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Sociological themes in the hunger games
Hunger games sociological perspective
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Feminism and Marxism are two major themes in the film Hunger Games. Increasing government control over the individual leads to human-rights violations and institutionalized oppression. Where there is oppression, there is resistance. The unequal social structure empowers the individual to reject immoral controls and stimulates the emergence of Katniss’s feminism.
From the Marxist views, film Hunger games discloses the evil sides of society. The film shows a strong oppression of the poor by the rich. The Hunger Games begins at Panem, a nation which consists of a wealthy Capitol and twelve impecunious district. Capitol is the rich and dominating class that takes charge of education and the media and keeps the districts in a state of hunger and poverty. Capitol holds a famous yet inhumane annually hunger game among twenty four teenagers that selected from the twelve districts. The game has only one winner which means all other people have to die. The brutal game strongly exemplifies the oppression that Capitol brings to districts. Actually, the hunger game is a punishment that admonishes...
The Hunger Games are basically the embodiment of society's off sense of entertainment. It combines the oddities that are violence and reality TV. However, what is it that insinuates the tones for this type of movie? Initially, there's a scene that addresses the fact that the society of this movie is conducting the games as though it was a standardized athletic tournament. In the movie, Haymitch Abernathy brings up how there are sponsors who deliver supplies to the “contestants”. Basically, sponsors influence the who will live or die, incidentally affecting the course of the games. During this scene, he claims, “And to get sponsors, you have to make people like you.” This scene mentions the thought on how people living in societies today work
When Gary Ross’ 2012 adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ famous novel ‘The Hunger Games’ exploded on screens, it was received as an action-packed, thrilling story of survival, determination and over-coming corruption. Audience’s watched in equal parts awe and horror as Katniss was thrust into Panem’s battle arena and fought for justice, family and friendship. However, if we as an audience think more critically about the film; if we think beyond the wild costumes, gripping action and skilful performances, we can see that the story explores complex philosophical ideas that strongly relate to the experiences of humanity in the real world.
Suzanne Collins has, through her writings, used great imagery to expose the meaningful side of ‘The Hunger Games’, the side that is not all about what takes place in the arena. The Capitol’s rule over the districts, the reality-show part of the Hunger Games and the Mockingjay pin are all fragments of deeper meanings that create the basis of all that the story is. Suzanne Collins has depicted the country of Panem as a place overruled by a large city, known as the Capitol. The Hunger Games is apparently a means to keep peace and a fair punishment for the rebellion of the districts, where district 13 was obliterated in the mess. However, Collins has spun this interpretation around and unveiled a different perspective – that The Hunger Games is
A dystopian text often consists of a society that is based on a utopian ideal of a “perfect” society. Despite being a fictitious setting, the more realistic a dystopian text seems, the more disturbing it is for the audience. The novel The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood, takes place in the Republic of Gilead that was formerly the state of Massachusetts. Massachusetts has been reformed to a place where puritan traditions and beliefs are the only customs allowed. Gilead and its totalitarian government oppress women to the extent where rape is a norm in their society. The novel The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, is about a contest held in the country of Panem, where twelve teenagers are forced to fight one another until only one survives the battle. The people of Panem are mandated in watching this contest, as a reminder of the previous uprising that was stopped by their totalitarian government called the Capitol. Atwood depicts Gilead in a way where it is almost possible for the society in Gilead to
In The Hunger Games District 12 gives the capital a very negative connotation because in the movie katniss shows everyone in her district that there is life outside of coal mining. In the movie when Katniss and Peeta get on the train they look amazed to see the surplus of deserts and fruits, but Effie chuckles and acts like it’s no big deal. This part of the movie shows how classism has taken over to the point where fruit is a luxury to district 12 but is normal to the capitol. I think that the author was smart to put this part of the movie in because it really shows the economic difference between district 12 and the capitol. This section shows the difference in perspective between katniss and peeta to the people of the capital because even the way they see kinds of foods shows marxist theory at work.
... Thus, it is with these three key points that the government of Panem has been able to keep the Games going on for so long, without the system collapsing in on itself. Furthermore, The Hunger Games also shows us just what we as a species could become with the right to social influence and conditioning by an authoritarian force. The peoples of the Capitol and Districts have been taught and conditioned for decades to accept the Hunger Games, especially so in the case of the Capitol, where its citizens applaud and enjoy the Hunger Games, much like many Romans enjoyed the Colosseum in ancient times. It is a rather frightening, but realistic, look at what any of us could become with the right social influences and conditioning.
Murty, Govindini. "Decoding the Influences in "The Hunger Games"" The Atlantic. The Atlantic, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
Most people will watch The Hunger Games strictly for entertainment purposes and never give too much thought to how some of the things the movie portrays can be related to sociology. Although the movie is fictional it shows real life things like stratification and social control while portraying a culture that we would find to be to barbaric to happen in our culture. While watching all of these things in the film we are then able to dig deeper into sociology by thinking about the different perspectives would view them.
Complete governmental control develops as an apparent theme of both 1984 and The Hunger Games. 1984 uses the concept of big brother for the sole purpose of instilling a dependence on the government for every aspect in the citizens’ lives. Similarly, the capitol of Panem in The Hunger Games censors information from the people so that any idea of revolution will be instantaneously
Moreover, in The Hunger Games the exploitive government uses violent and manipulative oriented incentives to keep the population stable. Although, the concept of the annual games is highly disturbing, the promise of wealth and celebrity is very enticing to the impoverished districts. With the promise of the victors being “showered with prizes, largely consisting of food” (Miller 4) the government tries to use the prize of the games as an incentive for the community to function without rebellion from the population. In the film, President Snow remarks on the true purpose for the extravagance and display of the games. Snow discusses that the legitimate purpose of the games is to provide the districts with “Hope. It is the only thing stronger
Social Conflict in the movie was only worried about the high class and nothing more. Also, they only cared about the power they could abuse people with instead of helping the need. “The Hunger Games” will remain one of my favorite movies of all
The Hunger Games Feral Feminism written by Katha Pollitt was one of the most interesting articles I have ever read. I agree with Pollitt that the movie go some things right and wrong about the book. One way the movie got it right was by showing us the dystopian capital city. Pollitt writes “In the Capitol, which has the dated-futuristic look of a fascist Oz.” (Pg. 555) I agree with Pollitt is that I love what they did with the Capital City in the movies and especially in the third with the destroyed city that was littered with the deadly booby traps/mines. Another thing about the city is what the Capital city was based on other human cultures. Pollitt wrote how lifestyle is somewhere between Roman Empire, the Court of Louis XVI, and the Cirque
Humanity has always been overlooked by certain societal standards. Before technology, these norms travelled through proxies like religion, politics, wealth, and certain scientific beliefs. In modern day America, these ideals are now also filtered through mediums such as media, movies, tv shows, fashion, etc. As time goes, we become more aware of the inequalities these ideals create and come up with theories such as feminism and Marxism to analyze them. Socially, Marxism addresses the relationship between one 's economic class and how it affects them in civilization. Meanwhile, feminist theory aims to address the oppression and issues dealt with under a patriarchal lifestyle. In this story we can see how both of these theories affect the central
Before this book was made, in the 20th century, the Woman’s Suffrage movement was a huge movement from the political stand point. Woman were given the right to vote and given more rights for themselves. (NWHM) This book, depending on which district, seems to view women as a burden to society. Collins seems to look at woman as a growing power due to Katniss, the main character of the story. Not only does Katniss show that women have power by bringing food to the community and having enough courage to volunteer for a position in the games itself, she likes to question society and make decisions that show how much, as a woman, that she can do. Katniss is viewed as “the girl on fire” Collins even put in that Katniss viewed herself as though she was not pretty, not beautiful, but as radiant as the sun. This just goes to show the power that she sees in herself and how much fire she can start to get a movement going. This shows the activist in her and the power she wants to have as a woman. Her younger sister, Prim, is viewed as a child that was always seems to be a risk. Katniss calls her “little duck” through the book giving her the child-like nickname that makes the reader look for the child-like qualities. (Collins) Their mother tends to be a burden, as if Collins used her character to show a connection between how women are treated in the book and how women were treated in the past. Although, it’s not just the women that seem to be like sheep, it’s almost everyone in society. Collins tries to push the idea of every person, no matter the gender, as unequal to the dominant
The main character, Katniss, volunteers as tribute for her district to save her sister from having to be tribute. Upon arriving in the Capitol for the games, she sees just how vast the gap between the Capitol and districts are. To fight against this class struggle, she begins to revolt. At first this comes in the form of small things, like shooting an arrow at a pig feast of Capitol higher-ups and refusing to kill her friend in the games, resulting in the first ever co-victors of the Hunger Games. Katniss’ actions soon lead to full blown rebellion in the districts, starting a revolutionary war between them and the Capitol. At one point Katniss remarks: “My ongoing struggle against the Capitol, which has so often felt like a solitary journey, has not been undertaken alone. I have had thousands upon thousands of people from the districts at my side.” (Catching Fire 90). In true Marxist fashion the working class needed to use a violent revolution to confront the class struggle against the ruling