Hunger Games
In one version of an Ancient Greek myth, the kingdom of Crete defeats Athens in war and
then demands regular sacrifices to remind the conquered people of Crete’s power. Athenian
boys and girls are taken as tributes, and then locked inside a vast labyrinth where
they are pursued and devoured by a monstrous Minotaur. These terrible killings continue
until one day a hero stands up in Athens, a young man named Theseus, who volunteers
to take the place of one of the doomed boys. Sound familiar? That’s because Suzanne Collins,
the author of the popular Hunger Games books, consciously drew from legends of antiquity
in writing her series. Young Theseus did prove himself a hero: With the help of the King's
daughter, he finds his way through the labyrinth and slays the Minotaur. He ends the cycle
of oppression so no more tributes have to die.
In ancient Rome we find another story that may sound familiar to Hunger Games fans. Spartacus,
a gladiator, is forced to fight fellow slaves to the death in an arena, a spectacle to entertain
the political elite and pacify the masses. But Spartacus refuses to be used for these
gruesome games. He leads his fellow slaves in a rebellion against the Roman Empire in
the first century BCE, his name becoming a rallying cry for freedom.
Katniss Everdeen, the heroine of the Hunger Games trilogy, inherits the mantle of both
Theseus and Spartacus. She’s part freedom fighter, part political revolutionary, and
part reluctant hero by necessity. While her world is updated to speak to our modern anxieties—her
government employs sophisticated technology to spy on its citizens and even attack them;
propaganda is fused with reality television—ultimately the story has so much power for us because
it taps into a struggle thousands of years old.
As a professor of intellectual history who specializes in the dystopian tradition, I
think it’s important to consider why these narratives resonate so well with us. The tales
of Theseus, Spartacus, and Katniss are all iterations of the same story, of rulers imposing
coercive power, and of individuals rising up against them. These heroes don't wish to
set themselves up as new tyrants. They seek only the opportunity to determine their own
lives and let others do the same. Similar heroes are found in many of the greatest stories
of history, recounted in our films, our novels, our music. They stir our hearts because the
struggle between liberty and power remains a very real part of our world. People everywhere
yearn for the freedom to pursue their own goals and dreams. These stories aren't just
entertainment. They are reflections of who and what we are.