Viridiana Chow

Sociology 1
Instructor Alvarado
9 July 2016
Project 1: Video/DVD Analysis
Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The movie The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the second movie installment of the
Hunger Games series. The movie is based on Suzanne Collins trilogy novel The Hunger Games.
In order to understand the complex plot of the Catching Fire movie, lets first development an
understanding of the first movie of the trilogy. In the first Hunger Games movie, the totalitarian
country of Panem is described as a country that is divided into 12 districts and a capital city, the
Capitol. Every year the Capitol hosts the Hunger Games, where a total of 24 young tributes -- a
boy and a girl randomly selected from each district combat and kill each other in order to be
the last one standing and crowned as the victor of the game. For the 74th Hunger Games, the
tributes of District 12 are Katniss Everdine, who volunteered herself to take the place of her
younger sister who was the original female tribute of the district, and Peter Mellark. For the
duration of the game, kids of no more than 18 years old used whatever means to kill each other,
and towards the end of the game, only Katniss and Peeta remain the sole survivors of the game.
Because Katniss and Peeta had developed a unique friendship before and during the game, each
were not willing to kill the other, thus they attempt to trick the Gamemakers, who are the creators
and regulators of the game, and succeeded. Both tributes are named the victors of the 74th Hunger
Games, and at this point it concludes the first movie.
In the Catching Fire, the second movie of the Hunger Games series, Katniss Everdine is
seen as a symbol of hope for the entire Panem. Not only did she showed courage in taking her
litter sisters place in the game, cared and sympathized for the other tributes who were
technically her enemies in the arena, but also she rebelled in a certain way against the rules of the
game in her favor. The 12 districts of Panem are growing tiresome of the unjust ruling of Snow,

the President of Panem. They want a revolution, and they want Katniss to be the voice of the
revolution. In order to eliminate the threat of a revolution, the rules of the 75th Hunger Games
changes. President Snow ordered the random selection of the tributes from victors of the past
Hunger Games. Katniss, being the only female victor of District 12, is put back to the games
again. With this, President Snow and the Gamemakers hope to indirectly kill Katniss and
eliminate the symbol of hope and thus the revolution as well. Little did they know that there are
people within the Capitol that wanted a revolution and helped Katniss and other tributes to
escape while they were in the Hunger Games. With the symbol of hope rescued, the citizens of
Panem started their revolution against President Snow.
Just by watching the trailer of The Catching Fire, sociologist can easily interpret the
different paradigm that the society represents. For sociologists such as Auguste Comte and Emile
Durkheim, they might imply that the way in which the society of Panem is structured can bring
some social order, although not for an eternity. Each district specializes on different production,
but they get to keep little to none of their production while the Capitol takes the rest. The
different districts can be seen as different institutions, with the government being in the Capitol.
The entire of Panem functions together, with the 12 districts providing necessary supplies and the
Capitol regulating the policies and laws of the country. Social order is brought under the
enforcement of laws and the Peacekeepers, who serve as policemen under the Capitol.
Although the Capitol wants to maintain its totalitarian ruling, the districts will eventually
be fed up with the unjust laws and the social inequalities that they experience frequently. The
districts want change; they want a revolution. Karl Marx would probably add in to the analysis
that social inequality is due to the ownership or the lack of ownership of material resources. As
seen in the trailer of Catching Fire, every district seems to be at the very edge of poverty.
Although they produce goods, they dont get to keep them, and the Capitol owns most if not all

of the productions. The social inequality between the districts and the Capitol will eventually
lead to a revolution formed by the districts. In order to stop the revolution from happening
President Snow is in dire need of eliminating the source of the revolution, Katniss Everdine the
symbol of hope.
Throughout the trailer of the movie, the paradigm that represents the most in the video is
the conflict theory. The conflict theory is based on Karl Marx theory that with social inequality
society will go through protests and revolutions in order to bring in change. Katniss, being the
symbol of hope, is destined to be voice of the revolution and the voice of change. She defined the
74th Hunger Games by violating the social norms in the arena of the game and made friends with
potential enemies. She knew of the unfairness of the games and wanted to kill herself rather than
give satisfaction to the Capitol in seeing others kill her. Katniss Everdine was the first person that
brought change in the Hunger Games and thus influenced other districts to do the same. They
started revolting and go against the laws of the Capitol. Little by little people work together to
bring up a revolution that made the President fear for the crumpling of his totalitarian country.

Work Cited
TheHungerGamesMovie. the Hunger Games: Catching Fire Exclusive Teaser Trailer.
YouTube. YouTube, 14 Apr. 2013. Web. 11 July 2016.