#BlackLivesMatter and the ‘The Hunger Games’

Twenty four children, one boy and one girl from each of the thirteen districts, are thrown into the wilderness under brutal conditions, watched by cameras and disoriented by hidden technologies that manipulate the elements around them, like weaponized wildlife and poisonous fog. Ranging in age from twelve to eighteen, they are forced to fight to the death until there is only one victor left standing. These are the Hunger Games, an event that is televised every year in order to keep the impoverished citizens of the thirteen districts distracted and afraid, and to keep the affluent citizens of the Capitol complacent and entertained. It may seem a far cry from the reality that we live in, but this dystopian, post-apocalyptic milieu in the fictional nation of Panem in North America serves as an allegorical and dramatic reflection of our current societal state; a militarized…