Recently, I watched the film adaptations of Suzanne Collins’ “Hunger Games” trilogy on TV. All three movies, “The Hunger Games,” “Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay,” were irresistibly mesmerizing with Jennifer Lawrence playing the role of Katniss Everdeen impeccably. Intrigued by the trilogy, I checked out the original novels from the library and finished reading them quickly. The novels were veritable page-turners, as enchanting and gripping as the movies. I felt like a game player myself who had to go through a series of cutthroat competitions, risking both life and limb. Indeed, the “Hunger Games” trilogy is a superb example of how literature, film and computer games can benefit from each other when they are consolidated effectively. 

The trilogy is set in a distant dystopian future somewhere in post-apocalyptic North America. The name of the country is Panem where the wealthy Capitol rules 12 destitute districts. The novel’s protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, lives in District 12, the poorest region of all, with her mother and sister Prim.

Every year, the Capitol selects one teenage boy and one teenage girl from each of the 12 districts through a lottery system. The 24 selected youngsters are called “tributes.” They are required to participate in a deadly game called the Hunger Games in an open arena where they must fight to the death until only a single survivor is left standing. Meanwhile, the entire game is televised to provide entertainment for the citizens of the Capitol and to maintain fear in the 12 districts.

When her 12-year-old sister Prim’s name is drawn in the lottery, Katniss volunteers to go in her sister’s place. Thus, Katniss and Peeta, whose name gets drawn as well, travel to the Capitol to participate in the Hunger Games. The first two books of the trilogy revolve around their perilous expeditions in the arena as they try to escape imminent death, even as the viewers watch the whole process on the screen. As a sign of unity and resistance to the Capitol, people in the 12 districts raise their hands with three fingers pointed up. This fictional event had a real-life parallel in 2014 when antigovernment demonstrators in Thailand used this gesture as a sign of protest.

Aside from the motif of resistance to tyranny, the reader can also find other symbolisms and juxtapositions in the trilogy. As Collins admitted, for example, the trilogy resonates around the Roman Empire and the Coliseum where gladiators had to fight to the death to entertain the tyrants and the public.

However, the most stunning, yet familiar theme can be found in the final book of the trilogy, “Mockingjay.” At the end of “Catching Fire,” Katniss destroys the game arena and is rescued by a hovercraft sent by District 13, which was believed to be annihilated by the Capitol during the previous uprising but had in fact gone underground. Now District 13 becomes the headquarters for the rebel forces.

To her disappointment, Katniss soon finds that District 13 is similar to the Capitol — overbearing, manipulative and putting people under constant surveillance. She also finds that President Alma Coin of District 13 strongly resembles President Snow of Panem. During the final battle between the Capitol and the rebel forces, Katniss finds that Coin has carried out an evil scheme of dropping bombs on children from a hovercraft disguised as one of the Capitol’s aircrafts, for political gain. Coin even attempts to continue the Hunger Games to kill the children of high-ranking officials of the Capitol and the granddaughter of President Snow. Instead of shooting Snow with an arrow, Katniss shoots Coin because the rebel leader will surely turn into another tyrant very soon.

In “Mockingjay,” Collins warns us to be wary of those who claim to be a savior or a liberator fighting against tyranny because those rebel leaders are likely to turn into another tyrant or even worse. History has proved the veracity of this warning time and again. For example, Li Zicheng, who overthrew the Ming Dynasty in China as a self-appointed liberator, turned into another tyrant and perished at the hands of the Qing Dynasty. In modern times, historians say that Ayatollah Khomeini who ousted Shah is another example. Even in Korea, we have witnessed former political activists, who once fought the military dictators, turning into overbearing, self-righteous people when they seized political power.  

At the end of “Mockingjay,” Katniss narrates that her children would never know that they were playing on the graveyards of those who had died fighting for freedom and a better world. Likewise, our young people will never understand how their parents and grandparents took part in a Hunger Game of their own during the Korean War and under the military regime. We have endured hunger and tyranny. We fought for freedom and strove so hard to build a better society for our children. But how would today’s affluent youngsters know? How would they realize they are playing on the graveyards of those who died for them?

By Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. -- Ed.