It's Hunger Games mania at school right now! We had a haphazard Hunger Games book club meeting at lunch, which involved a lot of "what's your favorite part" and "who would you be" type discussions. The poor representative from our yearbook publisher walked into the middle of an intense Gale vs. Peeta argument in my publications class, and got a lot of "Oh my God, you haven't read it! You have to read it!"
It's a phenomenon. Every morning I'm getting updates like, "I stayed up until one in the morning to finish Catching Fire!" It's affecting students' performance in their other classes, because I'm also getting periodic updates like, "I read chapter 12 in band, and I can't believe..." I feel like I've betrayed the college prep English teacher, who just assigned Crime and Punishment. Many students will not have the first 100 pages read by Friday.
That said, here's the post I was planning on writing. One aspect of The Hunger Games that I love is how Collins has created a story where a classic heroine is placed in a conflict that is so relevant to contemporary society. To explain, I'll have to employ a Star Wars metaphor via Joseph Campbell.
In The Power of Myth, Campbell discusses Darth Vader, saying that he is "living not in terms of himself but in terms of an imposed system. This is the threat to our lives that we all face today...How do you relate to the system so that you are not compulsively serving it?" Campbell's answer to his own question: "By holding to your own ideals for yourself and, like Luke Skywalker, rejecting the system's impersonal claims upon you."
So, what does Campbell mean by "the system"? We all have institutions vying for our loyalty and imposing systems on us--government, religion, workplace, school--and we all make decisions about how we will go about being an individual in relation to these institutions. To paraphrase Campbell, our challenge is to find how we, as individuals, can use the system to benefit ourselves and others, instead of being consumed by it.
Katniss is slow to figure out where she stands in relationship to the system, the institutions of Panem and, later, of District 13. She did not intend to become the leader of a revolution, but she eventually accepts her role. She accepts it on her own terms, though, and never fully gives herself to the politicians and masterminds behind the revolution. Her ultimate act of autonomy is the murder of President Coin.
So, if myths are metaphors for the journey of ordinary life, what are we to take from this? We could start by asking ourselves if we are using the system or if it is using us. Of course, what "the system" means to each of us will be different.
There is also the consideration of the community. Heroes are not selfish. Their victories are supposed to benefit others, as well. Theseus, though he certainly had fame and fortune on his mind, slew the Cretan Minotaur to end the sacrificial slaughtering of Athenian youths. Sound like a familiar scenario? To facilitate this discussion, my contemporary literature class watched
Jim Henson's version of the tale. (Full disclosure, I got this idea from
Wikipedia.) We also charted Katniss' journey according to Campbell's model, which is
here in simplified form. We also discussed comparisons to The Iliad, Lord of the Rings, and others.
I feel like I'm gushing over The Hunger Games, perhaps exaggerating it's quality. I don't know, I guess time will tell as far as that goes.
