Exposing False Hope in The Hunger Games
After watching Lions Gate Entertainment’s 2012 film The Hunger Games, one might see it as a typical dystopian science fiction adventure film in which Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mallark, underdogs from District 12, victoriously beat the odds and become the famed and much loved winners of the 74th annual Hunger Games. However, in a world where districts are strictly separated and subjugated, where young boys and girls are forced to fight one another to the death while the Capitol benefits from their sacrifices, one can see the underlying Marxist subtext of the film. The leader of Panem, President Snow, takes advantage of and uses the districts’ hope to ensure that the factions stay oppressed, silenced,
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Every year the twenty-four chosen tributes are determined to work his or her hardest to stay alive in the Hunger Games. The game slogan “May the odds be ever in your favor,” suggests that all tributes have an equal chance to win the games. However, that is not the case. Some districts are more equal than others. The Career tributes of Districts One and Two, who train for the Games until they are eighteen, have a much higher percentage of winning than the rest of the districts do because they do not receive special training. Since the Games are essentially a game of the survival-of-the-fittest, where the strongest and smartest will come out on top, prior training obviously tilts the odds in favor of the tributes from District One and Two. This situation in the film is analogous to what Karl Marx says about the American Dream: “The success of the American dream—the acquisition of a wealthy lifestyle for a few—rests on the misery of many” (Tyson 55-56). In the essence of the Games, one tribute is awarded riches as long as the other twenty-three tributes die. In Panem, the bourgeoisie live solely in the Capitol while the proletariat is spread throughout the twelve districts. In The Hunger Games, the majority dreams of being in the Capitol and the Hunger Games are a way for them to get there, just as Marx’s proletariat dream of striking it rich. In The Hunger Games, the attempt to gain a life in the …show more content…
Before the two tributes from each district are picked they are all shown a propaganda video that is sent from the capitol. It recaps the rebellion that happened years ago when “brother turned on brother until nothing remained” and then further explains how the games serve as a reminder of the past and are ultimately used to “safeguard our future.” The video sends a message of patriotism, the idea that “keeps poor people fighting wars against poor people” and “prevents the poor from banding together” (Tyson 57). The Capitol hopes to make the people believe that it is their duty to fight in the games, that it is the cost they must pay for their freedom. This message of patriotism helps the proletariat’s hope for the American Dream. They are made to believe that if they offer themselves up for their country they can achieve the greatness of riches and glory. What is also embedded inside the video is the idea that competition is not only “a natural or necessary mode of being,” but it is the only way to progress socially and financially. (55). Competition makes people believe that it is natural to want to get ahead and have “a better house and wear better clothes” (55) than others. Competition is exceedingly prevalent in today’s society with “the state lotteries or the big-bucks sweepstakes,” that open the “possibility that anyone can win” (56). With competition brings hope, hope that they can beat everyone else and
The movie The Hunger Games, originally based on a book by Suzanne Collins, is about a place called Panem, which is ruled by the Capitol and has 12 districts within it. These 12 districts are separated founded on their economic statuses, meaning the higher the district, the more impoverished the residents are. There are 2 tributes that are chosen to participate, forcibly, in The Hunger Games each year. Each competitor is instructed to eliminate one another in order to survive and come out on top. There is only one tribute allowed to come out of the arena alive. Katniss lives in District 12, which is the most impoverished district of them all, and she volunteers as tribute in “the Reaping” when her sister is chosen to participate. She and the other tribute from her district, Peeta, make it into the arena with the hopes that one of them comes out the winner and above all else, alive (Ross, 2012). I will refrain from going any further just in case you have not read the book or have not seen the movie. In terms of soci...
"Our whole social system is based upon Regularity, or Equality” (Abbott 23). Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins are both books that were later turned into movies. Flatland involves an upper class square, A. Square, and his adventure through different dimensions set in a representational society of nineteenth century England. Meanwhile, The Hunger Games contains the journey a poor girl from District 12 named Katniss Everdeen, who is left to the mercy of the Capital. Although both Flatland and The Hunger Games are two completely different books, they both share similar hierarchical aspects.
Though many societies are different from each other in appearance, they have more aspects in common than some may expect. This is very true in the societies in the movie, The Hunger Games, directed by Gary Ross, and the short story, “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson. The Hunger Games is about the struggle of a young woman who is trying to survive a deadly competition between multiple people drawn and nominated to fight to the death for sport due to a failed revolt against the government. “The Lottery” is a story about how families are picked at random with one member getting stoned to death and how a young woman decides to stand up to her society. Both The Hunger Games and “The Lottery” have many similarities in regards to tradition
The book The Hunger Games is full of critical scenes. A critical scene is a type of scene that is necessary for the book to have a story. One very important critical scene is when Prim was chosen at the reaping. When she was chosen Katniss decided to take her place as a tribute. Why did Katniss take her place? What could have happened if she didn't take her place?
The Hunger Games, a film based off of a novel written by Susan Collins, was released in March of 2012. The film, and the book it was based on, chronicles the struggles of a girl named Katniss Everdeen, a girl who lives in a poverty stricken province or “District”, until untimely circumstances forces her to play in the Hunger Games, a gladiatorial like contest where children between the ages of 12 and 18 are forced to fight to the death. A contest that was set up by an oppressive and authoritarian government, and has thus far been sustained via the forced obedience of the rebellious Districts, the brainwashing and conditioning of Districts 1 and 2, and the conditioning of the residents of its Capitol. The movie has a variety of messages, most especially in regards toward social control and social conditioning. With these ideas in mind, a case could very well be made that The Hunger Games, throughout its two hour long run time, shows a very realistic look at a socially conditioned society and what humanity can become with the right amount of conditioning and control by an authoritarian force.
In our Society when you don't follow the rules, you become an outcast to the rest of the society. Suzanne Collins’ novel series, The Hunger Games criticizes our society and its demands for people of specific genders to act in certain ways and become certain things. Stereotypes concerning gender are prevalent in our society and all over the world. However, The Hunger Games gives a very refreshing tone of “mockery” to these stereotypes. Katniss Everdeen isn’t your typical 16 year old girl, and neither is Peeta Mellark a typical 16 year old boy, especially when they are fighting everyday just to survive. The Hunger Games is a work of social commentary, used to convince us that there can’t and shouldn’t be any defined “roles” based on gender. A mixture of “stereo-typical” gender roles within a person and their actions is what people need just to survive in our world that is changing every day.
Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World demonstrates key principles of Marxist literary theory by creating a world where mass happiness is the tool used by positions of power known as the Alphas to control the masses known as the Epsilons at the cost of the people's freedom to choose. The social castes of Brave New World, Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilons, draw parallels to the castes applied in Marxist literary theory, the Aristocracy, the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat.
In a nation where children and teenagers fight each other to the death for live entertainment annually, what social norms can actually be considered ethical? This is the question that Katniss Everdeen faces throughout The Hunger Games series. She must choose between doing what is right, and what is accepted, because in her world, the wrong thing is breaking the rules, no matter how wrong they may be. The rules that she deals with are much different than the ethical principles that people in the real world deal with, but for Katniss and the rest of the districts in Panem, these rules are what they have known their entire lives. Catching Fire is the second installment in The Hunger Games trilogy, based on the books written by Suzanne Collins,
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
The author Suzanne Collins demonstrates this when she portrays the Career tributes as “districts, in which winning the reaping is such a great honor, people [Career tributes] are eager to risk their lives” (Collins 22). The people of the Career districts trained their whole for the chance and opportunity to take part in the Hunger Games based on the false reality of what they see on the television. The false reality that the television provides conceals the viewers from learning the true reality/ harshness of the Hunger Games and influences people such as the Career tributes to actually pursue their goal of taking part in this dangerous battle. The deception of the television in the novel, Hunger Games, influences and manipulates the way some people wish to lead their lives. Suzanne Collins
The novel Anthem by Ayn Rand and the movie The Hunger Games directed by Francis Lawrence and Gary Ross are popular among teens because they can relate to them by the high expectations put upon them. In a dystopian novel or movie, there is a dystopian protagonist. A dystopian protagonist is someone who often feels trapped, struggles to escape, questions existing systems, believes or feels as if something is wrong in the place they live in, and then helps the audience realize the effects of dystopian worlds. These are both good examples because it takes us on a walk through the protagonist's life and only then do we see what dystopian really is.
The Hunger Games that follows, the term that defines a dystopian fiction. One main belief that defines Dystopian society is the development into a “hierarchical society” (“Dystopia”). A hierarchical society plays a big part in the story that outline the whole plot. For example, Capitol is wealthier than all the districts. Some districts are more privileged than others. The Careers, being tributes from districts one to three, are prepared and trained for years before the games. However, this is illegal, but because of the support towards District two from the Capitol, they are let off, along with District one and District four, the other richer districts. In this cas...
In The Hunger Games, the inequality between the rich and the poor is the biggest theme presented in the book. Throughout the book, Katniss mentions that starvation is common in District 12, and she has often gone hunting illegally in the woods for food for her family. This is an example of how the rich and the poor are separated. Wealth is only centralized in the hands of the rich, while the poor are left to starve, leaving disparity. The best examples of the inequality between the rich and the poor is seen in the tessera system, and the way the tributes are selected for the games. In the novel, they have what is called “the reaping”, which is the lottery at which they choose the tributes for the games. It is said in the book that the poor is more likely to be picked than the rich are. In the tessera system, children
George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy saga Game of Thrones transcends the traditional boundaries of the fantasy genre, representing the harsh reality of class exploitation in feudalism and its dichotomous social structure: high birth (nobility) and low birth (peasant). Throughout the series, the interpersonal strife of the noble houses dictates the lives of the peasants. Family is the principle institution through which power is acquired, sustained, and imposed on others. The conflict and subterfuge that occurs in the interest of political gain between houses in this feudalistic society sows the seeds of its own destruction; as a result of war, thousands die in battle, countless villages are pillaged and raided, and the aristocracy falls into
Karl Marx was a polarizing figure of the mid-19th century whose writings remain relevant today. Some of his main ideas include the relationship between the workforce and the ‘ruling class’ which owns the means of production. Marx refers to the working class as the proletariat and the ruling class as the bourgeoisie. Themes of Marx can be found today in popular culture, namely in books and movies. One example of this is the series The Hunger Games, which correlates with many of Marx’s ideas and writings.