Why in the year of our lord, 2023, are we talking about The Hunger Games

In 2008, a book came out that I had no idea was going to shake my world as a teenager- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. What my parents saw as a bloody book about child murder, I saw as a political commentary about injustice and standing up for yourself and the people you care about. Everyone my age had read it, everyone knew it, and the movies were coming out soon. Then, as soon as it came out, it vanished. Barely talked about in social circles, or online spaces that weren’t considered incredibly niche. Now, it is back, and it’s not the age demographic it was originally marketed to, the 12-through-17-year-old’s leading these discussions, but people my age. Those who read the books and saw the films when they first came out, and are now looking at them with a much more critical lens. All over social media you can easily find someone giving a different analysis on The Hunger Games, all talking about Katniss as a protagonist, and why she was effective. But why?

The cynic in me looked at the information. The films just moved to a new streaming platform, a new film is coming out this year, this all must be some marketing stunt. But a few questions start poking holes at this pretty quickly. Why didn’t this happen when Collins’ released The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in 2020? Why weren’t these same discussions happening when the films first came out? And why is the target demographic now so vastly different? No answer I could find to these questions could satisfy my cynical conclusion, so I looked a little deeper.

Most of the people discussing these films are in their mid 20’s. Usually in your mid 20’s you are establishing your career, moving out, taking control of your finances for the first time (usually pretty unsuccessfully), but these are all things that are becoming increasingly difficult. Anyone who has tried looking to rent a home could tell you that it is almost impossible to find somewhere to live, and jobs are not increasing pay in a rate that is keeping up with inflation and cost of living, so finances are even more impossible to keep tabs on. It all feels incredibly out of control. But what does this have to do with The Hunger Games?

Well, if the adults in our lives could get past the initial shock of the child murder, they would have been able to see a nuanced critique of severe capitalist systems, where you were expected to work for everything you needed, and defy impossible odds to be rewarded in the slightest. It is even shown that in the Capitol (the richest area of Panem) people are divided by class by what they do, and how hard they work. The poorest of the poor work harder than the richest of the rich, but all still feel dissatisfied with what they have. President Snow shows the devastating effects of an authoritarian leader left unchecked for too long, and Catching Fire reveals what those types of leaders are willing to do to squash any attempts at rebellion. Class mobility is impossible, living in your current conditions is impossible, and you have to send your children to die every year. It sounds severe, but not that far off.

The implementation of new Anti-Trans bills in the United States, especially aimed at removing trans health-care for children, combined with the never-ending news streams of children dying due to gun violence sounds a lot like every day risking sending off your child to their death. The primary source of class mobility for a long time has been the ability to buy a house, but the cost of renting has made saving for a deposit almost impossible when coupled with every other living expense rising. Then jobs, all we hear is people hating their jobs and wanting to quit, and companies spontaneously laying off employees that thought they had stable employment, and there are so few social protections in place for when this does happen. Everything seems a lot more dire than it first thought.

Now Katniss as a figure was clung onto by teenage girls because she was strong, and knew how to look after herself, and cared for those around her, but she isn’t appealing to teenage girls any more. What people are seeing now is a revolution leader. They are seeing someone who was able to enact change, and risk it all while doing so. I think Katniss is a hope that someday we can change rally enough people to have our voices heard, and change our futures for the better. I think the conversations about The Hunger Games today are sparking something that just might catch fire.