In the dim lighting of the movie theater the only thing piercing 30 sets of eyes is the taunting countdown ringing through the speakers. 

Fifteen, fourteen, now thirteen seconds appear in its bright neon glory to captivate the audience in its beauty. To replace the fleeting glow is the gut-wrenching sequence of animalistic violence between 24 children; one knifed to death, the other’s head smashed in, and another decapitated. This is the Hunger Games. 

While the “Hunger Games” trilogy uses violence to convey sentiments towards anti-war movements, is that portrayal going against the original morals? Sylvie Mrug, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Alabama Birmingham, helps us understand this question with the study she conducted in 2014. 

When analyzing college students’ blood pressure when watching violent media the study concluded that increased exposure leads to a lack of empathy. The findings were consistent with the diagnosis of desensitization, or a diminished emotional response to a type of stimuli. 

What is more worrying from this study is the initial rapid increase in blood pressure that the participants experienced when first exposed, which went down after time. 

This patterned reaction is the same as gambling addicts who repeat their self-destroying actions to rechase the same high. Mrug’s study can be a wakeup call to the violence current media is pushing because just like any other addiction, this can motivate individuals to seek more violence.  

Now don’t push this away yet — I am in no way trying to dissuade anyone from another Fortnite victory royale; however, I am asking you to look at the world that these killings have created. It is no coincidence that video games and movies have become more gruesome over time from 20 years ago. Each new movie or game tries to top the graphics and details from the last one, hoping to gain more attention and traction. 

This ideology specifically caters to those who have been desensitized from the highest levels of violence trying to reach that “high” again. The rush to “kill or be killed” can become so overbearing that we forget how to feel sorrow for the ones being killed. 

I have been a fan of the Hunger Games since middle school, but if you asked me to name a single one of the tributes that was killed in the first minute I would go blank. Could you? Could even the most dedicated of fans? 

Violence has become so normalized that even one person dying isn’t large enough of an emotional impact to make the viewer think. The amount of sensitivity toward someone shouldn’t be based on their anonymity behind a screen nor how horrifying their death is in the scene. 

It is imperative in times of technological advancements in anonymity and accessibility that we look at the world past the screen and at one another. 

Empathy is nothing to think lightly of, and I hope that none of us ever lose the ability. In a world where violence is easier to access than kindness, I urge everyone to choose the latter in such a complex world.