The dystopian world presented in The Hunger Games [1] series is one of control, surveillance, and oppression that shows the interesting role that environments play in how leadership is maintained. The force of The Capitol in the story controls the world of Panem under a secretive and omnipresent force. By using their own environments and spaces, artificial and natural, they are able to manipulate and control all of Panem with an ideology called Panopticism.
What is Panopticism, and Why do Environments Matter?
Panopticism [2] is an ideology of ruling and oppression based on the idea of one watcher observing a mass of people who do not know they are being watched. While this may not have a perfect application in The Hunger Games, it is the same premise between the Capitol and Katniss, the general populous, and in later books/movies, the entire resistance. The Capitol uses technology, peacekeepers, and even The Hunger Games themselves to exert its power. The environments of the story, from the districts themselves to the controlled arenas, act as tools of controlled space that the Capitol uses to force its people into specific roles and jobs. This touches on an idea by Foucault called Docile Bodies [3], in which people are controlled down to the smallest task in order to be as efficient as possible for the sake of all society.
What are some of the Environments of The Hunger Games?
Some of the different environments, spaces, and controlled factors of The Hunger games include not only the locations of the two games that occur, but also The Capitol itself, the distinct districts, the woods, and numerous other settings that are seen. The different environments each come with their own set of Thing Power [4] along with Capitol influence that result in various effects on the characters, and provide different aspects with which to manipulate the public. On a grand scheme, the districts are each controlled by the Capitol through aggressive political force and this panoptic system keeping them in line through constant surveillance and a need to improve as a need to survive. For example, Rue from district 11, agriculture, has learned to climb tree, to use Mockingjays, and to forage for food to survive without going against the Capitol. But there is also Katniss from district 12 who works outside the system to survive because she doesn't have the same opportunities for food, safety, and training as Rue. This is a reflection of real life instances of controlled spaces discussed by O'Brien and Szeman in the history of Pop Culture [5]. Even when sports was being taken off the street by looming authorities, humanity adapts and make their own version of entertainment, or for the hunger games, survival, that allows them to improve their life-style.
How does the Capitol control Thing Power and Environments for their own Benefit?
Through the technology available to the Capitol, they are able to regulate almost everything about the lives of those they rule over. And with the dystopian environment of the story Thing Power, the inherent affect of inanimate agents, adds in the power that Control has over the population. From creating advanced, mutated animals such as tracker jackers or mutts, to being able to mentally manipulate being through surveillance and personal attacks. Showing people that they are being watched constantly, and that they lack any power or control over their own life, the Capitol can easily take over the thoughts and lives of these people. With limited resources, constantly watch, and the ever-looming threat of death, the people of Panem are forced to obey their oppressors. The Hunger Games is one such of these controls. Forcing people from different environments, who've adapted differently to their lives into on artificial environment new to all in order to fight for their home district, the whole time broadcasting it to all the districts is a grand display of Panopticism and the Capitol controlling the public through threat. The 75th Hunger Games, the quarter quell, which is entirely controlled wedge-by- wedge, by the Capitol is the most obvious representation in the film adaptations.
How does this reflect the real world scenarios?
Looking at the history of popular culture, and the effect of thing power and the government, from the limitation of public space, and the control of private space (as explored in "The History of Popular Culture [5]") we can see how the Capitol is meant to the be extreme application of these ideas. The fear and exaggeration of an all knowing and all powerful government is explored in the Hunger Games series in a way that allows readers to reflect on the status of current governments, and provides a possible future that could be possible if the government gains to much power. It makes readers aware of what could be, and O'brien and Szeman offer a reflection of the past support the same idea.
Resources:
[1] - Books: The Hunger Games (, Suzanne Collins 2008). Movies: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Movie (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014), The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 (2015).
[2] - "Panopticism" from Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison by Micheal Foucault.
[3] - "Docile Bodies" from Discipline & Punishment by Micheal Foucault
[4] - "The Force of Things" from "Vibrant Matter" by Jane Bennet
[5] - "The History of Popular Culture" from Popular Culture: A User's Guide by Susie O'Brien, Imre Szeman
[9] - https://thehungergames.fandom.com/wiki/75th_Hunger_Games_arena