Children's Games

When I was an adolescent, I was fascinated by the 1963 film version of Lord of the Flies. The film was brutal and disturbing, as it portrayed a group of English schoolboys who rapidly descended into savagery after being abandoned on an island. This theme of children's inherent savagery has long fascinated humanity, and it has taken recent form in the Japenese hit Battle Royale and now the Hunger Games.

It's ironic, perhaps, that we cherish children's innocence and also fear their possible depravity. Are children like animals, apt to descend into violence if they are removed from civilization? I believe the answer is yes, and in this they are unlike adults. Before children reach the age of reason, they are very much like animals (and yet distinct, in that they have the potential for humanity). Parents must train them to be civilized, and without this civilizing influence they might never develop their humanity. That being said, I do not believe that adults are inherently depraved in the same way.

In another film, the Dark Knight, the Joker believed that adults would necessarily descend into violence when given the right set of circumstances. And yet, when the citizens of Gotham were given the choice to kill or be killed, they virtuously chose the path of non-violence. Virtue and love are possible, even though difficult, and we must train our children to so choose. Never forgetting, of course, that without that training and civilizing influence, children might never learn. Where would our civilization be then? Perhaps the Hunger Games might give us a glimpse.