Hello and welcome back to Kat’s Catalog but in April! I am so excited to be sharing my interpretations of this next film with all of you! Just to go through the whole spiel as I always do here is a little rundown of my blog: This blog series is a collection of films recommended for people to watch in their twenties. Each film is either one I see fit to be worthy to post about or I found from a list that highly recommended this age range to watch. Since I am freshly in my twenties and studying film, I wanted to delve deeper into these films and explain my take on each of them. As always, please be aware that there are spoilers for both the film itself and the film series integrated into this post.
This week, we are going to start something different for this blog series. My good friend, Catherine Fatigato, has her own blog series, Fatigato’s Fiction Fix, where she reads and reviews books from a wide range of genres. We decided to start associating our blog posts together where she will read the book and I will watch the film adaptation. You can find her most recent post here (https://bit.ly/42vMOs8).
Without further ado, I am excited to say that the next film I will be discussing is LionsGate, Starz Entertainment, and Color Force’s The Hunger Games. Released in 2012 with a budget of $78 million, The Hunger Games took the box office by storm and earned over $696 million during its theatrical run. The Hunger Games franchise has not received any Oscar Nominations (yet), however, it has been nominated and won multiple People’s Choice Awards in 2013 including Favorite Movie Actress (Jennifer Lawrence), Favorite On-Screen Chemistry (Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth), and Favorite Movie.
When this film was first released in theaters in March of 2012, I was only in the second grade, so it was safe to say I was not allowed to see this film due to the gorriness integrated within its storyline. However, I was very much aware of the impact it had on pop culture and the relativity it has on the world today, which shows its adaptivity to the changing times given that it has been over a decade since the film was released and nearly two decades since the book first hit the shelves.
Suzanne Collins, the author of The Hunger Games franchise and a co-writer for the screenplay, wrote the series because of a simple night of watching TV. In a video interview made for her publisher, Scholastic, Collins explains, “I was very tired… and I was flipping through images on reality television where these young people were competing for a million dollars or whatever, then I was seeing footage from the Iraq War, and these two things began to fuse together in a very unsettling way…” Which we see articulated well throughout the movie.
Before I go into the details as to why I believe young adults should watch this movie, I will share the synopsis that Suzanne Collins shared on IMDb:
“In a dystopian future, the totalitarian nation of Panem is divided into 12 districts and the Capitol. Each year two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal retribution for a past rebellion, the televised games are broadcast throughout Panem. The 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors while the citizens of Panem are required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss’ young sister, Prim, is selected as District 12’s female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, are pitted against bigger, stronger representatives, some of whom have trained for this their whole lives.”
So to begin, I would like to discuss the importance of popular culture and how it engages the audience by closely correlating itself to trends, practices, and the media being consumed by a majority of society at that time. Hence, Collins wrote this based on the news showing images/videos on the Iraq War and reality television. She was portraying her perspective of the world and how there is this possibility that war and violence is being normalized, or diluted in the sense that it is not taken as seriously as it should be. This idea is portrayed through the ceremonial Hunger Games that happens each year. The name itself masks the idea that the entire premise of this is to keep the districts in line and in compliance with the Capitol.
Now the Capitol is symbolistic itself because it is a reflection of those who have this belief that ignorance is bliss. People who turn away from the situation at hand and ignore the fact that their actions, or in this case lack of, are negatively affecting the rest of the world. Young adults should definitely be taking notes on how to not act when it comes to conflicts that are happening, even if they are not personally affecting them for the time being.
The Capitol and its citizens exemplify the seven deadly sins throughout the course of the film series. Let me explain:
Pride is seen through President Snow and the Capitol itself. The Capitol, run by Snow, constantly reaps the 12 Districts of their materials so that barely any is left for them to just be able to get by and survive. Especially the outlying Districts.
Greed is also portrayed through the Capitol hoarding the resources and taking any attempt to keep control amongst the Districts. This is also seen through the exploitation of Capitol practices through forcing the members of each District to be overworked with little pay.
Lust becomes a prominent sin in the following films (and in a scene in the novel) where the Capitol actually is known as selling previous victor’s bodies for sex with members. This is described through Finnick Odair’s storyline which begins in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Envy is shown through a more personal connection with the characters. Throughout the series, the audience watches as Gale becomes more envious of Peeta as he gets to spend more time with Katniss and how Katniss begins to fall in love with him.
Gluttony is also presented more prominently later in the series. An example of this, however, is given in The Hunger Games film where Effie pushes the luxuries the Capitol has unto Peeta and Katniss by talking about their ability to eat and drink what they would like. Through this, the audience can infer the way the Capitol has constant access to these and overindulges in both food and resources.
Wrath is the entire story as to what caused the Hunger Games to become a yearly occurrence within this dystopia taking place in what was once the United States. The Capitol created the games as punishment (vengeance) and a reminder to the Districts of the cost of uprising against the government.
Sloth is shown through the lack of aid from the Capitol and to the Districts. The audience has a personal connection to District 12 and gets to see what it is like living in a poorer sector.
Now, of course many people may still be asking why I found this film (and series) to be of utter importance for young adults to watch and it is because we have to understand just how powerful being knowledgeable is. There was a study made by the Walton Family Foundation and Murmuration, conducted by John Della Volpe and Social Sphere in 2022, that found Generation Z (people born from 1997 to 2012) to be nearly twice as likely to battle depression and feelings of hopelessness when compared to those born before 1997. There is a correlation between the conclusions of this study and the way Gen Z is often referred to as the first “digital natives.” A “digital native” refers to a person who was born and/or raised during the age of digital technology which then caused them to be familiar with computers and the internet early on.
So what that means is Gen Z was the first group of people to be brought into a world where news and information is at our fingertips. This is unquestionably a blessing in some ways and a curse in others. It is definitely a privilege to be able to learn about a broad range of things; whether it is meteorology, history, political science. We have access to a lot more information where it takes little effort to find it. The downside of this is we have access to world news, let me explain. It is utterly important to be knowledgeable, especially when it comes to history and world affairs because it is a way to ensure that we, whether it be as a nation or a local community, do not go down the same path as other places or let history repeat itself. However, when there is a lot of negativity within the news, whether it be domestic or international, it could honestly weigh a person down over time hence the possible correlation with the increased rates of depression.
However, I would also argue that another reason Gen Z is depressed is because of how educated they are and how older generations are following the stigma of in a sense living in the mindset of ignorance is bliss. They are aware of what is going on in the world but are not putting the efforts to create change, which is portrayed through the Capitol’s citizens. They are all making bets and laughing about the games during The Hunger Games and in Catching Fire because they are avoiding the fact that it is kids dying and they do not see it as being real since it is on a screen. There is a separation to it because the games are not real for them.
People within the age range for Gen Z, at least those I have surrounded myself with, often talk about what is going on in the world which makes it more real for them. We all talk about the good and the bad of what is going on, pull up articles, share instagram posts and follow up with news sources to ensure we are getting as much of the story as we could. We are constantly learning and taking in as much information as we can because we know that there could be changes made in the world, and whether it is good or bad is ultimately going to be our choice. Remaining resilient in pushing for it to be good is the only way for progress to be made in the right direction, and as President Snow says, “Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.”
Katharine Svehla – Asst. Managing Editor, Prose Editor, Art & Design Editor & Blogger: Katharine is a Junior at Lewis University. She is majoring in English with a concentration in General Writing and minoring in film studies. In addition to her academic pursuits, she is on the Lewis Women’s Bowling team and loves to work out, read, watch movies, and write contemporary fiction. After graduation, she hopes to get her master’s degree and aspires to find her place in the film industry and publish personal works. Some of her favorite authors include Markus Zusak, Michael Chrichton, and Alexandra Bracken.