The Mary Sue: Irony has taken many blows in the marketing for Lionsgate’s adaptation of The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins’ young adult trilogy about a society which transforms suffering and death into reality-show entertainment – but this one might be the death blow. Variety announced that Lionsgate has partnered with Dubai Parks and Resorts to open “The World of The Hunger Games” theme park.
4 comments:
This is kind of a ridiculous concept that I am surprised passed through every layer of the creative team with what sounds like no second thought. This franchise criticizes blatant gluttony in the heart of poverty, and is about young kids being forced to battle for entertainment. Yet now this extravagant park is put smack dab in the middle of Dubai, an area struggling with poverty, and is meant to be fun and wholesome. The author is right—this takes the cake for irony. Aside from the fact that the location is the worst place for this park, I personally don’t think the park should even be built. Now, I am a huge fan of themed entertainment. I believe it immerses someone and transforms someone into a world that isn’t their own and lets them breathe for a second. This world, however, is not one we should strive for or attempt to recreate. It’s a sad and violent society that is losing everything it was supposed to teach by being transformed into roller coasters and gift shops.
Aside from the problems with Dubai today, I think this is such an extraordinary idea. As a young middle-schooler I was enamored by the hunger games books, and when the movie came out I was intrigued and in love with the world that it created. I think this park has the potential to be a success simply because of the young fanbase it acquires. Not only is the Hunger Games is a cult favorite, it would also attract people who are interested in exploring the world of Panem that Suzanne Collins created. I believe that it will be comparable to Universal and their creation of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter simply because of the aspect of fascination that its patrons would bring. I think that the Hunger Games is an excellent execution of a stellar idea and I would love to experience an interactive simulation of this mass, I'm excited.
This is in incredibly bad taste. The reality of the situation is that the story of the hunger games is incredibly dark, and not dark in haha-fun-horror-movie way that you can sometimes dissociate yourself from once you leave the theatre. This undermines the entire story of the hunger games, in which the entire area of Panem is divided by income. The irony is a bit unreal: they are building a theme park in Dubai, which suffers an immense amount of income inequality, by baiting foreigners who need work to construction camps to build their next crazy entertainment feature. These foreigners, mainly from India, have their passports taken away by the construction company upon entering Dubai, work in slave-like conditions, and are given tiny rooms to be housed in with 5-10 other roommates. The conditions are absolutely disgusting, and many people see Dubai as a sparkling paradise rather than a horrifying slave camp.
I can do nothing but laugh at the idea of creating the Hunger Games theme park. It brings creating the world of the story in reality to a whole new level and it’s really ridiculous the message that it is putting across. I get it that there are a lot of beautiful spectacles in the book and movie, but they are literally there to highlight the disparity between the exceedingly rich and the average/poor person who is being exploited. The book is literally about sending kids into an arena to fight and kill each other in hopes of not dying and maybe making life a little better for their families back home. There are entire districts in the book that train these kids to kill not only the other kids who could be with them in the arena, but also each other since they go in two by two and only one person comes out. The story itself is just so messed up and now we’re planning on profiting off it just as the people in the capitol in the book profited off the children. It’s so ridiculous. And I think the more ridiculous thing will be how it will be a success. The book/movie has such a large fan base that it will sell and sell well. It is not a plus for Dubai which has it's own incredibly bad system of inequality to begin with.
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