Power and Hope: A Reaction Paper to "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"

            The arrow Katniss shot to the ceiling of the 3^rd Quarter Quell arena was a catalyst of many things. It triggered the impending collapse of the government, the crumbling of the structure of the Districts and the undoing of an already ruined society. But what it most significantly did was shut down the arena, stripping the control center of its control and robbing the powerful of their power.

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            The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the second film in a series based on Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games Trilogy, this film particularly based on the second book Catching Fire. Despite having romantic and adventurous themes, this film belongs to science fiction as it is set in a time and place so far from our reality, it’s practically a different world. It shows plenty of scientific developments and technologies that, although are possible enough to exist, we don’t have at present. In other words, it is futuristic but not enough so that it is fantastical.

            Although, it’s not only the technology presented that made it futuristic. The world of the film itself is set in the future. It is sort of an exemplification of what our world might evolve into; negatively, what system the wars and discord at present could create, and positively, how the oppressed would always fight for freedom. But the film also manifests our past and present. How the peacekeepers raided the districts and punished the rebels can be likened to how tyrants in the past controlled their people. Meanwhile, the social and financial structure of Panem can also be likened to our present; how the rich value social events and appearances over food, while those in poverty keep on working hard for salaries that aren’t nearly enough as they continue to starve.

            This structure also stands as a testament as to how science and technology failed the society. When we compare the Capitol to District 12, we see opposites. One is fully powered by technology, it’s practically embedded in society; while, the other lacks it so much, people hardly know of its existence. This particularly shows the power brought with technology. And although it should be said that there were innovations that bettered the country, like its forms of transportation, there were also developments so unnecessary that they shouldn’t have even existed, like the drink that makes you vomit. Furthermore, technology also provided the possibility of things that robbed the people of their rights and their lives. One evident example is the arena and, thus, the games itself.

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            There were a lot of different aspects of the film that I liked and disliked. But it was its message on power and hope that made me applaud it. It effectively showed how power, in its darkest forms, could rob the vulnerable of their hope. But it also successfully conveyed that one girl, one arrow, one berry could rob the powerful of their power and create hope, give it a chance to catch fire and eventually forge a blaze.

Audrey Anne A. Arocha

2012-51626