Pwint
Professor Prescott
English 3
03 05 2013
The Capitalist Capitol versus Desolate District 12 Suzanne Collins’ 2008 book The Hunger Games is about a fictional country that has a reality entertainment show in which boys and girls, two from each of twelve districts, are forced to murder each other until only one is left. In 2012, director Gary Ross adapted Collins’ book into a film. On the surface, both the book and the film version of The Hunger Games seem to be just a form of entertainment. However, if one interprets the two analytically, they are criticizing the inequalities and power abuse in our own capitalist society. Capitalism creates wealth and power inequalities, often leading to the rich abusing the poor. In The Hunger Games, the rich entertain themselves with the blood battle of the poor. Though Ross conveys the inequalities and power abuse mentioned in the book, he also adapts some scenes to make this message easier for the audience to understand. While Collins heavily relies on detailed descriptions and Katniss’ narration to give the message that capitalism forms inequalities and power abuse, Ross uses more visual contrasts to make the film more appealing while portraying the same message. Inequalities in Panem can be vividly seen in the differences in food, clothing and housing between the rich Capitol and the desolate District 12 in both the book and the film. Collins use clear descriptions to portray these discrepancies in capitalism while Ross exposes the inequalities visually in the film. The father of the protagonist, Katniss, used to hunt in the woods and “if the officials found out he would have been publicly executed for inciting a rebellion” (Collins 5). Collins also writes “even though trespassing in the woods is illegal and poaching carries the severest of penalties, more people would risk it if they had weapons” (5). Moreover, Katniss and her partner Gale believe that “if [they] have to choose between dying of hunger and a bullet in the head, the bullet would be much quicker” (17). Through Katniss’ narration, Collins portrays the message that the poor from District 12 are willing to risk their lives for food. In the film, when Gale offers a small loaf of bread to her, Katniss’ face lights up, and she exclaims, “Oh My God, is this real?” (Ross 7:24). In the book, she says she “[holds] the puncture in the crust to [her] nose, inhaling the fragrance that makes [her] mouth flood with saliva” (Collins 7). In the book, Katniss describes the readers how hard it is to obtain food. Ross conveys the same message without having to explain explicitly because he juxtaposes scenes describing the scarcity of food in the District 12 with the elaborate banquet at the Capitol.
In contrast to the food scarcity in District 12, food is ready to consume without effort in the Capitol. In the book, Cinna, Katniss’ designer, “presses a button on the side of the table…[revealing] chicken and chunks of organs cooked in a creamy sauce laid on a bed of pearly white grain” (65). Katniss says, “days of hunting and gathering [would be required] for this one meal and even then it would be a poor substitution for the Capitol version” (65). This shows the great disparities between the availability of food in District 12 and in the Capitol. In the film, the audience can also see the abundance of the food prepared, several dishes of cooked meat and vegetables, for only four people – Haymitch, Effie, Katniss and Peeta (Ross 38:39). It is apparent that food at the Capitol is abundant, ready-made and can be obtained without any effort. Food is allocated disproportionately between the Capitol and District 12 and this theme is vividly portrayed in both mediums. This disproportion of food is just one of the results of capitalism; Collins portrays this message by using clear descriptions through Katniss’ narration while Ross portrays this message visually by showing scenes which contrast the food from the Capitol with the food from District 12. In addition to unfairness in the availability of food resources in capitalism, the poor in District 12 have to wear old, worn out and ragged clothes while the rich in Capitol adorn themselves with bright colors and extravagant clothing. Katniss wears her mother’s old dress “soft blue [dress] with matching shoes” while Katniss’ younger sister Prim wears Katniss’ clothes for the reaping (Collins 14-15). This shows both girls have to wear handed down clothes even for the extremely important occasion. The film also features the same scene of the girls preparing for the reaping (Ross 9:32).
While the poor wear old clothes even at their most formal occasions, such as the reaping, rich people in the Capitol are extravagantly dressed all the time. “Effie Trinket… fresh from the Capitol” presents herself for the reaping “with her scary white grin, pinkish hair, and spring green suit” and “her pink hair must be a wig” (Collins 17-20). The appearance of Trinket represents the rich Capitol aesthetic. Capitol people are superficial and invest lots of the resources in their looks while the poor are struggling to obtain basic needs such as food. Therefore, “Capitol citizens appear wasteful and gluttonous, especially to the near-starving Katniss” (Frankel 50). To juxtapose the differences in clothing, Ross directs Katniss and Effie Trinket to stand side by side at the reaping. Trinket has dyed eyebrows, pink eyelashes and her face is covered by thick make up. She also wears a bright pink, fake flower on her head, a decorative flowery scarf around her neck, a detailed pink manicure on her nails, a silky pink suit on her body and high heels on her feet. Katniss, standing next to her, wears a simple blue dress and shoes (Ross 16:26). In this case, Ross deviates from the book by letting Trinket wear a pink suit instead of a green one because the color pink represents romance, the intangibles that the rich invest their time in, which the poor do not have the time for. Ross also features the absurd costume, make up and accessories that the Capitol people wear at the tribute parade and many other parts of the movie (33:00). Because capitalism creates wealth differences, the rich use a lot of resources in their clothing, which is not necessary for basic survival, while the poor cannot afford to use many resources on fashion. Though both Collins and Ross portray the clothing differences in capitalist society between the poor and the rich, Collins does it subtly through the narrative while Ross shows the contrast visually, exaggerating the effect. Besides food and clothing, housing is the basic representation of a person’s wealth. Collins writes, “the black cinder streets are empty. Shutters on the squat gray houses are closed” on the reaping day in District 12 (Collins 4). At the Capitol, “the walls of [the] elevator are made of crystal” (73) and even “the shower alone has a panel with more than a hundred options you can choose regulating water temperature, pressure, [and] soaps” (75). Collins vividly portray the inequalities between District 12 and the Capitol by using descriptive words that indicate poverty such as “shutters”, “squat” and “empty” to delineate District 12, while she employs words such as “crystal” for the Capitol. In the film, Ross depicts the scene of District 12 using old wooden houses and muddy roads (Ross 3:00) while he creates the tribute parade at the extravagant hall utilizing thousands of people (30:00). Poor people can only afford “old wooden houses” but rich people can build expensive big halls unnecessary for basic survival. So, by contrasting these scenes, the audience can better understand the wealth differences and inequalities in capitalism. Thus Collins uses descriptions to portray the differences while Ross makes the disparities physically obvious. Food, clothing and shelter are the basic requirements for any person and the differences in these show the wealth differences emerging from capitalism.
After portraying the inequalities tied to capitalism, Collins and Ross go deeper in their illustration of unfairness and portray how the powerful rich manipulate the powerless poor for their own advantage. According to Mortimore-Smith, “Panem’s Games are engineered not only to ensure the docility and subservience of the twelve districts, but also to entertain a wide and voracious viewership” (159). This quote implies that the rich Capitol people are “voracious” – starving – for the blood of the poor just like the rich manipulating the poor to maximize profit. Moreover, “the Games reinforce the idea that those living in the Capitol are deserving of the privileges they enjoy, privileges denied to those living in the districts” (Henthorone 106). This justifies the idea of the inequalities and class distinctions between the rich and the poor. Thus, the Hunger Games is one of the Capitol’s strategies to punish the districts for the uprising (Collins 18) and “the reaping system is unfair, with the poor getting the worst of it” (13). To prevent future rebellion, the Capitol wants to remind the districts that the poor are at their mercy (18).
While Collins explains the purpose of the Hunger Games through Katniss’ narration (18-19), Ross uses just a few sentences of text on the screen at the very beginning of the movie (1:00). Though Ross concisely delivers the history of Hunger Games to the audience, Collins’ narration goes deeper in explaining these games as a punishment to the districts from the Capitol. Therefore, in the film, Ross utilizes the projection of the video of the Hunger Games at the reaping to emphasize the idea of the games as a punishment (13:30). In the video, the voice says that the victor at the end of the game is the “reminder of our [the Capitol’s] generosity and our forgiveness”. Thus this video acts as a reinforcement of the message that these games are the Capitol’s punishment to the poor. As Griffith explains, “film can reproduce a novel’s effects through its own techniques” and “fidelity entails fidelity to effects rather than details. The filmmaker can omit or alter some details…and still maintain the final effect of the novel” (69, 73). In this case, Ross delivers the same message that Collins does in her book but through different means in the film. Aside from choosing the tributes for the Hunger Games, the theme that the rich can manipulate the poor’s lives is also preeminent in how the Gamemakers manipulate the tributes in the arena. The Gamemakers throw fireballs to keep Katniss moving so that “the audience will get to see some real fun” (Collins 175). Also, the Gamemakers drain the water out of the stream to send Peeta and Katniss to the lake (326), send muttations to make Katniss and Peeta confront Cato (331) and worst of all, mutate the fallen tributes into mutts (334). The Gamemakers sometimes kill a tribute to show that they have the power (177). All of these events show that the Gamemakers are in control and can manipulate everything, from changing the environments in the arena to sending deadly creatures to better entertain the Capitol people at the expense of the tributes. Ross does not fail to convey Collins’s message in the film though he adapts these scenes slightly different. In the book, the readers can only see one perspective: Katniss’ narration in the arena. In the film, the audience can see both sides: the Gamemakers in the control room as well as the tributes in the arena. The audience can see how a Gamemaker pressing a button in the control room can send death threats to the tributes such as fireballs (Ross 1:17:05) or carnivorous mutts (2:03:05). Therefore, it is easier for the audience to understand that the Gamemakers have complete power by showing two sides, the control room and the arena, simultaneously. This emphasizes the idea that the rich can manipulate the poor as they please to entertain themselves, similar to our capitalist society today. Thus Ross adapts the book by directing two points of view to make it easier for the audience to understand Collins’s message.
Wealth differences emerge from capitalism; since obtaining power is closely related to the wealth and having power usually lead to an abuse, the powerful rich manipulate the powerless poor for their selfish reasons. In the book, Collins uses Katniss’ thoughts, feelings and narration to express the negative effects of capitalism. In the film, however, depicting this theme through the protagonist’s feelings and thoughts are ineffective, as the audience cannot hear or read the character’s thoughts. Hence, Ross adapts the book by using more dramatic visuals to articulate Collins’s message to the audience. Both Collins and Ross successfully highlight the major ideas important to criticizing capitalism.

Word Count: 2110 words

Works Cited
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic Inc, 2008. Print.
Frankel, Valerie Estelle. “Reflection in a Plastic Mirror”. Of Bread, Blood and The
Hunger Games (Critical Essays on the Suzanne Collins Trilogy). Ed. Pharr, Mary
F. and Clark, Leisa A. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, Inc. 2012. 49-58.
Print.
Griffith, James. Adaptions as Imitations: Films from Novels. Newark, DE: University of
Delaware, 1997. Print.
Henthorne, Tom. Approaching the Hunger Games Trilogy: A Literary and Cultural
Analysis. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. 2012. Print.
Mortimore-Smith, Shannon R. “Fueling the Spectacle – Audience as
‘Gamemaker’”. Of Bread, Blood and The Hunger Games (Critical Essays on the Suzanne Collins Trilogy). Ed. Pharr, Mary F. and Clark, Leisa A. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, Inc. 2012. 158-166. Print.
Ross, Gary. Dir. The Hunger Games. Perf. Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson.
Roadshow, 2012. iTunes.