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| Christian Bush Class of 2018 |
The Hunger Games: Will the Circle be Unbroken?
In honor of the recent release of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, I have examined the political implications of both the book and the movie; namely, the relationship between District 13 and the Capital. Because Suzanne Collins both authored the series and helped write the script for the movies, I will draw from both as evidence.
In a future North America, the United States has dissipated after years of prolonged famine, natural disaster, and war. The successor state in this time period is the government of Panem (drawn from the Roman phrase “panem et circenses”, that is, “bread and circuses”). Originally, thirteen districts, each specializing in a certain industry, rebelled against the Capital. In the aftermath of the civil war, the Capital emerged victorious, District 13 was apparently destroyed, and the gladiatorial Hunger Games were established as a reminder to the districts of their subservience to the Capital.
For the Capital, the Hunger Games serve a pivotal role in extending the regime. Every year, two child contestants from each district are chosen to compete in the Hunger Games. After the games are completed, the victor takes a victory tour of the districts six months after the reaping. Six months later, the cycle restarts. It is this cycle that perpetuates the brutal regime, and the reader only sees change when the cycle breaks, namely when Katniss and Peeta manage to both survive the arena. This act of defiance sets the wheels of revolution in motion and the events of both Catching Fire and Mockingjay.
At the head of the Capitol is President Snow. Like so many real life autocrats, he adopts the monicker of president, yet there is never any indication that he was ever fairly elected or garnered the support of his constituents. Under his rule, starvation, poverty, and public executions all occur in the districts. On a more personal level, Snow threatens Katniss, orders the firebombing of District 12, and the bombing of a hospital in District 8. Based on these anecdotes (and others in the books and movies), it is clear that Snow is a dictator, his government is fascist, and his methods are cruel. What is less apparent to the reader is an equally sinister regime that plays a pivotal role in Mockingjay.
In Catching Fire, the reader learns that District 13 did not specialize merely in graphite production as previously thought, but instead was a manufacturing facility for nuclear weapons. During the civil war, rather than risk a full nuclear conflict, District 13 agreed to disappear underground and the Capitol claimed it it was destroyed. In the years since the civil war, the District has lived in a state of permanent war, or at the very least wartime preparation (as alluded to in the movie Mockingjay). Based on the evidence in the books and movies, it seems that District thirteen plays the foil to the Capital as a left-of-center communistic regime.
In District 13, everyone is equal, unlike the Capital vs. districts class divide. Everyone wears the same simple clothing, is assigned jobs, lives in basic compartments, and refers to each other by the title “soldier”. There is nothing particularly menacing about these practices per se, but when I read the series, I could not shake how little the phrase “soldier” differed from “comrade” in Soviet Russia or “tongzhi” in Maoist China. In the most recent Hunger Games movie, Mockingjay Part 1, the viewer sees Katniss waving a red flag with a gold Mockingjay, in the center, not unlike the golden hammer and sickle on a red flag. The leader of District 13, President Coin, again does not seem to have been elected, and for this article should be considered more of a premier. Perhaps these indications are all red herrings, but this defeats one of the greatest triumphs and one of the most overlooked points of the series.
At the end of the civil war, Katniss’ sister, Prim, is killed by a bombing apparently carried out by the Capital. In an act of retribution, President Coin asks the remaining Hunger Games victors to support a new Hunger Games, but this time with the Capital’s children. At this point, the revolution has betrayed itself and warped into a government just as bad as the Capital. Katniss later learns that Prim was not killed by the Capital, but by a bombing ordered by Coin. In an effort to root out the last of the old regime, President Coin gives Katniss the honor of executing President Snow. Instead of putting an arrow through the man who put her in the Hunger Games twice, threatened her family, firebombed her home, and ruled Panem, she chooses to kill President Coin in reaction to her sister’s death.
If the Hunger Games can be considered a cycle, then the Capital is merely a single cog that can easily be replaced by District 13. Furthermore, though both regimes are on opposite ends of the political spectrum, they function very similarly in practice. Subsequently, one can conclude the spectrum is not a line, but a circle where the extremes meet together at the lowest point.
The aim of The Hunger Games was much greater than replacing a fascist regime with a communist one. By shooting Coin, Katniss stops the Hunger Games for good, and the circle truly is broken.
Christian Bush is a freshman McConnell Scholar studying political science. He is from Louisville, Ky.