WHO IS THE REAL ENEMY?

This November, the movie adaptation of Catching Fire, the second of the three-book series, The Hunger Games, was shown in cinemas worldwide.  The movie shows what happened to victors Katniss and Peeta, the book’s protagonists, after the 74^th Hunger Games as they were subjected to undergo the same game a year after.  It is a story of love, hope and rebellion.  It is a movie that you have to see to understand the brilliance behind it. 

A book or movie is considered to be science fiction when it shows a content that is futuristic, which means its contents involve science and technology, space and time, extraterrestrial life and parallel universe.  In my opinion, the movie is a science fiction as it shows society that is far from what we have now.  In Panem, machines, science and technology run almost all activities. Most of the technologies shown in the movie are still unavailable in the present.  It just shows how different the World in 2013 and Panem is. 

For me, The Hunger Games (as well as Catching Fire) is a great example of Thomas Hobbes famous description of the state of nature, “life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”. Taking the Hunger Games and Catching Fire literally will bring you nowhere because one has to understand the subtle themes it introduces in the story.  I consider this film to be a representation of the past, present and future society.

The past, the present, and the future have a lot of things in common as the inequalities in the past still persist and will persist in the future; with the government we have now. As we can see, the Capitol has always exemplified a life of extravagance and greediness, as compared to the quality of living that the lower districts have.  This is a problem that we still experience until now, no matter how liberal our views on politics is - a problem that the movie tries to solve by sparking a revolution.

Science had tremendously succeeded in most districts by showing how powerful and wealthy they are with science and technology.  However, in some districts, distribution of wealth and knowledge has been uneven. For me, this resulted from the Capitol’s unequal treatment of its districts, one that prioritizes one district over another. The Capitol represents a corrupt government – a place where funds are used to fuel a selfish public official’s interests.  The Capitol lives in riches and luxury while some districts almost die due to the central government’s lack of attention to its regions. 

This is what Katniss Everdeen is trying to resolve by the end of the book and the movie.  She lets people realize the harsh reality in Panem and starts a revolution to make a change in her society.  I hope more people like Katniss exist in our world - to make a difference and bring justice to people. 

Kris Jerurta 

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