Approaching the Hunger Games Trilogy by Tom Henthorne

Author:Tom Henthorne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: McFarland
Published: 2012-08-26T16:00:00+00:00

Before addressing the politics of the Hunger Games trilogy, it is important to examine the Games themselves in detail, identifying both their structure and their ideological implications. In the first book of the trilogy, Collins indicates the Capitol devised the Hunger Games following a rebellion involving all thirteen of Panem’s districts. Every year, the twelve districts that survived the war are forced to send two tributes to the Games—a boy and a girl, each between the ages of twelve and eighteen. These children, who are selected by lottery, are transported to the Capitol, offered minimal training in survival skills and weaponry, and then sent into an elaborate, outdoor arena where they must fend for themselves. They are told nothing about the nature of arena in advance—whether it will be wet or dry, forested or frozen, large or small—though they can generally expect to find weapons and possibly other supplies in a giant, golden Cornucopia near the arena’s center. Once the Games begin, the tributes are subjected to hunger, thirst, and various dangers such as predators, floods, fires, and earthquakes. The greatest danger generally proves to be the other tributes, however, who kill each other off quickly. Alliances are permitted, though they are generally short-lived since only one tribute can survive in the end. Deaths are signaled by cannons and bodies removed quickly; in the evening images of those killed are projected in the sky so that tributes can know specifically who remains. Some tributes receive food, medicine, or other supplies from sponsors, the gifts being delivered by parachute at the discretion of a mentor from their home district. Otherwise the rules allow for no outside involvement, though the Gamemakers reserve the right to intervene themselves to force confrontations between tributes or prevent certain actions such as cannibalism. The last person alive is declared the victor of the Games and is promised a life of relative ease, though he or she is required to mentor future tributes and participate in other game-related events.

In terms of structure of the game itself, the Hunger Games very much resemble Survivor, arguably the most successful of contemporary reality programs, which also pits players against one another in an outdoor arena. Although Survivor contestants do not engage in hand-to-hand combat and are not placed in deadly situations, they are subjected to various forms of privation and required to participate in physical competitions that sometimes involve violence, such as when contestants must knock each other off of platforms or wrestle over objects. Both games also are at once social and individual since winning typically involves forming alliances that can only be temporary since only one contestant can win. Most importantly, perhaps, both Survivor and the Hunger Games are structured so as to reinforce a particular set of beliefs and values. In the case of Survivor, according to Graham St. John, the game is a “powerful pedagogical vehicle for transmitting the rules and appropriate conduct for market capitalism (ruthless individualism, corporatism, and acquisitive materialism) to both players and

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