Connolly+LENS4+(The+Hunger+Games)

Critical: What issues do this text raise about how resources, power, and agency are apportioned in society? What social roles does it seem to enable or constrain for its characters? What does it suggest about one’s responsibilities as a reader and a person?

 //The Hunger Games// by Suzanne Collins comments on many attitudes and characteristics of modern society. Collins sets the novel in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic North America to show the reader how the flaws in our society may lead to our own self-destruction. //The Hunger Games// appears to be a modernized version of its science fiction counterparts like //1984// and //Brave New World.// The series comments on many different aspects of our society, but for me, the most interesting critique Collins makes is on society’s current obsession with reality television and the entertainment of seeing others suffer. I am just as guilty as the next person for watching reality television and I will not deny that I enjoy watching it. The premise of it is not inherently cruel; reality television highlights the lives of ordinary people around the world and allows people to relate and learn about other people’s lives. However, through the years, reality television has become notorious for being not quite ‘reality’. Reality television has sacrificed the element of true reality in exchange for the entertainment factor. The producers put their cast in unbelievable situations and put the ‘real’ label on a show to engage the audience. It is the same tactic that movie producers use when they say a film is “based on true events”; an audience is more willing to buy into a product if they believe that it is authentic. //The Hunger Games// really plays on this whole idea. The citizens of the Capitol are completely riveted by the ‘real’ kids that they are watching. What they do not realize is that they are not actually getting the true picture. The tributes are groomed and trained to give the audience a ‘show’ because their livelihood depends on it. Katniss initially resists feeding into the frenzy, but eventually concedes to playing the Capitol’s game, because she realizes that her livelihood depends on it. She plays off her budding romance with Peeta because she knows that it is crucial to both of their survival. The more that Katniss and Peeta appeal to what they know the audience will like, the more sponsors they receive.

 In addition to the commentary on reality television, Collins also comments on the media’s influence in controlling society’s reaction to different events. With the growth of technology, media sources including the Internet, radio and television have become a major source of news for most people. This puts a large amount of power in the hands of comparatively few individuals. If the media takes a negative or positive stance on an issue, it is more likely than not that their audience will react in the same. This becomes even more apparent in individuals who only rely on one news channel or information source. Film and television are also known to tell their audience how to feel about a particular by using dramatic background music. In //The Hunger Games,// the Capitol is in complete control of all media sources to the Capitol citizens and districts. The whole idea of the Hunger Games was put into place to discourage a rebellion of the twelve remaining districts. As if sacrificing their own children were not enough, the Capitol forces the district citizens to treat the Hunger Games as a celebration along with the citizens of the Capitol. Not all of the Districts invest in the idea of celebration, but some Districts do buy into the media’s rhetoric and think being chosen for the Hunger Games as an honor and have their children train as they grow up (the ‘Careers’ as Katniss calls them). All of the parading and fanfare that the Capitol forces the tributes into further supports this idea. Because each of the districts are isolated from each other, the citizens have little exposure to what life might be like elsewhere, especially for the citizens of the Capitol. They have no concept in their minds that the rest of the world is suffering so that they can live luxurious lives because of what the media feeds to them.