Catching Fire - We are the People of Capitol

[No real spoilers.]

Despite all of its shortcomings, the Hunger Games series does a phenomenal job of painting a picture of gross injustice so simple that children can grasp yet so deep that adults are affected deeply emotionally. I watched Catching Fire yesterday and the first third of the movie which shows the oppression of the Districts deeply moved me. I found myself teetering between seething anger and real sadness, evidenced by that funny feeling in my nose that I get when I want to cry. I remember thinking to myself, "I hate injustice."

Then the realization hit me: This injustice isn't even real! It's a made up story that I actually paid to watch. While there are millions that are living under similar or worse oppression, we wealthy, privileged Americans pay to be entertained by a depiction of the very real hell that others live and die in. In a very real sense, we are the people of Capitol watching the rest of the world play the Hunger Games. Sure, we watch some Youtube videos about poverty and injustice from time to time and pity those poor souls that were born in unfortunate circumstances, but then we clean our guilty moral palates with a few uplifting, emotionally manipulative videos from Upworthy and have our "faith in humanity restored". We are the feasting elites of Capitol, gorging ourselves with the pleasures of wealth, only enduring the short, periodic vomit-like discomfort of remembering the suffering of the world to satisfy our nagging conscious so that we can continue to gorge ourselves with more pleasure.

While it's easy to laugh at and condemn the thoughtless extravagance of the people of Capitol - embodied by the hilariously over-the-top makeup and fashion - and their disturbing indifference to injustice, if we fail to realize that we are in many ways the people of Capitol, I think that we miss one of the few things that the Hunger Games series has to offer. Hidden in the Hunger Game's adolescent fluff is a rare, surprisingly poignant insight into what wealth might look like to the destitute poor and the oppressed. We feel Katniss and Peeta's amazement of tons of delicious food, their simultaneous disgust and anger at the reality that there are millions of starving people despite the excess of food, and their eye-opening awe of Capitol's bright lights and technology. Further reflection forces us to rethink the things we've always taken for granted, be grateful for the undeserved wealth we have, and love those less fortunate than us.

As Thanksgiving and Christmas near, these are increasingly familiar and popular themes. But if it takes TV specials and the sound of Salvation Army bells for our annual reminder of poverty and injustice, we are no better than the people of Capitol, ignoring the hungry and oppressed around us for all but one month of the year.

As with everything I post, I'm not posting this because I have it figured out. I'm a guilty yet convicted hypocrite, and these were some of my thoughts. Let's keep each other accountable.