Tag: hunger games

Dystopian Genre: Analysis and its Significance

The dystopian genre can be categorized into a wide group of literary works of speculative fiction. It usually involves a vision of the future, or an alternate world, which is used by an author to comment on and explore ideas about their own society. It’s has been a popular genre for quite some time. Lets analyze why dystopian literature, in particular, is so important.  

Dystopian literature makes important commentary on the world, societies, and our governments. Humans, since the beginning of the organized society, have always been fascinated by a perfect society which is ‘Utopia’. Since Humans are flawed and our societies mirror that, but it’s also in our nature to strive for better, similar to philosophers who focused on political theory. 

During the medieval age, utopia seemed to be a noble idea among the European authors and philosophers. While its main aim was to depict an ideal society, Dystopia on the other hand was a response where authors argued with the Utopian literature. Dystopias are utopias in the real world as these visionary ideas work well, as ideas. When placed in reality they quickly turn into dystopias.

In order to have an ideal society, humans should be devoid of humanistic values. Writers Depict societies that strive for perfection but ultimately fail as they ignore some vital part of humanity, which makes a convincing dystopian world.

Writers look for flaws that exist in our societies today, grounded in truth, and amplify them. A similar reflection of flaws can be seen in Orwell’s 1984 where it paralleled the problems that were ongoing in that period with the depiction of the overt dictatorial elements present in the Soviet Union and Third Reich. He critically pointed out the Government Surveillance, thought police, the constant change of history, and banning of books, which may seem exaggerated. These elements parallel our society albeit in a more subdued manner. Nevertheless, the parallels are present there, hence 1984 is still a very relevant piece of literature today.    

Similarly in Brave new world, Huxley pointed out that there would be no need for banning books as people will be bombarded with too much information and would be critically incapable to decipher reality with information overload. Where pleasure receptors hijack people’s critical thinking    

Within these two instances, we can interpret that one man’s heaven (Utopia) is another man’s hell (Dystopia). And dystopian writers don’t shy away from being political or radical when they try to describe these phenomena to warn readers.

It has also given rise to many similar genres like science fiction and cyberpunk, dystopian literature can share elements with these themes. In recent times, dystopian literature has also been popularized with the help of Movies, TV shows, and Video Games. 

With the advent of the 20th-century dystopian literature evolved and flourished, many of the revered classic literature in the past century has been a part of this genre. Technology and science progressed and new means of government and bureaucratic institutions were established. This gave writers a new method to introspect the societal trend.   

There is a critical need to academically evaluate these literary writings as its getting more relevant in our present society.

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Hunger games and us

How similar to us can a dystopian novel be — very.

It’s not difficult to figure out that Panem of ‘The hunger games’ is an exaggeration of our society. Suzanne Collins,the writer of the franchise,highlights the wealth-inequality,our love for reality TV,
addiction problems, police brutality, body modifications with hyperbole.

The hunger games is a dystopian novel about a country named Panem. Panem is divided into 13 districts and one Capitol. The story is about a girl named Katniss,from the poorest district and how she becomes a symbol of rebellion against the oppressive government of Capitol led by President Snow.

Collins doesn’t tell us much about the citizens of Capitol,other than the fact that they live a life so privileged that they drink concoctions so that they can eat more food. Maybe it wasn’t important to the story. In hindsight if she had elaborated more about the people of Capitol we wouldn’t have liked it. Because we are the people of Capitol.

(up)People from the districts,(down)People from the capitol

In the story,the Capitol organizes a event called ‘The hunger games’ ,where 24 children from the districts are chosen and brought to a place called arena and must fight to death until the last one remains.

Hunger games was supposedly a distraction for the people of Panem,from their woes for the people of the districts,from the reality for the people of capitol. It was also a threat from the government — to not mess with them.

This is a very popular method among governments,keep the poor so poor that they aren’t able to talk about injustice and give the privileged sensational stories to engage with.

The rebellion is the most important part of the hunger games. The scene,where the people march towards the dam singing ‘The hanging tree’ is a powerful one. There is a growing deficit of trust between the people and political establishments. Protests have soared across the world. The people are demanding a world with more equality and justice.

When I read the hunger games a few years ago , I felt that the events were too exaggerated. President Snow’s rule in Panem was an absolute case of despotism. In reality no government could be that oppressive. But the more I read about politics,the more I come to know about the cruel ways of our world.
In our world too, the government dissenters have a fate similar to the avoxes in Panem.

Collins idea of people from the capitol enjoying the hunger games is inspired from the Roman Gladiator,where a person, often a slave or captive was compelled to fight to the death in a public arena against another person or a wild animal, for the entertainment of the spectators. Although this might seem too extreme to happen in this ages,variations of it exist. For example-the makeup Industry.

The star of the make-up industry is the chemical mica. Mica is obtained by people,especially children scrapping it with their bare hands from mines. Often they have to go deep into the mines where oxygen levels are low causing 10–20 deaths every month.

There is blood on our hands and most people are oblivious to it.

In Panem,people are numb to violence not just due to the hunger games but also because of the unsubtle ways of the peacekeepers(police),who whip people for petty crimes.

In our world too,children play with toy weapons. You’re wrong if you think that weapon toys have always existed. The widespread idea of toys came into being in 20 century. Before that there were other toys like kites and yo-yos but kids spent most of their time in school or helping out at home. So what what happened?
World war 2 happened. Since we had more ways of communicating than we during world war 1,the images and sentiments of world war 2 spread more. Not just games,even in the movies ,war is always showed in a patriotic light. The futility of war is ignored.

If the Panem is our future, the only thing to look forward is how gender is discussed. In Panem gender is invisible. There is no mention of gender roles in the entire series whatsoever. The women aren’t treated like gods either,there is equality in every sense.

The hunger games series will always remain one of my favorite book series.

I hope the next generation also enjoys it as a book series and nothing else.

Hunger Games of the government…

The government holds too much power. This is very well portrayed in the Hunger Games a book trilogy written by American author Suzanne Collins later made into a science fiction dystopian film series. The story is basically how the government has too much power over the lives of common man, how and why it is so wrong. The story is takes place in the fictional country that goes by the name of Panem. It consists of 12 districts that have been assigned various disciplines under which the people of the district work. Naming a few, district 3 specializes in technology, district 11 in agriculture, district 12 in coal mining. District 12 being the smallest and the poorest. All these districts are forced to produce the assigned goods and no have no freedom. The Capitol is the government who enjoy all the riches and luxury while the other districts starve to death. The Capitol, for the sole purpose of entertainment, organises this game annually where two teenagers- a male and a female are forced to participate, locked in an area and have to fight each other to death. The one who survives is declared the winner.

On the big screen we may find it interesting but more interestingly the series is the best depiction of communism. We know that our government always wants to suppress us and gain full control over our lives. Hence this book or the movie series is a good way to give us some lesson in an entertaining manner.

The government’s control over the goods production in a district and no freedom of their own reminds us of the real world example of North and South Korea. Everyone is aware of the situation here. People in North Korea have no freedom it is only the governmental control over their lives and henceforth people are starving. On the contrary, South Korea is thriving. Former Soviet Union couldn’t find a permanent position due to the same reasons. It had too much control over the people and the people suffered. A government cannot work without the cooperation of its people. History holds records of how such controlling government led to their own decline. Panem government violates its people’s basic rights resulting in poverty and starvation and later a rebellion.

The Hunger Games also shows how the upper class lives in luxury in contrast to the middle class lives. It shows how the people of district 1 enjoy all the facilities and live a posh life. They do not have to wait in lines for hours to manage some food for the family. This demonstrates real life situation where the rich are getting richer and the poor even poorer. The government might show us false hope but it is the lower class people who are the fools. The horrors of communism in this book/movie is a good way to let the younger generation realise the truth about the world. Also teach us lessons to be smarter.

Thank you for reading. Have a nice day!