[Music]
for many fans the hunger games isn't
just a young adult novel series or
blockbuster movie trilogy
there are surely plenty of subtler
themes to explore beneath the surface
here are just a few things that only
adults notice
in the hunger games suzanne collins the
author of the hunger games trilogy has
said she was initially inspired to write
the series while flipping between
reality tv programs and news footage of
the iraq war
this inspiration is pervasive in almost
every element of katniss's story
from the way she and peeta heightened
their supposed love for each other to
attract sponsors during the games
to the extensive machinations that
happened behind the scenes to force
conflicts between players
while the premise of sending children to
fight for televised sport was an obvious
enough nod to reality shows for younger
readers and viewers to understand
younger audiences might not catch the
extent to which the games mimic their
real-life counterparts
the game makers manipulate the tribute
surroundings to force
conflicts such as when katniss is forced
to flee her shelter in the 74th games
due to a forest fire and quickly finds
herself in the vicinity of other
tributes
what younger audiences may not realize
is how much this
mirrors the production of most reality
tv programs
where producers may goad contestants
into conflicts
or might edit footage to make
contestants more
or less sympathetic to viewers katniss
is a protagonist
that defies gender roles and
expectations when audiences
first meet katniss she's hunting to
support her family a task that typically
is associated with men
throughout their relationship katniss
and peta continue to buck gender roles
and display
atypical personality traits in their
first games
katniss is seen as the most viable
district 12 tribute
despite peta's strength while protecting
her family is her prime motivation
throughout the series
katniss is also generally depicted as
cool and analytical whereas peta is
often driven by
emotion their skills and hobbies also
defy gender expectations
peta enjoys decorating cakes at the
bakery and becomes a skilled painter
while katniss excels at hunting and
trapping they also subvert the damsel in
distress trope throughout the series
peta is consistently the one who is in
need of rescue
whether it's in the arena or when he's
taken captive by the capital in
mockingjay
while collins does a great job of
fleshing out what makes each of pan
am's districts unique what some younger
readers may not realize is that each
district corresponds with resources and
characteristics of real regions within
the united states
for example district 12 takes clear
inspiration from appalachia
its main industry is coal mining its
natural features like wooded hills and
green meadows are hallmarks of states
like west virginia and kentucky
and the poverty faced by those in the
scene is not unlike that experienced by
people living in appalachia today
other districts also serve as loose
interpretations of u.s regions for
example district 4 is located along the
pacific coast and its residents are
trained in skills like fishing and tying
knots
while district 7 expands across the
pacific northwest and
largely exports lumber it's no secret
that the hunger games victors are
traumatized from their time in the games
katniss in particular exhibits textbook
symptoms of post-traumatic stress
disorder
in catching fire the act of hunting acts
as a trigger for katniss and she sees
the body of a tribute when she shoots an
arrow at a wild turkey
at the beginning of mockingjay katniss
apparently has found ways to deal with
her ptsd through coping mechanisms such
as repeating facts about herself
to keep herself grounded in her own
with what you know reality true my name
is
my home is district 12 katniss isn't the
only one who suffers from ptsd
after peta is psychologically tortured
by the capital with hallucinogenic venom
he struggles to discern between memories
he experienced and those fabricated by
the capital
finnex suggests that he asks katniss
whether his memories are quote
real or not real as an exercise that
helps him regain the sense of reality he
had lost
all of pan em's districts are forced to
participate in the annual hunger games
but some districts have better chances
than others
in districts 1 2 and 4 children are
trained in special schools to be
experts in combat and survival though
this is technically forbidden the
wealthier districts are able to sidestep
these rules due to their ties and former
alliance with the capital
this inherent inequality is a lot more
than just a figment of suzanne collins
dystopian universe barriers to resources
education and wealth based on one's
origins obviously exist in the real
world as well
the careers also symbolize how people
can be given institutional privilege but
still be at the mercy of a harmful
system they might have more resources to
train and prepare with but
they are still doomed to be pawns in the
capitals games
one of the most memorable characters of
the first hunger games novel
is rue a young tribute from district 11.
katniss describes district 11 as one of
the poorer districts of penem
its main industry is agriculture and its
residents live in even worse conditions
than katniss's home in the seam
for most older readers and viewers it's
easy to connect the depictions of
district 11 to the united states's
own complicated history with slavery
while the books make note of how
district 11 residents typically have
dark skin and are forced to work under
unjust conditions
the movies make the parallels between
district 11 and slavery
even more stark when peta and katniss
first visit district 11 in catching fire
they see workers gathering cotton a crop
that historically relied on slave labor
in the 19th century
another parallel to slavery is that
district 11's crops don't benefit their
own people
but are instead sent to the capitol
during the first games
rue tells katniss that district 11
citizens also often face harsh
and violent punishments for small
infractions such as stealing food or
borrowing equipment after working hours
after peta and katniss give passionate
speeches to district 11 citizens
they witness pan em's peacekeepers
brutally assault a man who salutes
katniss in protest
a scene that's very reminiscent of
racial and police violence that has
persisted throughout u.s history
finnick oder is a victor from district 4
who is forced
back into the arena for pan am's 75th
hunger games
when audiences first meet him in
catching fire he offers katniss a sugar
cube and mentions how she could have
made gargantuan amounts of money in the
capital
if not for the quarter quail when
katniss questions him on his wealth he
brushes her off and she responds with a
winking nod to his line of work
i haven't dealt in anything as common as
money in years well then how do people
pay for the pledge of your company
this conversation might go over the
heads of younger viewers
but this exchange heavily implies that
finnick is a sex worker in the capital
while capital citizens know of phoenix
proclivity for seeing multiple partners
during his visits to the capital they
just
assume he's a free-spirited flirt
however during the events of mockingjay
finnick reveals that snow forced him to
do sex work under the threat of harming
his loved ones
after hamich's entire family was killed
to make an example out of him
it's easy to understand why finnick
complied
many of the victors were traumatized by
their time in the games but didn't have
proper resources to manage it when they
came back home to their districts
for example haymitch is seen as district
12's town drunkard and is rarely
seen not drinking in catching fire
katniss learns that one of the reasons
he started drinking
was because president snow murdered his
family for hamich's
rebellious actions during the games
while not
really discussed in the films hamich
also suffered horrendous withdrawal upon
arriving at district 13.
even after the second rebellion katniss
remarks that hamich still drinks to cope
with the pain of losing his family and
friends during the war
other previous victors also turned to
substance abuse after their games
during the quarter quell and catching
fire the two tributes from district 6
are referred to as the more flings due
to their drug of choice
morphling was a powerful narcotic used
throughout penne
and takes its name from its real world
counterpart morphine
joanna mason also becomes dependent on
the drug after she's tortured by the
capital
even siphoning off katniss's iv drip
after her own supply is cut off
gail quickly rises up the ranks within
district 13's rebellion for his
confident leadership
and his role in evacuating district 12.
he also has a penchant for thinking like
the enemy
even foreshadowing that keeping all of
the injured rebels in one place would
leave them vulnerable to attack
the largest conflict between katniss and
gayle comes to a head during the
rebellion
as gail believes collateral damage is a
necessary evil to win the war
katniss on the other hand still believes
killing innocent people is wrong
even after her time in the games when
gail devises a plan to take out district
2's peacekeepers and mockingjay
katniss protests that it would also kill
innocent people but
gale believes this loss of life would be
justified because of the tactical losses
sustained by the capital
gail's philosophy on war ends up being
the downfall of his relationship with
katniss
the bombs used to kill capital children
and first responders at the end of
mockingjay
are deployed by the rebellion and
developed by gail and beatty
the moral conflict between gail and
katniss comes to a head when katniss
holds gail responsible for prim's death
but close viewers and readers can see
that their opposing ethics on war would
have doomed their relationship
even if prim had survived the rebellion
despite their name the peacekeepers
regularly enact
varying degrees of violence on the
citizens they're supposed to protect
they are armed to the teeth with
submachine guns tactical rifles
and more despite the fact that district
citizens are mostly unarmed and harmless
there were people fighting in the
streets and fires and peacekeepers were
gunning them down but the people were
white the people were what it's not hard
to find examples of a militarized police
state in our own world
just this past summer protests were
often met by police forces whose
equipment was more suitable for war than
keeping the peace
the peacekeepers also serve as parallels
for racial police violence in district
11.
peacekeepers are seen watching over
workers gathering cotton and catching
fire
additionally water cannons are used to
incapacitate protesters in district 11
which is a direct reference to how
police used fire hoses and water cannons
against
civilians during the civil rights
movement while most people know that
panem's geography loosely mirrors that
of north america
the actual landscape of panem is
markedly different from real maps of the
united states for a reason
climate change while fans have debated
about when exactly the events of the
hunger games takes place
it's safe to say that the world of panem
exists in the not too distant future
and during katniss's inner monologues
she makes references to a north america
that existed before penem
as well as the fact that district 12 had
mined coal for
hundreds of years in what had been
called appalachia
so what happened between now and then
that led to the hunger games
in the first novel katniss lists a
series of natural disasters that led to
society's collapse
including floods fires and droughts all
of those environmental crises can be
linked to climate change
some of which have already begun
devastating parts of the united states
in the hunger games katniss explains
that existing governments then went to
war over scarce natural resources
and that panem was formed in the wake of
society's collapse
check out one of our newest videos right
here plus even more looper videos about
your favorite movies are coming soon
subscribe to our youtube channel and hit
the bell so you don't miss a single one
[Music]