Prophetic Significance of The Hunger Games - Part 5
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.
As the first film opens, and the Games are explained, it becomes clear that the Games operate under a pretense of patriotism, but actually function as a means of controlling the citizens of the country, and imposing the will of a privileged few upon the majority. As the story progresses, it becomes easier to see the Games as a metaphor for the modern American presidential campaign and election.
In the American presidential campaign, as in the Hunger Games, candidates (“tributes”) were announced in advance. Later, they were interviewed by the media for nation-wide audiences. Then they were brought together—and often pitted against each other—in media events such as presidential debates.
Some candidates had volunteered to compete, as Katniss Everdeen did in the film. Others may have been pressured into campaigning by powerful members of the political elite. It is interesting in the film that the tributes were not chosen by the people, as you might think they would be in a democracy, but they were chosen according to a system of rules established by the controlling elite.
Every tribute had a running mate, as does each presidential candidate if his or her campaign survives long enough. Katniss’ running mate, Peeta, even bears a slight resemblance to Mike Pence, who became Donald Trump’s running mate.
As the “Games” of the campaign progressed, one by one, each candidate had his or her political life cut short—at least for this election campaign—and most of the candidates’ campaigns came to a disappointing end.
In case you think the brutality depicted in the Hunger Games is too harsh to be a metaphor for the presidential campaign, read Ivanka Trump’s response when she was asked to comment on life in Washington DC:
“It is hard. And there is a level of viciousness that I was not expecting. I was not expecting the intensity of this experience, but this isn’t supposed to be easy. My father and this administration intends to be transformative, and we want to do big, bold things and we’re looking to change the status quo. So I didn’t expect it to be easy. I think some of the distractions and some of the ferocity was — I was a little blindsided by on a personal level.”1
From the beginning of the first film, there are rumblings against the entrenched system that perpetuates the Games. Gale, Katniss’ friend, seems to give voice to the growing disgust of ordinary citizens who feel disenfranchised from—and victimized by—the current system. His is the first voice in the films to suggest doing something about the system that gave rise to the Hunger Games. “Just one year, what if everyone just stopped watching?… You root for your favorites. You cry when they get killed. It’s sick."
"May the odds be ever in your favor”
As the 2016 American presidential election season approached, many candidates (“tributes”) were declared, and there was wide speculation about the virtues and competencies of each one, as well as their odds of being the ultimate winner of the election.
In The Hunger Games film, instead of wishing them “Good luck,” the common wish for the tributes was, “May the odds be ever in your favor.” Odds were a constant news topic in the campaign leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Polls were announced and referred to daily as Election Day drew closer. At one point in the first film, as the tributes are all gathered in the Capitol, just before the Games, a Vegas-style board is shown, with the title, “Morning Line Odds,” displaying the current odds against each tribute winning the Games.
Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, the odds-makers and gamblers were posting actual odds of each presidential candidate’s chances of winning the 2016 election. Polls were published every day in different parts of the country in the months leading up to the election.
At one point in Catching Fire, the train passed some graffiti that read, “the odds are never in our favor,” reflecting the feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness of ordinary citizens subject to an oppressive, controlling system. But as Haymitch taught Katniss, the best way to turn the odds more in a tribute’s favor was to secure sponsors. Sponsors also played a significant role in the presidential campaign of 2016, turning the tide of momentum that led to a result that stunned many.
Reference: 1Klein, B. (2017, June 12). Ivanka Trump: ‘There is a level of viciousness that I was not expecting’. Retrieved October 17, 2017, from http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/12/politics/ivanka-trump-viciousness-james-comey/index.html
