WHY THE HUNGER GAMES WAS NEVER ABOUT THE HUNGER GAMES 

Now ReadingWhy The Hunger Games Was Never About The Hunger Games

Why The Hunger Games Was Never About The Hunger Games

Warning: Spoilers for The Hunger Games and Catching Fire follow, as well as some references to the Mockingjay novel...

The moment that Katniss Everdeen stepped forward to take her sister\'s place in The Hunger Games, her life ceased to be her own. In her mind, it was her physical self that was in jeopardy. She would die in the arena, Katniss was certain. Her body became the property of a government who would use it as a tool to maintain control over a population desperate to break free of its clutches. She was waxed, groomed, and primed for the slaughter. However, it was a tug-of-war to control her image, the meaning of her life, that truly ensued following her instinctual act of madness and bravery.

When the first film in The Hunger Games franchise was released, much was made of its similarities to Battle Royale, and to a lesser degree, The Twilight Saga. As those who had read the books in their entirety know, however, those comparisons were always superficial at best. Author Suzanne Collins essentially took what might have otherwise been a very clever (and yes, not unheard of) gimmick and elevated it with sharp and engaging world-building. With the games as her launching pad, Collins created one of the more dynamic heroes we\'ve seen in fiction in the last several years. Yet that was just the beginning; the author essentially invited her audience in utilizing savvy storytelling techniques and slowly revealed the true crux of her tale. This is a war story, not a tale of teen love set in a dystopian fantasy.

As I touched on in my review for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, by the time we reach the final installment in the book series, it becomes entirely clear that this series in no way hinges on a romantic triangle. Furthermore, the bloodletting of the arena was simply utilized as a backdrop for a nation on the brink of collapse. Katniss was always a pawn in a much larger game. She was painted and presented as a toy for the Capitol citizens to fawn over and adore. In an attempt to save herself, Katniss submitted to the masquerade. She manufactured a romance with Peeta to endear each of them to this populace who played with their survival as if they were amusing plastic dolls.

Unbeknownst to her, her "moves and counter-moves" against her opponents and the games keepers were read as acts of rebellion. Her love of two small girls (Prim and Rue) was interpreted as a call to revolution. Katniss was driven by a primal desire to live and see that her sister did as well. Yet, she was reduced to a symbol for others to use towards their own ends. Her own complex feelings and responses were reinterpreted and twisted to conform to whatever message either the Capitol or the rebels wanted to send. Perhaps even more tragically, the people themselves seemed to prefer that she be diluted down to soundbites rather than understand her as the rich, dynamic, and deeply conflicted human being that she is.

As we have seen in the trailers, it\'s not just the Capitol that is playing the image-making game. The rebellion wants to utilize its Mockingjay as a rallying call to the people, whether she wants it or not. Just as they have Katniss, the Capital has Peeta. Each side will aim the former "lovers" at each other as message-delivering weapons. This is a series that is not just about war, but about the packaging and selling of violence. The ad campaign and sales machine behind combat. It\'s about propaganda and how each side of a conflict will utilize it to their advantage in order to compel those on the ground to fight and die for what they believe is the common good.

Mockingjay reveals how childish and dangerous it is to believe that there is a simple answer to a complex problem, how alike leaders are in their goals and the tools they utilize to achieve them, and how manipulated the people so often are. It looks at how each choice in a battle brings with it compromise and sacrifice. What at first looked to be a story about teenagers forced to fight one another to the death, has evolved and revealed itself to be a tale of the human tendency to slay one another in the name of something as manufactured, insane, and horrific as the games: war. The arena has simply expanded and the players increased.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 opens in theaters this week.

Roth Cornet is an Entertainment Editor for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @RothCornet and IGN at Roth-IGN.