An IR student's reading of The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games, a movie based on the first book of Suzanne Collins' popular trilogy, is set in post-apocalyptic, dystopian North Korea America. Borrowing themes from Greek and Roman epics, the Depression, the Holocaust and society's current fascination with reality television, the tale is able to powerfully show a lot of themes that could resonate with a variety of viewers, including international relations (IR) students, professors and practitioners alike. 

In The Hunger Games, we see what it's like when unbridled greed, useless war mongering and stupid reality show gimmicks are allowed to run unrestrained in a society. The rich class of the Capitol employ tactics of fear and hope (think of Antonio Gramsci's definition of hegemony as a combination of coercion and consent) to control the citizens of the outlying twelve districts who live a poor, nasty and brutish life. In this twisted society, the rich wear overly garish clothes and big and colorful wigs, seem too obsessed with plastic surgery and speak in affected accents. Think of a more pompous Gadhafi family (if that's possible), Kim Jong Il's clan in drag or a sinister looking European royal family. 


The rich class have become too amoral and desensitized that in lieu of another brutal civil war, the Capitol organizes an annual Hunger Games where each district (through an unequal, but legitimate, peace treaty) is forced to send one boy and one girl (aged 12 - 18) as their "tributes" to fight in a televised, gladiator-like battle royal where only one out of 24 representatives will come out alive. Through the Hunger Games, the Capitol is able to impose order and manipulate the twelve districts to show them who's boss. President Snow (Donald Sutherland) captures this succinctly by telling game master Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley) that hope is the only thing stronger than fear. To prevent another uprising and to maintain their lifestyle of plundering the resources (e.g. farming, fishing, coal mining) generated by the twelve districts, the Capitol showcases the Hunger Games on national television to scare the working class and at the same time give them their very own protagonists to cheer for and to hope for. 

The winner gets to come home alive, bring a rich bounty for his/her district and become a popular reality tv star. The fallen ones will be immortalized as "heroes" who sacrificed their lives to maintain the unstable peace in their country. It's like the US calling their fallen soldiers as heroes but, why were they sent to Iraq in the first place anyway? They were sent on a false premise of preventing Saddam Hussein from supposedly using his weapons of mass destruction against the US (no WMDs were actually found). I sincerely hope that the leaders of North Korea, Syria and even China don't get ideas while watching this movie. They would probably think that, oh, isn't it more fun to organize a Hunger Games-type of competition featuring telegenic rebels and pitting them against each other in a fight to the death instead of cracking down on them violently all the time a la Tiananmen Square 1989? Imagine the possible bidding war for Mark Burnett and the creators of all those tacky reality shows. They could even get sponsors for it.

The most poignant scene for me would probably be the Reaping where kids are raffled off to know which ones would be offered as tributes. The scene reminded me of the Holocaust where kids and adults alike were sorted, marked and fed propaganda only to be led unknowingly to their possible destruction. In an act of absolute selflessness, the story's heroine, Katniss Everdeen (played beautifully by Academy Award nominee Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to take her younger sister's place as tribute. Katniss, a resourceful and street-smart resident of District 12 who fends off for her widowed mother and sister, and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), a baker's son who harbors secret feelings for her, are sent off in style to the Capitol to be prepped and trained for the biggest event of the year. They and all the other tributes are made over like stars and given media training  to make the sponsors and audience fall in love with them.

While the absurdity of it all is not lost on Katniss, she is rational enough to understand that she has to play along to survive and return to her family. Unknowingly though, any action on her part will be viewed with suspicion by the Capitol since any act of defiance could inspire the masses to fight back and start a rebellion. In a controlled arena (part Big Brother and Survivor), the 24 tributes are pitted against each other, the elements and imaginary animals until only one of them remains. This plays out on national television where every plot angle and emotion is milked just for the drama of it all. How I wish that Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Jersey Shore and other reality shows of their ilk were as relevant.

The Globe and Mail is right in calling The Hunger Games a "modern allegory that illuminates what it appears to imitate, throwing our light/bright culture into darker relief". I believe that IR practitioners, state leaders, foreign policy think tanks and those in the media could learn a lot from the themes of this movie (capitalist greed, thirst for power, love for the dramatics, useless war marketing). I hope that this movie scares the wits out of  everyone in such a way as to not allow ourselves to live in a world ruled by a ruthless leader in drag who is a hybrid version of Gadhafi, Kim Jong-Il and George W. Bush. Heck, I don't know if I would be able to defend myself with a bow and arrow or a sword. I'd probably rely on my good ol' tennis racket and smash serves and forehand winners against other competitors (*wishful thinking*).