Technological Determinism in The Hunger Games

             THE HUNGER GAMES

What if Canada had the same type of economy Panem had in the film The Hunger Games? The Hunger Games is a movie based on a book written by Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games takes place in a country called Panem which is located in North America. The nation called Panem is dominated by the wealthy Capital. The 12 districts in Panem are poor and are dominated by the Capital. In other words, the Capital decided to invent this game called The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games in the film is a reality tv show that is basically about fighting until you reach death. In order for the games to start, the Capital  choose a boy and a girl between the ages of 12-18 to participate. The Capital also decided to broadcast The Hunger Game live on air 24/7 as a reality tv show. All the citzens of Panem get the opportunity to watch The Hunger Games live and they all route for the tributes that are from their district. The nation Panem has 12 districts all together. Also, only one boy and girl between the ages of 12-18 are chosen to participate in the games

       Following this further, in The Hunger Games, they do a random draw and that's how they pick the two participants that will be participating in the competition. Katniss Everdeen is 16 years old, and she volunteers as tribute to take her little sister Primrose Everdeens place in the The Hunger Games. Peeta Mellarck was chosen as the male participate for District 12. Moreover, the two tributes are broadcasted live on television during The Hunger Games which was created by the Capital. However, as The Hunger Games were being broadcasted live on television, there was also an surveillance society that existed in the arena and in Panem. The surveillance society was basically about constant surveillance in the nation called Panem and in the arena which means that everything they do in the arena is monitored by surveillance. The only difference between the surveillance in the nation Panem alone and the reality TV show called The Hunger Games is that The Hunger Games was broadcasted live. Thus, everyone in Panem was able to watch every move of the 12 participants that were participating in The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games has a little bit of everything. The Hunger Games has action, romance, and even technological differences from today’s world. Moreover, technological determinism takes place in The Hunger Games because technological determinism is about how society shapes it’s values and beliefs. For example, during the film, Katniss Everdeen faces the  hidden camera in the forest, and does the three finger salute to show District 11 respect after the death of one of their tributes.

    Pursuing this further, Katniss was obviously fully aware about  being watched under surveillance during The Hunger Games. She interacted differently in society by facing a non existence camera because she knew it was somewhere in the forest and that it would be broadcasted live. Another example of technological surveillance, when Peeta and Katniss were convinced to fall in love by their mentors and stylists. Unquestionably, convincing the District 12 tributes to fall in love in order to get the Capital to find them to be more appealing  made them eventually think and interact differently. This lead to technological determinism which has the power to change society. Thus, technology in The Hunger Games plays  a huge role and a also plays a huge impact on the lives of  the characters in the film.