A post-apocolyptic novel about survival and banning together to overcome corrupt leadership has led students on campus to create their own interpretation of the story.
Based on a book by the same title, "The Hunger Game" will be released tonight at midnight, and Univeristy Program Board is offering to bus students to the theatre for $9. Tickets can be bought at the Student Center Room 112 until 5 p.m.
The "Hunger Games" book series is set in future wastelands of America. The nation has been divided into districts that each provides a specific good to the Capitol. After a rebellion in the districts, the Hunger Games were born to remind the districts of the Capitol's power over them and their loss in the war.
Two children, a male and a female between the ages of 12 and 18, are chosen from each district to fight to the death for food rations and glory for their district.
REAL LIFE APPLICATIONS
In the novel, the main character Katniss Everdeen volunteers for the Hunger Games to take the place of her 12-year-old sister, Primrose. Sixteen-year-old Katniss has to fight for her life while in the middle of a love triangle between the characters Peeta Mellark and Gale Hawthorne.
Nate Nash, a sophomore social work major, said he's read all three of the books, and he likes the positive messages they send about women.
"I think having positive female role models for young women, like Katniss Everdeen, is a great thing to have instead of having people that are giving a message that isn't necessarily positive," he said. "And I think Katniss is definitely a positive role model."
General studies major Aaron Price, who is reading all of the books for a second time before the movie opens, agreed with Nash.
"Just like any other dystopian book, I think that it leaves readers with a sense of unease because it makes us wonder what could happen in our future," Price said. "Other than that, though, I don't think it really affects society. It just made me want to rebel against something ... and buy a bow and arrow."
THE MOVIE
At midnight, Nash and Price both plan on being at one of the opening showings.
Even though he's a fan, Nash said he expects some parts of the movie to be different than he expected.
"It's always going to be like, 'I didn't picture it that way with some part,' because when you're reading the books, you have your own movie in your head of what is going on," Nash said.
Nash and Price said they looking forward to seeing a scene in the book involving a death and how it will be translated to the screen.
"I'm excited to see how they, visually, are going to take care of that and film it, because it's something that is very important to the book," Nash said. "So it is important that they transcend that message that I got in the book in the film as well."
Price, not wanting to give any spoilers, said that he expects the death scene to be incredibly emotional on screen.
While some criticize the series as jumping on a bandwagon with Harry Potter" and "Twilight" saga, these students are defending the story.
"I think where ["The Hunger Games"] lies in difference from movies like "Twilight" is that it actually has depth and characterization," Nash said. "It's very inspiring. It has a love story, but it's also about fighting for what you believe in. If you aren't strong and your own individual, people will walk all over you."
'CARDINAL EDITION'
Even with the movie coming out, some students haven't gotten their "Hunger Games" fix. A group of six have transformed their love for the novels into a game on campus.
Price said the game started when they were all playing hide and seek on a playground in the middle of the night. He was doing so well that he jokingly told the group, "I could totally win the Hunger Games."
Since then, the idea of pretending they were playing in the Hunger Games just stuck. They bounced ideas off of each other and decided to make it an official game and even create a Facebook page.
Nash described the game as a mix between hide and seek and tag. One person counts and has the goal of seeking the players who are hiding.
Players who are hiding have a partner like in the books: two people from each district are chosen for the Hunger Games in the novel and two people are in a team for the Cardinal Edition as well.
If a team is caught, they are added as a seeker. As more and more players become seekers, the remaining players have to work together to make it to central base. Nash said the game is very strategic in this way and requires a great deal of teamwork.
The Hunger Games: Cardinal Edition plays every Sunday evening, and Nash said the game has grown each week as more students join.
"Now it has become the highlight of our weeks because we get so into it and we love doing it," Nash said.
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