May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor

Well...besides the horrible critical reading flashbacks, I really liked the mimesis reading that went along with The Hunger Games this week. The first time I read the series, I never saw it that way: as a commentary on our society and it's pitfalls. But reading the first novel again, and then reading that article, I can see it clearly now.

Our society has always been an entertainment society. Right from the beginning, with minstrel shows and wild west shows, up through today where reality TV is the norm. We as human beings are always seeking out a form of entertainment--something that we can use to escape from our own existence and instead immerse ourselves into the lives of someone else. I won't lie--I do this too, especially with shows like Castle. But I feel like there's a big difference between immersing myself in the lives of fictional characters and immersing myself into the lives of real people. Living, breathing human beings whose lives are on display for the entire world to see. People watch shows like Jersey Shore to make themselves feel better about the lives they lead--watching other people live outrageous lives makes you stop and go "hmm...well at least I'm not like that. At least I don't do that. My life is actually pretty normal, thank goodness."

I feel like to some degree, The Hunger Games comments on this big brother "let's watch the lives of people 24/7" phenomenon pretty well--but with a twist. Like we discussed, Collins was inspired to write this series by flipping back and forth between reality TV and war coverage. It makes me think about the way war has been media-tized...is that a word?... made media-centric in recent history. War was not always covered in the media the way it is today. It used to be just newspaper reports, and for a long time, war photography wasn't shown to the public. But now, almost every news broadcast on every channel is featuring video of war. watching war news coverage is different than, say, watching a war movie. These are real people, real soldiers, fighting and dying on our television screens. This, coupled with the reality TV cameras following around real people for entertainment, is really what makes up the underlying theme of The Hunger Games. All the people in the Capitol--and the districts--are gathered around the television, watching these people--REAL kids--kill each other. And for the Capitol (and probably the career districts too) this is for entertainment. What does this say about our society today, that we are willing to sit around the television and watch the lives of real people fall apart just because it's "entertaining?" It's really kind of dismal when you think about it.

I mean, I doubt that watching war coverage is at all entertaining for anyone, but it's the same general idea--these aren't made up characters pretending to fight in a war. They are real people fighting a real war, while we are safe at home watching coverage on TV.

I hope this makes sense. I'm kind of sitting here, typing this out, trying to make sense of these thoughts myself. I'm not sure if it's working.