Originally appeared in print, April 2022.
This past March was the ten year anniversary of the release of The Hunger Games. Directed by Gary Ross, the film was an adaptation of the first book from Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy. While the books were popular, the film’s release pushed it to the forefront of pop culture, particularly for pre-teen and teenage girls. After becoming invested in the story while watching the first film at my friend’s birthday party in 2012, I quickly read through the trilogy of books, and saw the first sequel, Catching Fire, in the cinema with my friends during its opening week. I’ve watched the entire film series multiple times over the years, and every time it has felt more relevant to the world we currently live in.
However, on the first film’s ten year anniversary, articles and social media posts popped up around the web talking about how, a decade later, The Hunger Games seems to have been forgotten. The most notable was a Forbes article entitled ‘Why The Hunger Games Vanished From The Pop Culture Conversation’. As someone known to get into deep discussions about The Hunger Games at two in the morning, it certainly hasn’t vanished from my pop culture conversations, however it seems unfair to suggest that it has vanished from the minds of others outside of my late night lectures. First, the fact that multiple articles were published for the tenth anniversary proves that the film isn’t forgotten—I didn’t see any articles about ten years of Rampart. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), the series’ protagonist, has been mentioned in recent episodes of popular tv shows like Hawkeye and The Boys, as a clear pop culture reference. And, as much as he has apologised for his character’s actions, Jack Quaid still gets angry tweets from people upset at him for killing fan-favourite character Rue (Amandla Stenberg). Unfortunately for Jack, plenty of people continue to talk about The Hunger Games ten years on.
The Hunger Games clearly hasn’t been completely forgotten, so those saying that it has ‘vanished’ from pop culture seem to actually be suggesting that any franchise without multiple television spin-offs or a theme park is a failure. While, out of all of the franchises, The Hunger Games world is the one I would be most excited to explore further—looking at the other hunger games which Katniss wasn’t a part of, other districts, tributes, victors—I definitely don’t need an Expanded Hunger Games Multiverse. Films should be allowed to just exist—tell their story and then get out of there. They don’t have to be part of the pop culture conversation years after their release. Nobody needs a two-part stage play about Katniss’ and Peeta’s son time-travelling with some kid from District 1 to save Finnick Odair. Having said that, a film adaptation of the prequel book, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, is planned for release within the next few years. But the breathing room between the release of the last film and the prequel make it feel less like a money grab and, hopefully, more like a genuine continuation of the story. The Hunger Games franchise isn’t dead, it just took a well-deserved break.
The original Hunger Games trilogy did have a bit of a struggle; It was dismissed as YA Fiction for girls, (because anything for teenage girls is automatically subpar) and criticised for being a copy of Battle Royale by people intentionally disregarding everything but the superficial plot elements of both films. However, The Hunger Games franchise was by no means a failure. It should be considered successful for, if nothing else, actually adapting all of the books, which is more than can be said for a lot of similar (attempted) franchises. Films like The Golden Compass, based on the His Dark Materials trilogy, and I Am Number Four, based on the Lorien Legacies series, never made it past the first book. Perhaps even worse is the Divergent trilogy; The decision was made to split the third book into two films—a choice also made for the final Hunger Games and Harry Potter adaptations—but the fourth film was then cancelled, adapting only two and a half of the novels and leaving the series on a cliffhanger.
As well as achieving the bare minimum of managing to adapt the whole trilogy, the film adaptations of The Hunger Games are actually good. It has the common problem, found in almost every film adaptation, of details being left out, but overall the films complement the books—the films bringing the books’ words to life, and the books providing more in-depth information. The first film in particular is elevated by the addition of scenes with President Snow (Donald Sutherland). The books are all from Katniss’ perspective, and so we learn everything from her, but the short scenes of President Snow offer a break from the chaos of the games and widen the world in a way not found in the books until the sequels.
Something else that made The Hunger Games stand out for me was that it always felt the most real—like The X Factor but with more murder. There aren’t any magic or dragons, just corrupt politicians, celebrity worship, and a lot of trauma. The hunger games event gets bigger every year to keep viewers interested, just like the crazy reality competition shows we have nowadays. There’s a love-triangle for fans to fawn and fight over, but it does the exact same thing in the world of The Hunger Games—Katniss kisses Peeta because she knows the people watching the hunger games in The Capitol will like it, and if they like her she has a better chance at winning.
I can see it in the world’s response to current events, like the Twitter fandom that has formed around Ukraine’s president Zelensky—there’s a difference between supporting Ukraine and stanning their president like he’s your new favourite fictional character. Or when that had to pause for bigger news: Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars. Waterford Whispers News said it perfectly in their article, ‘Sorry Ukraine But Will Smith Slapped Chris Rock So We’re A Little Distracted Today’. It’s a reminder that we could always be easily distracted by ‘bread and circuses’. On the other side of this, the three-finger salute used by Katniss in the films has become a symbol of pro-democracy for protesters in Thailand, Myanmar, and Hong Kong, going beyond pop culture to become part of real rebellions.
Whether or not The Hunger Games franchise does expand beyond the upcoming prequel adaptation, I believe it has firmly cemented its place in pop culture, at least for my generation. It might not be at the forefront of every conversation, but it doesn’t have to be.
