Lets Actually Talk... Hunger Games

So maybe today's post will be somewhat soapboxy.  But I'm ok with that... I am a girl in today's world after all!  This is post 1 of however many on subjects that are oftentimes considered too PC, too risky, too cliche to talk about.  Hence the title Let's Actually Talk.  I suppose I should also say here that these are simply my views... I'd love to hear yours too!  Part of talking means engaging in dialogue... which you need more than one person for. 

I watched Hunger Games yesterday (great film!) and spent 5 minutes after the film venting to my boyfriend (poor guy) about how the scene showing District 11 revolting and then being met by white men in all white suits hosing down the rioters looked too familiar.  Upon further investigation, it turns out there was a lot of press given to the choice of Rue being a black actress, which some people felt was inaccurate (Google it- you'll find out those people are wrong.  But damn there are some nasty tweets about it!).  My question is, was District 11 chosen as the poor, black district simply because that's how the author intended them to be portrayed?  Or is there more than meets the eye in the 5 minute clip?  After all, the revolting doesn't even happen until the 2nd book...

What if the stereotypical portrayal of the only black characters in the movie as the poor, uprising, "trouble causing" group is yet another reminder of US history, not so dissimilar from the hunger games reminding districts of the past?  It's a bit extreme, I know- we certainly aren't showing a fight to the death blood bath.  But the civil rights movement wasn't pretty, and lives were lost in the hopes of future change.  Thank goodness that change did come.  But I wonder whether the producers really thought through their decision to have the one scene in the movie involving uprising be a black community, and what message that sends to viewers across the nation and around the world.