The Hunger Games is much deeper than you remember | A Postcolonial Analysis

suzanne collins the hunger games is a pop cultural phenomenon that enthralled millions and millions of readers across the globe with its unyielding heroine its somewhat compelling romance and not to mention its action-packed depiction of a dystopian era revolution and although it's categorized as young adult fiction there is a lot more than meets the eye to this series laden within the framework of this franchise are post-colonial themes such as exploitation colonialism and othering and i will get into explaining those terms a little bit later in case you're wondering what i'm drinking it's sparkling apple cider so i'll just read to you the wikipedia definition postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural legacy of colonialism and imperialism focusing on the human consequences of the control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands more specifically it is a critical theory analysis of the history culture literature and discourse of usually european imperial power now with that definition in mind i think the hunger games has a multitude of post-colonial themes laden all over its framework and though not so obvious to the average viewer or reader pan am does demonstrate a colonial paradigm i think this colonial model is made most apparent in the second installment catching fire in catching fire katniss and peeta take a victory tour around the 12 districts and then they end it in the capital so they are exposed to the wealth and luxury and opulence of the capital as well as the poorer and destitute and exploitive situations of those in the districts so first and foremost exploitive colonialism is very strongly demonstrated in pan am's core structure now we see this example of exploitation colonialism most clearly through katniss and peta's tour throughout pan am and all of its districts exploitation colonialism is the national economic policy of conquering a country to exploit its population as labor and its natural resources as raw material as they are traveling through the districts the reader is exposed to the exploitation that most of the district members undergo under the rule of the capital one example is district 11. district 11 citizens for example are subject to work in agriculture as its land consists of hundreds of miles of rolling fertile fields however a vast majority of their harvest goes to feed the citizens of the capital leaving most of the 11 citizens with little food for themselves the entire district is encompassed by a 35-foot barbed wire fence rendering it impossible for its citizens to leave if they please law enforcement officers known as peacemakers oversee all the work that is done to ensure enough is produced similarly all the other districts specialize in producing specific resources that by and large go towards supporting the capital as a tour carries on katniss notes the characteristics of a number of districts a glimpse of the sea in one district towering forests in another ugly factories fields of wheat stinking refineries the lands of each district are utilized by its citizens through force to provide resources and materials for the capital this strongly echoes the characteristics of exploitation colonialism the goal of which is to utilize a land and its people for resources and gain in the real world colonial paradigm it's usually a foreign power that exploits a weaker power for its land and its resources one real world example being britain exploiting and colonizing india but in the hunger games it is the government itself that is exploiting its own people within the bounds of its own nation another stark example of this that is elaborated on in the series are the coal mines of district 12. district 12 specializes in coal mining because of its location in the appalachian mountains as mentioned in the first book many of the residents tirelessly work in the mines every day to provide all of pan am with the coal necessary to fuel many of its industries for providing such an important resource for pan am they receive very little in return and most mine workers live in district 12 slum with barely enough food to feed their families so in pan am social and economic structure the colonized which in this case represents is represented by the district citizens are exploited for gain by the colonial power which in this case is the capital hello new day new outfit let me hop right back into it so i just concluded talking about exploitation and exploitation colonialism and how it's apparent in the hunger games in the structure of pan am so now i want to get into the social and class contrast between the district citizens and the citizens of the capital and how this echoes the roles of colonizer and colonized and the social contrast between these two groups is made most apparent at the end of the victory tour um which takes place in the capital and during it we get a glimpse of the very privileged lives of pan am's wealthiest citizens you know the capital is home to like their politicians and the president himself presidents know so essentially the capital citizens echo the role of the colonizer according to famous post-colonial theorist albert mehme the colonizer is characterized by privilege profit and usurpation the capital citizens profit off of the exploitation of the district citizens and as a result of this profit they are the most privileged in panam they live in total urban luxury with more food and resources than they could ever need or ever want and so as katniss and peeta attend the end of victory tour party in the capital it is revealed just how privileged and ostentatious their the capital um citizens lifestyles are so katniss thinks to herself comparing what she sees to the conditions of district 12 all i can think about are the emaciated bodies of children on our kitchen table as my mother prescribes what the parents can't give more food here in the capital they're vomiting for the pleasure of filling their bellies again and again so if you've seen the movie or you've read the book um you'll know at this capital party um katniss and peta are offered this drink that capital citizens take to make themselves throw up so that they can continue eating more and more um so it's not an understatement to say that the the standard of living in the capital is much higher than that of the districts where people are often struggling to find food in their day-to-day lives the capital citizens privilege in pan am however is for the vast majority of the time not earned capital citizens are afforded their status by simply being born into the capital as there's no way for district citizens to rise in ranking and become capital residents they are forever subject to being residents of their district this is very similar to the way in which the colonized cannot become a colonizer in the colonial dichotomy the group one is a part of is determined by being born into it and they've remained assigned to it at least in part stated differently it makes them usurpers and so this completes memi's three-step criteria for the colonizer privilege profit and usurpation another important social contrast between the two groups is their way of speaking the capital residents speak in british english accents while the district citizens speak in american english accents and this is described in the first book of the series under the discussion of colonial and post-colonial themes this detail should not go unrecognized as it can be seen as a nod to the grouping of the colonized and the colonizer in british colonial america in fact suzanne collins revealed that her creation of the 13 districts in the hunger games was a nod to the 13 american colonies so the separatism between the two groups the district citizens and the capital citizens is also emphasized by the very very stark difference between their clothing and their physical appearances the capital citizens adorn themselves with very bright and elaborate clothing with over-the-top accessories and adornments and this comes into various stark contrast with the clothing of the district citizens who usually dress very plain a lot of the time their clothing is tattered is worn out and it's mainly always in neutral colors most in the capital even go to the extent of extreme body modifications from plastic surgery to tattoos and dyes while a team of stylists from the capitol are fixing katniss's hair and makeup they remark how they wish they could make her special by altering her body um averse to the idea she then thinks to herself quote do they not even realize how freakish they look to the rest of us now this parallels how physical differences strongly come into play in colonialism most often one of the major things that separates the colonized and the colonizers are the physical differences of race skin color and features furthermore katniss's thoughts also reflect how the colonized may view the colonizer and their ways as very bizarre and unfavorable the stylists remarks exhibit how capital citizens live in their own reality where they are so focused on themselves and blinded by their privilege that they are unaware of how they are perceived by other groups this echoes the way in which colonizers lack awareness and are often so blind to how strange their ways and physical appearance looks to the colonized that they do not consider that the colonized perhaps do not favor their way of doing things so we talked about the dichotomy between colonizer and colonized and what contrasted two groups now let's talk about hybridity now hybridity is a term that postcolonial theorist homie baba came up with hybridity is the creation of new trans-cultural forms in other words the co-mingling of two cultural groups hybridity is demonstrated in catching fire through the position of the victors the victors are the co-mingling of pan am's capital and district citizens victors are the winners of the annual hunger games an event where two individuals from each district are thrown into an arena to fight to the death the capital of course does not participate they just watch to be entertained the last one standing becomes a victor once crowned victors are given financial privilege and celebrity status all of pan am principally the capital know their names and even some details of their private lives as they're broadcasted on televised interviews across the nation during katniss and peta's victory tour as previously mentioned they mingle with the most important residents of the capital including pan am's president no longer ordinary members of their district they live in comfort and wealth in the district's victor's village a neighborhood with large-scale and spacious houses separate from all the others in their respective districts they are however still subjugated by the hegemony and are used as capital tools under threat of harm to further its hegemonic agenda thus the victors in many aspects are a class of their own sort of existent in this third space created by the fusion of the district and the capital classes and this precisely echoes the idea of hybridity throughout much of the novel katniss and peta really really struggle to navigate in this conceptual third space that they find themselves in they desire to remain loyal to their districts and all of the citizens plights and protests against the abusive and oppressive government but also on the other hand as victors loved by the capital they're pressured by the capital leaders to express capital sentiment and further the idea of district political adherence this struggle to navigate both as capital puppets and as district citizens is notably exemplified through you guessed it the victory tour before the victory tour president snow pays katniss a visit and informs her about uprisings beginning to take place in some districts these protests are inspired by peta and katniss's behavior in the hunger games arena as tributes many perceived the action they committed in an effort to survive as rebellious acts against the capital president snow warns katniss under threat of killing her loved ones that this tour will be her only chance to turn things around subsequently throughout the tour katniss and peta deliver speeches completely contrived by the capital primarily written to convince audiences of their allegiance to pan am they diverged from the script once while in district 11. the tributes from this district thresh and rue aided katniss while she was in the arena and ultimately saved her life following peta's personal comments in which he promises to give a portion of their earnings every month to decease to the deceased victims families as an act that has never before been done by a victor katniss realizes she must express a genuine thank you in her own words quote how can i stand here passive and mute leaving all the words to peta if roo had won she never would have let my death go unsung i remember how i took care in the arena to cover her with flowers to make sure her loss did not go unnoticed but that gesture will mean nothing if i don't support it now end quote she then goes on to personally thank both rue and thresh's families emphasizing that she thinks the root every day and sees her in her own little sister prim this is a very crucial moment in the novel peta and katniss's position as victors requires that they uphold loyalty to the capital first and foremost however it is in this moment that they realize that despite their role they can't ignore the plights of the district citizens they themselves are district citizens and therefore they fully understand and empathize with their positions they refuse to ignore this part of their conscience and identity however the public effects of the struggle of existing in this in between space is starkly demonstrated immediately after katniss's speech upon hearing her poignant tribute all the citizens present in the crowd give her a left-handed salute in unison because of her position katniss is horrified to see this quote if i hadn't spoken to president snow this gesture might move me to tears but with recent orders to calm the districts fresh in my ears it fills me with dread i only meant to express my thanks but i elicited something dangerous an active dissent from the people of district 11. this is exactly the kind of thing i'm supposed to be defusing end quote katniss and peta cannot simultaneously remain loyal to their identities as district citizens while also playing their required role for the capital as victors but by doing so they feel as if they're betraying their own identities as members of district 12 and ignoring the oppression of the other district citizens that they themselves have undergone throughout their whole lives however when they attempt to empathize with the subjugated district citizens and serve that part of the their identity the consequences that ensue are very dangerous this precisely echoes the nature of hybridity the hybrid constantly has to navigate between their two cultural positions and this often is an immense struggle involving loyalty identity and the use of conscience so the next postcolonial theme is the theme of the subaltern the representation of the subaltern in the hunger games is demonstrated through the characterization and the position of the a boxes postcolonial theorist gayatri spivak describes the subaltern as quote a person without lines of social mobility and one that has limited or no access to the cultural imperialism it is a space of difference because of their position spivak declares that the subaltern cannot speak in other words they cannot be heard by others in the societal paradigm now oppression is not the only criteria for the subaltern subalterns are displaced to the very margins of society the district citizens as a whole while oppressed are not subalterns because there are lines of social mobility and privilege within each of the districts this is demonstrated when katniss describes the social order in district 12. there are some people that live in the more middle class area of society and then there are the poorer ones who are the coal mine workers so there are different club economic there are different um class dynamics within each district there is however a whole group that is completely cut off and marginalized from all the participation and aspects of cultural imperialism in the hunger games and that group is the a boxes the avoxes are capital servants who are subjected to a lifetime of servitude as punishment for either committing treason or attempting to escape pan am as slaves they are completely stripped of their agency in every way and are thus cast into the most marginalized section of society rendering them as the ball turns the salient characteristic of the avoxes are their muteness as a part of their punishment for treason or attempting to run away the capital cuts their tongues out in other words they are literally rendered mute by the hegemony this detail presents itself so perfectly as if to say yes indeed the subaltern cannot speak because the hegemony has cut their tongues out and stripped them of this ability so this brings me to the conclusion of this analysis so to briefly summarize the hunger games specifically catching fire demonstrates exploitation colonialism through its depiction of the structural makeup of pan am it demonstrates the colonial dichotomy of colonize and colonizer through the contrast between the district citizens and the capital citizens it demonstrates hybridity through its depiction of katniss and peta and their position as victors as well as it demonstrates the position of the subaltern through its characterization of the mute a boxes what exactly is the takeaway from all of this why is it is it important or why does it matter to be the hunger games through a post-colonial lens well i would argue that it's important because it demonstrates a new form of colonialism that could easily develop the colonial situation is typically thought to come in the form of one dominant country asserting its power and control over another country but the hunger games demonstrates that the colonial dichotomy can form within a single nation a government can colonize its own people additionally colonialism is perceived by many to be a thing of the past from a time period that human history has moved on from even the term postcolonialism can be a bit misleading because it implies that the colonial period has passed and we are far removed from it viewing postcolonialism in a novel that depicts a futuristic dystopian society i think reveals the fact that it's always possible for colonialism and colonial dichotomies to reform it demonstrates that colonialism is not just a thing of the past it's not bound by a period of history colonialism and the colonial dichotomy like i said will always have the possibility to form in different ways in the structures of both present and future societies no matter their technological advancement and so if we don't want history to repeat itself we must be aware of this thank you for watching bye [Music] you

Channel: nellie

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Keywords: the hunger games, video essay, video analysis, sharing, analysis, postcolonialism, catching fire

Id: PcbsYiXWKz8

Length: 23min 6sec (1386 seconds)

Published: Sun May 23 2021