Heather Campbell
English 102 011W
Film Analysis
March 25, 2013
The
Hunger Games
Most people have seen or read The Hunger Games. The reality that most do not see when they watch
the movie is that people are living in the conditions of District 12 all over
the world. The Hunger Games shows an
amazing example of what life is like to when living in poverty and the struggle
that ensues while attempting to feed a family when someone does not have the
money to do so.
The Hunger Games
is the story of a girl, Katniss Everdeen, who does whatever she can to feed her
mother and sister. They live in District 12; the farthest District from the
Capital of Panem, and also one of the poorest. Katniss ends up going to the
Hunger Games, a tournament held by the Capital to keep the Districts compliant
with the laws and as a reminder of the previous war. The game puts 24 children
in an arena - 2 from each District - who have to fight until only one survives
and is crowned the victor. The victor is made famous and is given many gifts, including
food and money.
The beginning of the film shows Katniss slipping through
the outer fence to go hunting. She is breaking a significant law by doing so,
but also illustrates how people will do whatever is necessary to feed their
families. People that live in extreme poverty, experience “the most severe form
of poverty such that the affected people cannot afford basic human necessities”
(Ferrante). Poverty is a problem all over the world and The Hunger Games brings this to the surface. To become a tribute
for the games, a child’s name is drawn. A name can be added more times to the
drawing if one wants to get a stipend of food for their family, but this also
increasing their chances of being drawn. Katniss commands to her sister not do
this; she says “It isn’t worth putting your name in more times” (Ross). In
comparison, this isn’t much different than the real world in that people are
doing whatever it takes to get food. Josette Sheeran, the UN World Food
Programme head stated “Never before has food been so abundant”. Lack of food is
not the problem; the problem is that people do not have the money to get that
food.
District 12 is not the only District that is going hungry
in The Hunger Games. We get a glimpse
of District 11 which looks just as bad as District 12. Another way we know that
District 11 is also bad off is by looking at one of their Tributes, Rue. She is
a very small, young girl that is skittish and she talks about a call that they
use to tell the time when on the farms. She may not say it out loud, but she
implies that food is scarce in her District as well. Over the years the number
of people that live in poverty and go hungry has been increasing greatly. An
article by Stephan A. Schwartz gave some wonderful statistics about a program
called Feeding America. These statistics are:
•
Feeding America is annually providing food to 37 million Americans, including
14 million children. This is an increase of 46% over 2006, when we were feeding
25 million Americans, including 9 million children, each year.
•
That means one in eight Americans now rely on Feeding America for food an groceries.
•
Feeding America's nationwide network of food banks is feeding 1 million more Americans
each week than we did in 2006.
•
Thirty-six percent of the households we serve have at least one person working.
•
More than one-third of client households report having to choose between food
and other basic necessities, such as rent, utilities and medical care.
•
The number of children the Feeding America network serves has increased by 50%
since 2006.
These statistics show
how the problem of poverty and hunger are increasing. These merely show the changes
over the past seven years even though the problem has been around much longer
than that and has been growing for at least as long.
In The Hunger Games
the starving system of selecting and killing tributes is a punishment and
reminder to the Districts for rebelling against the Capital. In the real world
it is the product of misfortune and unfavorable circumstances. No one person is
at fault. The problems of poverty and hunger stem from many areas: food prices
rising, incomes not increasing, the gap between the wealthy and the poor
increasing, and many other areas. In order to fix this growing issue, the cause
must be fixed as well. A problem cannot be solved by only fixing a single piece
of the puzzle.
Work
Cited
"Global
Inequality And The Challenges Of Reducing Extreme Poverty."Sociological
Viewpoints 26.2 (2010): 73-83. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Mar.
2013.
Schwartz,
Stephan A. "The Coming Food Crisis The Social Tsunami Headed Our
Way." Lilipoh 17.67 (2012): 12-21. Alt HealthWatch. Web. 25
Mar. 2013.
Sheeran,
Josette. "Preventing Hunger: Sustainability Not
Aid." Nature479.7374 (2011): 469-470. MEDLINE. Web. 25 Mar.
2013.
The Hunger Games
Dir. Gary Ross. Perf. Jennifer Lawerence. Lionsgate. 2012. DVD.
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