This post contains spoilers
I just saw the movie tonight and thought about writing my thoughts down. I definitely see how The Hunger Games can be viewed as an anti-state movie if it is viewed from a political perspective.
The beginning starts with a script that states that the games were established as a consequence for some “uprising” that took place before the film’s start. These games were originally started as a means of quashing rebellion, but, long after they have served that purpose (the film acknowledges this point, if I recall correctly) the games are kept as tradition. The people in this territory, called Panem, have limited means; interestingly, as a post noted above, this name may come from the Latin phrase panem et circenses which translates to “bread and circuses” (the staple food for many in the dystopia Panem is bread, noting multiple flashbacks Katniss has regarding an instance of charity from Peeta). Many have to hunt in order to have food including the heroine Katniss who is angered when her deer, the first one she had seen in a year, is scared away from her by a friend; she is immediately concerned as to what she and her sister will eat.
After chatting with her friend for a bit, she tells him that she had been bribing the “Peace Keepers” (the term reminds me of the role NATO in Rwanda in 1994; if these authorities in the movie are district authorities, they could be seen as ineffective ‘peace keepers’ from the conscription and genocide committed on the people of their respective districts by the Panem state), for reasons I forget, with squirrels she had killed. The Peace Keepers are the ones who are constantly present at the district level and maintain a heavy, and implicitly violent, watch on the citizens.
Shortly thereafter, the Katniss and her sister dress as well as they can for selection of the “Tributes.” The ceremony, called the Reaping, is a lottery for two people and the woman in charge of the drawing is giddy in anticipation in juxtaposition to the dumbstruck children. Before the drawing takes place, she shows a brief propagandistic clip that displays the honor bestowed on the victors of the Hunger Games and how the Hunger Games are a tradition. In order to spare her sister who is drawn, Katniss “volunteers” herself to fight in lieu of her sister. The Peace Keepers -clad with white jumpsuits, helmets and night sticks- march Katniss forward to the stage with her arms held tightly as if she were a danger to someone.
After a pageant-like entry of the Tributes to the ominous Capitol -which, unlike the districts insofar as they are presented in the movie, seems very large and modern with skyscrapers and advanced computer technology- and a greeting from the President who cheers the Tributes with a familiar “May the odds ever be in your favor” (as is mocked by Katniss and Peeta, the other Tribute from her district), the Tributes are provided with a week of battle training.
Skipping ahead to where the Tributes are actually participating in The Hunger Games, various characters form bands to survive. As the OP notes, the best hunter of the games is immediately surrounded with others forming a strong retinue including Peeta, who admitted a few days before that he was in love with Katniss on national television, but this is not known until the group is hunting for Katniss in particular. Katniss is isolated from everyone until she finds a girl named Rue who helps her out in a pinch. These associations may fly in the face of Hobbes’ prediction of a war of all against all in the absence of government- this state literally being the one in which all Tributes are placed; what instead happened were groups of hunters voluntarily grouped together and defended each other in the interest of survival and of killing others outside the group. Of course, this interpretation is somewhat a refutation of Hobbes’ theory of the origin of the state and is somewhat grasping for a support of Oppenheimer’s account of the origins of such (the idea he advances being that states were originally groups of criminals who settled in lands of wealth for continuous plunder); understandably, this latter part of Oppenheimer’s theory does not come into fruition given the limited timeframe of the movie and of the lives of the members.
While the Tributes are killing each other, they are being actively watched by the Panem nation. There are constant conferences between the president and the man who is actively running the plot of the games. The conversation that the president has with this man that stands out is one in which he states the following with regards to the people of Panem:
The only thing that motivates people more than fear is hope. But too much hope is a dangerous thing. A little hope provides a spark that keeps people going, striving.
Indeed, it seems that the games are used as a ploy of control on the people rather than as the innocuous tradition that the state would have the people believe. The districts compete against each other -for honor and favor- much like political factions do (apart from the slaughtering each other in the wilderness part). In line with the divide et impera strategy used by states regarding political factions, these games benefit the image of the Panem state: The focus of the games shifts from whether such “games” or the sate are legitimate to a my district is better than yours! mentality as the constant mention of district honor of within the film implies.
Towards the end of the movie, the Tributes are promised that rather than having a single victor there may be two victors if both are from the same district (in the politics at the Capitol, this is to prevent potential uprisings if the apparent love story between Katniss and Peeta is ended by one’s untimely death; the citizens of Panem are already rioting due to the murder of Rue earlier in the film- to preserve the legitimacy of the games, the Panem state has no option, but to preserve the love story between Katniss and Peeta for as long as possible). Finally, Peeta and Katniss are the last two standing and are waiting to be brought home as victors of the Hunger Games.
Unfortunately, an announcement is made that the rules have been changed again such that there may be only one victor. After a brief pause -and many gasps in the theater I might add- there is a change in plans. Peeta says something to the effect of, “Go ahead and kill me. The Capitol needs a victor.” Katniss reaches in her pocket for poisonous berries and says something like, “No, they don’t.” The two are about to kill themselves together when an embarrassing announcement comes on saying, “STOP! STOP! Ladies and gentlemen, we have our victors.” Understandably the Capitol fears that uprisings will occur if the two are not prevented from killing themselves (out of love). The state has to preserve its supposed legitimacy.
I’d recommend the film for anyone to see. I’m going to have to read the series now, as I’ve read that the movie doesn’t capture the entirety of the book from which it is based- supposedly, it cuts out a lot.
