Parents worry homecoming theme glamorizes violence
Two parents said Thursday they worry a school’s homecoming theme glamorizes violence and will spark bad memories for their child.
Hanover Junior/Senior High School’s homecoming theme is The Hunger Games. “The Hunger Games” is a book series that has been turned into a movie series. There are millions of fans worldwide.
The series takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. A group of children are selected once a year to participate in the nation’s disturbing tradition: the children try to kill each other in an arena while spectators watch.
The school’s superintendent, Paul McCarty, said the student council chose the theme because homecoming centers around a food drive.
“I guess it was an unfortunate choice of names probably,” said McCarty.
Parent Janet Washburn is not happy about the theme. Her sixth-grader was in an abusive home before she was adopted. Her daughter still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
“It’s those visual images that are very fresh in the back of her mind from where she comes from that we would like to prevent,” said Washburn.
She said the movie does not promote a positive message.
“We were concerned about issues of power, and control and struggle, and violence and some of the more graphic scenes,” said Washburn.
McCarty apologized for people who found the theme offensive. While the plot of the Hunger Games is punctuated with violence, McCarty said that is not the school’s message.
“We are certainly not trying to glamorize violence in any way, if anything we are quite the opposite here I would hope,” said McCarty.
The sixth-grade class initially planned to watch “The Hunger Games.” McCarty said the teacher is new and wasn’t following school policy. As of Thursday, the class had not watched the movie.
