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OPINION: Hunger Games fans can lean ‘Capitol’

The popular series gets meta with real-life engagement.
Grace MacInerney
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Sunrise on the Reaping takes place during the 50th Hunger Games, the second Quarter Quell, where the special feature was double the tributes. Two boys and two girls were selected from each district to fight the arena.

With the upcoming release of the latest movie in The Hunger Games series, Sunrise on the Reaping, I think the enthusiastic culture of the dedicated fans replicates the behaviours of the series’ most notorious ruling class.

The Hunger Games is a dystopian book-to-movie adaptation series by author Suzanne Collins. It takes place in a highly classist, futuristic North America where social mobility is nearly impossible, and the wealth disparity is staggering. To punish the oppressed class, the districts, for an uprising, the ruling class, the Capitol, holds an annual event called the Hunger Games.

One boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district, region in the nation, are raffled to fight to the death in a televised show until there is one survivor. The children selected to fight in an arena, a confined, stylized warzone, are tributes.

The event is livestreamed. District citizens are forced to watch. Capitol citizens celebrate the Games like it's their favourite sports event.  

A close up on President Snow, a white man in his late 50s with shoulder length gray hair and blue eyes. He wears a white dress shirt under a red suit with a black fur collar and white rose on his lapel.
In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Coriolanus Snow, who would go on to become President Snow, was instrumental in the uptake of the Hunger Games. It was his idea to make the Hunger Games mandatory to watch, allow betting in the Capitol, and give incentives to victors and their districts. Courtesy/Lionsgate.

Comparisons between our society and the dystopia have been a topic of online discourse since The Hunger Games first premiered in 2012. A viral post said that the user’s theatre erupted into cheers when one tribute killed another. It began a larger online conversation about the hypothetical normalization of an atrocious event like the Hunger Games in our society. 

Capitol citizens’ interaction with the Games and their impact on the potential outcome gamified the slaughter. Tributes became pawns. Extravagant themed arenas made the Games exciting. The mentors, hair, makeup, and costumes are all distractions; they maintain the show. Capitol citizens don’t question why the Games persist generations after the initial uprising, sympathize with the districts or humanize the tributes. Keeping the Games entertaining is essential to maintaining the oppressive government. 

A young black woman with light brown long curly hair, Lenore Dove Baird, looks lovingly at a white boy with shorter blond curls, Haymitch Abernathy. She wears a pink printed skirt and a black jean vest. He wears a gray t-shirt, brown corduroy pants and a dark jacket. They sit side by side in a field with three geese behind them.
Lenore Dove Baird is Covey, a nomadic group of musicians and performers who were confined to District 12, like Lucy Gray Baird, the protagonist in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Courtesy/Murray Close, Lionsgate.

It is undeniable that real people replicate the actions of Capitol citizens when engaging with the franchise. They dress up like characters for Halloween or parties. Online posts show The Hunger Games watch parties with themed foods and drinks and Hunger Games-themed birthdays referencing Quarter Quells, where the Games include a surprise element every 25 years. One fan posted on TikTok that she makes miniatures of the arenas based on the information she has gathered about them in the books and movies. She also keeps track of the victors, if stated. 

There are highly detailed online discussions of the Gamemakers' and the Capitol's decisions. Some of these details may inform specific pain points of characters which impact and give nuance to rebellion efforts. However, it’s a gray area, and some, I feel, wander too far.

A young white woman with long blonde hair, Maysilee Donner, looks at a young white man with blonde curly hair, Haymitch Abernathy, who returns her stare. They sit in a field in dirty clothes. Maysilee wears white pants and a black tank top. Haymitch wears white pants and a black and white jacket. They both wear white lace-up boots.
Katniss’s iconic Mockingjay pin originally belonged to Maysilee Donner. Courtesy/Murray Close, Lionsgate.

The point of the franchise is to spark larger political conversations. 

The Hunger Games has proven to be a great basis for discussing deep, complex topics. By relating power struggles and systems of oppression to a fictional world it creates distance making conversations less overwhelming. 

The franchise retains its relevance through universal human nature and familiar political agendas. It is very important media. It is both entertainment and a tool. But if people are not reading or watching The Hunger Games and having deeper thoughts about society and power structures, they are missing the point.  

The central theme is that distraction works. The Hunger Games teaches us to question and challenge information and authority. But Collins is also telling us that in the process of questioning others to question ourselves.

You may not agree with me, but ask yourself why.