Bread and Circuses - The Hunger Games

Well, there's finally a book that got me motivated enough to really write about just after finishing it. Experience shows that if I don't write immediately, I won't write at all, or much much later. So if you want to read something about Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth, Carlos R. Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind, Vampire Diaries, Hush! Hush! or Salt you have to tell me or just wait until I'm bored enough to write. There will be an off-topic excursion to Oxford, too.

But to come back to the book I've just finished: Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games. Not only is it suspenseful and well written, it has left me angry and feeling miserable, which speaks of its quality. Maybe I'm a little masochistic about reading, but if a book makes me emotional - in whatever given way - I like it. So, what is it about?

In the future, the United States of America don't exist anymore. In its place - or what's left of it - is a state called Panem. Consisting of a wealthy and geographically well positioned Capitol and 13 districts which are divided by their economic task, like agriculture, industry, or - coalmining. The districts are isolated from one another and most of them are not wealthy, most even suffer from hunger, while some - especially the Capitol - live in abundance. It's not a free democracy of course, it's a totalitarian regime - as such state constructs always require.

Well, to be correct, it used to be 13 districts. 47 years ago a revolt against the Capitol was bloodily ended, and District 13 was erased from the face of earth. To remind the remaining 12 of this revolt, and that it's not a good idea to rebel against the capitol, they host yearly Hunger Games. For this, from each district a boy and a girl between 12 and 18 is chosen - so 24 teenagers in all - and put into a huge outdoor arena. The rules are simple: there are none, but the games end when there is only one living person left. And make it entertaining!, since the Hunger Games are broadcast live for the excited audience in the capital, and the compulsory audience in the districts.

Of course the kids don't have elaborate equipment, or even food or water. They have to fight each other for scarce food, water, weapons, medicine or warm clothes. After the first hour there are about 12 of the 24 left, and everyone wants to be the last one standing. Katniss Everdeen, 16, is the girl tribute chosen from District 12, easily the poorest, coal mining, district. Her odds are not too bad, since she's used to hunger and cold, and has a decent way with bow and arrows. If only she could lay her hands on one. What makes it harder though is her remaining sense of humanity, and being in the same arena with a friend who once saved her life and a little girl who reminds her of her little sister doesn't help, either. But it's no use, she has to fight - the public wants to be entertained, and the winner - and his or her family - never has to be starving again.

I won't tell you too much, to not spoil your reading. But I can tell you, the book is definitely worth reading. The first person narrator is credible, humane, without being pathetic. The world created is coherent in itself, the story is suspenseful, and the characters are likeable. But what striked me most, is the unbelievable cruelty and the arbitrary way that society is functioning, yet how coherent, how natural it is perceived in that world.  The show everyone is watching, and having a small talk about at work, in which kids are supposed to kill each other - and when there have been no kills for too long, the show's creators help along with some flooding, fire, drought, cold - or whatever makes resources even sparser and drives the contestants together. The contestants most likeable and most likely to win have sponsors who can send them needed goods, like bread or medicine, into the arena - to make the contestant not die right away and to create more suspense..

Additionally the portrayal of the rich Capitol, which not unlike our modern western countries, provide most things in abundance. In which there's too much food, and people spend their days tending to their style, having cosmetic surgeries to look younger and slimmer, and to think of good entertainment for the masses. At the same time people in the districts, even in the agricultural ones, are working hard and still starving. It would be so easy to share some of the abundance of the Capitol to save some lives. Such incredible lack of empathy..

Which brings me to my anger at our present day society. The crappy reality TV which knows no boundaries, I tell you, it's just a matter of time, until such Hunger Games are not science fiction anymore. It's quite a little step for our peeping tom society, we seem to like to see people crying in despair, watching people in their private moments, watching them suffer, compete, love, going crazy. I don't want and cannot watch those shows, but the ratings for all the American Idols, Big Brothers, Celebrity Rehabs, Survivors, Super Nannies, or whatever bullshit is out there say there are more than enough people who enjoy it. Add some documentaries about war and natural catastrophes, and we're not so far away anymore.

We all, with very few exceptions - and I'm not one of them - are lacking the right dose of empathy.  I love entertainment, I love the movies, but blowing the equivalent of 40 bucks on a movie date should be wrong. I mean, just imagine what 40 bucks can do in some African countries, in Bangladesh, in flooded Pakistan, in Haiti, in .... It could easily feed one child for a whole month. So, why am I still going to the movies? It's not that I don't donate, I do, but if I'd be honest with myself I could give more, I'd just have to cut some of my entertainment. And I'm pretty sure, I'm not alone with that.

What is it? What is it about this need for entertainment, for indulgement in fancy clothes, restaurants and stuff we do not REALLY need? Why is it stronger than our empathy for fellow human lives? Why can't we just do what's right, even if we already know what would be right? I'd be really grateful for some answers or discussion. Because it seriously has me wondering.  Thinking about countries in which starving is nothing exceptional, about Wikileaks' videos of Iraq, and of millions made by the movie industry - for which we pay - makes me think that the Hunger Games are not so scifi at all, at least not on the second glance.

What do you say?