The dystopia of The Hunger Games and the societal ill from the Holocaust are inevitably similar among many aspects. The totalitarian governments of both societies are what draws them together, as well as the theme of death and violence in each. It is unbearable to think that something so similar to the Hunger Games, but even worse, actually occurred. The oppressive societal control and the illusion of a "perfect" society are ultimately both factors that the societies in The Hunger Games and the Holocaust maintained.
First of all, the dystopia of The Hunger Games was where twelve districts were under a totalitarian government with oppressive societal control from the Capitol of Panem. Each district had a main industry, whether it
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The millions of innocent people whom Hitler and the Nazis brutally murdered did absolutely nothing wrong in order to bring them into that position, which is what made the whole case worse. Hitler also used a totalitarian dictatorship to control his citizens, and even those in the countries around him. This was undoubtedly a drastic societal ill, especially since this massive murder was going on unnoticed for such an extended period of …show more content…
In The Hunger Games, 24 citizens of Panem battle to the death annually, with only one victor. Those 24 tributes are chosen involuntarily. The Games serve as entertainment for the Capitol, when in reality it is a sickening concept. In comparison, the Holocaust massively, brutally murdered millions of people in concentration camps without their consent. The Nazis had absolutely no reason to kill these innocent people, except for the poor reason that they didn't like them.
However, the Holocaust possesses one thing that The Hunger Games does not. The Holocaust led those innocent people to their deaths, yet the people did not know that they were going to die. The Nazis brought them into the concentration camps, separated them and took their belongings, and sent them to the "showers" where they would be gassed to death. At least in the Games they knew that they were being sent to a probable
Suzanne Collins has, through her writings, used great imagery to expose the meaningful side of ‘The Hunger Games’, the side that is not all about what takes place in the arena. The Capitol’s rule over the districts, the reality-show part of the Hunger Games and the Mockingjay pin are all fragments of deeper meanings that create the basis of all that the story is. Suzanne Collins has depicted the country of Panem as a place overruled by a large city, known as the Capitol. The Hunger Games is apparently a means to keep peace and a fair punishment for the rebellion of the districts, where district 13 was obliterated in the mess. However, Collins has spun this interpretation around and unveiled a different perspective – that The Hunger Games is
The Hunger Games are basically the embodiment of society's off sense of entertainment. It combines the oddities that are violence and reality TV. However, what is it that insinuates the tones for this type of movie? Initially, there's a scene that addresses the fact that the society of this movie is conducting the games as though it was a standardized athletic tournament. In the movie, Haymitch Abernathy brings up how there are sponsors who deliver supplies to the “contestants”. Basically, sponsors influence the who will live or die, incidentally affecting the course of the games. During this scene, he claims, “And to get sponsors, you have to make people like you.” This scene mentions the thought on how people living in societies today work
Fahrenheit 451 and the Hunger Games are both intertwined with a futuristic version of human entertainment and a society absent of religion. Both societies are subjected to gruesome and brutal activities as a form of enjoyment. The desire for a thrill and an adrenaline rush dominates the minds of most people. In Fahrenheit 451, it’s very likely that many people succumb to their deaths from accidents but can easily replaced by members of the parlor family who they accept as their own. In the same way, The Hunger Games consists of exactly what the title suggests. They are annual games, which include starving and murder and serve as society’s primary source of entertainment. Most people don’t enjoy watching the games but, the Capitol forces the districts to watch for it believes they are a good source of entertainment. Seeing how the Hunger Games are basically murdering each other until the last child is standing, it relates closely with the kind of entertainment that the society of Fahrenheit 451 provides with the adrenaline and thrill of the same kind. The people in Fahrenheit 451 like their source of entertainment in the way they approach it but the instances of conformity remains the same. This is unlike that of the people of the districts in The Hunger Games. There is indeed a difference between the two societies yet, in the Hunger Games there is less time for many because so many people are working toward survival, while in Fahrenheit 451, entertainment is something that people do daily. The existence of adrenaline entertainment is similar in both societies. Yet they differ in whether or not the people actually like the entertainment.
They don’t give that thought because of how desensitized they are because of how advertised and produced the event is. My second point about desensitization is the game makers themselves. They are the ones who rate the tributes for survival skills and intellect from 1 -12. And they are the ones who control the arena the hunger games is placed in. They have been desensitized to violence so they treat the tributes as game characters and control the arena against their odds as a game. And don’t even realize they are dehumanizing them and treating them as toys. And in the book, they state “The world has transformed to flame and smoke.” (Collins 172). This quote references when Katniss was shot by huge fireballs in the arena that the game makers created. They are toying with the tributes. Especially with actually shooting something as broad as a fireball. They don’t even realize how dangerous it is and how neutralized they are to the whole action itself. And finally, the biggest use of distractions and control itself in hunger games is Caesar Flickerman. He is the biggest source of desensitization for the whole capital. He produces the hunger games as a live video
Most people will watch The Hunger Games strictly for entertainment purposes and never give too much thought to how some of the things the movie portrays can be related to sociology. Although the movie is fictional it shows real life things like stratification and social control while portraying a culture that we would find to be to barbaric to happen in our culture. While watching all of these things in the film we are then able to dig deeper into sociology by thinking about the different perspectives would view them.
The main source of power in the hunger games is very clear showing that the government in this case the capitol how they use their power to control power. This is because the Capitol holds the most of the country’s money and wealth. The Capitol there is able to control what happens, when it happens and how much it costs. For example in the book Katniss has put her name down for the reaping as everyone else do too. ‘The rules of the Hunger Games are simple. In punishment for the uprising, each 12 districts must provide a boy and a girl, called tributes, to participate.’ This quote from the book shows how the Capitol has made a law that they punish the districts because they were all smothered to bits and district 13 has been fully destroyed by the Capitols army. Although this book shows how Katniss resists the kinds of power against the capitol for example. How she salutes into the air in the games and everybody sees or when Rue dies and Katniss cover her with flowers. These symbolic gestures create attention to the fact that there are actual people out there in the hunger games not just game holograms. These small moments of truth and reality.
A dystopian text often consists of a society that is based on a utopian ideal of a “perfect” society. Despite being a fictitious setting, the more realistic a dystopian text seems, the more disturbing it is for the audience. The novel The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood, takes place in the Republic of Gilead that was formerly the state of Massachusetts. Massachusetts has been reformed to a place where puritan traditions and beliefs are the only customs allowed. Gilead and its totalitarian government oppress women to the extent where rape is a norm in their society. The novel The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, is about a contest held in the country of Panem, where twelve teenagers are forced to fight one another until only one survives the battle. The people of Panem are mandated in watching this contest, as a reminder of the previous uprising that was stopped by their totalitarian government called the Capitol. Atwood depicts Gilead in a way where it is almost possible for the society in Gilead to
Complete governmental control develops as an apparent theme of both 1984 and The Hunger Games. 1984 uses the concept of big brother for the sole purpose of instilling a dependence on the government for every aspect in the citizens’ lives. Similarly, the capitol of Panem in The Hunger Games censors information from the people so that any idea of revolution will be instantaneously
In a not-too-distant, some 74 years, into the future the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 13 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games; these children are referred to as tributes (Collins, 2008). The Games are meant to be viewed as entertainment, but every citizen knows their purpose, as brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts. The televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eradicate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. The main character throughout the series is a 16-year-old girl from District 12 named Katniss Everdeen.
The Hunger Games- “a futuristic dystopian society [Panem] where an overpowering government controls the lives and resources in twelve different districts” (The Hunger Games). The overpowering government lives in the Capitol of Panem and from there controls the citizens of the twelve districts through propaganda and other means. The Capitol has all of the economic and political power in Panem; they have complete control. The leader of the capitol is the harsh, dictator-like figure, President Snow. President Snow’s methods for keeping order in the districts are through Peacekeepers and the annual Hunger Games. The Peacekeepers are an army that monitors each district. Any sign of rebellion, and the Peacekeepers take care of it, usually by killing the rebel in some way. The annual Hunger Games are used to remind all of the citizens of Panem about the uprising in the now obliterated District 13. The Hunger Games, in a way, brainwashes all of the citizens, but a select few such as Katniss Everdeen, to believe that an uprising would be horrible and is not necessary and that the Capitol does what is best for all of the citizens. In
Life in the ghettos was usually unbearable and overcrowding was very common. In the ghettos, people were poor and conditions were unsanitary. Ironically, this was exactly how the districts lived. In The Hunger Games, Panem was divided into 12 individual districts separate from one another similarly to the ghettos which were built to separate the Jews from the rest of the population. In The Hunger Games, each of the 12 Districts does a different job that benefits and provides all of the luxury for the Capitol. As the people from the Districts work and starve in unsanitary conditions, the Capitol gets access to luxurious residences, mouth watering delicacies, and high tech medicine. The Districts are very like the concentration and labor camps that Hitler herded Jews and other "undesirables" into during the Holocaust. While Hitler filtrated the country from more and more Jews, some were sent to death camps. These camps were, unfortunately, the last destination for most Jews as it was marked for death with the self dug graves or with the gas chambers. The ones who were still alive were miserably forced to do work that benefited the Nazi Party in the labor camps and got the bare minimum conditions for survival. A lot of the Jews were forced to do labor work or be entertainment for the Nazis, while the Nazis lived in wealth. For an example, one Jewish boxer named Salamo Arouch fought to stay alive. He was forced to fight for the entertainment of the Nazis. Whoever lost the fight was sent to the gas chambers and put to death. Similarly, in the movie The Hunger Games, most of the tributes last destination was in the arena of The Hunger Games where two tributes from each district also fought to their deaths. As the tributes fought for their death, they were also entertaining the whole country of Panem, especially the Capitol. All the people who were not tributes
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is set in the made up country of Panem which is a country that pretty much rose from the ashes of North America and is said to be a fairly post apocalyptic country. One of the main areas is in District 12 which is where the protagonist, Katniss, was born and raised. District 12 is a very poor coal
The Hunger Games that follows, the term that defines a dystopian fiction. One main belief that defines Dystopian society is the development into a “hierarchical society” (“Dystopia”). A hierarchical society plays a big part in the story that outline the whole plot. For example, Capitol is wealthier than all the districts. Some districts are more privileged than others. The Careers, being tributes from districts one to three, are prepared and trained for years before the games. However, this is illegal, but because of the support towards District two from the Capitol, they are let off, along with District one and District four, the other richer districts. In this cas...
... Thus, it is with these three key points that the government of Panem has been able to keep the Games going on for so long, without the system collapsing in on itself. Furthermore, The Hunger Games also shows us just what we as a species could become with the right to social influence and conditioning by an authoritarian force. The peoples of the Capitol and Districts have been taught and conditioned for decades to accept the Hunger Games, especially so in the case of the Capitol, where its citizens applaud and enjoy the Hunger Games, much like many Romans enjoyed the Colosseum in ancient times. It is a rather frightening, but realistic, look at what any of us could become with the right social influences and conditioning.
The dystopian film, The Hunger Games by Gary Ross is the adaption of the bestselling novel written by Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games is an example of a dystopian fiction which means it is an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.