Race Riots in the Hunger Games
I've just returned home from the movie theater where I saw The Hunger Games with my 12-year old brother. I haven't read any of the books–though of course he's read the entire trilogy– so the only background I had going into the movie was this post by James Delingpole, this one by Elizabeth Blackney, and this one by Member tabula rasa.
For those still unfamiliar with the premise of Suzanne Collins's dystopia, 24 children from 12 districts are forced to fight to the death with the last girl or boy standing crowned victor. What I found incredible for a film emerging from our ultra PC Hollywood was the embellishment (i.e. not in the book) that when one of the two black competitors in the Hunger Games who hails from what appears to be a predominantly black district is slain by a white competitor, the blacks in the district begin to riot out of anger and sorrow. We don't see this reaction from any other [white] district when one of their child competitors is slain.
I was startled to see the type of racial stereotyping that lands the Right's pundits in seriously hot water brazenly displayed in a Hollywood smash-hit intended for an audience of youngsters.
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Oct '10
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
I see your point that no other deaths caused riots, but I think the choice to make Rue's district black was designed to create additional sympathy for them. The audience will assume that, of all districts, their plight has been the worst.
So while I agree that it wasn't necessary to interject race into the story (Rue's character wasn't even identified as black in the book), I don't think the effect was to portray black people as unusually prone to rioting. Rue's death could have been expected to create rioting for several non-racial reasons:
1) She was only 12 -- the youngest age possible for competitors. The book makes clear that people considered it very unfair for a 12-year old to be selected for the games. This would have made her death feel more unjust than the others.
2) Katniss covered her with flowers rather than abandoning her body, which was an act of defiance against the government.
3) Katniss gave a sign of respect to Rue's district upon her death, which would have had the effect of galvanizing competing districts against their common enemy -- the State.
Edited on April 21, 2012 at 9:34amMay '10
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
Diane -- The racial component was added by the filmmakers but as Blake notes, in the book it is these other circumstances that make her death particularly infuriating and it is Katniss' defiance that emboldens that particular district. I think sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
The books are worth reading. I suspect they will form a cultural touchstone for a generation and their popularity is something that graduate students in political science can earn PhDs over I am sure.
May '10
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
It seemed to me that the rioting is presented positively. Finally the people of the districts are putting up some resistance. So for me, what annoyed was the reverse-racism typical of Hollywood: all the vicious characters are white and all the black characters are good.
Edited on April 21, 2012 at 2:37pmNov '10
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
Clearly those black districts are a metaphorical comment on Vancouver.
Apr '11
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
Both District 11 tributes are likely black in the book. Rue is described as having "dark brown skin and eyes" and Thresh has "the same dark skin as Rue."
Nov '11
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
Yeah, Diane, I think you're seeing something that isn't there.
They don't mention riots in District 11, I don't think, in the book. It's first person from the PoV of Katniss, so there is no way it would be mentioned.
I just never saw it as a race riot.
They're so busy trying to survive in the book, race isn't even a concept.
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
I know it's not in the book, which is why I wondered what Hollywood was up to. And fwiw, Suzanne Collins was involved in the movie screenplay.The reasoning that Blake & Trace offer for why the riots were justified in the book reminds me a lot of explanations offered up when people in Oakland rioted a couple years ago after a black man presumed to be armed was shot by police in a BART station. He was actually unarmed so the people saw the incident as police brutality/govt abuse.
Nov '11
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
Well, I can't really argue against people rioting over govt abuse...
As long as they don't destroy private property.
Mar '11
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
The book describes district 11 as being south of district 12 (which is clearly Appalachia) and largely agricultural (so it is the deep south). The regime's control there is described as being much more pervasive and brutal, while other districts are treated more favorably.
Jun '10
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
Blake: I see your point that no other deaths caused riots, but I think the choice to make Rue's district black was designed to create additional sympathy for them. . . .
. . . . I don't think the effect was to portray black people as unusually prone to rioting. Rue's death could have been expected to create rioting for several non-racialreasons:
1) She was only 12 -- the youngest age possible for competitors. The book makes clear that people considered it very unfair for a 12-year old to be selected for the games. This would have made her death feel more unjust than the others.
2) Katniss covered her with flowers rather than abandoning her body, which was an act of defiance against the government.
3) Katniss gave a sign of respect to Rue's district upon her death, which would have had the effect of galvanizing competing districts against their common enemy -- the State.
I agree with this analysis. What I saw was the heartbreak of the father of a sweet, 12-year-old, girl who witnesses her death. The racial element did not even occur to me.
Apr '11
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
I also thought that district 11's rioting was odd; it seemed to be portrayed positively, although it also seemed to be portrayed as relatively hopeless. The murder of policemen as an intrinsic good always upsets me.
Much more importantly, though, the film had only one serious demonstration that it was portraying a totalitarian regime; high speed rail, beloved of evil everywhere. If the film minutely increases racial tension, but helps remind people that they don't want to live in the kind of society that produces that sort of monstrosity, I'd say I'm down with the film. Plus, it was fun.
Feb '11
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
Actually in the book Rue is described as having dark brown skin and eyes, it just never matters for the rest of the series. Her district is also one of the first to riot in the book because they are treated more harshly than in district 12 and because Rue was only 12 years old. All in all I think you're seeing something that's not there.
Mar '11
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
Not really.
1.) As others have noted, they are both likely black in the book. There is no sense that their race is important to the story either way. They are simply sharecroppers.
2.) Their district is one of the most cruelly treated. Though they pick all the food, starvation is rampant. (It's a socialized system, not unlike the Soviet collectivized farms - with similar results.) A retarded boy there was executed by Peacekeepers for picking up food inadvertently.
3.) I share J of E's disgust at the vilification of the police, but it's not applicable here: Panem's "Peacekeepers" are the Stasi, the Cossacks, and the Great Terror all wrapped into one.
4.) In the book there's an elaborate scene of a sponsored gift of symbolic bread that Rue's district sends her. It took about a page of internal monologue to express both the cost and depth of emotion it represented. I can easily see the filmmakers changing this to a revolt in solidarity - much easier to express.
Apr '11
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
Von Bismarck:
3.) I share J of E's disgust at the vilification of the police, but it's not applicable here: Panem's "Peacekeepers" are the Stasi, the Cossacks, and the Great Terror all wrapped into one.
I see the point, but I'm not sure that this will be obvious to all the readership; it seems to me to represent a confirmation of the morals of kids of occupiers, at least as it will be read by the kids of occupiers. That said, excellent comment, each of the four points being important, eloquent, and distinct.
Oct '10
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
I do believe that this is classic Hollywood-style racism, and Katievs nails it:
Yep. It's the idea that black character must always be presented as good, wise, and noble. There's also the condescending assumption that audiences will feel sorry for black people.
In other words, it's the Morgan Freeman effect. It's not that he's incapable of portraying villainy, it's just that Hollywood is unwilling to paint him with that brush.
Apr '11
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
What is the difference between a "stereotype" and any general observation of cultural differences?
May '11
Re: Race Riots in the Hunger Games
Spoiler Alert: Ditto all the above explanations, and this: while it's a bit anachronistic to Katniss' state of mind in the first book, it foreshadows events revealed in the second and third books.
Is district 12 Appalachia? I had more of an impression of Western Pennsylvania - perhaps the Alleghenies. Would that make district 13 New England or the Delaware River basin?