Is “The Hunger Games” fictional?

 
Most people go with their gut instinct and say “The Hunger Games” is not real.

 
That may be true, but associate English professor Rodney Cupp argues that there are more similarities between “The Hunger Games” stories and the real world, than you would think.

 
Last Wednesday, Cupp gave his presentation: “Welcome to the Capitol: The Hunger Games and Economic Justice.”

 
Cupp started out by explaining the story of “The Hunger Games.” Katniss is the protagonist in the nation of Panem, which consists of 12 districts plus The Capitol. The Capitol is the centralized authoritarian government.

“They rule the other districts with an iron fist,” Cupp said.

Each district serves a certain function, with Katniss’ producing coal. The districts also supply tributes for the Hunger Games. One boy and one girl, between the ages of 12 and 18, from each district fight to the death. There is usually only one winner.

Since the country is controlled by The Capitol, many of the districts are extremely poor. After her father was killed in the coal mines, Katniss has had to hunt, illegally, to provide for her family.

“In Panem, there is great economic inequality,” Cupp said. “Some of you might be thinking, so what? We, in fact, in this country and this world tolerate great economic inequality. Some people are comfortable with that. Others not so much.”

According to Cupp, you could adopt one of two moral viewpoints. One is Kantian and the other is utilitarian. The Kantian theory says that we should treat others as if they have their own goals, as well as the means to meet those goals. The utilitarian tries to perform acts that will have the best overall effect.

Cupp then starts to relate Panam to the world. He compares how the Capitol is much like the rich countries of the world. He then says that the poor countries are a lot like the districts.
The poorer countries provide something to the richer countries, and the richer countries exploit this.

“Poverty is not an accident,” Cupp said. “The way the global economic system has been set up to, intentionally, benefit wealthy nations at the expense of poor nations.

“Think about the Colonial Powers. They went to Africa, Asia and the new world. What did they do? They found these great resources and large populations that they could exploit. Lots of raw materials, as well as cheap labor. They destroyed the local economies and re-engineered them for the things they were interested in.”

Cupp pointed out that this type of activity still happens today, even after the era of colonialism is over. One of the best ways to see this is in labor. Globalization is all about finding the cheapest labor to make the largest profit.

The kind of system we live in where wealth seems to be taken out of the poor population to benefit the economically elite, is very hard to eliminate once it is in place. These realities are very similar to “The Hunger Games.”

“If you look at these parallels, between ‘The Hunger Games’ and the real world, you have to think that Suzanne Collins knew all of this,” Cupp said.