Psychology in Hunger Games

     The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, was undoubtedly an exciting novel with action-packed adventure, but I have focused more on a perspective that many others may have not.  When reading this novel for my book quest, through all the different twists and turns that the story took I felt there was a very prominent aspect of psychology within the games.  There were many instances in which the characters were forced to make decisions in the game that often entailed very positive or negative consequences.  The many factors and motives that went into the characters' decision making led me to my emphasis on the field of psychology and various mind games.

Katniss and Peeta

     A very common theme throughout the Hunger Games was the obvious connection between Katniss and Peeta.  Prior to the games even beginning though, Katniss was immediately faced with the obstacle of being selected alongside Peeta, who had previously saved Katniss' life when they were children.  Katniss felt like she owed him, yet she was now expected to kill him in the games which really forced her into a dilemma.  By the end of the games, Katniss and Peeta were the only two left.  It seemed as if it was now inevitable that one of them had to die now that the newly established rule of same-district winners had been revoked and it was secretly the plan of the Gamemakers all along.

    This was a prominent point in the book that facilitated my focus on mind games that the characters had been a part of.  With the devotion to her love for Peeta, Katniss comes up with the brilliant plan for them eat the poisonous berries together and then pretend to be deeply in love with Peeta in order to both be declared winners and not be held accountable for their actions.  With stunning acting, the both pull it off and convince everyone that they are truly in love.  This both has an affect on the audience and spectators of the games as well as Katniss herself.  They had now escaped their biggest problem and most importantly death, but now Katniss was unsure if Peeta actually had a real love for her.  This was just another instance of how manipulative the characters were throughout the development of the Hunger Games.

     A very interesting speaker we had in our class that always stands out in my mind was Stephen Garcia who lectured about psychology of competition.  The struggle between Katniss and Peeta as well as their focus on winning the Hunger Games was a situation where psychology played a major role.  One of the main concepts he expressed that was very evident throughout the book was social facilitation.  This concept states that competition and motivation on a given task increases when you work in pairs or small groups as opposed to alone.  This can be exemplified by the many alliance realignments such as Katniss' alliance with Rue and the on-and-off alliance with Peeta.  I can agree with this with first-hand experience that working together with someone is always more tempting.  It gives you a sense of reassurance when you think may be incapable of reaching your goal, ultimately providing more motivation.  Additionally, Dr. Garcia discussed the role of situational factors on competition.  Such examples included time, resources, and perhaps even the role of love, which all can profoundly impact the course of a game like it did in this book.  With the scarcity of food and supplies as well as the relationship between Katniss and Peeta, the level of competition in the games were without a doubt altered.  The love Katniss and Peeta may have had for each other completely changed the course of the game as an alliance between the two may never have even existed.  As far as I see it, the Hunger Games would have been a completely different story without the various psychological factors that were clearly put in play.

     I believe my understanding of the Hunger Games was enhanced by my prior knowledge surrounding the psychology that goes into competition and games.  It offered me a perspective on this story that probably would not have even crossed my mind.  Rather than simply following the storyline and plot, I was able to pick apart the motives and psychological mechanisms of the characters.  Katniss' love for Peeta as well as the strategy going into the various alliances formed contributed to my complete comprehension of the story, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

The Hunger Games and Ancient Rome

Spoiler Alert: contains key plot points from The Hunger Games Trilogy

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One of the things I noticed while reading The Hunger Games Trilogy was the numerous ways in which the Capitol resembles ancient Rome, probably the most obvious being the gladiatorial like games that they hold for both the punishment of the defeated and for their own entertainment.  However, the resemblance goes much deeper than this.
Something that struck me almost immediately was the first names of the Capitol's citizens: Cinna, Caesar, Plutarch, Flavius, Octavia, Venia, to name a few.  The first name of every person from the Capitol is a traditional Roman name.  I decided that the author, Suzanne Collins, was purposely trying to create a connection in the minds of her readers between the Capitol and ancient Rome, and so I began searching for more similarities.

http://thehungergames.wikia.com

I then realized that both ancient Rome and the Capitol had penchants for excessive wealth that they relied entirely on their providences/Districts to provide.  A very specific example occurs in Catching Fire when Katniss is disgusted by the Capitol practice of making oneself puke at a dinner party in order to make room for more food.  The Romans also indulged in this disgusting habit.  I later discovered in Mockingjay, that Plutarch directly compares the conditions in the Capitol to the 'Bread and Circuses' of Rome.
There is also an interesting correlation between President Coriolanus Snow and the emperors of ancient Rome.  In ancient Rome, the emperors often gained and held power by whatever means necessary.  In Mockingjay, Finnick Odair reveals the brutal tactics that Snow used in his ascension to power, including a Roman favorite, poison.  Readers are treated first hand to the threats, torture, and executions Snow uses to maintain his position.
There exist many more examples I could point out but instead I'll ask a question.  Why is Suzanne Collins making these comparisons between the Capitol and an ancient civilization from thousands of years ago?  In Mockingjay, Plutarch mentions that Panem had once been a republic, another quality it shares with Rome.  Now think of the implications when considering that in the first book, Katniss relates that Panem was once known as North America.

http://www.crystalinks.com/romerecreation.html

Carl Becker stated in Everyman his own Historian, "to be prepared for what is coming to us it is necessary not only to recall certain past events but to anticipate the future."  I think Suzanne Collins trying to use her vision of a dystopian future to warn us that we need to learn from the mistakes of the past.  This is why she ends The Hunger Games Trilogy with Plutarch's expression of hope that the people of Panem will learn from their recent history.

Starving Myself from The Hunger Games

The Midnight Premiere of The Hunger Games is officially only 23 hours away, and just like any other person who has read The Hunger Games I am dying to see the movie...so why am I going to wait?

Right now I am currently in the middle of the second book Catching Fire. This book is amazing and I envision all of the scenes as if I were there. I have images in my head for Katniss, Gale, Peeta, Haymitch, President Snow, the Capitol, District 12, Katniss' home, the rebellions...all of it! I am enjoying this book so much that I actually don't want it to end! However, I won't let myself see the movie until I am finished with the complete trilogy.

I love keeping the images I have in my head of everything Hunger Games related. When reading the books, I like to have my own vision of this atmosphere, which is not yet affected by any third-party visions of the same story. Therefore, I have been trying to steer clear of all Hunger Games related publicity including all trailers, magazine articles, and news-related stories. Trust me...this task has been very difficult. It really seems as if The Hunger Games talk is permeating and ever-present; discussion of this movie comes up on TV, on Facebook, on websites, and in conversations with my friends. However, no matter how difficult it may be, I am on a mission to avoid all images of this movie until I am absolutely finished with The Hunger Games trilogy. This may be a daunting challenge, but I won't let anything get in the way of my vision of Katniss and her world.

So while everyone is off seeing The Hunger Games, I will be off somewhere playing my own game...avoiding this movie at all costs!

What do you all think about this task? Do you like completing a book before you see a movie to keep your own personal visions of the story? Or instead do you not mind having the images of the movie mix with your own imaginations of the same story?

Hungry for the Hunger Games

I finally understand societies’ infatuation with The Hunger Games. Having just completed the first book in the series, I must say, I’m definitely hooked. When I read the first book, I laughed, I cried, I gasped, and I smiled with a great deal of suspense. Who could have thought the game of love could last so long? 

It centers around its’ title, The Hunger Games; in which, a set of “Games” occur annually. Each of the 12 Districts in a city of the future have two children ages 12-18, compete for survival, in a quest called, “The Games.” Every year, during the ceremony known as “the reaping,” two children are selected from each of the 12 Districts to participate in the event. The 24 children are thrown into an arena, with a forest-esq ambiance, in which they fight until there is one person left standing. A person’s likelihood of being chosen to participate increase year after year. Thus as age increases, so does one’s chances of being selected.

This year, the public witnessed a set of games, which tested the limits of love, lust, extremity and will to survive as Katniss Everdeen—the girl from District 12, who can kill squirrels, rabbits, and people with one shot from her bow and arrow, and Peeta Mallamark—the “baker’s son,” were faced with the ultimate test: partnership. I made so many predictions as to how I imagined the first book would end (all of which were erroneous); but, regardless, I already began reading the second book. I developed unique conjectures of the characters in the book and let my imagination paint a picture. Until I finished the book, I refrained from watching any of the film's trailers. The first time I saw Lions Gate's portrayal of the film was during last week's episode of the Ellen Degeneres show, where they shared a brand new trailer with the audience; who would have thought Lenny Kravitz would assume the role of Cinna--the stylist for District 12!?  The book in and of itself is riveting, and at the end, leaves the reader yearning for more (hence why I had to buy the second book, IMMEDIATELY). 

My creative vision of the book's characters ceases to exist, thanks to an inundation of images from US media coverage. Regardless, I finished the first book and the frenzy is everywhere. The next chapter will begin when Lionsgate releases, The Hunger Games, worldwide on March 23, 2012. Side note: (I finished the book the minute my plane touched down at a New York airport. The cover of Glamour was the first magazine I saw upon arrival. Can you guess who's on the cover?)

Entertainment Weekly: Jennifer Lawrence

Glamour: Jennifer Lawrence

Flare Magazine

Seventeen

Details: Liam Hemsworth

People Magazine: Collector's Special 

Are Games all Fun?

Who decides what is a game and what is not a game?  Since I was very young, my notion of a game was a fun, harmless, fictional realm in which there were set rules and an ending with some desired reward.  However, as I get older I am exposed to more serious and less fictional "games."  What happens when a fictional game is brought into real life and is no longer harmless?  Is this still considered a game?  As seen in The Hunger Games as well as a recent Law and Order: SVU, there is evidence of games in which the human life is at risk.

In The Hunger Games, representatives from each district are competing in a televised competition for survival.  The rules state that there can only be one winner, forcing all participants to rambunctiously kill all others in the game.  This "game" is neither fictional, fun, nor harmless.  It threatens the lives of all participants.  Similarly, in the episode of Law and Order: SVU called Hunting Ground, a man kidnaps women and plays a "game" with them.  He directly states the rules of the game in that each woman must act as an animal and be waited to be hunted by him and his gun.  In a dense forest, he searches for each woman and kills them.  He tells each participant that the only way to win the "game" is to die.  Based on these two similar life-threatening "games", my concept of what a game is has drastically changed.  I no longer think of it as a childish activity that is fun and harmless.  I now know that games come in many different forms, including ones in which death is the ultimate prize.

Mind Games

When first hearing the phrase 'mind game' some may think about the things people say or do that is purposely meant to trick or fool the psychological thinking of another, in other words, they play tricks with your mind. However, what about the games we play in our own head? The ones that are not meant to trick or fool you but actually try to help you make better decision in the future, which is essenitally the same to a  game theory or decision theory mentality. 

I personally find myself playing mind games as well with situations I encounter. Like when I was recently away at a soccer camp with a new coach and new staff members. I had no idea what they would be like or how they thought, and the only thing I had to go off of was what I saw and heard from them each and every day, which was definately a challenge. I was constantly trying to figure what they meant by this and that, and how they thought I was playing based off of their body language, comments and feedback. I found myself always thinking what I should do to be better based off what I thought they wanted. And of course that changed from day to day when something new would come up, it became sort of like a game to figure out what actions would help me the most.

Hunger Games

 We can see an example of this in The Magic Circle's book quest of the novel The Hunger Games. I recently finished reading the novel and I realised that there is game theory throughout the whole book. The main character Katniss Everdeen battles with many decision about who to trust, how she should act and many more. There are countless examples of where she tries to understand and interpret actions of other so should can do and say the right things to better herself. For example, how she analyses the conversations and actions of fellow district member Peeta Mellark, and mentor Haymitch to find out their intentions so she can make her decisions from them. The decisions she makes are not also permanent and are actually changing numerous times as her interpretations are changing as well. You get a chance to see how she plays these games in her head and her thought process throughout her experience of the hunger games.

Even though your intentions are to make decision that will benefit you, playing to many decision games in your head can get confusing and tiresome. But I think it's something that is hard to avoid when you want so some so bad, like Katniss does with surviving the hunger games or wanted to impress coaches. But it's interesting to see what games your mind plays when faced with decisions.

Let "The Hunger Games" Begin

The Magic Circle's journey in UC 256: 22 Ways of Thinking About The Games We Play at the University of Michigan has just begun, and so has our "Hunger Games" book quest. 

It was bound to happen sooner or later, and I'm glad the time has come. At last, I finally started to read the novel everyone's been talking about—"The Hunger Games," by Suzanne Collins. I believe every aspect of this book relates to the theories we have (and continue) to discuss in this course. Everything about games; what are games, why do we play the games we do, what are the rules of the game, etc. In "The Hunger Games," the mysteries surrounding District 12 and the reaping, the purpose of this game, the decisions made during this game, and how Katniss Everdeen and the rest of the Seam play the game. 

Suzanne Collins

I am proud to be one of the 9.6 million people who have purchased a book in the "Hunger Games" trilogy. So far, everyone I've spoken to highly recommends this novel and I definitely understand why. I'm 40 pages in, and I am already hooked. I'm surprised I have time to write this blog post! Must. Keep. Reading.

This book is entrancing and highly captivating. And from my understanding, Lionsgate is releasing its movie adaptation of "The Hunger Games" on March 23. Friends of mine have tried to show me the trailer, but I continue to refuse until I finish this book. Although I read "The Hunger Games" Media Decoder, by The New York Times, I refuse to have my imagination tarnished by the trailer! I am so excited to discuss this book with the rest of my Magic Circle guild members. So, let the games and reading begin!