Panem's Predatory Propaganda

Above is an image used by the "official" website of Panem as part of a marketing strategy to promote the release of the film The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part 1. It depicts a young child eating an apple with a look of contentment on her face--which is smudged with coal. This is appropriate considering that District 12, which according to the poster the girl comes from, is designated as the official "coal mining" district of Panem.

While child labor is strictly prohibited or restricted in the United States today, The Hunger Games depicts a post-apocalyptic, Orwellian dystopia where child labor is not only allowed, but enforced, to meet stringent quotas from the Capitol. Considering that the vast majority of us would be repulsed by the idea of forcing children to work in coal mines today, how would we have to change as a society for it to become acceptable again?

The answer lies in the image: through rhetoric like "your diligent work makes us proud," which is shared and distributed on a massive scale, the idea of child labor becomes normalized and celebrated, seen as a positive thing that helps contribute to the "glory" of Panem. The Capitol uses these messages to make so many of the atrocitied they commit seem acceptable to the public. This is what is known as propaganda.

This project seeks to analyze the various propaganda and rhetorical strategies used by the Capitol of Panem (and other organizations like the rebel groups) over the course of the Hunger Games franchise, seen in all of the books, movies, and outside lore.

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