The Hunger Games depicts a world, that while so different from ours, also has some striking similarities. One of the most notable aspects of this is that The Hunger Games is essentially a reality TV show, for the entertainment of the people in the Capitol. Of course, there is a deeper meaning behind the Games. A failed rebellion, which Katniss references several times by discussing the ruins of District 13, has led the Capitol to hold the Games to maintain its power over the rest of Panem. However, the fact that the Games are staged as reality television shows the Capitol’s use of propaganda in order to control the districts.
Haymitch and Effie’s insistence on Katniss and Peeta to make a good impression on the citizens of the Capitol in order to gain sponsors highlights this. Collins shows how they see the Games as a form of entertainment, and not the violence and barbarianism that the Capitol forces its own subjects to be a part of. When explaining how she is working to garner support for Katniss, Effie says, “I’ve done my best with what I had to work with. How Katniss sacrificed herself for her sister. How you’ve both successfully struggled to overcome the barbarism of your district” (74). Katniss then thinks to herself, “Barbarism? That’s ironic coming from a woman helping to prepare us for slaughter” (74). This shows the disconnect between the people of the Capitol and those who are forced to participate in the Hunger Games. The people of the Districts understand the injustices that they endure, but are powerless to do anything about it, and the Capitol capitalizes on it by staging it as entertainment. The sponsors look forward to it, and the fact that this is the 74th Annual Hunger Games shows how successful and popular it has been.
Caesar Flickerman, the host of the Hunger Games, is what puts this over the top. He hosts interviews with the Tributes as if they are contestants on a game show, similarly to how shows like Big Brother and Survivor have contestant profiles today. The Capitol’s ability to twist what they make the Districts do into pure entertainment is a clear example of its use of propaganda, and Collins shows the danger of becoming too dependent on the media. The government of Panem has masked its complete control over its citizens through television.
While I agree with much of what you’ve said here, I’d hazard to say that the government actually showcases its complete control over its citizens through television and the media in general, which is arguably more effective than trying to hide it. Displaying control for all to see with the simultaneous message that they can’t do anything about it heightens the feeling of hopelessness and despair people unsatisfied with the current system may feel, which in turn weakens any resolve they might have had to rebel. Having control so total and complete that literal sacrifices are able to be paraded around the Capitol and showed off for sponsors is jarring and unsettling; it speaks to the fact that the population is trapped not just by an evil government, but by an entire system of reality that is, at least on the face of it, impossible to change. There’s a reason scandals have (historically; I’m not sure if this is really relevant now, given how many white supremacist-aligned people we have working in the White House) been covered up—the people in power don’t want the masses to know that they’re corrupt, for fear that they’ll turn on them. The Capitol doesn’t seem to care, though; they take children from the Districts, dress them up in pretty clothes and makeup, take them on press tours, and then release them in an arena to kill each other, all in front of the Districts they’ve been taken from. I think this form of power is infinitely more terrifying than any other; when the people in power no longer care if they’re viewed as moral, any attempt to hold them to moral standards is bankrupt.
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