Someone explain to me how The Hunger Games in the book is actually used as a tool to oppress the citizens of Panem, aside from the government showing how Evil they are.
Because, unless everyone in Panem is severely cognitively disabled, it doesn't make a goddamned bit of sense to me.
It's not used as a way to divide the citizens and turn them against one another as a form of victim blaming. If it were, it wouldn't be a mandatory lotto. It could work if it were "voluntary", with the poor citizens having no choice to sign up if they wanted to get any food, while everyone who was better off could distance themselves from this tragedy and view it as entertainment. "Oh, well since it's voluntary, they must have wanted to be in the Games," or "They're all poor anyway, who even cares?"
Or they could put any traitors to Panem in the Games and use it as a way to showcase gruesome public executions a la Battle Royale. It'd make a lot more fucking sense to do that then cutting out the traitors' tongues and keeping them as servants, giving them unrestricted access to very important people in the Capitol. Yeah, that's real fucking smart, isn't it? I guess it's also really smart to have the winners of the games be violent killing machines who know how to use weapons really well. I'm sure that won't backfire on you guys during a rebellion or anything.
We're told that The Games are viewed as entertainment, which I thought might be used to placate the masses with gruesome, dehumanizing free-for-all entertainment. But then we're told that absolutely everyone hates the fucking Games. Then why the hell are people watching it??? Is it only people in the Capitol who are entertained? You are telling me two different things, Cooper! Or you could just show me, like someone who actually knows how to fucking write.
Why aren't there people outside the Capitol who sincerely believe that President Snow is their Glorious Leader? Are there people like that and did I just miss it? Why would you write about a dictatorship and not include some ridiculous bullshit propaganda that the state controlled media constantly feeds to everyone in Panem as much as possible? That's like "Writing About Dictatorships 101"! It's a prominent thing in those kinds of stories because that's how oppressive governments work. It's how they oppress people. It's mostly a mental control kind of thing. Hell, look at North Korea. Fucking look at it. Kim Jong Il fed all these ridiculous stories to the media constantly about how, say, he had a miraculous and supernatural birth, or how he was beloved the world over and everyone respected him. That's writing gold! Why not use shit like that in the book about President Snow? If stuff like that was used and I didn't get to it yet, please let me know.
All I'm seeing from The Hunger Games is, "We all hate this government and we all hate the Games but somehow we're not rebelling because the Games are being used to punishment us." Yeah? The Games being instated is a really good reason to rebel again, to me! They're already killing your children. What more could they possibly do!?
God, I didn't mean to ramble, I just can't stand this shitty writing and lack of basic research and if I so much as make a peep about this to most of my friends, my ass will be jumped and I'll be told how I "don't understand." Yeah, I don't understand. I don't understand Panem, it's stupid citizens, or how its bullshit government was in power for that long without everyone rebelling (again) as soon as the concept of the Games were announced.
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Because, unless everyone in Panem is severely cognitively disabled, it doesn't make a goddamned bit of sense to me.
It's not used as a way to divide the citizens and turn them against one another as a form of victim blaming. If it were, it wouldn't be a mandatory lotto. It could work if it were "voluntary", with the poor citizens having no choice to sign up if they wanted to get any food, while everyone who was better off could distance themselves from this tragedy and view it as entertainment. "Oh, well since it's voluntary, they must have wanted to be in the Games," or "They're all poor anyway, who even cares?"
Or they could put any traitors to Panem in the Games and use it as a way to showcase gruesome public executions a la Battle Royale. It'd make a lot more fucking sense to do that then cutting out the traitors' tongues and keeping them as servants, giving them unrestricted access to very important people in the Capitol. Yeah, that's real fucking smart, isn't it? I guess it's also really smart to have the winners of the games be violent killing machines who know how to use weapons really well. I'm sure that won't backfire on you guys during a rebellion or anything.
We're told that The Games are viewed as entertainment, which I thought might be used to placate the masses with gruesome, dehumanizing free-for-all entertainment. But then we're told that absolutely everyone hates the fucking Games. Then why the hell are people watching it??? Is it only people in the Capitol who are entertained? You are telling me two different things, Cooper! Or you could just show me, like someone who actually knows how to fucking write.
Why aren't there people outside the Capitol who sincerely believe that President Snow is their Glorious Leader? Are there people like that and did I just miss it? Why would you write about a dictatorship and not include some ridiculous bullshit propaganda that the state controlled media constantly feeds to everyone in Panem as much as possible? That's like "Writing About Dictatorships 101"! It's a prominent thing in those kinds of stories because that's how oppressive governments work. It's how they oppress people. It's mostly a mental control kind of thing. Hell, look at North Korea. Fucking look at it. Kim Jong Il fed all these ridiculous stories to the media constantly about how, say, he had a miraculous and supernatural birth, or how he was beloved the world over and everyone respected him. That's writing gold! Why not use shit like that in the book about President Snow? If stuff like that was used and I didn't get to it yet, please let me know.
All I'm seeing from The Hunger Games is, "We all hate this government and we all hate the Games but somehow we're not rebelling because the Games are being used to punishment us." Yeah? The Games being instated is a really good reason to rebel again, to me! They're already killing your children. What more could they possibly do!?
God, I didn't mean to ramble, I just can't stand this shitty writing and lack of basic research and if I so much as make a peep about this to most of my friends, my ass will be jumped and I'll be told how I "don't understand." Yeah, I don't understand. I don't understand Panem, it's stupid citizens, or how its bullshit government was in power for that long without everyone rebelling (again) as soon as the concept of the Games were announced.