"Happy Hunger Games"

Emily Capra and Stacey Braaten  

The idea of the Capitol is such a dominant thematic element throughout the entirety of The Hunger Games. The reader is constantly being shown how the Capitol and its officials juxtapose and contrast the heroine: Katniss. The Capitol is clearly an opposing force for Katniss at all times in her life. Since the novel’s message that the Capitol is evil and the officials are the “bad guys” is not presented subtlety, it is clear that this is an important message that the novel aims to convey. But why? What exactly is the book arguing by setting up the dynamics in this way?

By showing the oppressive and controlling rule of the Capitol partnered with the symbolism behind the fake and artificial appearance of both the city and its citizens, the reader is positioned to hate the Capitol. Throughout the novel, most of the information the reader is given regarding the Capitol returns to the idea of how the Capitol controls the citizens of Panem by threatening and enforcing the Hunger Games and how the citizens are limited by the Capitol’s oppressive rule. Referencing the bow her father made, Katniss states, “My father could have made good money selling them, but if the officials found out he would have been publicly executed for inciting a rebellion.” This statement thoroughly demonstrates the limiting effects the Capitol’s rule has over the citizens. By Katniss saying “could have,” it shows how it was a real opportunity, a “sure thing,” for her father to make money and not live in such an impoverished state. However, the Capitol is the limiting factor making his potential trade simply impossible. Not only would Katniss’ father be murdered for such an action, the killing would be public and for a crime he did not commit. The purpose of the bows is to provide better weaponry with which to hunt so that hungry families can be fed. However, Katniss’ father would be convicted of “inciting a rebellion.” This demonstrated the Capitol’s paranoia that citizens will attempt to revolt. To prevent this occurrence, the Capitol disarms the people of Panem. The fact that the Capitol fears citizens may want to overthrow the ruling class suggests that they are ruling in a manner worthy of being overthrown. The public manner of execution Katniss’ father would have faced for selling the bows is meant to send a message to other citizens regarding the consequences for rebelling against the Capitol. This quote forces the reader to hate the Capitol for making Katniss, her family, and the remainder of the people in the Districts live such a bleak and unsatisfying life. Though there was a possible business her father could have pursued that would help sustain the family, the Capitol extinguished this opportunity and any hope the family had. Once the tributes have actually entered the game, the Capitol’s control over the players’ lives intensifies. Katniss comments, “The Gamemakers don’t want me dead.” She then continues, noting, “Every so often, they do kill a tribute just to remind the players they can.” This demonstrates how, in the games, the tributes’ lives are literally at the Gamemakers’ disposal. They exact control over the players’ lives because it is the most drastic and dramatic way to send the message to the citizens of the districts watching the games that the Capitol controls everything. When the Capitol’s power is questioned by the action of Katniss and Peeta eating the poisonous berries at the end of the game, the Capitol becomes furious. Katniss says, “So now the Capitol will act as if they’ve been in control the whole time.” This demonstrates how the Capitol’s main concern is whether or not the citizens believe the Capitol has control over all aspects of life. They desperately feel the need to maintain their reputation as the most powerful group in all of Panem. This brutality of the Capitol and lack of freedom of the citizens of the districts positions the reader to loathe the Capitol and its controlling grip on the citizens.

The book also positions the reader to oppose the Capitol through the contrast between Katniss and the citizens of the Capitol. The first person narration is extremely important in this aspect of the book. Katniss is the character telling the story. The readers see the events, the people, the emotions, and the places of the story through Katniss’ eyes. This lens is meant to shape the reader’s opinions and align them with the opinions of Katniss. After Effie calls for Katniss to get out of bed, Katniss says, “I try and imagine, for a moment, what it must be like inside that woman’s head. What thoughts fill her waking hours? What dreams come to her at night? I have no idea.”

Katniss’ inability to understand Effie Trinket, a citizen of the Capitol, creates a sort of alienation between the world of Katniss and the world of those living in the Capitol. By creating such a deep division between the two worlds, the novel forces the reader to take a side. This is where the first person narration becomes so crucial. Since Katniss is telling the story from her own point of view, the reader naturally must align with her. In this way, the reader’s opposition toward the Capitol is reinforced. When Katniss and Peeta see the city for the first time with their own eyes, Katniss’ reaction establishes her outlook on the city and its citizens as a whole. She claims, “All the colors seems artificial, the pinks too deep, the greens to bright, the yellows painful to the eyes, like the flat round disks of hard candy we can never afford to buy at the tiny sweet shop in District 12.”

By comparing the images of the Capitol to items she can never obtain back home, it shows how the bright colors and the appearance of the citizens of the Capitol serve as a constant reminder of the state of poverty Katniss and her family live in. This creates a feeling of resentment in both Katniss and the reader that further distances the luxurious world of the Capitol from the world of starvation and poverty from where Katniss comes. Because of the first person narration, the book positions the reader to oppose the affluent, bright, artificial and colorful world of the Capitol and empathize with the poor, grey, bleak world of the impoverished districts.

However, surprisingly, Katniss does genuinely bond with someone in the Capitol: her stylist, Cinna. Shocked upon seeing him for the first time, Katniss says, “I’m taken aback by how normal he looks. Most of the stylists they interview on television are so dyed, stenciled and surgically altered they’re grotesque. But Cinna’s close-cropped hair appears to be its natural shade of brown.” Even in the movie, Katniss is taken aback by how Cinna greets her. 

Cinna apologizes for what has happened to Katniss and lets her know that he is there to help her in anyway possible. From what he says, one can tell that he is not fond of the games either. He wants to make an impression to the Captiol, sponsors, and the world. He wants everyone to remember Katniss and who she is and what she is truly fighting for.

This contrast Katniss illustrates between the common overly made-up and colorful citizens of the Capitol and the normalness and naturalness of Cinna shows how he does not serve as a fair representation of the people of the Capitol. Cinna is more like Katniss than he is like the Capitol citizens. This distinction of Cinna as an atypical Capitol citizen is further emphasized by the juxtaposition of Cinna to Effie. Debunking Katniss’ assumption that, since Cinna is a new stylist for the games, he got stuck with District Twelve, Cinna states, “‘I asked for District Twelve.’” This statement is directly contrasted to Effie’s farewell. Saying goodbye, Effie hopes, “‘I wouldn’t be at all surprised if I finally get promoted to a decent district next year!’” Since Effie represents the typical Capitol citizen, her offensive, insensitive, self-centered statement reflects how unkind and simply despicable the ruling class of Panem is. Cinna’s response, however, depicts how unlike the people of the Capitol he is. As time goes on, Katniss really develops a sincere relationship with Cinna. It is through this relationship that the book, once again, emphasizes how the typical population of the Capitol is heinous and horrible, while those like Cinna, who are nothing like the Capitol citizens, are truly kind and good-hearted people, making the reader oppose the Capitol.  

The reason readers respond so significantly to the “good vs. evil” dichotomy of the book, the semiotics of the narrative, is also important. The reader’s feelings of hate and animosity toward the Capitol are significantly due to the reader’s relationship with Katniss as well as the reader’s cultural background that tells them the Capitol’s actions are evil. The reader’s relationship with Katniss can be characterized by the reader-writer relationship. Since Katniss if the person telling the story, her voice is the voice the reader hears throughout the book, her personality is the one with which the reader becomes most familiar, Katniss can be considered the writer in many ways. The way the reader relates to the writer, in this case Katniss, largely impacts the reader’s response to the message of the novel. It is clear that the only perspective the reader is given is Katniss’. Since Katniss states she cannot fathom the inner workings of the minds of those in the Capitol, like Effie, the reader in turn has no insight into how the citizens of the Capitol think and feel. This is one of the dangers of first-person narration; the reader is only given a partial truth. The actual occurrences that take place over the course of the story are filtered through the lens of Katniss. Because of this, the information the reader is privy to is very limited. This creates boundaries so that the readers are not allowed to make their own opinions; they only have what Katniss tells them. Though this makes the positioning aspect of the novel easier in some ways since the reader is really only given one real position, readers are more likely to scrutinize and distrust the information they are being given since the reporting subject is not an objective character. However, the reader tends to trust Katniss as the reporting subject. This is partly because of the Hegelian concept of “great men.” Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel says, “They are great men, because they willed and accomplished something great.” With this categorization, Hegel claims, “Their fellows, therefore, follow these soul-leaders.” At the very beginning of the novel, it becomes clear that Katniss is a “great man.” She takes the reader through her morning routine of hunting and breaking numerous laws in order to feed her family. She wills the survival of her family, as she is really the sole provider, through her hard work. Since this demonstrates how Katniss is a “great man” according to Hegel, the reader trusts her and follows her. The reader receives and accepts Katniss and her thoughts and emotions. This establishes the relationship between the reader and writer as one filled with trust, empathy and hope for the success of Katniss, despite the partial truth of the story. Because the reader trusts Katniss’ point of view, the reader assumes the same feelings and emotions that Katniss has toward the Capitol.

Given that Katniss and the citizens of the Capitol come from two completely different worlds, the world of the Capitol can be characterized by the “Hobbesean” school of thought. Hobbesean ideas, much more focused on technological progress and future improvements, align with the Capitol. Arriving at the Capitol for the first time, Katniss notices the “shiny cars that roll down the wide paved streets.” This imagery of the Capitol is associated with the technologically advanced type of society that Hobbes advocates. One of the gifts Katniss receives during the games is a soothing ointment that she claims is “high-tech medicine brewed up in the Capitol’s labs.” Again, the Capitol is associated with technology and progress. Not only does the Capitol represent anti-romanticism, but the people do as well. The people are dressed in strange and obnoxious clothing, dye their hair all different colors of the rainbow, get plastic surgery to try to fit in with the rest of the Capitol people, and the buildings are beyond anything that one would find in any of the Districts. This takes both Katniss and Peeta in surprise when they enter the Capitol. It is nothing close to what they are used to or have ever seen. Katniss is even almost appalled by how much technology and how artificial everything truly is in the Capitol. It is seen how factitious everyone is within the Capitol, and this plays a role in their personalities. The emphasis on the Capitol’s association with technology demonstrates how the ruling city of is more closely aligned with the Hobbesean school of thought. This affiliation is important because it does not evoke the same response in readers that the more ‘romantic,’ Rousseauist way of thinking does. As William Wordsworth would say, the lifestyle of the Capitol does not cause the reader’s heart to leap up. By being so artificial, the Capitol is straying from the natural piety that Rousseau describes and moves toward a world of technology and where property and power rules over all, which forces the audience to resent the Capitol and its people. The anti-romanticism of the Capitol is juxtaposed to the behaviour of District Twelve at the reaping ceremony. Katniss says, “At first one, then another, then almost every member of the crowd touches the three middle fingers of their left hand to their lips and holds it out to me. It is an old and rarely used gesture of our district, occasionally seen at funerals. It means thanks, it means admiration, it means good-bye to someone you love.”

This passage demonstrates how, because of Katniss’ actions, the District unites and bands together as one. In this way, the actions of the District demonstrate the higher value placed on the community rather than on the individual. The idea of community being more important than the individual is a fundamental concept of romanticism. In this way, District Twelve’s romantic behaviour contrasts the lifestyle of the Capitol.  Because the Hobbesean way of the Capitol is significantly anti-romantic, the reader does not respond to the Capitol with an overwhelmingly positive outlook.

The reader’s feelings toward the Capitol are also due to, what the reader considers, the evil actions of the ruling city. The manner in which the Capitol rules is largely based on the ideology of hegemony. Dick Hebdige defines this ideological practice by saying, “The term hegemony refers to a situation in which a provisional alliance of certain social groups can exert ‘total social authority’ over other subordinate groups, not simply by coercion or by the direct imposition of ruling ideas, but by ‘winning and shaping consent so that the power of the dominant classes appears both legitimate and natural’ (Hall, 1977).” This concept is thoroughly demonstrated throughout the novel. At the reaping, the mayor says, “‘It is both a time for repentance and a time for thanks.’” By saying the citizens of the districts must repent, or feel remorse, for the attempted revolution, it shows how the Capitol aims to make the citizens feel that they are indebted to the ruling city. In this way, the oppressive rule of the Capitol seems justified and reasonable; the districts revolted, so now they must be punished. The oppression is, thus, understandable. The citizens of the districts obey and submit to the rule of the Capitol because of what Pierre Bourdieu describes as a kind of memory of the body. Bourdieu states, “People’s adherence to an institution is directly proportional to the severity and painfulness of the rites of initiation.” The institution in The Hunger Games is the hegemonic rule of the Capitol. The citizens follow this institution because they are constantly reminded of the power the Capitol has through the history of Panem when District Thirteen was annihilated as well as through the reaping system. The etiology, or cause, of the reader’s hate toward the Capitol can be traced to the reader’s cultural experience that ingrains the idea that oppressive rule is evil into their minds. For the past few generations, almost every war that has been fought can be thought to be about ridding a nation of oppression in one way or another. In this way, the reader’s perspective that oppression is evil can be linked to the constructionist theory. Society’s understanding of oppressive rule has been assembled through generations by recognizing the harmful effects of oppression. Because of this, many political messages has been based on ending this kind of government system. Since it has become ingrained in contemporary American society that oppression is equated with evilness, whenever an American reader encounters a situation where oppression is present, it has become routine to oppose the oppressors. The reader’s habitus reflects the rejection of this type of rule due to the fact that inscription devices, like political rhetoric, have constantly reinforced the idea that oppression is evil into the reader’s mind. Through the inequality of power distribution in Panem, officials at the Capitol tend to believe stereotypes about tributes from poorer districts. Effie states, “‘How you’ve both successfully struggled to overcome the barbarism of your district.’” Here Effie buys into the stereotype that citizens of District Twelve are horrifically uncivilized. American society has become very sensitive to stereotypes as time has gone on. Readers do not take well to essentialist ideas as it reduces the complexity of a person to a simple, one-dimensional character. Stuart Hall claims that these stereotypes arise when classification comes together with power. This is how the stereotype of District Twelve that Effie believed came to be: Katniss and Peeta are classified as citizens of District Twelve and since this is the least powerful district in Panem, they must be barbarians. Readers have come to reject notions of stereotypes as well as those who perpetuate the simplifications. Because Effie, representative of the Capitol, has proven herself to be ignorant enough to believe such cliches, the reader in turn opposes her as well as the Capitol.

It is clear that the book aims to position the reader against the ruling city of Panem, and the reader’s response allows them to comply, but so what? Why does this positioning matter? What is the book saying by evoking these responses in the reader? The book makes the reader hate a hegemonic governing system. It shows the reader the lives of those living under such oppressive rule and how they are starving to death, losing hope for any chance of survival. By illustrating so graphically the bleak and morbid elements of the oppressed’s lives and making the reader hope for the success of the poor and the demise of the rich, the book argues that inequality of power and oppressive rule is a form of government that needs to be abandoned. Youtube personality Laci Green made a video specifically regarding the story’s meaning. According to Green’s video on the message behind the plot of The Hunger Games, the system that is being described in the book is based on the corruption and capitalist economic structure of America. She says that the preservation of power in a corrupt society is due to making “people too scared to fight back.” The novel demonstrates this concept at the beginning of the first book when Katniss and Gale joke about the speech of the citizens of the Capitol. Katniss explains, “We have to joke about it because the alternative is to be scared out of your wits.” This illustrates Green’s point that the citizens of the districts live in a state of crippling fear, disabling their potential to revolt. Green also states that President Snow’s claim that “hope is the only thing more effective than fear” connects to the political rhetoric of the “American Dream.” This concept tells people that anyone has the potential to get rich. However, as Laci Green says, this is impossible under America’s capitalist society: there must be inequality of wealth to make the system work. Uncontrolled capitalism is described by the state of the economy when the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The reaping system demonstrates this corruption as Katniss says, “The reaping system is unfair, with the poor getting the worst of it.” By Katniss noting that the system targets the poor, the reaping is closely aligned with uncontrolled capitalism. Young adolescents are also significantly targeted as they are the only citizens eligible for the reaping. Green says that, though America’s capitalist structure is not as blatant and obvious about targeting youth, it, too, has a similar effect on young Americans. She says, “Our economic regime allocates food and resources and shelter in a very disproportionate way.” Since the governing system of Panem in The Hunger Games is very similar to the current system of America as Laci Green describes it, the novel positions the reader against the corruption and capitalism of America. In this way, through the positioning of the reader against the Capitol, The Hunger Games offers a critique of America’s system and calls for its reform. Suzanne Collins’ story has entered pop culture through Hollywood, action figures and even makeup. With this story spanning into so many aspects of society, Collin’s plot line is responsible for effecting the views of people of all ages. Because of this, the book has a significant amount of agency that is shaping culture and American society.

The Hunger Games is impacting so many readers (and now viewers) because of its widespread popularity. Since the series has made its way into pop culture via brands like Covergirl, clearly the plot has agency. It has readers all over the nation hating the unfair system of the Capitol that is extremely similar to the current American system. The readers support and align with the heroine, Katniss, while they oppose Panem’s ruling city. Through this positioning, the novel makes a strong argument against such oppressive rule that, because of its popularity, readers everywhere are supporting. This novel has undoubtedly impacted society and culture forever.