The Hunger Games
Fandom | |
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Name: | The Hunger Games |
Abbreviation(s): | THG |
Creator: | Suzanne Collins |
Date(s): | 2008–2010 and 2020 (books) 2012–2015 and 2023 (films) 2021 (short films) |
Medium: | Books and Films |
Country of Origin: | USA |
External Links: | at IMDb (2013) at IMDb (2014) at IMDb (2015) at IMDb (2023) at Wikipedia (film series) at IMDb (2021) |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Hunger Games is a Young Adult book trilogy, written by Suzanne Collins, consists of The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. It tells the story of Katniss Everdeen in a dystopian world, where children from each district of Panem are taken as tribute, and forced into a gladiatorial fight to the death. Over the course of the series, it becomes a tale of revolution and the overthrow of the oppressive Capitol.
The first part was adapted as a live-action movie and released in 2012. The Catching Fire adaption was released in 2013, and the last book was split into two films, and released in November 2014 and 2015.
A prequel to the series, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, was released in 2020 and adapted into two short films in the year 2021. A movie was released in 2023, entitled The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, resulting in a resurgence of the fandom.
Fandom Overview
The largest and most active of the Hunger Games fandom exists on Tumblr. Because of its roots as young adult literature, it is especially popular with teens and twenty-somethings.
Statistics
- In 2015 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 was ranked 18th in the Top 20 "most reblogged" movies on Tumblr[1]
- In 2016 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 had risen seven spots ranking 11th in the Top 20 "most reblogged" movies on Tumblr[2]
Pairings
- Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark
- Katniss Everdeen/Gale Hawthorne
- Annie Cresta/Finnick Odair
- Haymitch Abernathy/Effie Trinket
- Gale Hawthorne/Johanna Mason
- Gale Hawthorne/Madge Undersee
- Katniss Everdeen/Johanna Mason
- Coriolanus Snow/Lucy Gray Baird
- Coriolanus Snow/Sejanus Plinth
Common Tropes in Fanworks
- Love Triangle: centered around the love triangle of Katniss, Peeta and Gale.
- Modern AU: modern setting, where the characters know or meet each other
- Post-Mockingjay or Futurefic: exploring the lives of the characters post series
- SYOT (Submit Your Own Tribute): one particularly common type of fanfiction in the Hunger Games fandom is the "Submit Your Own Tribute" or SYOT genre, in which readers are encouraged to create characters for the author to use in replicating a version of the Hunger Games of a different year. This is a collaborative fiction that the source material is particularly well suited to, as it requires 24 characters to go into each games.
- Crossover or Fusion: taking characters from other fandoms and placing them in the Hunger Games universe
Challenges
- Bread and Circuses Ficathon
- Girl On Fire - A Hunger Games Ficathon
- The Odds Are Never In Our Favor: A Hunger Games Ficathon
- THG Fairytale Fic Challenge
- Wicked Winter: a THG Ficathon
- Yuletide in Panem
- The Hunger Games Season of Hope Holiday Gift Exchange
- For the full listing of challenges on Fanlore, see Category:The Hunger Games Challenges
Awards
Activities
- Hunger Games Fireside Chat, a weekly podcast.
- podfic on the Audiofic Archive
- TheGirlonFire.com
Discussion & Controversies
Team Peeta/Team Gale
One of the aspects of the novels is a love triangle between Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark and Gale Hawthorne. As a result, ship wars sometimes occurred between those who prefer one pairing over the other. However, the larger criticism has been towards the media for their imposition of these labels and the perception of pitting one group of fans against another. These critics say that the novels are about far more than a love triangle, and resist the implicit comparison to Twilight. They will often report themselves as Team Katniss or Team Prim (referring to Katniss's younger sister).
The Race Debates
These debates are part of the larger Race and Fandom and Social Justice discussions.
With the casting of Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role as Katniss Everdeen for the films, many fans were distressed because in the novel, Katniss is described as being dark-haired, grey-eyed, and olive-skinned, while the actress is white, blonde-haired, and green-eyed. This is an example of adaptational whitewashing. Casting calls asked specifically for "Caucasian, between ages 15 and 20, who could portray someone 'underfed but strong,' and 'naturally pretty underneath her tomboyishness".[3] Collins has stated that she does not imagine the characters as specifically biracial, but that has not been the end of the discussion.[4]
Another race debate took place with the casting of Amandla Stenberg as Rue.[5] Rue is described as having dark brown skin and eyes, and compared frequently to Prim Everdeen. Because Prim is blonde-haired and blue-eyed, some fans were under the impression that Rue shared these physical characteristics. As a result, these fans were disappointed in this casting, despite its textual accuracy. While most were accepting, some were angry, leading some observers to question whether they were being racist.[6]
The Panem Companion is sometimes cited in discussions of the Race Debates and/or was inspired in part by them.
Did Gale Kill Prim?
In one scene in the end of Mockingjay, bombs kill Katniss's sister Prim, who is serving as a medical worker. These bombs were designed by Gale, as a weapon against the Capitol. Much debate has been made about whether or not Gale is responsible for Prim's death, with the discussion taking on particular importance in light of ship wars, as much is made of whether Katniss could be with someone who is responsible for her sister's death. Boredom is fairly common in light of the frequency of this debate.
The larger discussion here is on violence in revolution, and whether it is necessary or right, tapping in to the larger themes of the series. On one hand, commentators such as those in the confession argue that war is war, and that people die, and that Gale isn't to blame. On the other hand, several fans have analysed Gale's actions in relation to the principles of international law as they currently stand, and find him guilty of targeting civilians, and as such of war crimes.[7][8]
Fanworks
Fan Art & Edits
- The Hunger Games Characters, a gif-picspam as Greek Gods and Goddesses
- Katniss Everdeen: the Mockingjay by Inna-Vjuzhanina
- Catching Fire by Inna-Vjuzhanina
- Catching Fire. Katniss Everdeen by strannaya-anna
- Peeniss by strannaya-annaG
- the hunger games + quotes, Archived version, an aesthetic edit by tyblacktorn
Gallery
Rebellion (Apr 2012) by simplySere
Fanfiction
Common tropes: AU for Everybody Lives fluff, Alternate ending to book 1, with a different victor, OC or Mary Sue taking on their games, other characters in the world of the hunger games
- The Bride Swap by titania522
- Hope In the Darkness That I Will See the Light by deathmallow
- There's Another River on the Other Side by Mithrigil
- Twenty-Four Victors, Twenty-Four Tributes: Meet Your Quarter Quell Contestants by aimmyarrowshigh
- your heart is the only place i call home, Archived version by passionesque
Fan Vids
- Rise by Gianis Sagma
- See You Again by Line Hutcherson
- Some nights by jess9191
- radioactive by nessa007productions
Edits (Video Genre)
- You could live a hundred lifetimes and never deserve that boy by regina g.
- put me back in it by @kdeditt
- Finnick by @lolwhatokig
- Voulez-Vous by @katnvss
- Skyfall by @sunriselalisa
- Katniss (It's Been So Long) by @ellensaep
- Katniss & Lucy Gray Parallels by @elsmultiverse
Meta
- Two roads diverged in the woods, Archived version by katamount
- Kantiss’ Vote - A New Reading Upon Rereading, Archived version by lenny9987
- On the naming in The Hunger Games by erinptah
- I think the Hunger Games series sits in a similar literary position to The Lord of the Rings, Archived version by fictionadventurer
- hot take: katniss is a revolutionary female hero because she’s not really a hero, Archived version by natasharxmanov
- Can we give it up for Suzanne Collins for fucking off into oblivion with her money after Hunger Games fucking destroyed the YA market for like 6 years by benepla
Websites and Communities
General & News Sites
- 13 Districts (defunct, archive link)
- Dandelion in the Spring (defunct)
- Down with the Capitol (defunct, archive link)
- HungerGamesMovie.org (defunct, archive link)
- Jabberjays.com (defunct, archive link)
- Mockingjay.net, Archived version
- Muttations (defunct, archive link)
- My Hunger Games (defunct, archive link)
- Peeta Makes Bread (defunct, archive link)
- Quarter Quell (defunct, archive link)
- Distrito 13 (Portuguese-language site)
- Jogos Vorazes (Portuguese-language site) (defunct, archive link)
- Juegos del Hambre (Spanish-language site) (defunct, archive link)
- All Hunger Games (defunct, archive link)
Tumblrs
- Fuck Yeah Peeta Mellark, a Peeta-centric fanblog (defunct, archive link)
- Boy with the Snares, a Gale-centric fanblog (defunct, archive link)
- Real. - A KatnissxPeeta Fic Archive, Archived version
LiveJournal Communities
- General fan communities:
- district_12, Archived version
- girl_on_fire_12, Archived version
- hungergamesfans, Archived version
- themockingjay, Archived version
- panem_esp, Archived version (Spanish-language community)
- Ship- and character-specific communities:
- finnick_o, Archived version (Finnick Odair)
- finnick_annie (Finnick/Annie) (defunct, archive link)
- gale_johannna(Gale/Johanna) (defunct, archive link)
- katniss_finnick, Archived version (Katniss/Finnick)
- lovesofbread, Archived version (Katniss/Peeta)
- quietmoments_hg, Archived version (Katniss/Gale)
- Other specific-purpose communities:
- hunger_icontest, Archived version (icontest)
- hungergamesfics, Archived version (fanfiction)
- hungergamesicon (icons) (defunct, archive link)
- hungergamesland, Archived version
- mockingjaystamp, Archived version (stamping community)
- ontd_panem (defunct, archive link)
- panem_icontest, Archived version (icontest)
- thgelite, Archived version (icontest)
- thgstoryfinders, Archived version (ficfinding community)
DeviantART
- thehungergames
- hungergamesfangroup
- hunger-games-fans
- HungerGames4Eva
- Hunger-Games-Rock
- TheHungerGames-Club
- HungerGamesFanatics
- dA-HungerGames
- Happy-HungerGames
- The-Hunger-GamesFans
- MockingJay-tributes
- loversfromdistrict12
Pairings:
Resources
- Hunger Games Series - All Media Types at AO3
- Hunger Games fanfiction and crossovers at FF.net
- Nightlock Recs - fanfiction recommendations
- A Complete Etymology of the Names in Panem, Archived version by aimmyarrowshigh
- Map of Panem by badguys and aimmyarrowshigh, frequently adopted as the unofficial-official map
- The Hunger Games Wiki
- Wikipedia (Books)
- Wikipedia (Films)
References
- ^ 2015 Most Reblogged Movies, Archived version
- ^ 2016’s Top Movies, Archived version Accessed and archived September 15, 2020.
- ^ The Hunger Games Film Whitens its Warrior, by Deb Jannerson.
- ^ Team 'Hunger Games' talks: Author Suzanne Collins and director Gary Ross on their allegiance to each other, and their actors -- EXCLUSIVE by Karen Valby for Entertainment Weekly.
- ^ Rue, Race, and The Hunger Games, written by Cassandra Neace.
- ^ Racist Hunger Games Fans Are Very Disappointed by Dodai Stewart on Jezebel.
- ^ Gale Hawthorne you stand accused, Archived version, by raptorific on Tumblr.
- ^ Response to Gale Hawthorne you stand accused, Archived version, by butwordsarewind on Tumblr.