Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The Stories We Love: A Look at "The Hunger Games"

Picture this scene: you're sitting in your cozy living room, having just finished an excellently entertaining movie. The credits roll up the screen while the music plays, and you sit, maybe with friends or a couple of siblings, thinking about what you've just experienced. What a great movie, you think as key scenes and pieces of dialogue play back in your mind. Then, in walks your dad, who sees the movie has ended and asks "Did the good guys win?" You grin and turn to him. "Yep!"

I have heard my dad ask this question many, many times. It's rarely an actual question but more of a good-natured, sarcastic jibe because of course the good guys win. He says that movies are a waste of time (He likes movies too, but he just doesn't admit it.), so he asks this question after movies and TV shows in an effort to show me that I didn't need to watch the movie at all. I knew how it was going to end: the good guys win. Good always wins.

Yet, the triumph of good is one of the primary reasons that I enjoy stories so much.

I love stories. Anyone who knows me well can tell you how much I enjoy reading books and watching movies. I make regular visits to a used bookstore in Knoxville and have a stack of books waiting to be read. I can't seem to read fast enough for all the books I manage to buy. I'm working on it though.

One series that I read surprisingly quickly was The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. (Now, I know that in this blog I've also talked about reading the Harry Potter series, but don't judge me and think I only read popular, modern books. I've also recently read A Tale of Two Cites by Dickens, Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, My Ántonia by Willa Cather, and several other classics. So there! Anyway...) I devoured The Hunger Games books in about a week and a half. During that time, I found myself totally wrapped up in the story - happy when the characters managed to find ways to be happy and devastated with the characters in their losses and heartaches.

When I finished the books and placed them on my shelf, I thought about them for a good month afterward, but not because of obsessing over the characters or anything like that. I just kept thinking, Those books were really dark... why did I like them so much? I had the same question when the first movie came out, and now again as the trailer for the second movie has recently been released.

At first, my answer was that the characters are real. They live and react and change in ways that make sense. The ways they love and hate, the ways their circumstances shape them, the ways they seek to cope with what's happened - all of it rings true to human nature. This truthfulness in itself is appealing and beneficial, especially when compared to a different popular series about comically hormonal, sparkly blood-suckers.

The second reason that I had was that the books create a startling contrast between a life of self-obsession and a life of self-sacrifice. The people of the Capitol are entirely self-absorbed and are obsessed with comfort, fashion, and entertainment. And they do live totally comfortable, frivolous lives; their existence oozes luxury. The lead characters from poor District 12, on the other hand, live in destitution and fear, but they sacrifice for each other in profound ways. In many instances, they lay down their own safety and assurance of survival so that their loved ones might live. As a reader, I would never want the circumstances of those in District 12. But it's clear in reading the books that it's far better to be destitute and live a life of self-sacrifice than it is to live in  luxury yet be totally self-obsessed. This lesson also makes The Hunger Games worthwhile.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that my reason for loving The Hunger Games is actually deeper than that.

The very premise of the book is dark and incredibly violent. As punishment for an uprising against the Capitol years ago, each of the twelve districts must offer up a girl and a boy, from age twelve to eighteen, every year to be put in an arena and fight in a televised battle to the death, known as the Hunger Games. Literally, kids killing kids on television. I won't go into the plot here, but, as you might imagine, it starts out dark and gets darker. When things seem bleak, they get bleaker. When you think Katniss, the lead character, has experienced enough loss and pain, she loses more. There are several times when she gives up on life and hope.

Yet, at the end of it all, when the battle is over and the number of loved ones lost is too high to think about, there is hope. The tyranny of the Capitol is broken and banished. There is new life. There is love. There are flowers growing in the meadow and children born into a world without the dreaded yearly Hunger Games.

Now, the culture in which I live is not as overtly harsh or violent as Katniss's world. I do not live in a war zone, nor have I faced destitution of the kind portrayed in the books. But I know that many people do live in war zones and do face destitution and starvation. When I take an honest look at my world, it's hard to not lose hope. Things are bleak, and they seem to be getting bleaker. Before my last post, I had not written a blog post in over a month because, in light of what happened in Boston and in Waco, Texas, what could I possibly say? It didn't seem that long since I was speechless after what happened in Newtown, and now this? And just yesterday, two gigantic tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma, killing many and leaving others homeless. So many problems too big for me to comprehend, so much hatred, so much darkness.

That is why I loved reading The Hunger Games. Because it descends into a darkness and hopelessness that I often feel about the state of my own world. But after the darkness, there is light. After the night, there is dawn. A story wrapped up in death ends with life.

And that story points to the story. In the narrative of God's redemption of the world, we are in the midst of darkness. We see brokenness and death all around us. But there is still life, still hope that the dawn is coming. Jesus Christ will return and put all things right. And that day will not just be some kind of storybook ending - it will be the beginning of a forever in which we really will live happily and joyfully and perfectly ever after, with the Great Storyteller and Author of Salvation.

That's the reason we love happy endings, isn't it? That's why I read so many books and watch so many movies, why I come back to them over and over again, even when I know the ending - because in the end good triumphs over evil. The stories we love echo The Story we're living. Because no matter how dark it gets, someday all evil will be punished, and the dawn will come, and we will know nothing but goodness and light and joy and love.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Brother Embarking

This is me and my younger brother Brad:


He is downright fantastic. Yesterday was his birthday, and today he happens to be leaving for a two-and-a-half-month missions internship in India. I sure am going to miss this kid, but I am so very proud of him. 

The truth is that when he first applied for the internship (through the Acts Project at Bryan College), he only knew that he didn't want to go to India. But for some reason, India is exactly where God wants him to go.

When the director of the program asked me about Brad's field placement for the summer, telling me the options were either England or India, my initial thought was "Send him to England!" Brad had mentioned that he would like to go there, and having been there myself, I love that place. It would be so much fun, and it might even be meaningful. But the more I prayed about it, the more I knew that Brad didn't need that for a summer missions internship. The word that God kept putting in my mind was "stretching." I knew he needed to go to India.

Apparently a lot of other people thought the same thing, so it was decided that Brad would go to India this summer. That was before all of the health issues. Since January, he's had shoulder surgery, mono, and a blood clot, and we were all wondering whether or not he would or could go. Even when he was mostly recovered from the health problems, we still weren't sure. He sent out his support letters fairly late in the game, for a variety of reasons, so when the money was coming due, he only had about half of his funds raised. 

So he prayed, "God, if you want me to go to India, make it happen." Over the couple of days after that prayer, he got three phone calls and had all of his support raised.

And just like that, God's taking him to India, with nothing but a backpack and the clothes on his back. He's nervous, understandably. But he's going.

Seeing Brad walk through the long process of preparation and watching him step out in faith to actually go to India has been a huge challenge for me. There are things in my life about which I am totally uncertain and even afraid. Things for which I don't feel prepared or knowledgeable enough or strong enough. 

But, just like with Brad going on this crazy adventure to India, the path my life takes really isn't about my strength or readiness or even my excitement to do what God calls me to do. It's about God's strength in and through me and His faithfulness to do good things in my heart and life, wherever I am and whatever I'm doing.


If you want to keep up with Brad's adventures, check out his blog. I'm sure you'll hear some great stories.