Social Commentary In The Hunger Games

Written by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games takes place in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic country, Panem, which is divided into twelve districts and controlled by a central city, known as the Capitol. Every year, each district has to select two children as tributes to compete in a brutal sporting event, known as the Hunger Games. In which, they must fight and kill each other until there is only one glory winner. In The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins uses the characteristics of a totalitarian government and the rebellion of the protagonist to warn the readers about the danger of dictatorship and encourage the young readers to take a stand in their beliefs.

The first book in the Hunger Games trilogy has sold over 28 million copies in the U.S alone and an astonishing 65 million copies total across all three novels. The Hunger Games is a clear example of how a corrupted government can negatively impact the world. This fictitious novel is set in Panem, a country that is separated into thirteen poor districts and the very wealthy Capitol. Every year, the Capitol forces every district to send two kids ages 12-18 to fight in what is called the Hunger Games; a brutal fight to the death. This is what the Capitol does to show the districts that they are the follows to the almighty leader as well as provide entertainment.

Every good story has many communication errors and successes in order to create a relatable entertainment piece. After watching the popular dystopian novel story come to life in film, I have chosen to dig deeper into the complexity of the ways in which communication plays a key role in the Hunger Games. To better understand the messages and plot in the story, I will evaluate the character identities, audience perceptions, and cultural differences that affect the contestants survival.

The dystopian genre makes parallels between the fabricated society and actual society. The reality TV element of the games demonstrates the link between the society of Panem and our society. From child beauty pageants to a rich family that no one knows why is famous, these shows are watched by many in today's society. People forget that these people are real and living their own lives compared to the “scripted” TV shows with paid actors. Capitol dwellers are obsessed with their image, making body modifications to look young and to stay in trend. This aspect of the novel makes a comment on plastic surgery and image in today’s society (Frade, 2014). The use of the hunger games as a social event shows that Capitol views the people in the districts as lesser individuals and are willing to watch people die for their entertainment. The games are watched “At homes and community halls around the country, every television set is turned on. Every citizen of Panem is tuned in” (Collins, 2008, p. 124). There is a disconnection from the people in the Capitol and the children fighting in the games. To the Capitol, those children are just part of an elaborate game, but for the Districts, those children are daughters, sons, brothers, and sisters. The view of humans as lesser individuals can be translated into society today. The top 1% of the population that control most of the wealth have power over the individuals that have less money. The Capitol is comparable to the top 1% and the Districts are comparable to the rest of the world. The geographical aspect of

While it is perceived that The Hunger Games is about action and romance, there is a deeper meaning behind this well-known movie. The movie is essentially about a nation, Panem, that has been divided between rich and poor. The rich lived in the Capitol and the poor lived in the twelve districts. In the beginning of the movie, the upper class is shown to be dominant and superior. However, as the movie goes on, the lower classes begin to rebel in order to make their voices heard and to not be looked down upon any longer.

Upon watching the movie “The Hunger Games” from a sociological perspective, I learned that many of the things that we have gone over in this online sociology course were incorporated heavily into what is perhaps one of my personal favorite movies of all time. Things like social status, culture, heritage, gender, and more were all used throughout the film in order to portray a realistic and believable setting for the viewer from a social perspective. Probably the most important sociological themes explored in this movie were the struggle to maintain a high ranking social status amongst surrounding humans, the pre-perceived idea of what you were and weren’t allowed to do legally speaking based on your district, and most importantly, how humans can ultimately make life or death decisions based on the value or benefit of a certain person to the group.

As a lead actress of many varieties of films including American Hustle and Winter’s Bone, Jennifer Lawrence plays a role of The Hunger Games 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen who volunteers to partake the Hunger games tribute that occurs once a year. Every year in each district, each of the two members from each gender is selected to fight the annual Hunger Games. Katniss’s younger sister Prim was originally supposed to partake the Hunger Games until Katniss decides to take her spot. In the following film it focuses primarily on the protagonist who has a strong personality and a huge amount of willpower. Because of this, the governments and the game makers are more attentive on Katniss than all the tribute members of the Hunger Games. Katniss intends to be the center of attention of this film, which gives the audiences a better insight of the movie, also revealing additional themes that the author is trying to convey.

Like in any typical hero movie, there is a call that the protagonist has to answer. In The Hunger Games, Katniss hears her calling when her sister, Prim is drawn to participate in the Hunger games. Knowing that Prim is definitely not a violent person, Katniss 's instincts kick in and she volunteers for her sister without

In the movie film The Hunger Games, the nation of Panem is a society very dissimilar to our own. This nation once began with 13 districts, until the thirteenth district chose to take action against the oppressors. They were quickly put down, the remaining 12 districts were punished and were forced to fund two participants which were known as tributes , a boy and a girl of young age to the Capitol each year to compete in the Hunger Games which is a brutal fight to the death. The winner of the huger games is then rewarded with a number of rewards, as well as their home district receives an extra amount of food for one year. The government of Panem administrates these annual “games” as a reminder

Ideas of sociology play a big role in people’s everyday lives. Many Books and movies consists of the basic ideas of sociology. The film series, The Hunger Games is an example of such a representative movies. The base story of the series include a society, where people are given little to no rights. This story highly relates to the ideas of sociology since it is about a society, its culture and norms. Katniss Everdeen, is the female lead of the movie who rebels for her rights.

In a not-too-distant, some 74 years, into the future the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 13 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games; these children are referred to as tributes (Collins, 2008). The Games are meant to be viewed as entertainment, but every citizen knows their purpose, as brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts. The televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eradicate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. The main character

The Hunger Games, the movie, was adapted from the popular young adult novel by Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games is sometimes described as another cliche love story for which the young adult genre is infamous. Despite appearances, The Hunger Games illustrates a complex and creative dystopian world with a much deeper underlying message, including topics such as, politics, history, and celebrity worship. The setting appears to be a futuristic version of America. This future America is very classist, and the tyrannical government is sure to keep the classes divided by heavily oppressing the working class. The working class is divided into twelve districts, which used to be thirteen districts until the thirteenth district was annihilated as a result of its uprising. In response to the thirteenth district’s resistance, the President created a game called “The Hunger Games” in an effort to instill obedience in the remaining twelve districts. Through the course of the movie, we learn that “The Hunger Games” are not only a mechanism to force obedience on the working class, but also to serve as entertainment for the elite society who live in the Capitol. The Games require 24 randomly selected children from the working class districts to fight to the death in an elaborately staged battle, all of which is filmed and broadcasted to the entire nation, working class and elite alike. Thesis: The Hunger Games, the movie, has a hauntingly feasible storyline and clear references to real

The Hunger Game film is an emotional series that resemble a severe caste system setting. The plot showcases a transformation of an unfortunate girl becoming a beacon of hope for the rebellion. By doing this, the movie revolves around three themes which are backed by theories and models in sociology which include opportunity, explained by the Status Theory, conflict, explained by Karl Max and Max Weber, and interaction, represented by the Dramaturgical Model.

The Hunger Games promotes the idea of a total government control. The Capitol controls everything that the twelve districts do. The world of Panem is divided into 12 districts where each district has its own role to fulfill from luxury to coal mining. "Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch. This is the Capitol's way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy" (Collins 18). This shows that the districts all pay a yearly sacrifice to the Capitol in the form of tributes. Another of showing that the Games is a dystopian society is that any evidence of an act of rebellion will result in the government having to kill anyone who gets in their way. "Look how he take your children and sacrifice them there is nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did in District 13" (18).

The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, is set in a dystopian country called Panem. This country is split up into twelve districts, and the districts are lead by the Capitol. Annually, the Capitol forces children of the districts to fight in the Hunger Games until only one child is left alive. The Capitol uses the games to show their power and to discourage the people of Panem to start another war. The games are very entertaining to the people of the Capitol, and the whole country is required to watch on television. Even though this seems unusual to enjoy watching children fight to their death, this idea has been around for thousands of years.