Prophetic Significance of The Hunger Games - Part 8
The News and Entertainment Media
The first Hunger Games film, which was released in 2012, may have prophesied, in remarkable detail, the events leading up to the American presidential election of 2016, with the Games themselves representing the presidential campaign.
In the first Hunger Games film, just as the Games are about to start, we get a glimpse behind the scenes into the control room of the Games. It is revealed to us that the entire event is controlled. It is not at all a free and fair competition. We also learn that those who control the media also control the Games. From the beginning, the media are in control of the Hunger Games, from defining the narrative to directly influencing the fate of tributes and the outcome of the Games. Their control was not complete, but the influence of the media was so great, that their actions often determined whether or not a tribute survived.
In a similar way, did the news and entertainment media in America also exert a level of control over the 2016 presidential campaign?
In this presidential election, perhaps more than any other, the influence of the media came under particular scrutiny as they were accused of playing favorites and providing certain advantages to some candidates while putting obstacles in the paths of others. Many people pointed to the media’s handling of the presidential debates as not-so-subtle demonstrations of clear favoritism. Favoritism and biased agendas also seemed evident in daily broadcasts and media publications. This evident interference and manipulation was symbolized in The Hunger Games.
For example, as the Games got underway, the Head Gamemaker felt that Katniss was going too far afield, and so circumstances—which became broadcast news—were invented in order to manipulate her to go in the direction they wanted. “Let’s turn her around,” were Seneca’s words; so they started a fire in the woods to drive her in a particular direction. Shortly afterwards, when those controlling the Games weren’t satisfied that Katniss had chosen the best direction to suit their purposes, they put a fallen tree in her path to divert her progress. Near the end of the Games, the controlling media intervened again by creating vicious dogs for the purpose of attacking tributes.
In Catching Fire, when it seemed that the tributes had figured out the timing of the release of certain obstacles, Head Gamemaker Plutarch gave the order to “Change it up. Spin it.” Then the entire main “stage” of the Games began to spin, disrupting the progress of the tributes and forcing them to reorient themselves.
Deception from the Media
During the 2016 presidential campaign, polls were a daily topic in the news media. There seemed to be constant discussion about which candidates were likely to receive the most votes from particular geographic areas; and from certain demographic groups; from men; from women; and from voters of various political affiliations. Poll data and percentages seemed to be reported as if they were factual, indisputable truth. They were very persuasive. However, on election night, November 8, 2016, it became clear that the majority of the poll data that had been reported as if it was unquestionable had been wrong; and those who had placed their faith in these reports woke up the day after the election to a very different truth.
Each tribute in the Hunger Games had been injected with a “tracker,” which allowed the media to follow them constantly. Similarly, each presidential candidate was tracked and reported on constantly throughout the 2016 campaign. News of the candidates was often reported in conjunction with poll numbers which were supposed to show whether or not the “odds were ever in their favor” for winning the presidential election. Now we know that most of these poll reports had been misleading and inaccurate. Were the poll reports purposely misleading? Were they designed to deceive?
These particular inaccuracies and misleading reports may have been foreshadowed in the Hunger Games films in the forms of “tracker jackers” that stung some of the tributes and caused the death of at least one.
Tracker jackers were flying, stinging insects. Caesar Flickerman explained in the film that tracker jackers were genetically engineered wasps, whose venom caused “searing pain, powerful hallucinations, and in extreme cases, death.”
Poll reports seemed to be the “tracker jackers” of the presidential campaign. These reports that claimed to reveal whether or not “the odds were ever in their favor” to win the presidency carried painful stings for some candidates, and may have even contributed to the defeat of some, and the termination of their campaigns. But what these polls, like the tracker jackers, seemed to deliver in large doses were powerful hallucinations about who the ultimate winner of the presidential election would be. Perhaps the one who suffered the most from the sting of these misleading poll reports was Hillary Clinton, who, prior to Election Day, seemed to have almost no chance of losing the election, if the polls were to be believed.
We know now that the polls projected a warped view of reality. Was this deception intentional on the part of the media reporting this information?
In the fourth Hunger Games Film, we learn that tracker jacker venom was intentionally used by another powerful group to deceive Katniss’ running mate in efforts to turn him against her. This same powerful group joined in the efforts of the Media—and may have even led those efforts—to manipulate and control the Hunger Games events.
