The movie, Hunger Games, displays an oppressed society controlled by totalitarian powers where death in treated as a game. The movie focuses on a dystopia land, Panem, where 24 adolescents are selected from the 12 districts to participate in a live death broadcast match called, yes, The Hunger Games. The movie is compelling because it addresses perennial questions of war and power which is hyper saturated by media. The citizens of Panem are forced to have lives that are violently clashing with their internal realities. The land has forced people into an inescapable deception in order to survive. The movie gives me a feeling of lack of love, sympathy, and humanity in the land of Panem, a condition that is not people’ s wish but a requirement by the law.
A dystopia is an imagined world where everything is bad. This is depicted in the Hunger Games movie where the people are living under government surveillance, totalitarian powers, brainwashing and polite brutality. I feel the government of Panem uses polite brutality to control. The government provides the participants with enough food and entertainment as a way of supplementing their powers to gain a passive obedience. The government uses the adversities within the population to their advantage. The entire North America is traumatized by chronic food shortage. The only hope for the brutally suppressed communities is to supply 24 young people to compete in the survival content. Chosen contestants are at first soothed by the pre-content period where their lives are transformed from living in extremely poor rural conditions to gleaming futures metropolis beyond their wishes. They dress well, get lavish food and live luxurious lives. They start to glow and become celebrities, but the truth is, they are just sacrificial lambs but they think they are rock starts.
The practice of the death march might be historical, but I presume nothing inhuman cannot be subject to change. People can have the power to change a culture, but in Hunger Games, it is a serious brainwash coupled by the uncontrollable deception that has long been instilled in the people that make them entertain killing other. Although the Panem is an imagined land where nothing is good, it is to a great extend a reflection of what can happen even today. I recall my mother’s lessons when I was very young that hate can be adopted and become part of one’s life if made a norm. This was just to make me value loving, forgiving and advocating for unity. I can say that then, my mother valued good upbringing but today I can connect her lesson on a wider scale when I can consider hate, war and political violence that account for deaths of many people in various countries around the world.
The movie centers on Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen-year-old girl living in the most impoverished district of Panem.Katniss partly reveals to the readers that power systems are not inevitable to change, but they can be resisted. Rue’s death is a sign of how one person can treat a subject differently to begin a rebellion.Katniss reacts to her Rue’s death differently due to the alliance and sister bond they had formed. When Rue dies, Katniss sings her to sleep and buries her in flowers and then salutes to the camera and signs to the viewers she is only a young girl not just a piece of the game. Rue’s death marks the moment when someone has to stand for people’s rights. Katniss represents this moment by resolving to take a stand beyond simple survival at the beginning of the games. The relational bond surpasses loyalty towards an oppressive system. This respect and love between Rue and Katniss awaken District 11 to stand in solidarity against the Capitol. This is seen where Rue’s family sends her bread and also with the uprising of the district. What saddens me is that the citizens of Panem have been socialized to be selfish since they are not compelled by any of these acts. Even Katniss’ act of sacrifice of her freedom in protecting her sister does not compel them. This is why Katniss and Peeta’s bond is just sold as a love story. The turn of events are a clear sign of how hard it can for a poisoned mind to be driven into eradicating the humanity of people.
Just like Hunger Games film, many dystopia fiction writers tell that issues in the society have been partially overcome, but the human suffering somehow increases. This feels misleading when referring to present day. The fiction writers can use dystopia to communicate views about politics by incorporating real issues in the society today. For example, in the Hunger Games, District 11 is displayed to be filled with black inhabitants but also implies that the white characters like Katniss make up the majority of the poorest district including district 12. The film does not relate to today where racism and sexism are main problems facing their protagonists.Also, in the film, governments are portrayed as totalitarian and leaders as highly oppressive.This could slowly have an influence on how young people perceive politics and yet unmatched with today’s political arena. With the world getting civilized, the fiction writers can lean towards civilized ideas to communicate their political views that bring a positive change. Since the dystopia novels have become the norm of representing politics to young readers, their impact on our political opinion should be what we expect in the real world.Dystopia writers should show us that there is room for rebellion in the future. They should tell us one person like Katniss can stand and lead a rebellion instead of telling us that varied political opinion created by laws can cripple courageous act towards a civilized society.
Conclusion
According to my opinion, the author may be sending a message to the young leaders to have an interest in politics and make a stand.But with the turn of events within the film, I am completely not convinced what the author is really communicating to the readers. At one point, I feel the author is treating politics as a threat against individuality or simply highlighting the failures in our politics today. At another point am compelled to question authority and feel it is like a warning that we are not far from this type of politics. Although fiction stories divert from the real world events, I think they should have a common theme with real world today and bring relevance in the literature. I think for the dystopia novelists, the whole idea should be focusing on producing literature that portrays government in a positive light.