The Unofficial Hunger Games Companion (47 page)

Most are too farfetched in terms of The Hunger Games to explore here. For example, we have absolutely no reason to believe on any level that aliens invaded the Earth and killed everyone except the people of Panem. That’s just absurd.

Similarly, we have no evidence of genetic warfare on Earth in The Hunger Games series. It’s true that scientists have already devised complex forms of genetically mutated creatures. However, it’s a big stretch to leap from the muttations to a worldwide apocalypse caused by mutated genetic lifeforms. Surely, in this case, we’d see
some
evidence of these killer lifeforms within the district’s human populations. But there are no human mutations in the districts, and nobody ever talks about how “Aunt Jane gave birth to a wolf-human that devoured the whole family.” Again, this scenario of apocalypse seems absurd in The Hunger Games context.

When I considered all the possibilities, I determined that The Hunger Games apocalypse had to be caused be global warming, melting of the ice caps, and then war. But as pointed out in chapter 1, only Suzanne Collins knows for sure.

T
he popularity of apocalyptic fiction, which concerns end-of- the- world scenarios and their aftermaths, and post-apocalyptic fiction—only the aftermaths of the collapse—have become extremely popular during the past few years. The post-apocalyptic form may feature a world in which former technology and science has been destroyed. It may feature a world in which most of the survivors live in hunter-gathering sorts of communities, yet futuristic technology is oddly juxtaposed among an elite subset of the survivors; The Hunger Games series is an example of this form of post-apocalyptic fiction.

As explored fully in this book, The Hunger Games series is clearly dystopian in nature. The books contain classic dystopian features, such as: (1) warning us that we’re heading toward repression and suffering if we don’t change the way we function now, (2) putting a totalitarian and highly repressive government in charge of the surviving population, and (3) making it clear that the vast majority of people have no freedom, live in poverty, and are subjected to military brutalities.

The popularity of this form of fiction rises and falls depending on what’s happening in the real world. As discussed earlier, the genre surged after World War II with images of nuclear annihilation, as well as plagues and alien invasions; plus a host of other doomsday scenarios.

It’s possible that the current hopelessness that many readers feel about the world in which we live is now driving the current surge in sales of these types of novels; perhaps it helps people realize that “It could always be worse.” If people are mistreated now in their own lives, or if they perceive even falsely that they’re undervalued, misunderstood, manipulated by their governments, or outrightly abused, they may find solace in reading extreme forms of post-apocalyptic fiction. It underscores their feelings that “If we keep heading down this path, this is how bad it could get, so you’d better listen to me and my friends and stop this [war, government abuse, economic destruction, elimination of freedom and civil liberties, etc.]”

Not a cheerful subject, but it’s been around for a long time. If you’re interested in reading more fiction about the world going to hell, this Appendix offers some suggestions organized by publication date.

This list is by no means comprehensive. If you really want to find extensive booklists, I suggest you scour the Internet for resources. I’m listing only books that I’ve personally read and enjoyed; and in some cases, I’m including books that may not top my favorites list, but may be enjoyable to other Hunger Games fans. You’ll notice that half the books I suggest are classics in the genre, and the other half are recently published. If you read the classics, you’ll probably find the newer books far more interesting.

For example, having read science fiction novels since I was a child, when I first read The Hunger Games, I was struck by: (1) how well written it is—the voice and style are superb, (2) the post-apocalyptic and general science fiction ideas it uses from the classics, and (3) the freshness it offers by twisting together reality television, the ancient Roman gladiatorial games, plastic surgery and fashion obsessions, hype over substance, etc.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s a partial reading list to get you started:

1. The Hunger Games Trilogy

1
. Jeffrey Kluger, “Earth at the Tipping Point: Global Warming Heats Up,”
Time
/CNN, March 26, 2006, www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1176980-3,00.html#ixzz1HckqZwJl.

2
. Spencer Weart, American Institute of Physics, “The Discovery of Global Warming,” http://www.aip.org/history/climate/foods.htm, citing: Oppenheimer, Michael, “Global Warming and the Stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet,”
Nature
1998, 393: 325–32; IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change),
Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the IPCC,
edited by J. T. Houghton, et al.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, online at http://www.ipcc.ch/; Weertman, Johannes, “Glaciology’s Grand Unsolved Problem,”
Nature
1976, 260: 284–86; and Van der Veen, C. J., and J. Oerlemans, eds.,
Dynamics of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Proceedings of a Workshop Held in Utrecht,
May 6–8, 1985.

2. Repressive Regimes and Rebellions

1
. G. William Domhoff, “Wealth, Income, and Power,” University of California at Santa Cruz, January 2011, http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html.

2
. Gus Lubin, “15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Wealth and Equality in America,”
Business Insider,
April 9, 2010, www.businessinsider.com/15-charts-about-wealth-and-inequality-in-america-2010-4.