Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Reaction Paper on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire



Science fiction, as defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, "is a fiction that deals with the impact of actual or imagined science on society or individuals or having a scientific factor as an essential orienting component." Having said that, the Hunger Games: Catching Fire is definitely a film under the science fiction genre. The futuristic setting alone may explain the fiction part. The imagined science that governs in the film definitely made an impact on the people in Panem since if it were not for all of the new inventions and state-of-the-art technologies, there would not be any device that could control weather, create mutations (eg. “mutts”, tracker jackers, jabberjays etc.), make forest fires, produce poisonous gases, and all others used in the games, there will be no so-called “hunger games” and there will also be no plot in the whole film. The indifference present in Panem , particularly the people in Capitol, can be seen as an impact of the imagined science as well.
The Hunger Games depicts all three (past, present, future) human society that it is a bit amazing and terrifying all at the same time. First off, the film’s human society may be likened with that of the strict caste system that is said to have existed in the past. The people in the Capitol on top of the “food chain”, the people in the 13 districts as freemen, or as free as they could be, and the Avox as the untouchables who is at the bottom. The film may also warn us of the kind of future we might get if we continuously let technology enslave us rather than make it serve us. But the most terrifying of it all is how the film may be talking about the human society right now. How many of us are willing to fight to death our beliefs? Even Katniss Everdeen, who is the main character, had trouble with that. She portrays many of us.  The kind of person who puts her family above all and would willingly bow down and turn a blind eye to the people in power in order to have a peaceful and safe life. Passivity becomes our friend. But the film also portrays the humanity left in us. That whatever happens, there is still that single ray of hope in all of us. It is up to us to decide whether we acknowledge it when the time comes or abandon it and live a meaningless life.
The 13 districts have only a meager amount of technology that the Capitol has and unfortunately, they are not as good. The fence that was supposed to be electrified in district 12 may be an example of a failed kind of technology. And yet there is a district that focuses on technology which is district 3. And we all know how their tributes were so efficient in the hunger games, particularly in the 75th Hunger Games.
Entertaining and thrilling, the Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a must-watch. 

Catherine S. Balignasa
2013-19732
Section: THX

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