What are the Games For?: The Hunger Games and Reality TV

In Suzanne Collins’ series, The Hunger Games, a dystopian Capitol holds an annual televised gladiator-style competition in which child participants fight to the death. These Games function as a psychological tool of propaganda that influence both viewers and participants to sustain an oppressive government. Collins prominently explored the Games’ medium as a reality television show through the way it reinforces an ideology of oppression and control through visual messaging and emotional complicity to create division between classes of people. Real world reality TV also has ideological underpinnings that can negatively influence both viewers and participants through its depiction of a narcissistic, glamourized, and unattainable version of reality. Collins’ critique of reality TV illustrates the importance of discernment in media consumption and the ways in which audiences may be responsible for the content of the media they support.