Hunger Games Worth Observing: Ethical Theory - Movie Review Example

Ethics in hunger games Name Institution Module Instructor Date Movie summary The fiction adventure film ‘Hunger Games’, directed by Gary Ross and produced by Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik, raises a lot of ethical questions. The film was released in 2012 to a huge global reception that grossed over 600 million in the box office. It was based on a novel by the same name authored by Suzanne Collins. The film featured some of America’s favourite young actors, Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson among others. The movie was set in a futuristic post-apocalypse world in a country called Panem, with a capital city called Capitol. The city housed the country’s leadership and was surrounded by 12 impoverished districts. Panem’s leaders organized annual hunger games that involved children aged between 12 and 18 years as tributes. The tributes fought to death in an arena that resembled a jungle. The final survivor in the war was declared winner. Each district was represented in the games by a male and a female contestant. When a 12-old girl was chosen as one of the contestants from district 12, her 16-year old sister, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), chose to take her place. The male counterpart from that district was Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Contestants were shipped to the city where they were assessed, trained and introduced to the public. Katniss and Peeta were rigorously trained and mentored before the games commenced by a former hunger games veteran. Katniss displayed better skills than Peeta. The skills came in handy as the games were actually death matches fought in the jungle. Various weapons were supplied to the contestants. Challenges were also added that kept viewers interested. The games were broadcast live to the public through big television screens in the Capitol and in the districts. Players were updated on the developments and rules through loudspeakers. The rules of the games were changed severally to increase viewership. For instance, players from one district were at one time allowed to form partnerships but the same rule was cancelled later. In the games, Katniss and Mallerk faced bigger and highly skilled opponents who had trained for years. As the games progressed, alliances were formed which specifically targeted to eliminate Katniss and Mallerk. Luckily enough, Katniss and Mellark made it to the finals. However, the organizers changed the rules to require them to fight one another. The two contestants who had developed some feelings toward one another opposed this requirement and plotted to commit suicide together. Consequently, the organizers were forced to end the games abruptly and declared the two as winners. Ethical questions The movie could evoke a number of ethical questions based on different theoretical backgrounds. For instance, did the organizers of the games in the movie act in an ethical and morally right manner? Did the crowd do the right thing by failing to protest against the use of children in the games? Did the contestants act accordingly when they killed one another in the name of the game? Theories used to answer Katniss felt it was morally wrong to let her younger sister be exposed to the brutalities of the games without the necessary skills. She took it upon herself to participate in the games and spare her sister. Any other person could have allowed the little girl to go ahead and participate in the games. Katniss understood the challenges and the dangers one faced by participating in the games so she chose to confront that danger herself. She knew she had at least some skills in archery unlike her young sister. The looks that the crowd gave the little girl as she walked to the front after her name was mentioned clearly indicated they knew the fate that would befall the little girl. However, unlike the people of the 12 districts who stood by and watched, Katniss chose to confront the authority. Katniss showed her rebellion against the rule of law by accepting a mocking jay pin as a lucky charm from her sister. The charm was a symbol of rebellion against the Capitol which never was. The game’s president noticed the pin with a lot of concern during the introductions to the crowd. Katniss, wore the pin risking to have district 12 suffered the same fate that befell district 13 after it was banished. However, she is not concerned about the fate of the district as she is not pleased with the actions of the Capitol. From the intuitionism ethical theory, one can learns about the rightness or wrongness of an action from intuition. Katniss ignored Mellerk’s plea to stay in hiding with him but she chose to risk her life when she fetched medical supplies to treat Mellark’s infected wound. She almost got killed as she ran into opponents. This act aligned to the ethical intuitionism theory. This theory states that a person’s individual awareness of values and morals based on religion, culture or other concepts form the foundation of one’s ethical knowledge (Rosenstand, 70). In this case, the decision that Katniss made was informed by her intuition which was based on a certain moral and ethical background. She chose to risk her life to save a life. Mellark opted to risk an infected wound, so he opposed Katniss attempts to fetch medicine for his wound. In two other scenes, Katniss openly rebelled against the rules of the game. First, she choose to protect and assist one of the younger and weaker contestants instead of killing her as was expected. In another scene, both Katniss and Mellark refused to fight each other but instead plotted to commit suicide. These acts signified rebellion against the law. Mellerk and Katniss chose not to follow the game’s rules by failing to fight to death for one contestant to be declared winner. They won the struggle against the organizer by both being declared winners. Other possible answers The other tributes did not display any remorse when they killed one another. They played to the rules of the games. In the case of Katniss and Mellerk, none of them was overly enthusiastic to kill just to be declared winner. From the history of the games and the enthusiasm displayed by other contestants, one of them stood a chance and opportunity to bask in the glory of being declared winner, but both declined the chance. Furthermore, the fact that Katniss had no romantic feelings toward Mellark meant that she could have killed Mellark more easily than Mellark would have killed her. The crowd’s ethical background is displayed as a pure contrast to Katniss ethical background. The crowd celebrated and enjoyed watching the games without being concerned about the plight of the tributes. Katniss showed mercy, pity and empathy towards her sister as her named was called out as a tribute for district 12. The crowd on the other hand just stared without any sign of remorse. The crowd had given in to the brutalities of the Capitol and could not rebel or object decisions made by the Capitol. The announcer and the host of the games showed a lot of excitement towards the games which was not shared by the tributes. To them, the games were legally right and hence morally right. Director’s take The director did take sides from an ethical perspective. He seemed to tease the public that in the midst of all chaos in the modern world, they could still stick to their ethical and moral philosophies. He showed that there is hope in humanity through Katniss and Mellark. The director also challenged the values of capitalism as an economic system and its ethical foundations. This is shown by the clamour for sponsors among contestants. The director showed this in the way that Katniss suspected that Mellark was just playing to the sponsors and had no actual feelings for her. Katniss also did the same when she kissed Mellark as they remained hidden in the cave. Personal take To me the film was meant to tease the current proliferation of reality TV programs. In some of these programs, contestants are subjected to ethically wrong conditions to the pleasure of the crowd. For instance, in the program, ‘Fear Factor’, contestants are exposed to extreme conditions for the public’s entertainment and for the benefit of broadcasting companies who reap millions in terms of marketing revenue. For contestants, they are forced to abandon their ethics and morals in pursuit of glory, fame and money same as contestants in the film. In my view, the film warned the modern society about the extremities of reality television in search of entertainment at the cost of participants. The film evoked strong emotions in me especially against persons who expose others to inhumane conditions for their own personal interests. The film also informed me that my morals should be best informed intuitively. I should not be made to abandon my morals no matter the case. My upbringing, culture and religion should always guide whenever I face a situation where I need to choose good from bad. Works Cited Hunger games. Dir. Ross, Gary, Lions Gate, 2012. Film. Resenstand, Nina. The Moral of the Story: An Introduction to Ethics: Seventh Edition. New York: Cengage Learning. 2012. Print. Read More