of a Hunger Games type of government growing all around us:

• The TSA reaching down your pants and calling it "security" (http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=979D7B9F44BA6EAE0DF65B3DE6E4EE33)

• Staged false flag security events to keep people afraid (http://www.naturalnews.com/034325_FBI_entrapment_terror_plots.html)

• Janet Napolitano on giant TV screens at Wal-Mart warning everyone to spy on their neighbors and only trust government (http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=5A4B5D4B84344D5D9CBD262A53D8B071)

• Armed government raids on farms and food distribution centers

• Corporate control over seeds and all intellectual property

• The push to disarm the People and centralize all weapons in the hands of government

• Mad science genetic engineering of crops and animals

• The total theater of fabricated "humanitarian" causes (Kony 2012) which are really nothing more than a tactic to get public support for mass murder by governments

• The total worshipping of sports figures and sports events by the dumbed-down masses who watch football, basketball and the UFC while having no clue whatsoever that their government is raping their future and destroying their liberties.

Big Government will accelerate us into a Hunger Games dystopian future
Ask yourself: What political position does all this sound like? End the Second Amendment, put government in charge of all food, give up liberties in the name of security, surrender individual power to state power... ring a bell? It's the platform of America's political elite, whether you're talking about the left or the right. Both political parties believe in big (and bigger) government, dis-empowered people, and total government control over all resources (including land).

Only people who believe in small, limited government can reverse this trend. Ron Paul supporters, in other words. A small government is a safe government, as any government that gets too big and too powerful becomes a clear and present danger to the People.

Each day that our government becomes larger and more powerful -- which almost automatically happens following staged terror events such as 9/11 -- we are hurled ever close to a Hunger Games type of future reality.

Let us hope that We the People can stop the insanity of bad government and find a way to restore liberty before this fictional movie called "The Hunger Games" becomes far too real for comfort.

Learn more: www.naturalnews.com/035443_The_Hunger_Games_movie_review.html#ixzz1qu0pmGvl

[PrisonerOfHope]

Here's a Jewish take on it:

The new film has me thinking about Passover.
by Mark Papers

This is the poor man’s bread. All who are hungry, let them come and eat
-- Hagaddah.

Watching The Hunger Games reminded me of the upcoming holiday of Passover. And not just because I was hiding out at the movies to get out of helping.

A lot of the themes are there: Poor men, bread, hunger, sacrifice, freedom, an evil government ruled by a Pharaoh, strange facial hair, and people owning people. (One character – a bakery worker named Peeta -- says, “I just want to show them that they don’t own me. Even if I die, I just want to be me.”) And as with the story of Passover, the ending feels rushed. But there’s more.

The Hunger Games is based on a best-selling young-adult book series. Kind of like Twilight, but with shirts. It’s about a society called Panem (Latin for “bread”) that consists of a lavish Capitol surrounded by 13 powerless satellite districts (Who knows 13?) that are cut off from each other, each of which is in charge of living in serious poverty and producing something essential for the survival of the Capitol – coal, plants, energy, fish, wigs, face powder, etc. The story takes place in the far future, and if the movie is any indication, all of the bad hairstyles and weird clothing that people are wearing are just going to keep going downhill from here, even as our entire country runs into the ground and gets replaced. Apparently, all the weird names that people are giving their kids have caught on, to the point where regular names have been pretty much phased out. (The characters have names like Katniss and Peeta and Rue and Cinna and Cashmere. The closest to a regular name is “Haymitch”, which sounds like a greeting.)

At some point, the districts rebelled against wearing stupid clothing, but they were quickly subdued (District 13 was even destroyed). So to demonstrate its power and stem any rebellion in the future, the government came up with an idea: Reality TV. Every year, two children from each district are selected by a lottery to participate in the “Hunger Games,” which are not as fun as they sound (even with the word “hunger” stuck in there). The children are shoved into a huge forested arena and made to battle to the death on national TV, and the last child standing gets the honor of living out the rest of his/her life as a drunk that high society pretends to tolerate.

Bread and circuses. But these are not your father’s circuses.

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The movie follows a competitor named Katniss, who volunteers in order to replace her 12-year-old sister, who would never stand a chance against the 18-year-old behemoths in the ring. Katniss does have some survival skills, particularly hunting, as it’s been her job to feed her family ever since her father died in a mining accident. Of course, she has no real interest in competing or killing anyone, nor do many of the contestants, who are only forced to, by circumstances manipulated throughout the games. The only exception is a group of “Careers” – kids who’ve trained for this “honor” their entire lives, and, right off the bat, make up an alliance in which they all pledge not to stab each other in the back until the very end, or if for some reason they’re mad at each other, whichever comes first.

The theme of the movie, though, is Katniss’s realization that even though she’s a strong competitor on her own, in order to survive in a game where the gamemakers keep changing the rules and the terrain and the weather conditions to force the kids to fight, she is much stronger when working with others. She’s going to have to make friends. Not fake friends, like the alliance, but real friends. She finds that in order to keep her humanity in the face of the games, it’s not just about trying not to kill the others unless you have to. In a world where inhumanity is killing others for sport, does humanity mean simply not killing others? Or does it mean working with them and playing off their strengths?

Using this philosophy, she teams up with Rue, a small girl from District 11 who has an amazing knowledge of plants – how to climb them, which ones can heal wasp stings, and which ones make the best fires – and with Peeta, the boy from her district, who brings with him a knowledge of decorating cakes. She learns how to get viewers to like her, and she learns how to get sponsors, who have the ability to send her supplies over the course of the game. (For example, they can drop a bowl of soup in on a little parachute.)

The slogan of the Hunger Games is, “May the odds be ever in your favor.” If you go in as a team, your odds are much more favorable.

All this leads to the end, SPOILER ALERT when she and the only other surviving player are ordered to battle to the death, and they decide instead to commit suicide together rather than give the Capitol a clear winner. And by doing so, the entire system collapses, and for the first time, two people are declared “winner.”

We may be strong, but we are never stronger than when we’re working together.

The Capitol isn’t set up to deal with this, because that’s how the Capitol works – it tries to keep people from cooperating and working together. When you’re trying to keep a population in control and they severely outnumber you, your best strategy is to do everything you can to keep them from realizing this. You keep them cut off from each other and pit them against each other by manufacturing horrific annual wars. Make them fight one another so they don’t fight you. Give them an enemy. The government knows that each district has a resource or talent – energy, electronics, coal, weapons, vehicles, etc. – and if they combined their resources, it would mean the end of the government.

Pharaoh had a similar concern. He arranged a secret meeting of his advisors, which we know about because it’s right there at the beginning of Exodus, and he said, “The Jews are outnumbering us. Let’s make them build stuff for us, keep their families separated all the livelong day, and pit them against each other.”

When you’re a slave, life is about self-preservation. The Egyptians forced Jews to be taskmasters over other Jews, keeping them at odds with each other rather than turning toward the Egyptians. And when Moses asked two Jews why they were fighting, they turned on him as well.

And Phase 2 of Pharaoh’s plan was to sacrifice children. But one child was put into the Nile voluntarily, and that was Moses.

In the end, the Jews had to come back together as a family before they left. They had to sit down to a meal -- as a family. Share a sheep. As slaves, the Jews were all individuals, but in order to survive in the wilderness, that wouldn’t work. Over and over, all the commentaries point out that the Paschal lamb is a symbol of unity – it’s part of a flock, eaten in a group, and the structure of the meat has to be retained rather than broken up.

We may be strong, but we are never stronger than when we’re working together. Everyone has something to bring to the table. You just have to sit down at the table with them and find out what it is.

“A man cannot survive on bread alone.”
(Deuteronomy 8:3)

www.aish.com/j/as/Hunger_Games.html

[baydoll]

The Viligant Citizen chimes in:

“The Hunger Games”: A Glimpse at the New World Order


By VC | April 5th, 2012

The hit movie “The Hunger Games” takes place in a dystopian future where the poor and wretched masses live under the high tech tyranny of a wealthy elite. Is the movie depicting the kind of society the elite is trying to establish for the New World Order? We’ll look at characteristics of the world presented in “The Hunger Games” and how they relate to plans for a New World Order.

Pushed by a gigantic marketing campaign, The Hunger Games did not take long to become a world-wide sensation, especially among teenagers and young adults. Sometimes referred to as the new Twilight, The Hunger Games has similar components to the previous book-to-movie craze (i.e. a young girl torn between two guys) but takes place in a very different context.

Set in a dystopian future (why is the future always “dystopian”?), The Hunger Games paints a rather grim picture of the world of tomorrow, whether it be from a social, economical or political point of view. In short, it is a big-brotherish nightmare where a rich elite thrives on the backs of a starving population. Meanwhile, the perversity and voyeurism of mass media is taken to absurd levels and is used by the government as a glue to keep its unjust social order intact. Is The Hunger Games giving teenagers a glimpse of a not-too-distant future? It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see the elite are trying to take the world in that direction. Is the author Suzanne Collins communicating a strong anti-NWO message to the youth by showing its dangers or is it getting the youth used to the idea? Let’s look at the fictional, yet possible, future world of The Hunger Games.

Note: This article is about the movie and not the book series. The movie has been formatted in a different way and conveys a slightly different message.

The NWO for Teenagers

The Hunger Games takes place in a context that is strikingly on-par with descriptions of the New World Order as planned by today’s global elite. One of the main characteristics of the New World Order is the dissolving of regular nation-states to form a single world government to be ruled by a central power. In The Hunger Games, this concept is fully represented as the action takes place in Panem, a totalitarian nation that encompasses the entire North-American territory. The United States and Canada have therefore merged into a single entity, a step that many predict that will happen before the full-on creation of the NWO.


The President of Panem addressing the Nation.

In Panem, the concepts of democracy and freedom have disappeared from America to be replaced by a high-tech dictatorship based on surveillance, monitoring, mass-media indoctrination, police oppression and a radical division of social classes. The vast majority of the citizens of Panem live in third-world country conditions and are constantly subjected poverty, famine and sickness. These difficult living conditions are apparently the result of a devastating event that engendered the complete economic collapse of North America. In District 12, home of the hero Katniss Everdeen, the locals live in conditions similar to the pre-industrial era where families of coal miners lived makeshift in shacks and eat rodents as meals.

While the masses look as if they are living in the 1800s, they are nevertheless subjugated to the high-tech rule of the Capitol, which uses technology to monitor, control and indoctrinate the masses. Surveillance cameras, RFID chips and 3D holograms are abundantly used by the government to manipulate the will of a weak and uneducated population (although there are signs of solidarity and rebelliousness among the peasants). To preserve the fragile social order, the Capitol relies on a massive police force that is always ready repress any kind of uprising. The workers are often rounded up in civilian camps where they are shown state-sponsored propaganda videos. Panem is therefore a high-tech police state ruled by a powerful elite that seeks to keep the masses in poverty and subjugation. As we’ve seen in previous articles on this site, all of these concepts are also thoroughly represented in other forms of media as there appears to be a conscious effort to normalize the ideas of a high-tech police state as the only normal evolution of the current political system.

Living in sharp contrast to the proletariat, the elite in The Hunger Games inhabits the glistening Capitol city and indulges in all sorts of extravagances and fashion trends. This upper-echelon of society perceives the rest of the population as an inferior race to be ridiculed, tamed and controlled. All valuable resources have been vacuumed from the people living in the districts to profit the Capitol, creating a clear and insurmountable divide between Regular People and The Elite. The concept of an opulent elite ruling over the dumbed-down and impoverished masses (thus making them easily manageable) is an important aspect of the New World Order and it is clearly depicted in The Hunger Games. The government’s reliance on high-tech surveillance and mass media to keep the population in check is something we are already seeing and, if we keep going in that direction, the world of The Hunger Games will soon become reality. There is another concept important to the occult elite that is at the heart of The Hunger Games, however: Blood sacrifices to strike fear and gain power.

Blood Sacrifices for the Elite


Katniss is selected as tribute of her district.

The government of Panem created the Hunger Games in order to remind the masses of the “great treason” they have committed by engaging in a rebellion. As punishment for their insubordination, the twelve districts of Panem must offer to the Capitol one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to be part of The Hunger Games. The teenagers must fight to the death in an outdoor arena in a Roman Gladiator-like event that is televised across the nation. The rules of the Games reflect the elite’s contempt and total lack of respect for the masses. The name of the Games itself is a reminder of the state of perpetual starvation the lower class is purposely kept in by the rulers in order to better control it.

The boys and girls that are selected to take part in The Hunger Games are called “tributes”, a term that usually describes a payment rendered by a vassal to his lord and thus even reflects the servitude of the mass to its rulers. Since time immemorial, blood sacrifices were considered to be the highest form of “tribute” to gods and, on an occult level, were said to wield the most potent power to be tapped by rulers and sorcerers. The same way ancient Carthaginians sacrificed infants to the god Moloch, inhabitants of Panem sacrifice their children to the Capitol. The Hunger Games are therefore a modern version of these ancient rituals that the masses had to participate in to avoid the wrath of their superiors. The entire nation of Panem is forced to watch the sacrificial ritual that takes place in the Capitol, stirring up fear, anger and blood lust within them, amplifying the power of the ritual. We’ve seen in previous articles that the deaths of specific people (Whitney Houston, Heath Ledger, Amy Winehouse) become such a media event that they are, in fact, mega-rituals that entire nations participate in. The Hunger Games reflect this concept of highly publicized mega-rituals.


"Tributes" for The Hunger Games become the property of the state and are revoked of all their rights.

In The Hunger Games, the ritualistic death of young people chosen from the mass is sold as a sporting event, a nation-wide celebration that is packaged as a reality show. Not only do the poor people participate in these demeaning events, they even cheer for their favorites. Why do they accept all of this? One of the reasons is that mass media can get people to accept anything … if it is entertaining.

Appealing to the Basest Instincts

The games are broadcast to the nation in the form of a reality-show, complete with TV hosts who analyze the action, interview the tributes and judge their performance. The tributes are so indoctrinated in this culture that they readily accept the rules of the game and turn are fully willing to start killing to win the Games. The masses also actively participate in the event, cheering for their district’s representatives, even though the entire event celebrates the sacrifice of their own. This reflects a sad but true fact concerning mass media: Any kind of message can reach people if it manages to capture their attention. There are two things that automatically, almost irresistibly, grab our attention: Blood and sex, the remnants of our primal instincts. The sheer violence of the event grabs the attention of the masses, who forget that the Games serve as a reminder of the people’s servitude to its elite. This concept is already well-known and fully exploited in today’s mass media, as elite-sponsored messages are constantly sold to consumers as being “entertainment”. The Hunger Games therefore aptly portray the role of media in the manipulation of public opinion. Will the movie help young people realize this fact?

At one point in The Hunger Games, the death of a little girl shocked the people to a point that it brought a brief moment of lucidity and solidarity as the kill highlighted the atrocity of the Games. The live broadcasting of the death lead to a violent uprising in her district as the locals realized that they were willing participants in something terrible. The uprising was quickly quelled however, by the ever-present police force of the state. Furthermore, in order to prevent further social trouble, the producers of the show introduced a new element to the show: Love between Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, the girl and the boy from District 12. By introducing love (and, by extension, sex) into the show, the producers managed to quell the masses and brought them back to their usual state of silent stupor. This part of the movie reflects how mass media is used by the powers that be today. The worldwide reach of The Hunger Games series itself proves that stories that cleverly feature the ingredients of sex and violence are bound to get people hooked. And, even though The Hunger Games seems to be denouncing the perversity of violence in mass media, it sure brings more of it into movie theatres.

Desensitizing to a New Type of Violence

While there is no shortage of violence in Hollywood, The Hunger Games movie crosses a boundary that is rarely seen in movies: Violence by minors and towards minors. In this PG-13 movie we see kids aged between 12 and 18 violently stabbing, slashing, strangling, shooting and breaking the necks of other children – scenes that are seldom seen in Hollywood movies. While it is surely a way for the movie the grab the attention of the movie’s target audience (which happens to be teenagers aged 12 to 18) The Hunger Games brings to the forefront a new form of violence that was previously deemed too disturbing to portray in movies. But in the particular kill-or-be-killed scenario of The Hunger Games, the viewers easily go beyond this psychological barrier and find themselves yelling stuff at the movie like “Come on, Katniss, take your bow and shoot that vicious little f**cker in the head!”.

In Conclusion

The Hunger Games is set in world that is exactly what is described to be the New World Order: A rich and powerful elite, an exploited and dumbed-down mass of people, the dissolving of democracies into a police state entities, high-tech surveillance, mass media used for propaganda and a whole lot of blood rituals. There is indeed nothing optimistic in the dystopian future described in The Hunger Games. Even human dignity is revoked as the masses are forced to watch their own children killing each others as if they were caged animals. That being said, there is little to no difference between movie goers who watch the movie The Hunger Games and the masses in the movie that witness the cruelty of the Games. Both are willing participants in an event that portrays the sacrifice of their own under the amused eye of the elite. Furthermore, one can argue that the movie accomplishes the same functions as the Games in the movie: Distracting the masses with blood and sex while reminding it of the elite’s power.

Is The Hunger Games attempting to warn an apathetic youth of the danger of allowing the current system to devolve into a totalitarian nightmare? Or is it simply programming it to perceive the coming of a New World Order as an inevitability? That question is up for debate. But reading what is being said in the mass media about The Hunger Games, it seems there is an even more important question up for debate: Are you Team Peeta or Team Gale?

vigilantcitizen.com/moviesandtv/the-hunger-games-a-glimpse-at-the-new-world-order/

[PrisonerOfHope]

On today’s Decker Report, Ed first discusses the evil core of the attendance breaking new Movie, “Hunger Games.” It is a story about a society that annually gathers its youth from around the country and makes them kill off each other by every violent means, imaginable. What a wonderful new lesson to add to the rest of the degrading books and films we teach them to love and emulate. The second art of the Report deals with the sins that separate us from God and those very few things that are so full of sin that God literally removes the sinner from His Presence. Ed clearly documents and demonstrates that The Mormon Church and its people are in clearly violation of God’s laws in both arenas and are thus “Twice Cursed.” Do not miss this powerful message.


worldviewweekend.com/worldview-radio/play.php?id=showsFlat-21073

[baydoll]

I so do wish they would include close captioning on all videos for us hearing impaired people!! I really wanted to 'read' this too.

[PrisonerOfHope]

The Hunger Games and Our Appetites


The Hunger Games looks to be the start of a franchise set to rival Harry Potter in popularity. The post-apocalyptic film, based on the first book in the best-selling series by Suzanne Collins, continues a four-week reign at the box office. It would be dangerous to dismiss this film as an entertainment fad.

With more depth than any summer action flick, The Hunger Games speaks to the very real fears and hopes of the coming generation, and illuminates much about contemporary culture. The film exposes both a horrible idolatry and a desperate longing, revealed in the kinds of motivations and sacrifices which support each side in the battle for cultural and spiritual supremacy.

It is easy to read The Hunger Games as a political story of youthful idealism in the face of a tyrannical state (and it is that). But it is also a mirror, reflecting both our appetites and our longings. The Hunger Games is us.
The Hunger Games

Eating Our Young

The stated purpose of The Hunger Games – the televised spectacle at the heart of the film – is to be a reminder of the cost of disobedience to the rebellious, third-world districts that make up the nation of Panem. Each year, every district is required to send two of its children, aged twelve through eighteen, to compete in a battle to the death, hosted by the Capitol. The battleground is chosen and controlled by the rich and powerful Capitol elites. The Games conclude when a sole surviving contestant remains. Not only are the combatants required to slay their opponents from competing districts, but ultimately they must also kill the other person from their own district – someone who might be a close friend, or family member. The slaughter is the price that must be paid for “peace and safety” – and is a way to solidify in the minds of the subjected people that the Capitol is the ultimate focus of their allegiance – not district, not city, not friends, not even family.

Fear is the motivation behind the annual ritual and it is a two-edged sword. The Capitol seeks to instill fear in the districts as a means of keeping them subdued. But the rulers of the Capitol are motivated by their own fear: should the people ever begin to hope for liberation, the Capitol would be overthrown.
The Hunger Games

The sacrifices demanded by the Capitol, and assented to in fear by the districts, are reminiscent of Molech worship in the ancient Middle East. Molech (or “Melech,” meaning “king”) worship involved the sacrificial slaying of children in order to win the favor of the god. Ironically, Molech’s consort, Ashteroth, was a fertility goddess, so people would sacrifice the product of their own fertility in order to ensure fertility in the land. Molech was worshiped as a “protecting father” – as long as your children were forfeit, he would bring peace and prosperity.

This theme is picked up in The Hunger Games with chilling efficiency, but it also reflects contemporary concerns. Whether by abandonment, neglect, or abortion, many adults in the west daily sacrifice their children in order to pursue personal goals and pleasures. How far can it go? Two medical ethicists, Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva. have argued in a recent issue of The Journal of Medical Ethics for “after-birth abortions.” Their own description of the rationale should leave little doubt that we are seeing modern-day Molech apologists: “Therefore, we claim that killing a newborn could be ethically permissible in all the circumstances where abortion would be. Such circumstances include cases where the newborn has the potential to have an (at least) acceptable life, but the well-being of the family is at risk.” The kinds of risks they have in mind are expenditure of energy in caring for a child, money, and/or social or psychological circumstances. In fact, they offer no clear guideline for an age at which it would become unethical to slay a child.

Most people recoil by the time they arrive at the far side of this kind of analysis, but even in its earlier, less-lethal forms, the effects of child sacrifice are not lost on a generation accustomed to being shunted aside so that the more powerful adults can pursue their own desires. And it is this pushback that fuels the audience for The Hunger Games. Child sacrifice is wrong. The Capitol bears the larger share of the guilt, but one cannot help but focus at least some of the blame on the compliant parents of the districts, who unwillingly, but faithfully, send their children to near-certain death in return for a modicum of safety and security. In the film, we – the audience – can see it clearly, and we resist. But in our own world, do we recognize when we are guilty of similar kinds of abuse and neglect? And, in some ways, our guilt is worse, because much of our child sacrifice is not compelled, but voluntary. It is a devil’s bargain, and the younger generation knows it.
The Hunger Games

Seeking a Savior

Even as audiences rebel against the child sacrifice sponsored by the Capitol, they are drawn to the sacrificial love of Katniss Everdeen.

On the day that the districts are to select their “tribute” – the name given to the children whose are chosen by lottery to battle to the death in The Hunger Games – it is Katniss Everdeen’s sister, Primrose, whose name is drawn from the girls to represent District 12. Primrose, a frightened twelve-year-old child, has no chance of survival. She would not last past the Games’ brutal five-minute opening bloodbath.

Katniss is horrified at the selection of her beloved sister. So Katniss does something unprecedented in Hunger Games history: she calls for the right of substitution and puts herself forward in place of her sister. It is easy to think that Katniss, a scrappy sixteen-year-old and a deadly archer, calculates that she might survive where her sister cannot. Actually, Katniss holds few illusions about her chances for victory. She substitutes herself, laying down her own life, out of love.

Jesus told His followers, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). A few years back, in an introduction to an academic panel on the film Titanic, I heard the moderator gush, “I wish that someone loved me enough to die for me.” The act of self-sacrifice for the benefit of the beloved has a long history in fiction because something about it fascinates us and draws us to look.

There is more to this feeling than mere sentimentality; there is a recognition of need. Primrose is staring death in the face. Left to herself, she cannot hope to survive. She does not merely want help, she needs a savior: someone willing to effectively stand between her and certain death. It arrives in the person of her sister.

Everyone who watches The Hunger Games would like to see themselves in Katniss. We all want to believe that, should the circumstances present themselves, we would rise to the occasion and act the role of heroic rescuer. But in our child-sacrifice culture, I fear we are far too often more like the Capitol – purposely sacrificing others for our own gain, or like the citizens of the districts – disliking the cultural arrangement that leads to child-sacrifice, but doing little or nothing to change or stop it.

And when we are not present in the role of the Capitol or the adults in the districts, we are actually more like Primrose. We are all facing certain, inescapable death, and we desperately need someone who would step in to take our place so that we might live. And the incredible, unimaginable, wonderful news is that Someone has. And Jesus did not do so because we were His loving friends. He did so out of His own love for His creatures, even though we were His sworn enemies (Romans 5:10).

After the Show
The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is a complex, thought-provoking film, and no short article could begin to open up all of the story lines and metaphors worth exploring. In the character of previous Hunger Games winner Haymitch Abernathy, we see how someone can gain the world and lose his soul. In the President, we witness a calculating effort to defer hope for the citizens of the district with the explicit desire to make their hearts sick (Proverbs 13:12). Young Rue, a twelve-year-old contestant who forms an alliance with Katniss, demonstrates the value of loving your enemies (Luke 6:27-28) and that “two are better than one” (Ecclesiastes 4:9). There is also the disturbing idea that while we judge the inhabitants of the Capitol for televising child sacrifice as entertainment, in an eerie turn, we notice that we are the ones who paid ten dollars or more so that we could watch as well.

But, most importantly, The Hunger Games reveals much that is ugly about our own culture, if we simply have the courage to see it. The film also uncovers the persistent longing that everyone has for a Savior. It is unfortunate, but necessary, that before we can call for that Savior, we must see and acknowledge our complicity in the very acts that require us to need one. We are simultaneously the Capitol, the districts, and Primrose. Our plight is so terrible that no human Katniss will do. But we have Jesus, and He is able to come to our rescue, free us from guilt, and restore us to life.

Marc T. Newman, Ph.D., is the president of MovieMinistry.com, an organization that provides sermon and teaching illustrations, Bible studies and discussion cards, drawn from popular film, and helps the Church use movies to reach out to others and connect with people. Dr. Newman is an associate professor in the School of Communication and the Arts at Regent University. Requests for media interviews, or reprints of this article, can be made to [e-mail].

blogs.christianpost.com/movie/the-hunger-games-and-our-appetites-9491/