Deconstructing Dystopia

A deepdive into the complexities of YA dystopian novels and media literacy.

Words

Suzanne Collins’ young adult dystopian novel series “The Hunger Games” and its film adaptations took the world by storm in the late 2000s and throughout the early 2010s. As much as we love the Peeta vs. Gale debate, a sure part of their allure was certainly the underlying meanings and anti-capitalistic themes behind the depictions of the series’ central characters and government.

Over a decade following the original release of the “Hunger Games” trilogy, the series has recently seen a large resurgence of discourse surrounding just about every aspect of its plot, world, characters, and themes.

Naturally, some discussions within this discourse have been far less critical than others, to the point that misinterpreting the “Hunger Games” has seemingly become its very own subgenre within the discourse itself.

Online discussions regarding the “true” meaning of the series and what it stands for have proven to be rather unproductive, particularly on popular social media platforms like Twitter and TikTok — but this ultimately raises an important question: What is it about the “Hunger Games” series that has so many people coming to different conclusions? Surely finding a deeper meaning that a majority can agree on shouldn’t be that difficult.

The generally agreed-upon themes of the “Hunger Games” are those of anti-capitalism and anti-government, as seen frequently by the antagonistic actions of the Capitol versus the surrounding Districts. These themes help to establish and reinforce the central characters’ motives for fighting against the tyrannical government in an effort to overthrow the Capitol.

Collins found inspiration for the series while flipping through television channels, going from reality shows to footage of the Iraq War. The idea of how Western society has the ability to watch greed, xenophobia, power, and suffering as entertainment motivated her to write the dystopian series to both parallel and speak on current real-world issues. Collins found this combination of being able to view superficial reality stars and war-stricken nations a disturbing, yet interesting idea to base her novel on.

Since the release of the novels and films, the series has become a worldwide phenomenon, with the characters, storylines, settings, and themes becoming cemented within pop culture. Yet with this, it appears people look at parts of the series for what can be seen, not necessarily what they symbolize. Although the films are faithful adaptations, the novels are able to dive deeper into themes of violence, trauma, and inequality than the films have time to display. This is where the misconceptions come into play, where most of the discourse is between those who only watched the films versus those who read the novels and watched the films.

The ironic part of the discourse is how the very people who misunderstand the context of the series are the very ones the books are critiquing and satirizing. They rarely look deeper than what they initially perceive and view the series as only a purpose of entertainment rather than the intense seriousness of the storylines that parallel realworld events and beliefs.