I find this all very interesting. Ever since I read “Hunger Games” I’ve been convinced that it had the potential to be a game changer in the political world.
I read “1984” in high school (not part of the curriculum, but from the library) and it forever after convinced me of the sinister nature of a totalitarian world.
“Hunger Games,” I surmised, would have the same impact upon a large percentage of the young people reading it, not so much on the power of the state to corrupt history and brainwash people, but on the power of the state to suppress individual wants and needs in favor of supporting the state’s needs.
The difference, though, between “1984” and “Hunger Games” is that the latter was far more widely absorbed by young people. “Hunger Games” was actually assigned reading in junior high classes in many (most?) schools in this country or was read widely even if it wasn’t assigned because it became an “in” thing to do.
And then, surprisingly, to me anyway, the movies were relatively faithful to the books, making the same point about the state’s suppression of individuality.
To my mind, that series created a mass millions of young conservatives just waiting in the wings to reach voting age. Many of them now have, and the GOP should figure out a way to reach them, because they’re more than prepared now to accept the message that an overweening government is a threat to their individual lives and aspirations.
In a way, it’s like the Left’s pushing sales of “1984” up after Trump’s election. For some reason, the Left doesn’t understand that both “1984” and “Hunger Games” hold a mirror up to their own liberal belief system, rather than to capitalism and conservatism. All the better, I say.
Good point.
Polls show that those under 20 are far more conservative than millennials. Could be these books are waking kids up to the danger of an all-powerful state.