by V. Arrow
Katniss also remembers seeing Peeta the next day at school:
At school, I passed the boy in the hall, his cheek swelled up and his eye blackened . . . The boy never even glanced my way, but I was watching him . . . Because of the red weal that stood out on his cheekbone. What had she hit him with? My parents never hit us. I couldn’t even imagine it.THG30-32
The fact that Mrs. Mellark had no qualms about so obviously bruising Peeta’s face also suggests that battered children are a common sight in the merchant quarters of District 12, whereas Katniss “could not even imagine” being hit by her parents, implying that it is not very common in the Seam.
Furthering the idea that the Mellarks’ family life is dysfunctional, Peeta seems to have developed his idea of love not from his own family, but by watching the Everdeens, and especially the relationship of Mr. Everdeen and Mrs. Everdeen (which is deeply ironic if Prim is, indeed, his half sister). In each book of the Hunger Games trilogy, Peeta does something else that suggests he may be modeling his concept of courtship on observations of the Everdeens. In The Hunger Games:
I reach out to touch his cheek and he catches my hand and presses it against his lips. I remember my father doing this very thing to my mother and I wonder where Peeta picked it up. Surely not from his father and the witch.THG264
In the second book, Peeta immediately recognizes Katniss’ mother in old reaping footage from twenty-five years ago, and in Mockingjay, Peeta remembers Katniss’ father singing “The Hanging Tree” even while mentally impaired by his hijacking. As YA lit blogger Sue at Forever Young Adult, a blog dedicated to young adult novels, words it: “To an abused, sensitive little boy, the Everdeen home—happy children, joyful father, loving mother—must have looked like heaven. Heaven with extra hugs and cinnamon on top.”xxxiii Peeta, in the face of his mother’s abuse, turned to another family model for comfort and example.
Although Katniss sees merchant life as exponentially easier than Seam life—and it is, unarguably, more privileged—the Mellark family is a stark portrayal of how life at all levels in Panem is hard and unfair. Despite Mrs. Everdeen’s depression, she loves her daughters. Despite the Seam’s poverty, Katniss and Gale and their siblings and Greasy Sae’s granddaughter have homes where they are safe physically, if nothing else. Perhaps symbolically, Katniss and Gale have mothers who survive the series, although Peeta does not—nor does Madge Undersee.
The Undersees
Rounding out the unhappy families of District 12 are the Undersees, a downtrodden, Capitol-controlled mayor, a drug addict haunted by the system her husband represents, and their quiet daughter, Madge.
Despite having the most luxurious house in District 12, and despite the nearly inconceivable odds of daughter Madge being reaped, the Undersees’ home life follows the same unhappy pattern as the Everdeens and Mellarks, one largely defined by a dysfunctional mother. “Mayor Undersee’s wife,” Katniss tells us, “spends half her life in bed immobilized with terrible pain, shutting out the world.”CF196 Mrs. Undersee is described as not just depressed (reminiscent of Mrs. Everdeen) but a drug addict dependent on morphling. (This is the same drug that, although ostensibly similar to morphine or heroin, “addled” the District 6 tributes in the Quarter Quell and which causes hallucinations.)
Of course, there is another member of the Undersee family whose role holds as significant a place in the narrative of the Hunger Games as Mr. Everdeen does in Katniss’ personal narrative: Maysilee Donner, the now-Mrs. Undersee’s twin sister, whose death in the Fiftieth Hunger Games is a contributing factor in Mrs. Undersee’s continuing dysfunction.
Maysilee was the original owner of Katniss’ mockingjay pin. But her impact is further reaching than that. It is perhaps because of Maysilee’s demise in the Hunger Games, and the effect on Mrs. Undersee, that Madge shows a more nuanced understanding of the evils of the Capitol and empathy for the residents of the Seam than would be expected of a girl of her social standing, and is in a position to give Katniss the pin in the first place. Despite her father’s status as mayor, Madge’s life is deeply impacted by the Games. She is the proof that no one in the district—no family, no matter how intact or well-off it might appear—is untouched by the Capitol’s tyranny. Despite never being reaped herself, Madge still loses her family—and later, her life—to the Hunger Games.
7
The Games as Exploitation, Exploitation as Entertainment
“It feels like we’re in a Roman theater watching gladiators duke it out.”
—Alex Guarnaschelli, The Next Iron Chef xxxiv
People have always found entertainment in stories of others faced with danger or trauma. This is true whether those stories are framed as fiction, as with Shakespeare’s tragedies; as reality, as with the violent footage in grisly newscasts; or as “reality,” as with doctored and fictionalized personal melodramas of glitzy celebutantes. Whether we’re watching Kim Kardashian’s divorce proceedings on modern scripted reality television, atrocities of war on sensationalized news programs, or athletes beating each other senseless on Ultimate Fighting, real turmoil and real violence have become as much a part of our modern entertainment culture as the real turmoil and violence of the Hunger Games is a part of Panem’s. This universal acceptance—even hankering—for violent entertainment is a part of the rhetoric of entertainment in the Western world, as Guarnaschelli’s quote at the start of this chapter shows. Referencing gladiatorial games to describe a cooking show feels not only natural but apropos and expected; we have no problem seeing the contestants in The Next Iron Chef, whom we are ostensibly rooting for, as fierce competitors in a battle to the death.
This reverence for battle violence is what a reference to the Hunger Games would convey equally in Panem’s theoretical future, when knowledge of the Roman theaters would be even more ancient history. Of course, the Games themselves (even in their name, as “games”) are a pointed allusion to the gladiatorial games of Rome, in which socially marginalized slaves or venerated volunteers, trained to engage in armed combat against each other, wild animals, or condemned criminals, fought in hugely promoted shows for audiences of Roman nobility. Just as the gladiatorial games did for Rome (gladiators were usually prisoners of war, conscripted soldiers, or Roman criminals), Panem’s Hunger Games demonstrate the nation’s poor martial ethics and barbaric justice system.
Plenty of novels and films have used Rome’s gladiatorial games as inspiration. What makes the world of the Hunger Games different in structure from that of other dystopian works (most notably Battle Royale) is how Collins presents her subject matter as being excused by the population not because it’s custom or because of the fear of reprisal but because it is entertainment. Suzanne Collins has stated that her initial inspiration for the Hunger Games series came not from those games themselves, but from flipping between “reality” show programming and sensationalist news coverage of war on television.
The lush costumes entice sponsorship, like votes on Dancing with the Stars or American Idol; the short interviews outside of the main action given by the escorts, mentors, and Caesar Flickerman parallel the structure of countless reality dating programs. Claudius Templesmith fills the role of a futuristic Jeff Probst or Ryan Seacrest. And of course, the Gamemakers’ obstacles are seen by Panem’s general citizenry as little more than deadly Quickfire Challenges (sometimes literally, as with the fast-moving fireballs that chase Katniss across the arena in the Seventy-fourth Games).
The reality television narrative only gains traction in Catching Fire, when the Quarter Quell gives the Capitol citizens the “Hunger Games: All-Stars” edition they’ve been waiting three-quarters of a century for. It’s the perfect opportunity for placing bets, discussing in the streets, saving up to sponsor, and even—as in the case of the mockingjay fashion fad Katniss sees on the train—buying merchandise for their favorite contenders.
In Mockingjay, the rebellion uses the same “All-Stars” technique in their propos. Even while fighting the Capitol’s system,
the rebels still rely on Finnick’s heartthrob status and Gale’s “camera-ready” face to sell their message, proving that the importance of entertainment media in Panem culture rivals our own. They trust that a celebrity endorsement from Finnick Odair, or a cute boy on a television commercial, will sell the ideals of the rebellion better than unadulterated footage of a hospital bombing, and Suzanne Collins demonstrates that masterfully. The rebels don’t resign themselves to using the Capitol’s technique of entertainment as social control; they revel in it.
The trilogy’s scathing critique of reality television culture is not unprecedented, but it is unique to the Hunger Games in its execution. By focusing on Katniss, a participant in the medium who grew up as a spectator to it, the books are able to cast not only the reader, but the characters, into audience roles. In doing so, they subtly and successfully reflect our own enamored reading experience back to us—and show us the power that media can have over us.
Panem’s Hunger Games as a Media Spectacle
“The Treaty of Treason gave us new laws to guarantee peace and, as our yearly reminder that the Dark Days must never be repeated, it gave us the Hunger Games.”THG18
The Hunger Games began in Panem as a form of war reparations, but by Katniss’ entry in the Seventy-fourth Games, it is little more than a massive media spectacle on par with our own American Idol (there were 132 million votes cast for the 2012 finale, compared to 131.2 million in the 2008 presidential election), celebrity weddings (Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries’ wedding in 2011 cost approximately $10 million and recouped more than $18 million in ad revenue), or the Super Bowl ($245 million in advertising revenue in 2012). The Hunger Games in Panem are a showcase for haute couture fashion, including the debuts of fresh new designers like Cinna and Portia; an occasion for outings for all of the Capitol’s elite society, including President Snow himself and favored courtesan Finnick Odair; and, of course, a huge source of book-making revenue and sports betting.
By the seventy-fourth anniversary of the first rebellion’s conclusion, the Games are a spectacle of shock-and-awe entertainment, with the shock of children killing children nearly supplanted by the awe of the surrounding events’ scientific and visual brilliance, like the arena, designed anew each year, or Katniss’ fiery mockingjay wedding gown. However, through that spectacle, the Capitol reinforces its own position as the privileged leader of Panem and the true victors of the Games; while the districts must forfeit their children and watch the Games in fear and poverty, the Capitol citizens enjoy the same events in wealth, leisure, and safety. The Games have become something much more subtle than straightforward punishment; they have become entertaining television.
Television as Representation
It seems fair to assume that Collins’ background as a television writer (for Clarissa Explains It All; Little Bear; The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo1; Generation O!; and Wow! Wow! Wubzy!, almost all of which aired on the Viacom-owned Nickelodeon children’s media channel) hugely informed her depiction of the proceedings of the Hunger Games in Panem. This influence is especially evident in Plutarch Heavensbee and Caesar Flickerman, as representatives of the media culture in the Capitol.
Plutarch and Caesar are both concerned with creating appearances for the camera that forge an emotional connection between the viewer and what’s on their screen. Plutarch approaches this task as a producer, creating scenarios, manipulating opportunities for character interaction, and using special effects, scenery, and pacing to build a bond between viewer and performer. Caesar, however, encourages that sense of connection in a different way. He acts as a stand-in for the viewer, equivalent to the role of hosts of today’s “audition episodes” or reunion specials of reality shows, or talk news programs like The View or 60 Minutes, in which the viewer’s bond is dependent on the perception of a bond between the interviewer and interviewee.
Although the Gamemakers are cast as villains in Katniss’ world (oddly casting Collins’ own job as a media creator as being a cultural negative), Plutarch and Caesar provide contrasting humanitarian ideologies within the framework of mass media production. Plutarch is considered by many readers to be the “better person” because he helps to organize and lead the Second Rebellion. However, it can be argued that he did so for reasons that had more to do with power and personal freedom than the good of Panem. Plutarch did not use his influence as a Gamemaker to make the arenas any less deadly for the tributes—and his comment in Mockingjay that among the first broadcasts to start again after the war should be a singing competition suggests that Plutarch is more interested in the entertainment and submission of his audience than in improving the state of the media or the lives of its participants. In contrast, although Caesar Flickerman sides with the Capitol on political and sociopolitical levels, which many readers see as “evil,” even Katniss acknowledges that Caesar’s primary goal seems to be helping the tributes to gain sponsors—essentially, helping them gain a better chance at survival for not only themselves, but for their entire district if they are deemed the victor.
Caesar is a consummate man of the Capitol—coiffed, dyed, and heavily made up—but uses his position of influence in the media for the aid of others, as well as for his own benefit. Plutarch, despite being a rebel and a “good guy,” uses the media expressly to peddle his own ideas and promote his own well-being even at the dire expense of the less fortunate.
Still, the important thing about the Games, here, is not the intent of the individuals within the system, but the effect the Games have on viewers—and how the political gamemakers use the Games as a tool. And to understand that, we have to go back to where, for individual citizens of the district, participation in the Games begins.
The Games as Exploitation
Although we, as readers, generally see Katniss’ experience as a tribute as beginning with her volunteering at the seventy-fourth reaping ceremony, her participation as a contestant in the Hunger Games actually began when she was twelve years old and first signed up for tesserae. Besides being a form of welfare, taking tesserae can be seen as a television contract of sorts: in return for receiving grain and oil, Katniss must literally sign over her life and rights to her home, family, friends, and life story.
Yes, the name of every district citizen is entered between the ages of twelve and eighteen, once for every year of eligibility. But the “voluntary” nature of tesserae means Katniss is effectively increasing her chances of her own free will, signing up for the Games rather than being forced into participation. It’s just one more example of Panem’s systematic class warfare masquerading as a numbers game: everyone is being punished, but if you please the Capitol, your family may be punished less. The core of this idea—that the appeasement of the Capitol is tantamount to survival—informs the way the tributes and their mentors “play” the Hunger Games at every level. When the Capitol can do whatever they want to you without parameter or repercussion, what can a tribute do to make sure that “whatever the Capitol wants” is for them to survive?
Once Katniss is selected as tribute, we see several very overt references to reality TV in the Games, most obviously the opening ceremonies and interviews before the Games themselves. But there is one reality show staple echoed in the Hunger Games that’s less overt: the all-encompassing, wholly binding television contract required by networks such as MTV and VH1 of their reality show participants. Even now, in the United States, contestants on reality programming are presented with stringent contracts that those contracts themselves acknowledge “under ordinary circumstances . . . would be considered a ‘serious’ invasion of privacy.”xxxv
Joseph Melillo, a 24-year-old general assignment reporter for WENY-TV in Elmira, was offered a role in Real World XXIII: Washington D.C., but declined once he read the contract. “My image, my life story—all that was theirs,” the Trinity College grad recalls. Melillo also has Crohn’s disease, and if he had agreed to the paperwork, he would’ve lost his HIPAA privacy rights. MTV would’ve had complete freedom to explo
it his medical history . . . Under the original proposal, the crew could enter Melillo’s childhood home and take memorabilia for the show at any time.xxxvi
In both Catching Fire—under the Capitol—and Mockingjay—under the rebels—Katniss’ home and personal effects are treated as fodder for the audiences, both within and outside of the Games. She is expected to allow the camera crews into her home in the Seam, and then her home in the Victor’s Village. Her Victor’s Village home is bugged, as well—ostensibly to monitor for any potential rebellion but also reminiscent of the “night vision” cameras that are part and parcel of modern reality shows such as Jersey Shore and Big Brother. Further, in Catching Fire, the open access to her friends and family that she is required to afford the camera crew becomes a major plot point when one of the segments of the clock arena is full of jabberjays crying out in pain . . . using the voices of “Prim, Gale, my mother, Madge, Rory, Vick, even Posy, helpless little Posy.”CF344
What Katniss learns from this escapade is that despite not being in the arena, the people in her life have become characters in the Hunger Games spectacle as well—something Johanna highlights in her reassurance to Katniss that Prim is okay:
“The whole country adores Katniss’ little sister. If they really killed her [to record the jabberjays], they’d probably have an uprising on their hands,” says Johanna flatly. “Don’t want that, do they?”CF346
No doubt the Gamemakers thought that making Prim into a character, one who is innocent and relatable to Capitol viewers, would create an empathetic link to Katniss, even as she’s fiercely killing other tributes. For the viewers in the districts, though, Prim serves another purpose entirely, one unintended by the Gamemakers: a reminder that the fearsome tributes in the arena are sisters or brothers or daughters or sons, and that their own children could be next—unless the Games are stopped.