The Inhumanity Of War In The Hunger Games And The Maze Runner

Turning a Blind Eye

Courtney-Paige Whitehead exposes society's attempts to mask the brutality of war.

Guns fire, the body count rises and society barely bats an eyelid. With the brutality of war being swept under the carpet, society has changed the way that we perceive war, and despite the fact that we do not like to admit so, we have become experts at downplaying topics of great severity.

Through modern entertainment such as movies and video games, our society has created the illusion that war is simply a game to be won and although they do not strictly glorify the idea of war, they almost never discourage it. When looking at movies that strive to promote anti-war messages, they always seem to fall short. Take for example The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner. Although each of these movies aims to focus on the inhumanity of war, each struggle to maintain this focal point, creating the illusion that war is merely a game to be played. Manufacturing a world where our society is becoming desensitized to a topic that inevitably affects us all.

However, how are we as a society supposed to connect and understand the brutality of war, when the people producing these images and stories have little knowledge of the topic themselves? When is it that we are going to pay more attention to the stories of our veterans, or to the families that lost their sons and daughters, instead of letting directors and writers who have never experienced war, shape the way that we see