Are the Hunger Games in our future?

This has been the year of the Hunger Games at my house. First, my 11-year-old daughter read the book, discovering it’s the start of a trilogy. So she read the second and third books and began watching movie trailers online. Then she reread the entire trilogy.

Next, we ordered tickets for the first night of the movie – for her, a friend and me. Finally, she added the movie to our Netflix queue. She waited patiently through our summer of itinerancy until we were home.

So last Wednesday night, we watched the movie again; it was the first time for my husband. For those who don’t know the story, Hunger Games is a futuristic morality tale by Suzanne Collins. In it, the nation of Panem is divided into 12 regional districts ruled by the wealthy and brutal Capital. As punishment for an uprising 75 years earlier, each district must submit two youth, male and female, to an annual competition called the Hunger Games. The children range in age from 12 to 18, and they must compete to the death, with one victor emerging. The games are broadcast throughout Panem, and all are forced to watch the slaughter. For the Capital it is sport; for the districts, it is torture.

As the plot unfolds, it becomes apparent the Capital relies completely on the districts to supply the labor and natural resources to support its lavish lifestyle. So the intimidation, fear and division the games sow help maintain the Capital’s power.

Watching this movie a second time, I was reminded of events in our country recently: the teachers’ strike in Chicago and Mitt Romney’s fundraising speech, describing 47 percent of America’s populace as refusing to take responsibility for their lives. No matter whether you support Romney or not, you can’t deny he sees America divided between the worthy and unworthy.

Former Bush aide Mark McKinnon writes in a post at The Daily Beast: “This is a deeply cynical view of America. Not to mention wrong. And it’s a long way from the compassionate conservatism that welcomed more Americans into the Republican Party under President George W. Bush.”

Similarly, in Panem after the heroine has created a stir of hope for her poor coal mining district, President Snow tells the Hunger Games’ producer if he saw the people in District 12, he would not root for them or any underdog.

I wonder who really feels “entitled” in that culture – and in ours.

In Panem, Snow uses division to keep these underdogs down, which brought to mind the teachers strike in Chicago and Wisconsin’s battle over collective bargaining last year. Pit union workers against non-union workers to keep all wages low and to whittle back worker benefits and protections for all. Pit Democrats against Republicans so they don’t realize the 1 percent is developing policies to increase the wealth of corporations and the super-rich while overloading the middle class; never mind the poor. Divide and conquer.

The underdogs in Panem watch 23 children die each year for 75 years. And as my daughter reminds me, on every 25th year they added special features like doubling the number of competitors. So many children lost before the people begin to stand up to the fear and manipulation.

And it leaves me asking, “What will it take to unite us; what’s in our future?”