Built upon themes like excessive consumerism, inequality of people and post-war world, The Hunger Games presents itself as a dystopic view of the world in the near future. The story is set in a nation know as Panem with its center of power- the “Capitol” lying in the rocky mountain surround by the 12 oppressed districts. The Capitol is home to wealthy and influential people including the dictator of the nation, President Coriolanus Snow, and the for the 12 districts- the rest of the nation’s citizens who are poor and oppressed, living in a lifestyle in contrary to those in the Capitol that is sumptuous and extravagant. As a punishment for a past rebellion against the Capitol, the Hunger Games is established as a form of control by induce fear in the people and also to provide entertainment to the people of the city in the form of a reality show. Many elements of the storyline can be seen as being in parallel with the common constituent of a dystopia.
Originating from the Greek word δυσ-, meaning bad/hard, and τόπος (-topia) meaning place/landscape, the term is defined as an imaginary place that represents the worst human fear of what the world could be in its worst state, environmentally and socially. Perhaps, one of the most well-known past social states that is very similar to this dystopian value, and the Hunger Games environment itself, is Hitler’s fascist Germany. The environment of The Hunger Games can thus, be interpreted as basing of its details, in some portion, to this totalitarian order. Firstly, the structure of the system, the totalitarian order, is present in both Fascist Germany and in Panem, where President Coriolanus controls its wealthy population through excessive indoctrination of certain ‘aesthetics’ such as fashion that is described as “exotic and ostentatious, with citizens dyeing their skin and hair vivid colors, adopting tattoos and undergoing extensive surgical alteration in the name of style”. The aesthetics of the capital even expanded to affect how people communicate as well, as the dialects of the Capitols are “high-pitched with clipped tones and odd vowels [while] the letter S is a hiss with clipped tones and odd vowels”.
Furthermore, the architecture of the Nazi and the Capitol are very similar as well. Where those of the Nazi are characteristically know to be of Neo-Greco-Roman style with some Art Deco decorations, the architecture of the Capitols are said to be distinctively “Roman”. Roman elements of the Capitols goes on to also include the first name of the citizens as well, which is said to be of “ancient Greco-Roman Derivation”
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| The Iron Eagle of the Nazi Germany is very similar to the symbol of the Panem capital |
Lastly, the social structure of Panem very closely mimics that of the German people and its Jews population. In The Hunger Games, the people of the Districts are shown to be heavily oppressed and controlled. When a citizen turns 12 years old, his or her name is automatically entered into the "reaping," a lottery from which the tributes are drawn to be participated in the hunger games. This is quite similar to the way Jews are oppressed such as being segregated into special areas to live or being prohibited to buy or sell things. The jews are also kept out of the German economy, remaining very poor in many cases, much like how the people in the capitol are extremely rich while those in the Districts are extremely poor.
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