Postapocalyptic Fiction, Part Five
Jul. 10th, 2016 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingThe Books
The Hunger Games
What This Is
A series of three books by Suzanne Collins that was adapted into four movies. I've read the books but haven't seen the movies.
Are women raped and murdered?
No one is raped, but one minor male character alludes to having been the victim of sexual abuse as a young man. Plenty of people are murdered (that's what the battle royale referred to as "the Hunger Games" is all about), but the murder is equal opportunity.
Are existing power structures maintained?
Existing power structures are whittled down to their bare bones. There's a social hierarchy with a ruling class at the top, and people are not permitted to move between classes, which are reinforced through geographical sequestration. The third book is concerned with a revolution that is ultimately successful, but it's strongly suggested that this violent upheaval has only resulted in one dictator being replaced by another. At the end of the book, the hero of the revolution, Katniss Everdeen, returns to the ruins of her former home to spend the rest of her life alone, convinced that nothing has changed or will ever change.
This is yet another story in which I ended up sympathizing with the villain. After he's captured, President Snow bitterly explains to Katniss that, while the Hunger Games are disgusting and barbaric, they're necessary in order to prevent another war on the scale of the conflict that caused the apocalypse. If the terrible loss of life and widespread destruction of the revolution against Snow's regime is any indication of how the world of these books operates, he's not wrong.
The Hunger Games
What This Is
A series of three books by Suzanne Collins that was adapted into four movies. I've read the books but haven't seen the movies.
Are women raped and murdered?
No one is raped, but one minor male character alludes to having been the victim of sexual abuse as a young man. Plenty of people are murdered (that's what the battle royale referred to as "the Hunger Games" is all about), but the murder is equal opportunity.
Are existing power structures maintained?
Existing power structures are whittled down to their bare bones. There's a social hierarchy with a ruling class at the top, and people are not permitted to move between classes, which are reinforced through geographical sequestration. The third book is concerned with a revolution that is ultimately successful, but it's strongly suggested that this violent upheaval has only resulted in one dictator being replaced by another. At the end of the book, the hero of the revolution, Katniss Everdeen, returns to the ruins of her former home to spend the rest of her life alone, convinced that nothing has changed or will ever change.
This is yet another story in which I ended up sympathizing with the villain. After he's captured, President Snow bitterly explains to Katniss that, while the Hunger Games are disgusting and barbaric, they're necessary in order to prevent another war on the scale of the conflict that caused the apocalypse. If the terrible loss of life and widespread destruction of the revolution against Snow's regime is any indication of how the world of these books operates, he's not wrong.
