Watching the Hunger Games in My Hometown

I’ve loved The Hunger Games since I was first introduced to the books years ago (a secret about me, if you didn’t already know it: I love young adult fiction and fantasy). Its apocalyptic tropes, its revolutionary message, its clear analysis of socioeconomic class, and its parallels to our own world led me to read it over and over as a welcome alternative to theological tomes in seminary.

This past weekend, I watched the double feature of the Hunger Games in our local theater, along with a gaggle of high school students and their parents. As the film panned the Seam in District 12, it struck me that parts of the town I was sitting in looked not at all dissimilar. All along the river just outside of the theater, dozens of people were sleeping in makeshift shelters. Just minutes before, I had driven past the giant old buildings, more like tenements, that houses the city’s poor, which might be a larger percentage of the population than those who are not poor. I’ve grown up around the old farmhouses up the valleys, which more often than not hide a great deal of economic struggle. The guy in front of me had been talking to a friend just before the movie about how difficult it was for him to find a steady income.

The story touches me particularly at certain points. Katniss and Gale’s overwhelming desire to do all in their power to protect their family and their siblings reminds me of my role as the oldest child in a rural and working class home. Katniss’ inability to dream of marriage in an unstable world, I think, resonates deeply with more and more poverty stricken young people, here and elsewhere. It is really hard to make a commitment to someone if you cannot see further than a few days or weeks into the future.

Since I watched the film (twice, of course!), I have noticed quite a few articles trying to connect young people with activism, using the Hunger Games as a tool. While I appreciate the sentiment, I have noticed that all the articles and videos I have seen promote a kind of altruism—we who have enough ought to help the poor, ought to support social programs that help the poor, etc. The social analysis—that more and more people are poor—is spot on. But something is missing.

The Hunger Games is not about how the Capitol and those who live in it should care about the districts. It is not about altruism. It is about a couple of poor kids from the districts who are desperately struggling to survive in a world stacked against them. It is about how the districts themselves take matters into their own hands and take hold of their own destiny and reclaim their own dignity. Please, yes, care about people who are poor. The Capitol should have cared.

But, never for a second imagine that things change unless people take power for themselves, unless the poor lead their own movements, unless the guy sitting in front of me at that theater gets together with a bunch of other people and says—this is enough!