"Fire is Catching"
HOW AND WHY A SYMBOL OF RESISTANCE FROM THE HUNGER GAMES WAS ADOPTED BY MODERN DAY PROTEST MOVEMENTS
Introduction
In the spring of 2015, a series of riots and protests broke out in Baltimore after an African American man, Freddie Gray, died of a severe spinal cord injury while in police custody (Leeds, 2015). When CNN only partially, and dismissively, covered the event, choosing instead to focus on the White House Correspondents dinner, people across Twitter, social media, and talk shows publicly rebuked them. Notably, Jon Stewart of The Daily Show (at the time), chastised CNN partially through an interview with his “Senior Civil Unrest Correspondent," Jessica Williams, who was supposedly on site at Baltimore. However, her real background was made to mimic that of the reaping ceremony of The Hunger Games, and her outfit was tailored to look exactly like that of Effie Trinket, the histrionic, shallow escort and announcer for the district 12 tributes for the hunger games. Williams expresses sorrow at the death of “so many tributes” in the riots and passively declares that “our hearts go out to Baltimore and all of District 7”. However, she quickly continues to argue that the White House Correspondents Dinner attendees also deserved recognition and acknowledgment at their fancy outing, as they suffered “countless hours of promo reels, plus hair and makeup and costumes.” She finished by appropriating the Black Lives Matter slogan, exclaiming that “black ties matter, Jon” (Stewart, 2015).
The comparison is obvious to anyone who’s read the books, watched the movies, or heard of The Hunger Games trilogy at all: CNN’s (and other news companies) focus on the Correspondent’s dinner of the rich and famous while protesters suffered in the streets fewer than 40 miles away is exactly what members of the capital would focus on. In The Hunger Games, the capital is where the rich of society feast and live in luxury, enjoying so much excess that they purposely throw up “for the pleasure of filling their bellies again and again” (Collins, 713). Meanwhile, the districts, specifically the higher numbers, never have enough to eat and face starvation, malnutrition, and disease every day. The rich are apathetic and willfully ignorant of the struggles of the poor, even watching the Hunger Games for their own entertainment. The parody is a statement of the American media and broader public, and directly calls out the media for supporting a system mistreating the poor and favoring the rich, just as the oppressive government does in the trilogy.
This is not a unique comparison; those in a position of power have frequently been compared to villains and societies from dystopian fiction. As one tweet humorously said in 2016, a year after The Daily Show parody:
(Smith, 2016)
Calling out former President Trump, this tweet connects actions during his presidency and candidacy to those of the oppressive, militaristic government from The Hunger Games, the link made more prominent given the salience of the trilogy in popular culture. Another article from 2016 was centered on an entertaining game: guess whether Trump or President Snow, the dictator from The Hunger Games, said a certain quote (Zuniga, 2016). It’s harder than you may imagine.
The Research
Such translations from dystopian fiction to real life are prominent: from the use of the Guy Fawkes mask from V for Vendetta in the Occupy Wall Street protests (Nicklesburg, 2015) to the wearing of cloaks from The Handmaid’s Tale as feminist symbol of protest (Beaumont & Holouch, 2018). More frequently, we have seen modern protesters adopt fictional symbols of resistance into their fight for resistance, but the methods of how and why these symbols have been adopted has yet to be examined. Past studies have demonstrated how fiction can impact emotions, behavior, and beliefs (Mulligan & Habel, 2013). Based on this idea, medical students have been advised to read works about medical theory and practice to see “cases” as real people; clearly, there is a gap in research on the impacts of fiction on real beliefs. Igartua took this idea further to prove how fiction contents can exert certain effects on attitudes regarding the topic at hand and how identification with the characters can increase this influence on the viewer and the self (Igartua, 2010). Especially as the majority of the public receives their news from entertainment media (Prior, 2005, 2007), it is necessary to examine the impacts of that media.
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To make conclusions about this protest phenomenon, I want to study the relationship between such beliefs and post-2000s dystopian fiction, specifically looking at the three-fingered salute from The Hunger Games and its usage in Southeast Asian protests. I canvas recent literature in cognitive science, media, and current news about the impacts of fiction on beliefs and opinions, as well as the effects of identification on the self. Then, I examine modern protests to see how these principles apply and impact the movements. I focus on the case study of the three-fingered salute from The Hunger Games trilogy and its adoption in recent Southeast political protests because of its appearance in recent media as well as the salience of The Hunger Games. My analysis addresses both the method through which this fictional symbol was adopted into real protest movements in Southeast Asia and why it is so widespread and impactful. My findings suggest that dystopian fictional works play a broad role in the political and cultural education and connection of the general public and have implications about the future of dystopian fiction in society, although further research is needed to establish why certain symbols are chosen over others. My work is compiled within this website, and each different tab will provide different information. I recommend going in the order of the tabs along the header for the most enriching experience.
Where to Go First:
My research is presented as a comprehensive report throughout this website. There are multiple tabs to explore for background, further research, and analysis.
