With the release of the second movie in the Hunger Games series, “Catching Fire”, all the media outlets are asking the same thing, “Peeta or Gale?” It’s no secret that part of the reason the Hunger Games has become so popular is the love triangle between Katniss, Gale, and Peeta. But the constant focus on only this aspect of the story is selling the ideals that are present in the stories short, as well as undermining the intelligence of all the teenagers who enjoy the story.

The Hunger Games series takes place in a post-apocalyptic future on a country called Panam, which, we were told, was once known as North America. In this future, the people of the Capitol force two teenagers from each district to compete in the annual Hunger Games, where they must fight each other to the death. Before they are made to do this, however, they are first trained to be celebrities by doing interviews and participating in the opening ceremonies. Katniss and Peeta play up the star-crossed lovers angle in the games in order to get sponsors and the capital eats it up. They don’t focus on the fact that children are dying, they are only focused on “the star crossed lovers of district twelve”. And what do reporters tend to focus on when asked about the Hunger Games? The star crossed lovers of district twelve.

By focusing only on the love triangle we are becoming the very people that Suzanne Collins warned us about by writing the book. Instead of focusing on the graphic way each child dies and the horror that Katniss feels every day because of what she had to go through, we instead focus on what boy she’s going to end up with. Which not only shows how sexist our society can be, it shows where are values lie. People don’t want to read literature to think about things that can be hard or upsetting, people want to read as a form of escape.

Not only is this disrespectful to the idea’s that Suzanne Collins put forth in her series, it’s condescending to the teenagers who read it. People assume that because a bunch of teenage girls like to read and watch the series, it must be because of the romance. This assumes that teenagers don’t like to think and that girls aren’t able to like something unless it has some traditional “girly” aspect. This is insulting to all of the teenagers who actually do read it for the ideals and not for the romance, or to people like me who enjoy both aspects equally. The romance can be nice and it’s a good little subplot, as well as a way to show Katniss that not everyone in the world is evil or out to get her. But that all it is, a subplot. It should in no way replace the ideals of thoughtfulness over pure entertainment.