Ross, Gary and Francis Lawrence, directors. The Hunger Games. Lionsgate, 2012.
The Hunger Games has some pretty scathing critiques of poverty, power, consumption, and violence, along with a myriad of other issues. For this post I’m going to focus on the economic inequality present in THG. We’ll be reading from a Marxist perspective, meaning we’ll be on the lookout for specific symbolism and parallels that relate to class struggle and economic systems, like capitalism and communism. Just a heads up, there will be spoilers for the entire hunger games book and movie series, so if you haven’t read the books, you’ve been warned!!
Here is a brief summary of The Hunger Games for those who haven’t read the books: The Hunger Games, a book series written by Suzanne Collins, follows the story of Katniss Everdeen; a teenager living in the 12th district of the dystopian country of Panem. Each of the 12 districts is responsible for producing a certain good for the Capitol (12 produces coal, 7 produces lumber, 8 produces textiles, etc.) and are unfairly compensated for their labor, if they are compensated at all. This leaves the people of the districts in crushing poverty, often succumbing to starvation and illness, while the people in the Capitol are ludicrously wealthy. The districts are kept in place by the Peacekeepers, a militant extension of the Capitol that threatens violence against the people of the districts if they don’t meet the level of production that the Capitol needs. The districts rebelled long ago but lost against the capitol. Every year since, as punishment to the districts and as a reminder of their power over them, the Capitol demands that each of the twelve districts sacrifice two children to compete in the Hunger Games, a televised fight-to-the-death competition.
The country of Panem works under a quasi-capitalist system. Although the market is not truly “free” as it would be in pure capitalism, there is still a free market (though it mostly exists in the Capitol city). Although the government controlling the means of production is not very capitalist of them, the goods that are produced are bought and sold in a market which experiences shortages and price hikes (as discussed in Catching Fire). It’s sort of like how we outsource labor to other countries. The means of production are owned by our companies, but often the governments of the places we outsource to will work with the companies to control the workers and make sure they maintain the level of production desired by the company. Our free market creates a demand for those goods at a low price, which in turn leads to abuse of workers in other places to maintain the production of the good at a low price. Panem is sort of like the worst possible version of capitalism, where all of the good things about capitalism have gone out the window and all of the awful stuff is amplified by 100. It’s a kind of combination of feudalism and capitalism. Interestingly, Panem is actually quite similar to Marx’s depiction of a capitalist society, as described in the Communist Manifesto. According to Marx, there are two distinct social classes: the bourgeoisie (the ruling class) and the proletariat (the working class). The working class is forced to produce goods for the bourgeoisie without owning any of the goods they were producing. The bourgeoisie gets all the benefits of the work without having to do anything for it. Sound familiar? In the case of Panem, we can pretty confidently place the people of the Districts in the proletariat working class, and the people of the Capitol in the bourgeoisie. The people in the Districts do all of the labor in this system, while the bourgeoisie, people like Effie Trinket and the people Katniss and Peeta meet at victory parties and so on, do absolutely no meaningful work and live in total excess. But just like real life, the social structure of Panem is a bit more complicated.
Marx acknowledged that other systems, like the government, the courts, and the military were under the influence of the bourgeoisie in order to further oppress the working class, and in Panem similar systems come into play. The government of Panem, ostensibly called “The Capitol” is headed by President Snow. The government has ultimate control over everyone in both classes, but is made up of members of the bourgeoisie. Therefore its main aims are to promote the interests of the ruling class. It’s also interesting to note the wordplay going on with the term “Capitol.” In Panem, this word both refers to the government and the city where the government, and all the wealth, is located. The word “Capitol” spelled with an “O” technically only refers to the building of the legislature. “Capital” with an “A” is supposed to be used to refer to the city where the government sits. The implication of using “Capitol” to refer to the city instead of “Capital” indicates that the government has extended its reach beyond the usual means. They control the entire city, not just one building. It’s also kind of a pun on the meaning of capital that refers to money. The Capitol controls the capital!
Moving on to other systems. As far as we know, there are no physical courts in Panem, but there is the court of public opinion, which as we learn throughout the series is one of the most influential elements of the revolution. This “court” so to speak is headed by the Media. There are television shows, talk show hosts, and reporters who are also members of the bourgeoisie, and also aim to promote the interests of that class. While there is the implication that many of these entities are completely controlled by the government, some individual people within this subgroup seem to have some leeway in their actions. Caesar Flickerman, the main talk-show host for the in-world Hunger Games genuinely seems to care about the tributes and does his best to help them succeed. Within his interviews, he allows and sometimes encourages his interviewees to say things that are detrimental or critical of the Capitol government. While he is undoubtedly part of the state media, Caesar seems to have his own agenda at some points.
Continuing on to the military, we can find a pretty obvious comparison in the ironically named “Peacekeepers,” soldiers who the Capitol uses to keep the Districts in line. These so-called peacekeepers simply exist to stamp out any flicker of rebellion they might see in the proletariat district class. Although they aren’t technically part of the bourgeoisie class, they are an agent of it, and their actions perpetuate the unjust social class structure.
Another key element of this class structure is that there is a distinct lack of social mobility. If you were born in District 12, that’s where you have to stay until you die. There’s almost no way to improve your situation, aside from winning the hunger games and having the privilege of moving into the Victor’s Villa and getting a monthly stipend from the Capitol. You can’t move from one district to another, which is important because some districts have better prospects than others. Although they’re all abused by the system and none of them control the means of production, the capitol treats some districts better than others. District 1, for example, gets better treatment from the capitol in terms of food and compensation for labor because they are closest in proximity to the capitol. This is another way the capitol pits the districts against each other as a mean of maintaining control over them. District 1 is still being treated like shit, but they could be being treated like District 12, so it’s a lot easier for people in district 1 to toe the line and just do what the capitol wants. It’s worth noting that district 12 is the smallest district, so even if they did get tired of being treated like absolute crap there’s literally nothing they can do. Even if every person in District 12 decides to revolt, the capitol could easily wipe them out. Which they do eventually do. So this favoring some districts over others is just another way the capitol maintains control over its citizens.
All in all, the classes and social groups of Panem fit pretty neatly into this anti-capitalist poster from 1911. Those who rule are the Capitol government, those who “fool” or deceive are not religion but the media, the military is the peacekeepers, the bourgeoisie are the citizens of the capitol, and the workers getting screwed over are the people in the districts.
So we’ve established the social class structure of Panem is pretty in line with Marx’s and 20th century labour unions ideas of what a capitalist society looks like, but what does all that mean in the context of the book? What is the book trying to say about this class system?
First we have to look at how each class is portrayed. The government is pretty cruel and blood-thirsty, shown by their treatment in those in the lower classes and the games themselves. They’re literally forcing children to fight each other to the death, and turn it into a game. The Capitol citizens are displayed as mostly dopey and ignorant, much to the disgust of Katniss and other district people. They don’t understand how difficult life is in the districts, or don’t seem to care. They also treat the Hunger Games like a spectator sport, rooting for their favorite tributes and applauding the murders of the ones they don’t like. They have wild fashion trends, born from the fact that they have nothing better to do with their time than dye their hair and skin fantastic colors and get plastic surgery to make them look different than everyone else. I think the mentality and ignorance of the capital citizens can be summed up pretty well in one scene from Catching Fire. Katniss and Peeta, having won the 74th Hunger Games, go on a victory tour around the districts, finally ending with a fantastic feast at the Capitol city. Katniss and Peeta, used to being on the brink of starvation 99% of the time, are completely dazzled by all the really rich and fine food. The resolve to try one bite of everything, but stop when they are full. Meanwhile the Capitol citizens eat as much as they want and then throw the food they just ate back up so they can eat even more, and suggest Katniss and Peeta do the same. Katniss and Peeta are of course disgusted by this idea. The people in their district barely have enough to eat to survive, meanwhile the Capitol citizens eat for pleasure, overconsuming the fruit of the district’s labor without a second thought.
Considering the Capitol citizens are portrayed as pretty much the most ignorantly evil people in existence, and the Capitol government is portrayed as one of the most cruel and blood-thirsty governments of all time, I’d say the Hunger Games as a whole is pretty critical of the upper classes and government of these systems. But to break it down further, let's look at how all of this plays out in the course of the books- who rebels and why, how they’re successful, and what the end result is.
Katniss, the hero of our story, is a relatively normal girl from district 12, the poorest district. She is different from her peers in that she is a skilled hunter and gatherer, despite both being illegal. She volunteers for the hunger games in place of her younger sister, Prim. It is pretty immediately established that we are supposed to root for Katniss. Maybe not like her, since she’s pretty obstinate, rude, and anti-social, but we see and understand her struggle as a member of district 12, and the unfair hand she’s been dealt with her place on the social ladder. Her dad died when she was young, her family almost starved to death multiple times, and to top it off she now has to participate in this barbaric show of power from the ruling class where she’ll be forced to fight to the death against 23 other members of her own working class. (just as an aside i think it’s really interesting that the games pits the districts against each other and tries to create competition within the working class when the reality is they’re all victims of the bourgeoisie- just like in real life when people pit minorities against each other) Katniss is having a bad time, but that bad time gets even worse when she unintentionally spurs the anger of the Capitol by saving both herself and her fellow district mate Peeta in the games. While there was only supposed to be one winner, Katniss threatens double suicide by poison berries instead of having one of them kill the other. This supremely pisses off the Government, in particular President Snow. This act of defiance against the capitol sparks revolutions in several of the districts, which eventually blows up into a full-out war. The districts eventually enlist the help of District 13, the nuclear district, which they previously believed had been smited by the Capitol but in reality has been hiding underground since the Hunger Games began.
Now I’m summarizing here, but mostly because I’m more interested in the end result of this rebellion than the rebellion itself. The Districts win in the end, overtaking the Capitol city though not without sustaining heavy losses. Since the book is from Katniss’ perspective, we have a limited view of what society looks like after the war, but there are a couple of interesting things that I think are in line with a Marxist reading of the book. Katniss returns to district 12, her home, which was firebombed after the war. Some others return with her, because as Katniss says, “whatever has happened, this is still our home.” Together, the district plows the ground and begins to farm, and they build a factory to make medicine. Now, we don’t really know what type of government rules Panem, or really who owns the factory or the things they produce. Katniss assassinated the leader of District 13, president Coin, because she was as totalitarian as Snow. So it’s possible that 13 is still in charge, but from the descriptions after Coin dies it seems that there isn’t really that much government at all. We know trains connect the districts still, and that Gale, Katniss’ old friend from 12, has a “fancy job” in District 2. But District 12 seems to be relatively classless. There are certain roles that people play, but there’s no government, no higher and lower class, just a group of people sustaining themselves on the fruits of their own labor. And it’s peaceful. Katniss is a pretty troubled person by the end of this series, but she does find peace in this new structure of her hometown. She even feels safe enough to raise her own children there, despite saying many times before in earlier books that she would not have any kids in District 12, because it was just too miserable an existence. When we flash forward 20 years in the future, District 12 seems to have been thriving. This is Marx’s dream, his prediction of what society should look like after the proletariat rebels. While the rest of Panem is one big question mark, we know that District 12 at least achieved this goal.
By reading this series from a Marxist perspective, we’ve unveiled a scathing critique of capitalism and a fairly glowing endorsement of communism. But there are plenty of ways to read this book, and I don’t want to send anyone away with the impression that this is the only one. A lot of what I said here could just as easily be applied to a critique of totalitarianism and dictatorships. However, I do think this series has a lot of Marxist elements that are really interesting to study! There’s a ton more details I had to leave out for the sake of organization and time - the way race plays a role in your place in society, the reuse of certain buildings from the society that came before panem (banks being turned into government buildings, etc.) and the role of district 13 as a means of control from the capitol. But that’s part of the joy of these books- they’re so rich with symbolism and meaning!
This post is a part of a larger project called “Expand the Canon” which aims to bring to light thematic and technical elements of Young Adult literature that are overlooked because of their genre. If you want to join the discussion, you can follow the project’s instagram, @expandthecanon which is linked. Thanks!
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