You have probably read The Hunger Games, The Handmaid’s Tale, or Orwell’s 1984, right? These brilliant books are just a few jewels in the crown of the genre that is dystopian fiction, but far more than mere entertainment, it’s possible they ignited a spark of rebellion, a penchant for revolution, for critical thinking and questioning ‘the man’, that could have something to do with the activism displayed by many in the 21st century.
The premise of The Hunger Games is common knowledge: a very small number of an elite wealthy class maintain the oppression of the lower ‘districts’ through brute violence, propagandic rhetoric and by blasting it across television screens. Despite the blatant horrors, people watch- transfixed, as children prance through jungles and fight to the death. The Games are a brilliant watch, for us and for the members of the fictional world who are forced to absorb the message of the ‘Capitol’ through their inescapable screens.
Sound familiar?
Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale, includes a very fascinating passage at the very end of the book that details some disgustingly non-fictional aspects of the novel. Every aspect of her book about the violent and systematic oppression of women and the removal of their rights and autonomy is rooted in genuine history, and the gender apartheid in Afghanistan is ongoing, with girls unable to be educated after Year 6.
Interestingly, Suzanne Collins said the idea for The Hunger Games came to her late at night as she was flicking through channels, she saw one reality TV programme about young people competing for money and one about the Iraq war.
This absurd duality defines our modern times: as we flick across screens, harrowing scenes of war and suffering play interspersed between giggling teenagers chanting ‘six-seven.’ Just a few weeks ago, U.S. and Israeli bombs were used in the killing of 150 students at a girls’ school in Minab, Iran, according to Ali Bahreini (Iran’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva).
Many people still attempt to ignore these atrocities, but those whose hearts really bleed at this injustice could have been influenced by these books that are critiques of the corrupt governments, the unjust systems of their society, and the bystanders who watch it happen.
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