The Question of Deception: LDS Ark Culture Embraces the Pornography of Violence

Avoid anything that is vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way...Commit to keeping God’s standards. –For Strength of Youth (it’s for adults, too)

In June, 2003, Brad Bushman, a professor of psychology at an Iowa university, decided to conduct an informal survey among church members regarding inappropriate media.  He stated:

When I asked members what makes some movies and TV shows objectionable, the most common response was sexually explicit scenes, followed by profanity. Nobody mentioned violence. When I asked about specific movies, a common response was, “That movie had only one bad scene.” I asked, “What happened? Did someone get killed?” The answer was always the same: “No. It was a sex scene.”

…what did Alma rank as the two most serious sins? Denying the Holy Ghost and “shedding … innocent blood,” or committing murder (see Alma 39:5–6). I was puzzled that many Church members did not feel concerned about watching people being murdered on the screen.

Which brings me to my most recent discovery, via Free ‘n Equal, of a book (whose last installment was released this August), soon to be movie, that is all the rage at BYU-Idaho, and apparently everywhere else.  Unfortunately, it was written as a teen novel, with children as young as 11 (probably younger) reading the first book  in the series.

What is disturbing to me is that many, many Christians see some sort of moral to these stories, and they are reading these books with their children and praising the books for having no sex.  I could not find negative reviews regarding this series–no, it is all adulation and praise, along with the comment, “I couldn’t put it down.  I am totally addicted.”

Thankfully, there were a few LDS women and reviewers who realized the violence of the books were probably not for younger readers.  Their advice?  Wait until the kids are a little older.   But, it’s fine for mature adults (no matter that it’s written at the 6th grade level).  You know, we adults are so much stronger, we can handle sin and temptation a lot better:

This was an absolutely fascinating book. It was terrifying but intriguing all at the same time. I couldn’t put it down.

And another Mormon mom:

Suzanne’s writing makes a beleiveabe [sic] world, where children are forced to do the unthinkable, and still manages to keep the reader reading. This is probably the best book I have read all year. I reccommend [sic] it to all readers. What are you waiting for? Read it now!!

Even a very conservative LDS book reviewer starts out with book one and by book three admits that she “devoured” it–she denounces the intense violence, but she and other LDS readers seem to agree that it’s okay for more “mature” readers.   This is a complete rationalization.

Book 1 : Admittedly, I was captivated by “The Hunger Games”.  Unfortunately, the level of violence is extraordinarily high and extremely graphic.  Although written at a 5th – 6th grade level, I cannot recommend this book for young readers.  Mature readers ought to proceed with caution.

Book 2:  I abhor cliff-hanger endings! The sequel was not as consuming as The Hunger Games, nor was the violence as graphic….While reading this series, I am a “Deer in Headlights”. I continue to read, because I can’t fathom that each child is really going to be killed by another child –and they are.

Book 3:   Suzanne Collins is a great writer – fabulous denouement! Admittedly, I devoured this book…

It is interesting to note that by the second book, the reviewer is actually describing an unhealthy captivation with all the violence:

While reading this series, I am a “Deer in Headlights”. I continue to read, because I can’t fathom that each child is really going to be killed by another child –and they are.

Why are so many LDS people (and other Christians) drawn to this book?  I have read online that there are great morals in this story about the effects of war, and the author wants kids to think about global warming, starving people, and the government.  I saw no real morals in the story.  It just wasn’t deep enough.  And despite the absolute raves from Christians (including LDS), because it wasn’t sexual, it was, in my mind pornographic–both in the traditional sense and in the violent sense.  It was disgusting.  And Godless.

I was surprised at one LDS writer’s perspective:

…one of the best parts about the book: It was clean.

After some prayer, I decided to read the first book for a content review and cultural commentary.  I was NOT riveted or pulled in during my three hours of reading/skimming.  First of all, the book is written as a first person narrative, which is absolutely horrible and smacks of some well-written fan fiction, not a novel.

I know, I know, no one will agree with me–everyone in the world seems to have a crush on Suzanne Collins’ writing–just like they did J.K. “I have to use 3,000 adverbs in my fourth book to make it longer because I no longer care about a plot” Rowling and Stephenie “I Am Bella” Meyer.  Once the stupor cleared, everyone came to their senses and realized these “authors” were not good writers.  I predict the same thing will happen here, only Ms. Collins has taken us and our children to an all time low.

Not only that, I believe the messages this book is promoting are chilling–and perhaps the author did not intend these messages, but she is obviously immersed in media culture.

Here are my thoughts (I had so many that I will try to be brief, but of course I won’t be).

The premise of the book is that twenty-four 12-18 year olds are drawn from a lottery to participate in a government mandated fight to the death in an arena, similar to gladiator games in Rome.  Only this book is dealing with 12 year olds.  Just in case you haven’t seen one recently, here is an example:

The book talks briefly about a war 75 years ago, but the characters seem to have no motivation to “freedom.”  The biggest motivators are 1) money and food for their hometowns and 2) not being used by the government.  That is not very deep or very noble.  Oh, and I guess they want to survive, though they don’t seem too passionate about it.

Starving

The book contains constant references in the beginning to the heroine and her family nearly “starving to death.”  The heroine, once she becomes a “tribute” to the games, gets royal treatment and can eat whatever she wants.

Interestingly enough, she has no problem gorging herself on the delicacies and delightful dishes of the Capitol.  She only mentions once, briefly, that her family is probably still hungry.  Oh, well.  She doesn’t seem to have been too affected from a lifetime of starving (except that she is too thin, which is a positive in this book).

This is apparent when, after she wakes up from a nap in the Capitol and takes a luxurious afternoon shower:

You need only whisper a type of food from a gigantic menu into a mouthpiece and it appears, hot and steamy before you, in less than a minute.  I walk around the room eating goose liver and puffy bread (wow–for someone who has grown up on squirrel meat and turnips, she sure has rich tastes) until there’s a knock at the door. Effie’s calling me to dinner.

Good. I’m starving.

I can’t describe how revolted I was when I read those words.  Obviously, the author either really doesn’t understand starvation, or the character is completely narcissistic, or both.  My in-laws starved when they fled Communist China as young children, incidentally, the same age as Ms. Collins’ main characters.  They never refer to wanting dinner after having sampled goose liver pate as “starving.”  In fact, they don’t use that word.

Having gone hungry a few times in my past, I don’t use that word, either.  Being hungry is not the same as starving.  And, if the author is so intent on having people think about how others are starving out there, why is her heroine so completely callous?

If it had only happened once, I would have chalked it up to poor writing or bad editing.  But, it happens a second time. Yes, the young heroine spends a few hours crying into her pillow, but then meets everyone for dinner (including the people that are supposedly “objectifying” her as nothing more than a token in a game), who all make her feel better.  This is especially troubling because she thinks of her family in the same sentence:

I grin at him and realize that I’m starving. I cut off a piece of pork, dunk it in the mashed potatoes, and start eating.  It’s okay. My family is safe….

Her family is safe and eating mint leaves and wild onions, but she is starving.  I found it sickening to have the character use that word twice when referring to merely wanting to glutton herself on rich food.

Thin Is Good, Big Is Not

Another message replete throughout the book is that thinness is such a wonderful advantage.  While the heroine gives lip service to the idea that in a starving society, fat people are looked upon as doing well because they have enough to eat, the actual lesson of the book is that thin is better.

The author tries to make it sound like people in the Capitol, who are obsessed with their weight and plastic surgery, are the ones who like thinness, but the author’s views are obvious through the eyes of her heroine.  First of all, all of the bigger children/adults are either dumb, drunk, physically abusive or mean.  Secondly, and even more disturbing is at the end, when the heroine describes her emaciated figure:

But when I look at my naked body in the mirror all I can see is how skinny I am…I can easily count my ribs.

And yet, a few seconds later, she explains how she looks in her dress that shows off this emaciated figure as girlish and innocent.  How about sad and undernourished?

Nude Scenes and Sexualization

The book explains that the “tributes” or children who fight each other to death, become instant celebrities in the many days before the game.  The first stop once in the Capitol is the “Remake Center” which is basically a total body makeover session that is described in detail.  In fact, there is almost as much detail given to the sexually suggestive clothing and nude makeovers as the violence.

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Then, there are the descriptions of the heroine’s outfits.  Yes, we have to hear ad nauseum about her outfits and the outfits of other “tributes.”  Certainly, if this were not a first person narrative, I might understand the descriptions, but this heroine appears to think quite a deal about how fabulous she looks…all the while knowing she is going to fight other children to the death.  She even giggles on stage.  Ugh.

I’m frozen but then I catch sight of us on the large television screen and am floored by how breathtaking we look. (in black unitards and shiny leather lace up boots…both the boy and the girl)

And then after a painful paragraph of nude nail polishing, hair braiding, and full body glitter application, we get to read this:

I am not pretty. I am not beautiful.  I am as radiant as the sun.

And, then, her handsome young man stylist (who dressed her), asks her to twirl, which she delights to do.

Another “tribute”, one who dies a particularly gruesome death is described:

her body tall and lush [in a see-through gold gown] …she’s sexy all the way.

Later on, the hero and heroine both get to spend a lot of time snuggling in a sleeping bag for a few nights.  The laughable part is the way the heroine starts ruminating about their kisses and whether or not she “likes” him or a boy at home….it’s so ridiculous.  As if, in a survival situation when a teammate is dying and a girl is wounded, really starving and dehydrated, she would be worrying about whether or not she “likes ” someone or “like likes” him.  That’s another reason it makes the violence even more detestable.  The book is not trying to be real in any other way but in its descriptions of violence and nudity.

Gender Roles

Suzanne Collins goes to great pains to make sure there are no stereotyped, old-fashioned gender roles here.  The hero, who is in love with the heroine, works at a bakery and ices cakes.  The heroine, on the other hand, is a great hunter and definitely the more aggressive of the two.  I don’t want to go into more depth, here, because I have other things to cover, but suffice it to say, I think there is an underlying message here about gender roles….also absolutely no mention of God. Anywhere.

Violence

The violence is unbearable.  This book is targeted to 5th and 6th graders!  I can’t believe it.

In the beginning of the book, the heroine describes past games that she watched as a child, remember, these are children the author is talking about here:

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And this is considered clean by LDS authors and reviewers?  And, what is the justification for the violence–that it teaches a moral?

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We have LDS parents, children and young single adults soaking up this horrible excuse for literature.  Worse, Free ‘n Equal’s friends at college had this conversation with her:

Free ‘n Equal:  Well, if you want to know the effects of war on people, why not read The Hiding Place?

College Friend:   No, oh, I could never read that book–it’s too disturbing.

Corrie Ten Boom’s book is filled with redemption and not “disturbing”….unless a person feels disturbed when they actually feel genuine, deep feelings.  Which is why I think the students are disturbed at Corrie’s account.  It’s too….real.  No glamour.  No pretty thin people.  No cameras.  No gratuitous anything.  Just real people.

We don’t need to read dystopias to know about evil. God already spent a lot of time preparing a study on evil and what it can do–it’s called the scriptures.  Sound simplistic?  Well, God made it simple on purpose.

I really am baffled as to what Christian (LDS included) parents are thinking, oohing and aahing and sharing this book with their children.  One even had the audacity to say it wasn’t horrible like those Twilight books.  Only it is.  I would say even more so.  The author is much more adept at fooling people into thinking there is a good moral to this story, and she is a better writer.  She is much more dangerous.

And, of course, they will all have to see the movie, which I wonder how LDS ark culture will justify all the nudity–they won’t even think there’s a problem with the violence.  It’s only going to be PG-13, I’ve heard.

This review was the only one I could find that even came close to hitting on some points I saw, but the author has a completely different value system than I do.

Here are some quotes from celebrities, Hollywood execs, and others at the Parents’ Television Council.  These are from 2005 and they will curl your hair, so don’t read them if you don’t feel up to it.  I only read a few and that was enough for me.

Please be aware that all the kids at school (and church) and all the teachers (at school and church), and, I think, every single person on the planet has read or is reading these books.  They are especially popular right now since the final installment was recently published.  If your children want to read them, you can point them to several talks in the Ensign and New Era regarding violence, and to the scriptures.  Have them pray about it.

It’s just another way they won’t fit in.  It’s okay.  They’ll be stronger for it.

And, just for the record, I don’t think I will ever review a “popular” so called “clean” book again.  Ever.  I’m done.   That chapter (pardon the pun) of my life is closed.

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Tagged as: book reviews, idolatry, pornography, violence