Dystopia In The Hunger Games

Dystopian films and books have become popular over the past few years. These tend to reflect the way in which society could possibly soon turn if expecting extremes. Dystopian literature and media also tend to have utopian elements as well. While the societies in these works are strict and controlling, they do offer something that our society could possibly benefit from. Divergent has this element. The population is broken up into five factions that represent the different types of people in society and separate those who would fight easily due to their personal morals. The Hunger Games on the other hand (when modern society crumbled) they punished their citizens for fighting the government. While yes there was a chance for riches in the Hunger Games, it took risking your life to get it. In addition, if one did win the Hunger Games they would have an extremely easy life due to riches and a free luxury house. Divergent does not have this part, as its utopian aspect is the fact different ideals are separated from each other. Utopian literature is a reflection that is a perceived direction society may go. In these stories, mirrors are a device used to symbolically state the universe of the film is a reflection not a reality.

Can you imagine the feeling knowing that at anytime, a close one could be taken away. A best friend could be stolen. A family member could be killed. Even yourself could be sacrificed for nothing. Do you think that the emotions a family member may encounter, the sadness of an entire community, or even just the thought of dying, is worth it to provide a dominant government their “Hollywood ending”? Well, in the book “The Hunger Games” written by Suzanne Collins, Katniss Everdeen lives in a dystopian society where her community is divided by 13 different groups. Each year, their government randomly selects two participants from each group to play in the Hunger Games, which is a fight to the death among the other participants. In the book, Katniss’

In life there is always some sort of violence and there always seems to be a good and a bad side. The Hunger Games, directed by Gary Ross is a movie about 24 tributes fighting to the death for the Hunger Games crown. The prize is riches, fame and freedom from ever having to physically fight in the arena again. It is a game of violence, ferocity, and blood, and only one tribute can win. Even though stories often have a Battle between Good and Evil, it is Katniss’s internal conflict confronting her own good and evil that portrays humanity with a longing for destruction, violent inclination, and sense of separation.

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

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.

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

In The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins expresses two themes. The first one is that we can’t let the government use their power to treat, and use people like they want, they are oppressing them. “At one o’clock, we head of the square. Attendance is mandatory unless you are on deaths door. This evening, officials will come around and check to see if this is the case. If not you will be imprisoned.” (Collins, 16) we can see that the Capitol forces the people to participate in the reaping by threatening them. “When I was younger, I scared my mother to death, the things I would blurt out about District 12, about the people who rule our country, Panem, from the far-off city called the Capitol. Eventually I understood this would only lead us to

Reality television has differed throughout the years. At one point it was meant to be a literal depiction of everyday life. Now, reality television has changed to be more dramatic and outrageous than an average person or family’s life. The Hunger Games, in a way, depicts the lives of those who live in the poorer districts where the necessities for life are not in such abundance as in the Capitol. Although children are not forced to kill each other in the districts, there is still the struggle for one’s livelihood. That reality is depicted in the games and it seems that The Capitol takes that theme and develops it into The Hunger Games that we know and love. The Hunger Games suggests that reality television is manipulated to the point where the viewers see what the creators (game makers) want them to see.

Most people have heard of the Hunger Games, but don’t know the true meaning. People say it’s a book (or movie) about innocent people getting slaughtered. It may look like that but there is so much more depth. When authors write books, they add their perspective and beliefs. It could be about government, religion and many more controversial topics. In the Hunger Games, the author Suzanne Collins shows what she thinks about government. She does this by relating the Hunger Games to the gladiators and Ancient Roman times. Even the names of characters relate. Hunger Games may not be a sweet and innocent book, but there is a good lesson behind all the violence.

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins illustrates a dystopian society where the government tries to apply a perfect society to maintain the power in all of Panem. The author shows an elaborate and horrifying description of a society not so unlike our own and provides a clear warning about the danger of governmental control. The government of Panem has a government which controls everything. The government shows totalitarianism, a post-apocalyptic setting, and the world ranks. These three main points are what shows how the The Hunger Games is a great example of a dystopian literature.

The Hunger Games, the introductory novel in a trilogy book series written by author Suzanne Collins in 2008, is a young adult novel that surrounds a teenage girl named Katniss Everdeen in a futuristic tale of a teenager who defies all odds when they are stacked against her. She is shaken to the core with sacrifice, adversity and danger when she finds herself forced to compete in a televised series of games where there is only one survivor. Not only does she want to live, but she has an incredible sense of responsibility to her family that she’s left behind. The film based off of the best selling novel, also entitled, “The Hunger Games,” premiered in March 2012. Director Gary Ross does a great job of incorporating the plot, setting and

For thousands of years, governments have been oppressing their people. Although their reasons for doing so may have been different, the outcomes were all the same: a revolt of the people. There are many examples of this throughout history, such as in the French Revolution and the American Revolution. The Hunger Games, a tale of a dystopian society filled with maltreatment by “The Capitol,” displays the path to insurrection triggered by the mounting cases of misery brought on by their government, that was attacking lower classes of people. By using common themes of oppression and rebellion found throughout history, The Hunger Games is a striking example of how repression by government will eventually lead to a revolt of the people.

The Hunger Games is the first book that makes up the famous trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. Katniss, the book’s main character, is a sixteen year old girl, who lives in Panem, a country divided in 13 different districts. Each year, a reaping is hold, where every district chooses one boy and one girl to participate to the games. The participants have to kill each other for their survival, and only one person can end up as a winner. Because of Katniss’ ingenuity and strategies, both tributes from her district were able to survive and get through this challenge. This world clearly relates to the reality television in our contemporary world and to the gladiator fights. This essay will analyse the different themes, which are used to convey

With dystopia being a present theme in both George Orwell’s, 1984 and Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, both titles share similarities and contrasts to one another. Even though these books were written decades apart, they share similarities in the government control and the presence of poverty in the settings. But, both books contradict one another as futuristic settings are viewed differently depending on when the books are written, as well as the remembrance of past struggles in the societies. The seeds of a dystopian theme are found in 1984 and The Hunger Games, presenting similarities and differences from in both books, even though the books were written decades a part.

Telling a story that is set in the future gives authors the chance to depict present day issues in a different light. They usually choose to exaggerate them so readers can see how their society might look in the future, especially if they ignore issues that can grow and become problems. In the case of The Hunger Games (HG), the author, Suzanne Collins, explores issues like the huge inequality of wealth and how the power of television can influence our lives. She does this by portraying the HG as an extreme reality game show where teenagers fight to the death. By highlighting some important connections between our worlds, the author shows us that we may be headed to a place very similar to HG universe. These connections are about how tensions are created by the inequality between rich and poor on television, how an external force like the audience drives ratings higher, and how producers do not care about the message they are sending, as long as the audience watches the show.