This week, we have a discussion on the theme of privilege in The Hunger Games movies and books. We discuss several characters, including Finnick Odair, Annie Cresta, Peeta Mellark, Madge Undersee, Gale Hawthorne, and Cinna and the rest of the Prep Team. We even think about areas that Katniss has privilege compared to many others in Suzanne Collins' post-apocalyptic world. We also note that there was a bit of a missed opportunity for intersectionalality and also wish we got to find out more about the different levels of privilege in the Capitol.
We start the episode off with the thoughts of Katniss Everdeen:
Since the full quote from Chapter 6 of The Hunger Games is so good, here is the whole thing:
"The Capitol twinkles like a vast field of fireflies. Electricity in District 12 comes and goes, usually we only have it a few hours a day. Often the evenings are spent in candlelight. The only time you can count on it is when they're airing the Games or some important government message on television that it's mandatory to watch. But here there would be no shortage. Ever."
Listen to the episode here:
The concept of privilege in sociology generally refers to advantages that are unearned and/or exclusive to certain people or groups. And while we talk about the systemic nature of privilege in the podcast, we do put Katniss' hunting skills in there. Of course in our world, most people could learn how to do things like set snares (though actually having a good bow, license, etc. could definitely be prohibitive for many), that is not the case in District 12. Since the super benevolent Capitol outlawed hunting, it is not a skill that basically anyone can learn and practice. So, the fact that Katniss has access to her father's bow not only gave her privileges that starving families in 12 didn't have, but also gave her advantages in the Games that most of the other Tributes would never have had the opportunity to acquire.
There is obviously so much to cover on the topic of privilege since it seems like the series is dealing with it in every chapter, so if we didn't cover aspects of the books that were meaningful to you in this episode, part of that was purposeful. Since we have the themes of class, race, gender, ability, and equality still to come, we assumed you didn't want us to record a 5-hour episode covering everything at once.
So, what aspect of privilege in The Hunger Games is most striking or meaningful to you? We would love to hear your thoughts!
...and until next week - GEEK OUT!