Why has Sarah Lang become a little obsessed with The Hunger Games? (Don’t worry, it will pass.)
OPINION
A month ago, having looked for a movie that both me and my son might enjoy (no easy task), we watched The Hunger Games. Then we watched the next three movies in the series: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire; The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1; The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 – plus prequel A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which is President Snow’s origin story. Then I rewatched the movies on my own. And rewatched them again. Why? I wasn’t quite sure. I must have seen the movies when they came out, because I remember certain scenes. But in each rewatch, I spotted something new, something that added meaning, something that felt like a clue, or a lesson from the ‘future’.
In a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world, the country of Panem exists under President Snow’s totalitarian rule – an extreme form of authoritarianism where the government seeks to control all aspects of life, through its suppression of individual freedoms, forced labour, coercion, and drumming up of fear. The elite in the Capitol live lives of extravagance (and highly questionable fashion choices). Meanwhile, 12 districts provide the Capitol with something it needs, which in District 12 is coal. There, people work like slaves in unsafe conditions in the mines, and have very little to eat. Our heroine Katniss hunts illegally with a bow and arrow to prevent her family starving.
Each year in Panem, 24 children – a boy and a girl from each of the 12 districts – are ‘reaped’ to fight to the death in an arena, until only one victor remains. The Hunger Games are staged to punish the districts for waging a civil war, to warn against fomenting any future rebellions, and to terrify them. By the time Katniss is reaped for the 74th annual Hunger Games, it has evolved into a reality-TV show taking place in a massive arena with a dome (almost The Truman Show, size-wise). Capitol viewers excitedly place bets on who will win, and as ‘sponsors’ they can parachute in presents for their favourites.
Katniss is a badass (in the best possible way) with a heart of gold. After her little sister Primrose is chosen by ballot as a District 12 tribute, Katniss volunteers in her place. The odds were not in her favour, but she survives the Games. While Katniss didn’t plan to be the face of a revolution, she became a beacon of hope and resistance as the Mockingjay, helping unite the districts in a rebellion. She helps topple the regime, and prevents a new dictator from taking power.
Modern parallels
For me, the films have been a gateway into the books, though I should probably have done it the other way round. I’ve read all five books from the series in the last month. They’re aimed at young adults, but I think they’re a gripping read no matter your age.
Since the first novel was published in 2008, over 100 million copies of The Hunger Games books have been sold, translated into 55 different languages. They flew off shelves even faster after the first film adaptation in 2012, the second in 2013, and the two Mockingjay films (2014 and 2015) came out. The film adaptation of prequel Sunrise on the Reaping will be in theatres in November.
The Hunger Games books and movies have never lost cultural or societal relevance, particularly as new readers come of age, because a dystopian future may well await us. I’d thought of Panem existing in a kind of parallel universe. But when a weather report in the first movie showed the map of Panem, I realised it’s a map of America, with the edges maybe nibbled off.
In Panem, there’s a barely mentioned history of some sort of climate change and nuclear conflict, leading to societal collapse, reconstruction, civil war, then domination by the Capitol, where Snow takes power. His propaganda reminds me of Fox ‘News’. Imagine if Snow could look back to 2026, when America was well on its way to fascism: the far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology that enables unfettered power. As for the ‘it can’t happen there, can’t happen here’ argument, 52 nations – more than a third of the world – currently live under a regime where people are not free, or are only partly free.
But, as the world of Panem shows, dictators and wannabe dictators can be arrogant – convinced they’re cleverer than the rest – and this can be a weakness. The outgoing President Snow (to a degree) and the incoming President Coin both f**ked up by underestimating Katniss. Maybe we need her to go back in time from her future to our present, to sort our sh*t out.
On the horizon
Here in New Zealand, we’re not insulated from the ripple effect of Trump, his oligarchs, and his incompetent, ill-intentioned yes-men like Kash Patel and yes-women like Pam Bondi protecting paedophiles. And the ‘anti-war’ president is threatening new wars. Greenland may be on the backburner, but the U.S. has this week positioned military forces capable of launching strikes into Iran. Meanwhile Iran has just positioned Russian surface-to-air missiles to shoot down jets and missiles if the U.S. attacks.
If Trump isn’t doing this just to distract us from the Epstein files (man, you can’t make this sh*t up), we may end up in World War III. Trump said in an address that World War III could “very easily” happen, and described its potential as, “a war like no other”. When you have Trump, Putin, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping sizing each other up, that’s quite the powder-keg, perhaps a new world order.
And we can’t rule out a nuclear conflict, which is something that’s more likely to happen due to human error or systems error rather than being an intentional strike. However, a sociopath is in charge of the most powerful country on earth. He’s probably not keen on full-blown nuclear war – that would ruin his golf courses – but we should still worry, because he has the nuclear codes, thin-skinned reactions, and what seems like dementia. And a ‘small’ nuclear conflict with or without the U.S. could still bring on a nuclear winter, and New Zealand would be very much affected.
A sea change
I think my Hunger Games fascination is partly my brain warning me to help change the current trajectory on climate change (in)action. In the world of Panem, it seems that encroaching seas swallowed up land centuries beforehand. I guess their ancestors left addressing climate change too late. In 2026, a climate-change-denying U.S. president is not only failing to take climate action, but taking backward steps.
And New Zealand doesn’t get a pass for being small. Our current government has, arguably, ditched every climate initiative put in place under previous governments, including removing funding to help industry move away from fossil fuels, and ditching emission standards for vehicles. In December, Nicola Willis effectively confirmed that New Zealand won’t meet its Nationally Determined Contribution for 2030 under the Paris Agreement.
Our government is reneging on its commitments to an international treaty on climate change. This should be shocking.
Greenpeace says that our government’s latest climate target of a 1-5% additional reduction in emissions by 2035 is, “about as useful as a screen door on a submarine”. We’re falling far short of what other developed and even developing nations have committed to.
But our government likes to look like it’s doing something. In October, it released a National Adaptation Framework, to develop a long-term approach to build New Zealand’s resilience to risks from natural hazards such as floods and storms. When Luxon recently said this needs to be multi-generational, I could almost hear the can being kicked down the road. And by the way, Chris, mitigating climate change should be top of the to-do list, ahead of adaptation, or at least done in tandem.
Let them eat cake?
The Hunger Games has also reminded me of the dangers of inequality. The Capitol elites sometimes throw up their food so they can eat more, while those in the Districts nearly starve to death. Here in 2026, inequality has been on the rise across the globe for several decades. The world’s richest 1% own nearly 47.5% percent of the world’s wealth. And with that comes power. In A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, a young Snow realises that the Hunger Games aren’t just a punishment, but that the whole world is an arena and he is the victor. The children who won the games? Merely survivors.
One of these is the handsome, seemingly arrogant Finnick. A ‘victor’ at age 14, he was passed around between the elites, forced into sex. So, a ring of elite paedophiles covering for each other. What might be the parallels in 2026?
People power
But my fascination with The Hunger Games hasn’t made me feel hopeless. As Snow says, “hope is the only thing stronger than fear”. He was on fear’s side, but still. The bravery and sacrifice of rebels led to a new world. (Remember the people who sacrificed their lives to bomb the Capitol’s dams?) A democracy began. Goodness and love showed up even in the most difficult, dehumanising circumstances. Even when forced to kill, Katniss retained her compassion and dignity. And she chooses to be with Peeta, who symbolises caring and hope. They don’t want any part in another cycle of violence.
Here’s what game-maker turned rebel Plutarch told Katniss after the rebellion succeeded. “‘Now we’re in a sweet period where everyone agrees that our recent horrors should never be repeated,’ he says. ‘But collective thinking is usually short-lived. We’re fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction. Although who knows? Maybe this will be it, Katniss’. ‘What?’ I ask. ‘The time it sticks. Maybe we are witnessing the evolution of the human race. Think about that’.”
I’ve thought about it. And now it’s time for me to put down the books, step away from the movies, and join a political party.
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