The Hunger Games---be hunting or hunted

Rating: 7/10 (5 September 2012)

The name of this movie is The Hunger Games, which is combined with two words: Hunger and Games. So what is hunger? Hunger for what？ If it is so-called Games, who are the players? What are they hungry for? The nation of Panem is set up in a post-apocalyptic land (I wouldn't say North America, because it could be anywhere after the end of civilization) with a Utopian city, which is called "Capitol". The Capitol is not only the capital of this land, but more likes a representation of the hegemony of a totalitarian government. It's a magnificent city. People living there are enjoy with food, costumes, jewelry, energy and hi-technology that are supported by the other 12 districts outside of the Capitol. The protagonists, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, are reaped form District 12, a place full of nothing but poor and starvation. These districts are under control of Capitol, and of the dictatorial President Snow.
Come back to the questions. Who are the players? Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark or the President Snow? For Katniss and Peeta the hunger is starving, and they are hungry for surviving; for the President Snow (and his staff) the hunger is controlling, and he is hungry for power. The land is totally divided into two parts, inside of the Capitol and outside of it. Or, we can simply say the heaven and hell. If Capitol is defined as a Utopian city, we must understand the concept of Utopia. Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a desirable socio-politico-legal system. Chronologically, the first recorded Utopian proposal is Plato's Republic. In this place, there is no lawyer because it has few laws to obey; there is few military for resources but not for wars. The wisdom of the rulers will supposedly eliminate poverty and deprivation through fairly distributed resources. But in Panem there is no equality but the cruel laws and military. Inside of the Capitol, people are masked with colorful cosmetics and costumes; they are being served by the red waitresses and protected by the white soldiers, who have no expression or no face at all. Each one looks like elegant and civilized, but they tread the lives of the other districts as games or gamblings. Are they real human beings or a kind of creatures without soul that are produced by the framework of the Capitol? This framework represents the power of politics which is controlled by the government or the upper class group, and also represent that the benefit of this group is bound to stay out of the other districts'. So, actually, the citizen of Capitol are also players. They play their lives under the framework of Panem; they are hungry for losing their positions of the Capitol. They are masked because of the fear; the fear of disobey the rules of the games and then they will lose everything---just like Seneca. I think Seneca is a tragic character. He thinks he is clever enough to surmise the ruler's mind, but unfortunately the power of Snow is not allowed to provoke. Seneca thinks he is mercy, yes, for love, but the mercy of the President is not for him. So his mercy earns him the toxic berries.
As Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality discusses that there is always an inequality, natural or physical and ethical or political, so the real Utopia will be never existed. The hunger games will be go on forever.