Catching Fire: A Reaction Paper

By: Langsa Tuguinay, 2013-62888

        Everybody who read Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy and watched the first movie based on the trilogy had long waited for the release of the movie The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in theaters. I, for one, did not read the novels but was able to watch the first movie released last year and honest to goodness, the movie left me in awe.
       I was able to watch the premier of Catching fire on November 21, 2013 and here are some of my thoughts regarding the movie. First of all, I do not see the movie as a science fiction. Secondly, I think that the film is a commentary on our past, present and future society. Lastly, the movie has been well-thought-out because of its effects and of how grand these effects had been carried out on the movie.
       The film is relatively not much of a science fiction compared to the Star Wars and Star Trek movies. Although it is described as a sci-fi movie by some, I would like to think otherwise because science fiction is described as a fiction based on an imagined future with scientific or technological advances and major social/environmental changes that frequently portrays space or time travel and life on other planets. So, I say it again, the film is relatively not a science fiction. It is merely a non-fictional representation of a society where power is only centralized in a few people, in the movie’s case; the power is centralized in a place called “The Capitol”. This is visible today, and I believe that this has been visible in the past and would still be evident in the future.
       This then leads us to my next point in saying that the film is a commentary on our past, present and future society. It is comparative to the slavery issue in the past wherein the people of the 13 districts are the slaves and The Capitol being the master. Just like the slaves, the people of the 13 districts don’t have the liberty and freedom that the masters, The Capitol, have. The movie is also similar to our society at present given the greed and all the luxury that the people with power have. As to being a commentary on the future, we could see this by the technology they use and how advance these technologies are.
       Finally, I have to say that science and technology is successful, or better yet, seen in the world of the 13 districts in terms of keeping the districts “tamed” and “caged” using the Capitol’s advanced arms. I have to say that I am not pro this kind of treatment, all I am saying is that the advanced technology that they have is portrayed successfully in the movie.
       To wrap it up, the movie left me thrilled because it ended with a cliffhanger. I also have to say kudos to the success of the movie and I can’t wait to watch its final movie, Mockingjay.