Warnings in The Hunger Games

I saw "Catching Fire", the second film of "The Hunger Games" book series by Suzanne Collins, last night. It was absolutely breathtaking. I had goose bumps at least five times throughout the two and a half hours in the theater, and I’ll admit I cried. Three times.

Its cinematic quality was, in my humble opinion, flawless. However, I can only hope that viewers see the parallels and warnings the film has for real life. Whether or not Collins meant for her novels to be in the same realm as Orwell’s "1984" or "Animal Farm," "The Hunger Games" and "Catching Fire" are ominous tales of fiction that warn of a very possible type of future for a society governed by fear and control.

I’m not saying that we do live in a police state, and I count myself lucky to live in the United States where I can do what I want, within reason, and say what I want – just as long as I don’t hold too much public sway.

Whenever I bring up the possibility of such dystopian future, I feel like most people don’t take me seriously, and that’s ok; and, obviously, "Catching Fire" is a work of fiction. I know, though, that the reason the film got me so fired up was that there are still parallels between Katniss’s world and mine. For example, the extreme gap between the poor in the thirteen districts and the rich celebrities and politicians of “The Capitol” who run everything. Then there’s the scene [spoiler alert!] where Cinna, played by Lenny Kravitz, is beaten and dragged away by the “Peacekeepers” after designing a dress for Katniss that has the wings of a mockingjay, the symbol for the rebellion/revolution in Panem. I’m not drawing a parallel here with a real world country ruled by a dictatorship. I’m comparing it to what goes on right here in the United States.

In an earlier post I wrote about how journalists were uncovering that U.S. Navy missiles had accidentally downed TWA Flight 800 in 1996, and the media, specifically CBS, was working together with the FBI to hide this information from the public. CBS reporter Kristina Borjessen, who was working on the story, describes what happened at a press conference afterward:

“[FBI Agent] Kallstrom rattled off a prepared speech, and then it was time for questions. A man raised his hand and asked why the Navy was involved in the recovery and investigation while a possible suspect. Kallstrom's response was immediate; ‘Remove him!’ he yelled. Two men leapt over to the questioner and grabbed him by the arms. There was a momentary chill in the air after the guy had been dragged out of the room. Kallstrom acted as if nothing had happened.”

Although the questioning man was most likely not beaten or killed, there is an uncanny resemblance here between the fictional Panem’s “Peacekeepers” and the FBI workers and, unfortunately, the media.

We can further look at how our version of “The Capitol,” the corporations and politicians who want to control the public and what they know, tries to quell peaceful protests, although not usually  resulting in murder, as in Collins’s novels. Again, in an earlier post (the one before this), I talk about police working to monitor Facebook for potential protest organizers and organized protests  to stop them before they start.

My point is that although these popular works of fiction are far more extreme than the world we live in, it doesn’t mean there’s not a hint of warning or an urge to awareness in them.  

Maybe because it’s a Hollywood film these parallels become more invisible and incredulous to the public – “It’s just a movie!”  I believe that works of fiction can be just as influential as nonfiction in inspiring awareness and action – even sci-fi, dystopian, post-apocalyptic movies about 16-year-old girls who wear flaming dresses and have perfect aim with a bow.