1. Control & War
Consider President Snow's agenda: he maintains order by exercising his absolute power down on the defenceless districts. He watches, he controls and he takes children every year and forces them to fight to the death. Many of the people in the districts, if not all (before the uprising), accepted this as a necessity to maintaining the peace. Now, consider the world as it is now: we allow such heavy security, both at airports and in our streets for a start, with the assumption that it is all for the maintenance of peace. Generally, it's theatrical - for the sake of control - and it is power because the powerful can't have enough of it. That's what Suzanne Collins has built in her futuristic world, and there are examples of it in our own. The Hunger Games is the ultimate display of power for the totalitarian government. On top of that, it maintains a divide between the districts as they watch their own tributes fall prey to or succeed over the others. It's power and control in its most dominant form. At the same time, the series represents the ability to stand up against the enemy in any way possible. The districts have no money, and have nothing to physically fight back with. But they have belief and, as often mentioned in the first two films already, they have hope. The three finger salute is their own form of rebellion, and it helps the spark grow for impending war. But what the story deals with most of all is the inability for war to have a victor. It shows us that sometimes war is necessary, but it's never right. There are survivors, but there are never victors - just as there are survivors in the Hunger Games, but there are no victors. It's startling to consider that this could actually happen in our future: in the story, it's the culmination of all of the things I've spoken about, and all of these factors have seeds already planted within our own society. There are messages and there is meaning behind all literary works, and Suzanne Collins successfully gives us a very confronting analysis on the state of society. It has so far been given justice on the screen. The themes are there. The messages stand out for all to see. It's more than the 'young adult' stamp that has at times been placed on it. It will make you think hard about what the real issues are, both in the movie and in the real world (though they're essentially one and the same). If that doesn't interest you, it's also a very good film.
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