The Hunger Games - Movie Review

The Hunger Games Movie Review

In Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, a combination of 12 districts and a Capitol form this dystopian future called Panem. Each year, the Capitol at random chooses a boy and a girl from each district to participate in an all-out fight-to-the-death in a constantly changing arena known as The Hunger Games. To those in the Capitol, this televised broadcast is a form of entertainment but to those in the districts it is required to watch as a punishment and reminder of a past uprising. The tributes are forced to kill each other off until only one is left to be crowned the victor. Throughout Katniss’ perilous journey to return to her home of district 12, she faces impossible choices that pose her survival against the greater good of humanity and love.

The Hunger Games does a superb job of depicting a totalitarian government. In doing so, the Capitol uses methods of learning and conditioning to effectively oppress its’ people. Once the tributes are in the arena they, and everyone watching, are aware that they are no longer citizens of Panem but pawns in the Gamemaker’s Hunger Games. On their quest to kill each other off, the sound of a canon being fired serves as a conditioned stimulus because it signifies to those in the arena that one of their fellow tributes has been killed. The conditioned response is to count how many were fired and wait for nightfall which is when the Gamemakers project the faces of the dead tributes in the sky. Another form of classical conditioning in the film is brought upon by little silver boxes attached to parachutes. If the tributes win over their audience with charisma or heroic actions, these gifts are delivered to the tributes by their mentors. The little silver boxes can be considered a conditioned stimulus after being paired with vital objects necessary to keep living in the arena such as food, medicine, or weapons in a preceding order. The president and other figures of authority in the Capitol were aware the being forced to watch the televised programming of what could well be somebody’s son, daughter, friend, or neighbor would not sit well with the citizens of Panem. But to keep this under control the Capitol enforced operant conditioning as any one dared commit the slightest act of rebellion was publically beat to death by Peacekeeper guards. Those fortunate few who were only beat but not killed were taken to Katniss’ mother, known for her amazing ability to heal the wounded as she acquired this knowledge from working in her father’s apothecary. As a child, Katniss’ younger sister Prim attentively observed her mother in practices with patients. Prim later expressed performances of latent learning and further exemplified Bandura’s studies of “learning by observing”.

The Capitol has the means to mold individuals into their desired taste. They have technology that grants them the