However, ancient Rome and several other real cultures already did that. The chilling aspect of Nineteen Eighty Four was the commentary on the power relationship, and also the degree to which the evil Ingsoc political system had formed itself into a fantical religion which one might describe, tongue in cheek, as doubleplusungood.
Also, other SF has featured gladiatorial games, in dystopias more unpleasant than Panem.
Of course - but as Ancient Rome already did that, it is why Hunger Games (as a novel ) stands out since it actually discussed it as well as power relationships....WHEREAS 1984 was a novel based on possibilities. It simply did not impress me as a novel since it was more speculate whereas what occurred in Panem actually dealt with what has happened historically in several points in history. It was also challenging since it showed the way cultures learned to make something out of the Gladitoral games and combat....be it Rome or the Aztecs in their day (With the games preceeding Basketball being a matter of life and death)
or the Mayans and many others:
As said before, it was never about stories being more UNPLEASANT than Panem - that actually wasn't even what the OP focused on. It was addressing the religious climate within the story of Panem (if actually reading the books or seeing the films and wanting to discuss) when seeing historical events. Whether one liked Panem or not was inconsequential since the issue was discussion of history for what actually occurred at differing points. ..and what we actually have present in our nation:
When I see what occurred in Panem, I see the history of certain forms of sport playing out plainly and that's a big deal. Studying the history of sports and seeing the ways that they've extensively been used not only as an outlet for entertainment...but also as a means for social activism and challenging political systems which may be corrupt, as Katniss did when challenging the Capitol in its ideological focus of the games being 'necessary' and others not even seeing how cheering on victors was corrupt when not even seeing what the empire was doing to their homelands.
As one resource pointed out:
This series can be as much a commentary on the American Empire of right now as the Roman Empire of posterity. When I read Collins' novels, and when I watch these films, emerging as powerful mouthpieces for more-than-ever-needed self-reflection, I see an increasingly vacuous and selectively ignorant American public glued screen-to-eyeball to "Reality TV" shows, to Ultimate Fighting tournaments and to Call of Duty first-person shooter games. I see an American marketplace so awash in fashion and appearance that, on the whole, we are either unaware or unconcerned that our vast selection of apparel comes out of District factories in Bangladesh and Guatemala, made by workers who get paid less than two dollars a day and few other options thanks to "Free Trade" agreements. And most horrifying of all, I see an American foreign policy predicated on martially enforcing economic interests in the oil-producing Districts around the world, like Iraq and Nigeria. Should any be so brazen as to withhold their resources from our market shares, American Peacekeepers will shortly be arriving at their borders. How long before reality TV gives us live footage of foreign battlefields and opportunities to gamble on the outcomes?
For students who have yet to learn about ancient Rome or fascist Italy but enjoyThe Hunger Games all the same, teachers can use a variety of resources to bridge the gap between history and entertainment and teach something that is both relevant and interesting. Here are some connections that have been drawn between Collins’ hit series and our planet’s past and present.
Collins herself has cited two main inspirations for The Hunger Games, the first of which is the history and bloodshed synonymous with Ancient Rome. The references to the infamous gladiatorial games are plentiful throughout the entire trilogy. In her criticism and historical study of The Hunger Games, Mary McGunigal references a quote from Collins in which she gives the three main support columns of the games: “a ruthless, all-powerful government, people being forced to fight to the death, and it to be a popular entertainment.” The government that uses fear to dictate their people resides at the garish Capitol (yes, like the Roman Capitol) and funnel exorbitant amounts of cash into the games in order to sponsor certain tributes and throw lavish feasts for tributes before they enter the arena. This is eerily similar to Ancient Rome, where aristocrats would provide feasts for the gladiators before battle, and the physically attractive gladiators would have more monetary value.
In The Hunger Games, the more attractive tributes receive more sponsors, so tributes are dolled up with a sickening attention to detail. It is an odd combination of the ideologies of Ancient Rome and the often criticized culture of the current youth pageant circuit. The Hunger Games are televised across Panem and the results of the broadcast vary throughout the districts. For the wealthier districts, the games are a form of entertainment in which they are deeply entrenched—this mimics and criticizes popular culture and reality television, as well as the lust for gore in Ancient Rome. For the poor districts, the games are elaborate displays of power, which is highly reminiscent of the government of Ancient Rome. The parallels could not be more clear: Panem’s President Corialanus Snow, the “Capitol” and the parading of tributes in golden chariots are all obvious nods to the violence of that ancient era. Panem is even a reference to the phrase “panem et circenses,” which translates to bread and circuses and was coined in reference to the large amounts of grains that were given away to the public coupled with the frequent (and costly) gladiator battles staged for entertainment.....there are other, more recent historical and cultural connections that can be made when discussing The Hunger Games. As mentioned before, our culture’s preoccupation with reality television, violence and the youth pageant circuit (“Survivor,” “Grand Theft Auto” and “Toddlers and Tiaras”) is mirrored in the world of Panem. The totalitarian regime and fear instilled by such a government is reminiscent of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. Citizens of the Capitol are obsessed with physical appearance to the point of body modification, which is an obvious dig (albeit an exaggeration) of our culture’s preoccupation with perfect beauty.
Also, As another noted best:
a totalitarian future in which the all-powerful government of Panem (in what was once the United States) demands an annual "tribute" of two youths from each of its 12 districts to fight to the death in a televised event known as the Hunger Games. Sixteen-year old Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) of the dirt-poor District 12 volunteers to take her younger sister Primrose's place in the Games. But when she reaches the Capitol of Panem, she realizes that in order to succeed, her physical abilities are not enough. She must also create a convincing (if false) public narrative that she and fellow tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) are "star-crossed lovers" in order to win the allegiance of the audience and outwit the "gamemakers." This crafting of her own media narrative eventually turns Katniss into a popular heroine with the power to change the future of Panem itself.....On historical references in the film to work which the film is based on:
The Myth of Theseus
Theseus was the son of both Aegeus, the King of Athens, and also the god Poseidon—both of whom apparently slept with Theseus's mother Aethra in the same night. After King Minos of Crete defeated the Athenians in war, he demanded that they send an annual tribute of seven of their handsomest youths and seven of their most beautiful maidens to Crete. There they would be devoured by the Minotaur in the Labyrinth built by Daedalus. Angered by this brutal practice, Theseus volunteered one year to be a tribute. He traveled to Crete where Minos's daughter Ariadne helped him to find his way through the Labyrinth and kill the Minotaur. In doing so, he saved Athens from the terrible sacrifice of its youth and became the king and unifier of the nation.
As in the legend of Theseus, the 12 districts of Panem in The Hunger Games are required to send young male and female tributes to certain death at the hands of a monstrous power. And like Theseus, who volunteers to be a tribute in order to kill the Minotaur, Katniss volunteers to be a tribute in order to defy Panem's efforts to sacrifice children like her 12-year old sister. In her fighting ability, Katniss also resembles the legendary warrior women of the Amazons. The Amazon queen Hyppolyta was the first wife of Theseus and mother of his son Hyppolytus.........
Imperial Rome
Panem, in its ongoing "self-styling" after prior, more successful regimes, adopts the trappings of imperial Rome. Panem's ruling city is known as the Capitol (after the Roman Capitol), and its leading residents adopt Roman names, Roman furnishings, and even Roman-style chariots for the Hunger Games' parade. The government of Panem thus follows everyone from Napoleon to the Russians, Prussians, Italian Fascists, and German Nazis in co-opting the external characteristics of Rome in order to lend itself the simulacra of tradition and authority. The references to Rome in The Hunger Games also appear intended to evoke present-day America, although in America it should be noted that the Founding Fathers drew their inspiration from the Roman Republic and not from the later Roman Empire (when gladiatorial fighting, income inequality, and centralized government truly reached its peak).......
Bread and Circuses: Roman gladiatorial games
The chief manner in which ancient Roman leaders won the favor of the public was by doling out "bread and circuses" (Latin, "panem et circenses")—a phrase coined by the satirist Juvenal (c. 100 A.D.) to describe a practice that began in the late years of the Roman republic and that eventually symbolized the decline of Roman civic virtue. The "bread and circuses" consisted of huge handouts of grain to the public and the staging of massive, costly games that could last for weeks and slaughter thousands of animals (human gladiators were more rarely killed than is popularly imagined). As with the tributes in The Hunger Games, the Roman gladiators who fought in the arena generally had no choice as to whether or not they fought, since they were often slaves or prisoners of war (though there were volunteers who would fight for fame and fortune). Also, just as the gamemakers in The Hunger Games introduce animals into the "arena" through teleportation technology, so in ancient Rome animals were brought into the arena through trap doors or raised up on platforms from the basement below the arena floor. Similarly, Katniss and Peeta's efforts to win over the crowd in order to stay alive are a reminder of the crowd's power in ancient Rome to signal life or death for a gladiator.
The name of one of the books I was reminded of when seeing what Katniss had to deal with is called T
he Victor's Crown:A History of Ancient Sport from Homer to Byzantium. Very fascinating read on the significance sports played in antiquity
and the ways that they can still shape things today..
In the same way that Maximus challenged the Emperor of Rome via his symbolic status as a Gladiator (the equivalent of a celebrity/entertainer in that day) - which
was very intriguing, even though some aspects of the film were not historical.
Gladiator (5/8) Movie CLIP - My Name is Maximus (2000) HD
From a modern historical perspective, I was studying the example of
Muhammad Ali and amazed at what he symbolized when he boldly challenged the government during the Vietnam War - evading the draft due and
inspiring millions due to his using his position to take a stand against something he felt was morally wrong..
regardless of the consequences. In studying on his history for a class in Graduate School when we were learning on Malcolm X/the Nation of Islam,
it was amazing to see the ways that a split had occurred - and Malcolm X's relationship with Ali was highly political since he could use the position as a boxer for being a platform for spreading theological beliefs....and when
the Nation of Islam saw this as well, they sought to make Ali a part of their camp in the hopes that he'd represent them.
Although Ali later broke with them just as Malcolm X did, the significance of what occurred amazed me since it reminded me of the ways that it's NEVER just sports. A group that was on the margins of society and yet fostering revolutionary ideas understood the things they could use to their advantage to promote what they were about - and I can't but see the same today with believers when it feels like they're increasingly on the margins in a Post-Christian society.
People often seem to rally around symbols and others in power are very aware of the power symbolism carries with it...one of the reasons there seems to be such a battle over who controls the media influence of our culture - and who knows how it has been used in times past. Paul seemed to have the same awareness of things (IMHO) when seeing what sports represented in his days -
as Paul had been aware of the Isthmian Games - and it's one of the reasons why he described the Christian life in terms of athletic metaphors since his goal was to win the race of the Christian life, not to lose it (Phil. 3:12-14; 1 Cor. 9:24-27; 2 Tim. 4:6-8) - and that imagery would not have been lost in an empire that was vehemently against Christians/the ways believers seemed to work within the system to promote truth...
And again, it's interesting when considering how the gladitoral games were seen as SPORT (meaning Christians were involved as well if atheletes) - with the games seen as a means of keeping violence down sadly and others having no choice but to compete in them...
http://www.historytoday.com/keith-hopkins/murderous-games-gladiatorial-contests-ancient-rome
I was talking to my cousin on the books called "The Hunger Games" - brilliant series in what it sought to represent with addressing the reality of violence and how often it is used wrongly as well as driven by entertainment - with no one benefiting from it in the end (more shared here and here)
