“I volunteer as tribute!” 

A quote all too familiar to many modern-day teenagers. We’ve heard snippets of The Hunger Games series, whether you read the books, watched the movies, or created fan accounts, and many of us have grown up with Katniss Everdeen, hoping to one day save the world just like she did. 

But, what we didn’t realize while binging the movies was that our world is not so different from hers. 

Suzanne Collins, the author of The Hunger Games, has stated countless times that Panem’s society is meant to be compared to ours. In a 2018 interview for The New York Times, written with David Levithan, Collins was asked about her “just-war” theory for the novels. 

“Just-war theory has evolved over thousands of years in an attempt to define what circumstances give you the moral right to wage war and what is acceptable behavior within that war and its aftermath,” Collins said. 

Neon colors, peculiar shapes, and alien-like makeup are all aspects of the way the rich citizens of the Capitol dress. These choices create questions on typical beauty standards in society

Another aspect of society that the fashion of The Hunger Games explores is the contrast between the rich and the poor.

 In Panem, the country in which The Hunger Games takes place, the rich dress with a strange extravagance while still remaining similar to each other, while the poor are dressed in either baggy workman’s clothes or an outfit based on their district. 

Furthermore, another comparable aspect of our society to theirs is the brutality of both human races. The Hunger Games are a fight to the death between children who just want to go home to their mothers, but are forced to entertain Capitol citizens. 

The main reason behind the idea of the Hunger Games was the government’s desire to punish the rest of the country for rebelling against leadership. The citizens made an attempt to speak out against their repressive government, and it ended with even more repression. 

This act is different from the way modern governments handle situations. If the citizens want reform, they have more opportunity to speak their minds freely and without punishment. 

The Hunger Games is meant to criticize our society and prove to us that we are not so different from those “characters” we hate so much.