The Hunger Games is a great movie for kids

[This post was originally published at Forbes.com on 26th March 2012]

That's my opinion having just taken my 11 year old son to see it. And if I am to read the blogosphere, it is a controversial opinion to hold. Some, including here at Forbes, see it as potentially causing reduced civility amongst kids. Others see it as pure escapism for teens with little teach them or improve their understanding of the world. I have read the first book and now seen the movie and I disagree.

Just in case you missed it, The Hunger Games involves a future society where, as a result of the outcome of an earlier suppressed rebellion, each year, each of 12 ruled districts offers up two 12-18 year olds as tribute to basically play a game of Survivor. The twist is that there is no tribal council or votes but instead the kids just kill each other until one is left standing. To be sure, this is not the sort of movie that we have come to associate as kid friendly these days. But to hold that view is to opt for a sheltered view of what our kids should be exposed to.

My son is actually quite a sensitive soul. When trailers for horror movies come on, he covers his ears and shields his eyes. So I was somewhat surprised when I learned that last year he had read The Hunger Games and enjoyed it. Why I asked? He said, "it made you think."

Cover of The Hunger Games

And it is from that perspective that I approached the book and then the movie. Right from the start the movie opens, not with the game, but with its anticipation. All of the kids are put in the position of facing uncertainty as to whether they would be offered as tribute for the game. It taxes them so much so that the lead character proclaims she will never have children in that world. It is this feature more than the game itself that teaches kids, especially amongst the more privileged in our society -- of which my son is one -- to think about the uncertainty that many less well off both here and throughout the world live. It may not beThe Hunger Games that taxes them but the fear of becoming ill without adequate health insurance or of losing one's home to a financial crisis. Studies show that this has great harmful implications for the welfare of adults. Think about what it does to children. The Hunger Games forces the reader to experience that fact of many people's lives even if dressed up in a fictional world.

The game itself brings forward another thought: what would you do? The disturbing thing about The Hunger Games but also its most plausible aspect is how easily most of the tributes buy into the game and are comfortable with killing others to save their own lives. To be sure, not all of them are alike but there is little thought in the moment given to the notion of combat or murder. How often in discussing the news or past historical wars have your children asked you how people come to kill one another? The Hunger Gamespaints a picture of how the situation rather than the person can matter. This is what social psychologists have taught us (think of the famous Milgram or Stanford prison experiments). Here, it is presented in fictional form and it is powerful. To us, it provoked a discussion of precisely that and made our children step back and think about how the situation can define their actions and the actions of others. This is not an easy subject to broach but The Hunger Games gives us the context.

Finally, there is the question of plausibility. In The Hunger Games, most players are coerced but some volunteer. Interestingly, they are from the apparently richer districts even though there is a prize of incredible riches for the victor. That provokes thoughts about whether people would volunteer for this sort of game in today's world. This is also the context upon which you can broach the subject of Kony2012 with your kids. The most salient part of that movement is the notion of stolen children who are made to fight (think abou that people who believe The Hunger Games is far removed from reality). But there have also been times in history where kids fought without coercion. In many respects, this is all about the plausibility of the economics of the movie. The point is that the very subject of how far removed the movie is from reality is one that the movie can stimulate. 

In my mind, the controversy surrounding The Hunger Games reflects a steady move towards a more sheltered existence for our children. I will freely admit that I might have hesitated about taking my son to see the movie had he not already discovered the book. And he saw it and enjoyed it and was not traumatised by the experience. The situation that took the choice out of our hands allowed him to broaden his own horizons without the cost of parental deliberation.

And what age is appropriate? That depends on the kid. Given knowledge my son's reaction, I would not hesitate in letting him see the movie had he been a year or two younger. Beyond that, the benefits I have suggested above in terms of a broader discussion of the world would probably be lost. But truth be told, apart from all the killing, the kids in this movie or the book are far less mean or cruel than children in the school playground. It is easy to get distract by adult classifications of trauma that may loom less large than those children actually experience.