The Hunger Games: parody or prophecy?
The Hunger Games
Directed by Gary Ross (2012)
142 mins
Reviewed by Laura Fitzgerald
THE DEPICTION of a deranged dystopian realm is not
an unfamiliar one to cinema goers. Last year there was the chilling
Never Let Me Go with Kiera Knightly and Carey Mulligan, and the
re-discovery of V for Vendetta (2006) by the ‘Indignados’ and Occupy
protesters. The Hunger Games, a film adaption of the first novel of a
bestselling teenage trilogy by Suzanne Collins, in that sense is not
groundbreaking or exceptional. However, with the captivating appeal of
its feisty heroine, Katniss Everdeen, played with subtlety and
intelligence by Jennifer Lawrence, and its portrayal of themes such as
extreme inequality, lack of democracy, dictatorship, the depravity of
the tabloid media and reality television that echo many of the themes of
the Occupy movement, mean that Hunger Games packs quite a punch.
Set in the future, the world we see horrifies. With
the nation divided into 12 districts, the annual ‘Hunger Games’ are
presided over by the ruling elite, with two young people or ‘Tributes’
from each district forced to compete in a gruesome televised battle in
the wilderness whereby the last Tribute left alive, wins. The prize for
the victor? Wealth and prestige. Katniss, by virtue of her innate
humanity, becomes a symbol of the potential for something different.
This begins when Katniss, in a bid to save her sister from the Hunger
Games, becomes the first ever volunteer Tribute.
A miner’s daughter from a desperately poor district,
Katniss is adrift for a few fleeting days amongst the wealthy city
dwellers, as the Tributes train for the Hunger Games which promise
impending death for all but one. A perplexed Katniss has her body and
eyebrows waxed and bleached to prepare her for an interview with a seedy
gameshow host. It’s no coincidence that Katniss’s natural beauty is most
compelling however, when she is not painted, plucked, polished and in
the glare of a disingenuous, stage-managed and voyeuristic camera.
Katniss, whose father’s death in a mining accident
rendered her provider for her family, is a survivor. Her ingenuity and
skill in approaching the Hunger Games are touchingly combined with the
human solidarity displayed in the friendship she develops with a young,
black, female Tribute.
Costume and appearance take on symbolic meaning in
the film. The almost grotesque appearance of the wealthy city dwellers,
adorned in ostentatious clothing and clown-like make-up, is designed to
reinforce the juxtaposition of extreme wealth and poverty. The rich
appear colourful yet ridiculous, and the poor district dwellers, dressed
in shabby greys and browns, look approachable and human. The ruling
elite’s fostering of a ‘dog eat dog’ mentality via the Hunger Games,
similarly parodies today’s world that is dominated by a capitalist
system beset by crisis, as austerity is ruthlessly implemented no matter
the human cost.
It emerges that the immensely grim, dictatorial
system of governance that the film depicts arose in the aftermath of a
crushed rebellion. Katniss’s participation in the Hunger Games gives a
new glimpse of hope to people in this context. The necessity for Katniss
to fake a romantic relationship in order to beat the system will
undoubtedly curb Katniss, and mirrors the difficulty that young people
have in achieving genuine self expression and development and positive
human relations in a capitalist world dominated by corporate media that
enforces rigid ideas on beauty, gender roles etc. Something is
a-brewing, however – can Katniss spark a rebellion? Watch this space.
